inspired...

Being that two of my favorite things in the world are photography and baby blue...This old camera just stole my heart.  I simply love it.  I love the flash, I love the camera, I love the thought about what memories this camera captured...I wish it could talk.

I also love that if you look in the top you are reflected out the front....

Oh, and what ever you are looking at is reflected through the top.  

It is simply wonderful

Now if my husband only loved light blue. Think of it as the color of my eyes Mike and not UNC☺

Matt's first bat

Before grandma and grandpa left they wanted to buy a new baseball bat for Matthew.  Time went by too quickly and then ended up leaving him the money to pick one out. {FYI: Did you know that bats for 8 year olds can run as much as $300.00!..not this one}After three stores and three different size charts Matt decided on this one.  A 28" shinny red one.

Swing...

Hit...

There it is.

Hit to right to the pitcher...OUT!

and repeat.

Thank you G&G I am sure this bat will be loved and remembered for a long time.  

Saying goodbye...

{my 3D movie theater pic}

This morning after 10 days of fun and adventure Grandma and Grandpa packed up and drove away into the sunrise.  The rest of us have kind of been moping around ever since.  

We had so many jam packed days of bike rides, games, water parks, laughs and conversations...

and a whole lot of love.  

My biggest regret is that I wanted to record Matthew and Grandpa before they left and I let the ball drop.  The entire week+ that they were here Matthew and Bob had a little banter that they sang back and forth. Grandpa would start by singing "Hey Matthew, Hey Matthew" and then Matthew would sing back "what grandpa, what grandpa" What is it about the relationship between a young boy and his grandpa? It  just seems like there is no greater magic than the instant and powerful bond between a spaced generation of men.  Seeing it always makes me sad that it can not be a constant in Matthew's days and nights.... If you are lucky enough to have this within a day's drive of you(or a cheap flight) count your blessings:-)

I have a few more of my favorite pictures from our visit that I will post as soon as I get caught back up. Has anyone else noticed the amount of work created by a vacation?!?

Firework fun..or my last post of the morning.

We are normally firework buying people.  We bought a few this year for Matthew to have with Grandpa. Mike even let him light a few.  No worries these are very tame, non explosive types.

Grandma convinced Matthew to make shadows on the garage during the strobe flashers.

Mike even joined in. Wow...even this picture is blinding me.  Imagine how bright this was in real life.

Randomness...and fishing{post 2 of 3 today}

We took Cheryl back to the Guadalupe church yesterday to spend some time...not knowing that they closed at 4:00 and we showed up at 3:20.  This barn was across from it. There is just something utterly funny about the Mootel:-)

While Cheryl was at the church we went to a riverfront park. Matthew used the outhouse there..it was quite an experience for "city boy" I think he almost threw up.

This was the view there

Matthew also went fishing downtown.  We were going to try and boat but the wind was just too much..and has been ever since we thought about boating.

A little out of order... 

On the way back from Lacrosse we stopped at a lock on the Mississippi river.  Matthew was trying to run by me to avoid the camera. If you wonder if that happens a lot...the answer is yes....*sigh*

My beautiful Mother in Law:-)

The sunset bike ride{post 1 of 3 today}

we went for a family bike ride the other night.  We waited until sunset so we could see the fireflies come out.

we rode until after dark and the fireflies were incredible. Millions of little lights sparkling up the corn fields.

a simple riddle for you{my last post of today}

What do you get when you take two days of water...

fun...

tubing...

smiles...

grandpa...{and grandma, but she is not in these shots}

wedgies...

laughter...

splashes...

independence...

sunshine...

relaxation...

body slides...

slides with grandpa...

three generations of Willits floating on a lazy river...

giggles...

all out laughter...

a scary slide called the Hurricane...{Shana loves this one}

serious laughter...

look at that smile!!!

racing

I thought that kid was Matthew until the water stopped

it was a few seconds after this when I realized it was not him

he came along in lane 4 a few seconds after everyone else. He started to hate this slide because in all his 68.5 lbs he is not heavy enough to ever win...yet.

you get exhaustion...

Makes you want to be a kid again, right?

This may be my last post of today but I have LOTS more pictures as we are very busy beavers here at the Willits house....stay tuned:-)