PhotoStory Friday-Boat Ride

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek




Friday night after work Marty, Heather and I enjoyed an evening at the river.  We decided to take the boat for a sunset cruise. What a beautiful night for it! The temperature was PERFECT out on the water!

Marty and I enjoying our moonlit boat cruise along the river.

 

Sweet Sunday

Each year, on a Sunday in September, instead of evening church services our pastor and his wife invite the entire church to their house for a picnic. They have a beautiful place on the river they love to share with their church family and friends.

I didn't go around taking tons of pictures like I usually do and instead sat and visited with friends and relaxed for the evening. I handed the camera off to Heather for the short time she was there before she had to go to work. Instead of taking photos of groups of people like I thought she was doing, she snapped photos of a few individuals mostly. I guess beggars can't be choosers, right?

How many kids can you fit on a hammock???

Left to right:

Bethany, Riley, Dawson, Katie, Maggie, and Abby

I'm only posting this to prove that yes, I am up and around an no longer just laying around on the couch! :0)

My friend Shannon. Be watching for more photos of Shannon. I may be taking portraits of her and her kids soon. I'm looking forward to that. It should be fun!

Marty appears to be in the middle of a fish tale, but I don't remember what he was talking about.

Our friend Ron joined us for the evening too.

Bill appears to be meditating. But I guess if you are the meditative sort, what better place than this peaceful spot on the river?

It was a very nice evening, although it seemed the evening was over all too soon. Marty and I stayed longer than most so Marty could help repair a water pipe that broke during the picnic. Once he finished with that we headed out as well and opted to stay in town until time to pick Heather up from work.

While Marty helped repair the pipe, I wondered back down to the water to take pictures. Isn't it a beautiful spot?

I kept hoping the pinks in the sky would get lower so I could get a better shot of the pinks reflected in the water, but this was the best I could get.

Lately we are getting a small taste of what our empty nest may feel like in a couple of years. Heather has always kept us very busy running her to activities, etc. Now that she is working we are still on the run a lot, but we have a lot of weekends without her.



When we left the picnic we decided we'd watch the late movie "Nights in Rodanthe" while we waited for Heather to get off work. We still had time to kill before the movie began so we headed to the coffee shop and sat outside to enjoy the nice night. When the other outside tables began to fill up with other customers we opted to go walking downtown. I knew Marty and I were thinking the same thing when he told me the evening reminded him of our evenings when we lived in Arizona. Back then we were broke students and we spent many evenings walking or biking for entertainment. The movie was good, although very sad. I so enjoyed our evening, but I'm sure I'll be very tired tomorrow! Here's to hoping Heather doesn't have many more nights of working till midnight!!!

Wordless Wednesday

I'm Sensing a Pattern Here....

Once again we spent an evening relaxing and visiting with friends...only this time at the Pastor's house on the river. An invitation was issued to the whole church this morning welcoming anyone who'd like to go to the pastor's house after church this evening for hotdogs, fellowship and swimming. Our pastor and his wife own a beautiful home on a beautiful spot on the river. Heather, who has a job now (woo hoo!) had to miss the fun because she had to work. We missed you Heather!!! I for one could sure get used to all this sitting around, watching kids swim and chatting with friends! The only drawback to all this relaxing....my house sure isn't getting very clean!!!

Kids were lined up to be tossed into the river. Here Mathew and Michael toss Mason in. Mason was really catching some air a few times!

Mason continues his fall into the water...

Dawson wanted to be tossed in too! Here Mathew and David are throwing the kids in.

Mathew and David threw in Abby.

Meanwhile all the adults just chilled on the dock.

From the left:

Lana, David, Denise, Mitch (in the swing), Bill, Me, Erica, Shannon

Ashley

What a great place to hang out!

Thanks Mitch and Reva for having us all over!!!

Wordless Wednesday

It's my 400th post! It doesn't seem possible that I've been doing this long enough already to have 400 posts. And it would seem I have a whole lot of lurkers with over 18,000 visitors to this site. So, delurk and say hello....in honor of my 400th post and all. :0)

Relaxing with Friends on the River

Our pastor (Mitch) and his wife Reva invited anyone who'd like, to come hang out at their house on the river this afternoon. We had no plans so we were eager to join the fun. Marty and Heather both skied some, but I spent my day relaxing on a lounge chair chatting with friends, floating on an air mattress in the river, or riding in the boat. What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon! Thanks Mitch and Reva for having us all over!!!

How most of us spent the majority of the afternoon:

New friends David and Lana joined us all today. Here they are with their daughter Ashley on the air mattress and Erica's daughter Riley hanging on the end of the air mattress.

Reva let the kids play on her kayak. While most of the kids were still eating Heather took the opportunity for a solitary ride in it.

This is how the kayak looked most of the time Heather was paddling it.

Terryn's bright blue eyes sure shine in this picture.

Heather stayed up quite a while on the skis. I was having trouble staying in my seat in the boat when the waves got pretty bumpy so I was amazed when she managed to stay up on the skis!!!

Ouch! When she did take a tumble, she took a big one. She said it didn't hurt but I bet it will tomorrow!!!

Both skis went in separate directions! Looks like she landed hard!

And down she goes in a jumble of arms, legs and skis.

The littlest skier of the day was Cheney.

Some of the gals, chatting the afternoon away on the dock.

Unfortunately, our friends David and Susan had to work today but they stopped by for a little while afterward. This is their son Roby. He's such a cutie!!!!

As we arrived back at the dock from our boat ride, Erica, Cameron and Reva were playing on the kayak.

Perfect timing to capture their flip!

All the teenagers piled in the boat for a ride.

Elizabeth, Amber, and Heather.

Erica's turn to ski. The water was very bumpy!!!

Erica waving hello as she skied.

Erica skied outside the wake.

Marty chillin' on the back of the boat.

Cameron also usually had a pile of kids riding along when he took out the kayak too!

Terryn, Cameron, Ashley, and Chandler.

Lana and her daughter Holly as they got ready for their boat ride.

Mitch and Marty had to make some repairs to the boat.

Check out Erica's blog for more pictures of our day of fun on the river!!!