Easter Weekend

We spent Easter Weekend in Kauai.  It is SO gorgeous!  I won't waste your time with words except to say that words won't suffice!  These are straight out of my camera so some of the colors may be off a bit.

Our kids could have literally spent the entire weekend at the pool.  They loved this large lagoon.

We took a boat ride on the Na Pali Coast.  Amazing!

Liam

Meg

Jack

Connor

The dolphins ran along in front of the boat... so amazing!

Na Pali Coast

Me and Brian

Amy

Easter morning we stopped at a little Episcopal church.  The minister told a story about hiking in East Tennessee.  :)  They were so sweet.  They gave us all these crocheted leis.  It was a sweet morning.

This photo was taken at the lighthouse

A bird sanctuary near the lighthouse... on the East side

Can you spot the monk seal hauled out to get some sun?

Here he is....

Week 15: Shoot and Edit Challenge: Easter

Nothing says Easter like a little bunny in the kitchen!

Cookie, anyone?

I'm participating in this weekly challenge with Jill Samter and Ashley Sisk.  in an effort to hone my skills a bit more in the photography arena.  I haven't taken many portraits since I've been out here in Hawaii (lots more landscape) and I feel a bit rusty.  I'm finding it pretty inspiring for getting me back in the saddle.  Hope over there if you'd like to participate, it's been alot of fun and it's pretty simple steps to improving your photos.  

Shoot And Edit Assignment: Week 14

So, I am late to the game of this shoot and edit assignment stuff, but I decided to try to hone my photo editing skills by participating in this blog carnival over at




Check it out.

Here is my original photo. The theme was "Faith." This was a bit of a stretch for that category, but it's the closest I had. Also, I have been trying to work my way back through the lessons, so I am not nearly where I should be on this editing thing, but I'm only three weeks into the lessons, so bare with me. (Or is it bear with me?)

Original shot:

I edited the photo in Picnik.  I love Picnik, though it does have it's limitations.  I tried to follow Ashley's editing suggestions as well as I could without Photoshop.  First I used the Neutral Picker to brighten the photo up a bit based on the white in the door frame.  Then I used the crop and straighten tool to change the orientation just a tad (because that was this weeks lesson.)  And then I bumped up the vibrance and added the words at the bottom.  All in all, it was very simple but I think it made a huge difference in the photo.  What do you think?

I think typically I would be supposed to add the original camera settings, etc. etc., but I don't know how to do that, so you'll just have to take my very unscientific word for it! :)  

Perspective

I haven't shared the entire story of our ups and downs here.  Pretty much daily we have gone back and forth between being in love with this island and being painfully aware of what we were missing at home.  Our life here is so special.  It's something that I wish everyone could experience once with their family, a chance to be set aside and rest.  A time to explore new places and spaces together, to develop new mutual interests.  A time to create memories that are unique only to your own family.  A chance to depend on one another in a way that you can't when you are surrounded by a network of people who love you.

All these things and so much more have made this time here an absolutely incredible experience.  So, although we know in our hearts that it's the right thing to go home this summer, there is still some bitter to the sweet.  I think we've all changed alot and it will be interesting to see how we weather the confines of security and comfort.  It will be a new way of experiencing the old and I'm so looking forward to it.

But to ease the sting a little bit of constantly talking about "one last time before we go" and "I'll sure miss....", I cut up a bunch of paper and made a countdown chain.  70 rings to count the days until we get home.  I gave each person in the family ten blank strips of paper and had them list the things they most miss or are most excited to re-experience when we get HOME!  And all of a sudden, the days left seem like a countdown to something wonderful rather than an hourglass running out of time.

 I will try to share a few things along the way that we pull off the chain (the one you can see says "Downtown Franklin". ) But I can tell you that the first thing on every single persons list was our dog, Vince.  I will tell you this much, I will NEVER leave home again without our dog.

The other big excitement of the day was making Easter cookies with Meg.  I don't have any photos of the cookies because they were eaten too quickly, but I do have a shot of the little bunny that helped decorate the cookies!  

"Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."  Phillipians 3:13-14

A quick photo update...

We had lots of visitors in March.  

Some had four legs...

But lots of them had 2!

And now they are all gone!

And now he has lost two front teeth, combine that with a sizable gap that God gave him at birth and there are practically no teeth in the front of the boys head.

And we discovered high heels.

And had more fun in the pool, everything old seems new again.

Remembered to see the sunsets and be thankful for them.

We even made a special event of the sunset last night.  Even though the sky wasn't really right for the sunset viewing, we enjoyed Waikiki beach.

I think she belongs on the beach!  

Doesn't she look at home here?

I love to see them playing together... and know that they will remember these days.

All smiles for her brothers... little stinker!

The big scratch between his eyes is thanks to brotherly love and rough play... he threw the book at him, literally. 

Sorry, she is just more willing to pose than the rest of them. :)

Not sure what happened with either of their hair here.

Jack never came out of the water long enough to get a photo.

And I only had my portrait lens so I couldn't really get a close up.

Diamond Head... my favorite landmark in Hono.

Self-portraits are always the best.

Waikiki

What, it's time to go already?

The End!