The Smiths Go Camping!

After 2 months of weddings every weekend, we finally come to a weekend where we have no weddings to shoot. So the only logical thing to do is....Go Camping!

We left on Wednesday night for East Harbor State Park in Lakeside-Marblehead, OH. It was great to get away for a few days and just get to be a family. As we pulled into camp, it was sprinkling and I was worried that it was going to rain the entire weekend. But setting up the tent in the rain wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

It rained all night Wednesday night and had continued to be rainy on Thursday morning, so we decided to go to Train-o-rama, the largest indoor setup of model trains in Ohio. The boys loved it. They ran around the displays trying to take it all in. Christian would get down to the level of the trains to watch them closely.

When we left train-o-rama, we decided to drive down to Marblehead to see the lighthouse. The Marblehead Lighthouse is the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the Great Lakes. We bought tickets for the tour that would allow us to go up to the top, but we had about 15 minutes to kill.

The boys wanted to wander closer to Lake Erie, so we went past the lighthouse to a group of flat rocks. The waves were crashing up onto the rocks and Ian loved letting it roll over his feet.

Christian...not so much! LOL

After a speech about the lighthouse by a volunteer, we climbed the 70+ steps in a spiral up to the catwalk on the lighthouse. Shan was quite nervous since he is afraid of heights and Christian only wanted to run around the top!

Thursday night ended up being a decent night for a campfire, so we hung out around it for awhile. The boys toasted corn dogs and made s'mores. Before too long though, a very large storm cell began to pass over our campsite. There was a lot of thunder and lightning. Ian was nervous...but we reassured him that we were fine. For the rest of the evening, we hung out in the tent. The boys played with a leap pad, tag books and Christian's Thomas the Train Laptop. Shan and I played some 2 man Euchre. (He won!)

Friday's weather looked like it was going to be fantastic, so we packed a lunch and loaded up on the boat. We sailed out of East Harbor and out into Lake Erie. Ian got to "drive" for a bit.

After sailing east along the coastline so that we could see Lakeside from the water, we decided to sail out toward Kelley's Island. The sail was actually quite easy and we made it over there in about an hour. From there, we decided to sail over to Put-in-Bay. Along that stretch of water, both boys went to sleep for a bit. (We had to use a bungee cord to keep Christian from rolling off the seat! Don't worry...I sat there with him the whole time too.)

We decided to run ashore on South Bass Island so that the boys could get out and stretch for a bit. They threw rocks into the lake and Shan was teaching Ian how to skip rocks.

After a brief forray with a tree while trying to get of the island, we were off again and we sailed back to East Harbor. The lake was a bit choppier on the way back, but still a pretty easy sail. I even "drove" for awhile.

That evening, we went over to Lakeside to visit some of my old friends at Lakeside Institute. It was great to be back at Lakeside. It was wonderful to see everyone. We had dinner at Sloopy's and then got some ice cream from the Patio and walked down on the dock.

It rained again through the night and was still a bit rainy on Saturday morning. Luckily, the boys were so worn out from our day on the lake on Friday, that they slept in very late on Saturday. By the time we were ready to go do stuff, the weather was beautiful.

We decided to go to the beach on Saturday. Ian really wanted to fish, so all the men got their fishing poles out and fished just East of the swimming beach. (Don't worry...Christian only has a weight on his pole...no hook! LOL)

Within minutes, Ian had caught a Big Mouth Bass. He was so proud and so excited.

Shan caught one after that and then Ian caught another one!

The boys really enjoyed the beach. It was extremely shallow in the swimming area. Even Christian could walk out about 30 feet before it was up to his waist. Shan helped Ian build a wall in the sand and he and Christian had made a "tower". I took a self portrait since I am rarely in any images on our vacations! LOL

The weather was still nice into the evening, so we picked up some more firewood and had another campfire. Some of the logs needed to be cut, so Ian worked like a true pioneer and sawed some of the wood with the camp saw.

Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast and then prepared to pack up camp and head home. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn off my camera on Saturday night and the battery died. So the only picture we have of the whole family at the campsite is from my camera phone...and it isn't great. But it will have to do.

The vacation was fantastic. I am so glad that were able to get away and recharge for a bit. It was great being away from the computers! And Shan was pretty proud of how I held up with camping in the rain. (This was only the 2nd year in my life that I have camped in a tent!)

This is definitely one family tradition that I will continue for many years!

No...I'm not dead!!! LOL

Okay...so we have been on hiatus for the last few weeks and now I finally returned to civilization and get to share with you why.

Shan and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary this year, but unfortunately, our anniversary is in wedding season, so we weren't able to celebrate it. But we did decide to treat ourselves to a wonderful, kid-free, anniversary cruise in the Caribbean!! (With a little help from reward points from our debit card! WOOHOO!)

So this post is going to be severely pic heavy, but I hope you enjoy them!

So this just seemed like the right place to start. You can take the photographer on vacation, but you can't completely take the photographer out of her! LOL


While we were pulling out of port, there was an unmanned rocket launch just a few miles away at Cape Canaveral. So of course, I had to pull out the big camera and the longest lens that I took (my 50-150mm) and snap away. So here are 2 shots I got of the rocket. (The second one is very cropped in, so it lost a bit of quality from that.)


Now for the amazing part....after those rocket shots...I never pulled out my big camera again!!! We used our waterproof point and shoot for the rest of the vacation and it felt great to just be a couple and enjoy a relaxing vacation together and to not have to be photographers! (Don't get me wrong...I love being a photographer, but sometimes I need to be reminded that I am also a person, a woman, a wife and that I have many other interesting facets to my life!)

So what a better way to start out a Caribbean cruise than with a couple of frosty drinks! Thought this was a cute shot!

At our first stop, one of the most pressing things that needed to be done was some downtime with my hubby in a hammock on the beach! Can you think of a better way to spend a December day?!?! I can't! Here is a shot of our view while kicking back and cuddling in the hammock.

Here is another cute shot of the two of us on the beach!

We got to go snorkeling as one of our excursions from the ship and it was awesome! The fish were everywhere and beautiful. They would even follow us while we swam as if we were the lead fish!! LOL There were times that it actually freaked me out a bit because when I was trying to swim I was kicking schools of fish and hitting them with my hands just trying to get away! But overall, it was a very neat experience. They definitely weren't afraid of us. (Oh...and I found out halfway through the swim that the lifeguard at that beach had been feeding them which is why they stuck around! LOL)



Now if any of you have met my hubby or heard me talk about him, he is affectionately known as our "Resident Geek". In fact, on one of our photography forums, he is known as "The Nerd Husband". And sad as it is to admit, if you have ever heard the song "White and Nerdy" by Weird Al Yankovic, it fits him in some ways and now after this trip, it fits him in another. We got to take rides on Segways! If you don't know what a Segway is, it is a 2 wheeled scooter that you ride on standing up. It looks like it would be hard to do, but after about 5 minutes of practice, it was really easy! Here is a picture of Shan on his Segway! (Be watching his MySpace page...it will include this pic and the theme song "White and Nerdy" very soon! LOL)

I thought I would include a couple of night shots. The first is our Ship at night while we were docked and then we set the timer on our camera, set the camera on a cement retaining wall, and stood very still to get a shot of us together at night with the ship in the background! (BTW...I am not pregnant...I just look like it because I ate enough for 10 on the cruise everyday! Dang them and their great food...available 24/7!)



One of the activities that we could do on the ship was to climb the rock wall. The rock wall is the highest point on the ship! It was really cool and I was surprised that I was able to make it all the way to the top. (I am not the most athletic of people! LOL) Here are pics of Shan and I climbing the wall.




Of course, what would a vacation be without cuddly little animals?!?! Ours found us every night on our beds when we came back in the evening. This one was my favorite! (And yes...he is made of towels!)


And now we have reached the end of our vacation. The last night of the cruise, a storm rolled in. But before it did, it gave up this awesome image over the port side of the ship. There is nothing quite like seeing the sky open with the sun streaming in over a blank slate of water! It is awesome!
So that was our vacation in a nutshell. We had a great time. Got to talk as adults and enjoy being husband and wife for a week and really recharged our batteries! We decided that 5 years between vacations is way too long and we are going to need to do this on an annual basis! Hope you enjoyed seeing our vacation. Sorry we haven't been in touch in awhile, but disconnecting from the world for awhile is a great way to find your soul again!

Steph