Crescent City

At the beginning of June, and the day after we returned from Minnesota, we hopped in the car to drive up to Crescent City. It was a really windy drive, but once we got there through the fog and nasty roads, it was all worth it because it was beautiful. We stayed in a really cool house with a nasty switchback driveway. So we were up pretty high and had a view of the ocean when it wasn't foggy (it was usually foggy about 20 of 24 hours a day, or so it seemed :) ) But we had a really good time and took the time to go to some tide pools one day.

Paisley holding a live Starfish. This picture makes it look like she was unsure about the whole thing, but I promise she really liked it!

Walking down the beach

Jason dipping her in the ocean, just so she can say she has :)

Jason and his brothers went on a little over nighter one of the days we were there. He will have to post sometime more about it, but they seemed to have a good time. Jason was really excited to use all of his new gear he has been getting for his birthday and Christmas!
So for a quick explanation on this photo, and Jason can fill in the details, but they only took a couple of cans of chili for dinner (we were very limited in light food options for them). Well, I am not sure how it happened but their whole thing of chili got tipped over after they had warmed it up. And since that was all they had to eat, they were not going to let it go to waste. So they began scooping the chili off of the picnic table with pringles. They must have been pretty hungry. haha. While they "roughed" it, the ladies stayed home, played games, did pedicures, and watched Mama Mia. As much fun as we had, we were glad to see them get back safe and sound the next morning.

Kayaking in Minnesota

While we were in Minnesota, Tim and Carrilyn took us on a camping trip, and even brought a trailer along so we could sleep comfortably! They also brought their kayaks along so we could try them out. I went kayaking for the first time, and while I didn't go far out I was still pretty proud of myself for even trying it, cause it is out of my comfort zone :) I don't have those pictures though, so if you want proof, let me know and Jason can post them. But here are a few fun shots from our time on the water.

Here is Jason kayaking on Lake Superior! He said the water was a lot more rough than the little lake that we had kayaked in earlier in the day. But he never tipped and did a great job!

More Lake Superior. I liked the way the water was splashing out of the water from his ore in this shot.

I said I wouldn't allow it, but gave in when I saw how shallow the water was (literally about 2 feet deep). I let Paisley go out in the kayak. Obviously she was thrilled! Can't you just see the joy?

If you click and make this picture bigger you can really see her excitement. She and Jason had some good bonding time. Her excited expressions can always make me smile too.

Blog Issues

If any of you tried to visit Jason's blog recently, there was an error and it didn't come up. That has now been fixed so it shouldn't happen again. Here is the url again: http://www.blog.tannerphotography.net/

Our apologies

From before we had Paisley we always thought it would be fun to let people find out Ashley was expecting just when they saw her rather than informing everyone. We decided against doing it for the Maister. But now that Ashley was expecting our second, we decided to give it a go.

Well its been more fiasco than fun... So first off I want to apologize to anyone that felt left out or wondered why they are finding out late in this pregnancy. Its nothing against anyone, we were letting people see it for themselves. And I admit I understand how you felt and why its not a great idea in the future.

We did have some basic rules that we followed. First, we didn't tell anyone until after the first trimester. We denied the fact if asked with the minor exception of our friends visiting from Spain/Denmark who were also expecting (my Caiaphas moment). Second, people had to ask a fairly direct question in the sense of are you guys expecting? Beating around the bush didn't get the answer. Third, if someone came to visit and wasn't going to see us until after the baby came we could tell them so we could chat about it in person.

Now this is what we have learned from this experience. When people have a suspicion you are expecting, it is very uncomfortable and difficult for them to openly ask if you are expecting since it can come across as an insult (may seem obvious to most, but you don't really think these things through before hand). Secondly, people find out in a different order and wonder why they were left out. This doesn't help you build your friendships any stronger. Lastly, people begin to notice and wonder why you haven't told them and an awkwardness can grow without you realizing it.

So I'll just take this moment and NOT recommend doing this. To everyone, sorry if our little experiment was less than entertaining for you. We understand. We do like having friends, so if you are still willing to be our friend we appreciate that :)

Did We Forget to Mention?

Did we forget to mention that we are expecting?! That's right ladies and gents, munchkin #2 is on the way! We should have our little one in our arms around November 6th. I (I would say we, but the baby is only growing inside one of us :) ) am 20 weeks along, and am so happy to be at the half way point. This pregnancy is going by SO fast. I suppose it is because I have been busy in school, and chasing the P-Maister. But I have been shocked because I have already been feeling the baby move for a few weeks. And Jason has even been able to feel it as well. You may be asking yourself why I am still calling it an "it" when we are 20 weeks along...that is because this baby's gender is going to be a surprise! We already had our big ultrasound earlier this week (see below for profile) and agree it will be a great surprise to wait for the delivery. This is so not me as I am a big planner, but I figure if I can wait this long, I can wait a little longer. Plus if it is a little girl, we are already prepared! And if it is a little boy then we will just have to do a little shopping, and I can't turn that down :)

Isn't it the cutest little face you ever did see?

Selling our car...

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/1228976582.html

If anyone is interested we are selling one of our two Honda Civics because it never moves :) Now that Ash finished Folsom Lake and is no longer working like before the Maister, we don't really use our car. So the list price above is the "going fishing" price, so real price we'll sell it for will be less. If anyone is interested let us know...

Check it out!

Jason just started his own blog. Go check it out here!

Minnesota

I'll leave it to Ashley to post more about our trip to Minnesota. But I had this one picture I wanted to share. My last trip to Minnesota I learned about freezing rain, single digit weather (all week), and that when you get cabin fever TME and Andrew take axes to the river and dig a hole in the ice to stick their heads in the freezing river to see if their hair will break off. Nothing quite so crazy this time, but when the wives were away TME had the idea to turn the watermelon into a boat. In the end it became a cat with Twizzler whiskers and pretzel twist eyes.