Moss Beach/Grey Whale Cove

My mom came down to visit for a night on Friday. We decided to do something different and fun on Saturday before she had to go home, so we drove back down to Half Moon Bay for another beach excursion. {If you follow me on Instagram, my friend Carolina and I took the kids to this same beach last Saturday...this time I brought my real camera!}

The tide pools were great this time. We had a full moon this week so that makes the tides much stronger. We were able to see lots of little creatures. The kids just LOVE this. Heck, we all do!

This crab was a meanie! He got Jake a couple times with those claws.

And Pete too...as evidenced by his yell face in the pic! HA!

Building rock towers. Because....you just have to.

Hello, Handsome.

One photo to prove I was there too.

After a while we got back in the car and drove back up to another beach we saw coming in. We thought it would be perfect for eating lunch {lots of sand and not very many people}. Only, we had to walk down these stairs to get there. Grandma was not very excited about that. But she made it down AND back up just fine :)

Jake building a sand cave.

Playing tag with the waves...

It was a fun time. Oh, how we just love the beach! So glad my mom got to go with us too!
xoxo Love you Mom!!

Summer Lovin'?

You remember summer when you were a kid? How by mid July the days were dragging on, you couldn't tell one day from the next? How by the time August rolled around you were SO ready for school to start? And Labor Day could not get here fast enough?
Well, that's how I felt a lot as a kid.
That concept is completely lost now. I just feel like summer is slipping away faster and faster by the second. How is it July already? How is it that my calendar is so full that I'm not sure if we'll have time for a weekend out of town or a camping trip?
We've been having a lot of fun, that is no doubt. But I feel like we're just constantly rushing to the 'next thing' or next event.

So far this summer we have:
enjoyed a visit with my cousin
went to a wedding (pics in the blog post below)
planned and went to a big anniversary party
several photo shoots
went to church camp
went swimming at the lake
hosted our niece for a week
went to the zoo
went to the county fair
explored San Francisco for the day
spontaneous trip down the coast to Half Moon Bay
been on many hikes
hosted a 4th of July BBQ

And that's just June (and the beginning of this week) y'all!

We still have all of this to look forward to:
a visit from my mom tomorrow
weekend visit to the other grandma's house (Pete's mom)
baseball or soccer camp (haven't decided which yet)
horse camp and pony party
another girls tea party
a photo shoot (at least one so far)
swimming lessons
birthdays galore: mine, Jake's then Megan's
a visit to my cousin's
a back-to-school brunch

And that's just what I have written on the calendar. I'm sure there will be more in between.

school starts August 13th.
*panic*panic*panic*

I'm exhausted. Are you?

Wedding Photos

Finally here are some wedding photos. I've been holding out sharing some here just simply because I've been looking for a different format to showcase pictures.
Anyway here they are. I think these might be my favorite shots ever. Though, it doesn't hurt that my sister in law is freaking gorgeous.

10 things from the weekend.

1. Friday there was a fire below our house. The Oakland hills have a history of very bad fires breaking out. Here is a link to the worst fire ever in 1991 (google images link) . So to say it was scary to watch flames and smoke from my driveway was an understatement. What happened was a car hit a telephone pole, the lines fell and caused a spark which caused the fire.
2. Growing up in the Sierra Foothills, we experienced lots of brush fires. But never once had we been evacuated. Well, after 1991, the people in Oakland don't mess around. I was standing watching the flames when all of a sudden over a loud speaker the police and firefighters were telling us all to: GET OUT OF YOUR HOMES NOW! THERE IS A FIRE YOU MUST EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! And then I turn around to see a California Highway Patrol officer in my driveway telling me to get out ASAP. I grabbed my camera, my laptop (which was stupid since nothing is saved on my laptop), my dog and one picture of my dad. We drove down the hill to our church and took shelter there for about 2 hours before being let back in. Here are pics of the fire and you can see how close it got to the homes. (ABC news start about photo #12 the first ones aren't really anything) Nothing was damaged and no one was hurt, thank the Lord!
3. Saturday we had an anniversary party for our friends parents who have been married for 50 years. Their wedding back in 1962 was very small, they didn't even have a reception so their children decided to make this anniversary something very special. They went all out for it! I was asked again to take photos at the event. (I took portraits for them about a week ago)
4. We didn't get home from the anniversary until about 10:30. I was completely exhausted (and fighting a cold) but I couldn't sleep. All I could think about was the photos I'd taken {I have no desire to be a large group photographer.} and then the wedding we were headed too (and I was photographing AGAIN) the next day.
5. We woke up early Sunday morning and got on the road to Tahoe for my sister in law's wedding.
6. In true Wilcox fashion we get up there and everything was.....a little crazy. We all thought we were to get on the boat at 4. Turns out at 2:30 we find out we're actually supposed to be there at THREE. No one is dressed, had make up on or had their hair done. Awesome.
7. We did all make it on the boat by 3:30 though. So not too bad!
8. The wedding was great. The weather was beautiful. Here are a few unedited pics (I shot nearly 1,000 O_0 :

9. I have no desire whatsoever to be a wedding photographer. (Although this one was not bad and kinda fun)
10. Today we're home, but getting ready to leave again tomorrow for our church camp. I'm SO looking forward to relaxing all weekend!

Photo editing

Bare with me while I just try this out. I'm working on revamping my editing process and trying to get my pics to look better on my blog. I was going through my photos and noticing that I'm not always getting that real natural look that I prefer. I think styles change as time goes by just like anything and I'm finding I prefer a photo to look as natural and as less processed (?) as possible. At least in my own photos, that is. I also noticed that I like a warm tone, but some of my images were a little too yellow, especially here on blogger.

Here's my SOOC: White balance way off. A weird shadow merger coming out of her head.

Edited version: White balance warmed up, cloned out the weird merger, saturated colors a bit and sharpened for the web using unsharp mask at amount: 500, radius: .2 threshold 0. Image size was also changed to 500 pixels wide. (this was recommended by someone in my photography class to make photos look their best on the web) 

I'm hoping her skin tone looks natural here. Not too pink or yellow? 

I promise I do take pictures of Jake too, he's just not been a very cooperative subject lately. Any tips on bribing an almost 9 year old to pose nicely for mom?

Today's Adventures

Redwood Park/Stream Trail
Jake had some homework to do for his outdoor education class so I figured this was another great opportunity to get out and explore! I actually came to this park Monday night for a photo shoot with my friend parents. There are beautiful picnic grounds here, but also miles and miles of trails.

While Jake did his 'sit spot' homework. Megan and I took some pics. These photos still don't look right to me on blogger, but oh well.

He was not into taking picture today. Or maybe this is just his new "cool" way of posing. ?

He looks so uninterested and tired. Poopy head.

I can't remember what these flowers are called. Anyone? They were gorgeous. Right along side the trail.

Isn't it beautiful?

I think it's my new favorite place.