Bed and Breakfast

My wife and I found ourselves with out the squids (our nickname for our kids since they were little tiny squids :-) for more than a few days so we decided that we wanted a little get away of our own.  I don't know how Michelle does it but she has the Midas touch when it comes to finding places for us to visit or vacation at.  She did it again and found us a very nice bed and breakfast down on Solomon Island, Maryland.  We spent two nights at the Blue Heron B & B.  Located right on the water, we rented a King Suite that shared a deck with another room (although we had the deck to ourselves all weekend). 

 It was a weekend of firsts.  My first time at a B & B, our first time at Solomon Island, MD, and our first time trying out paddle boarding.  When we were in San Diego a coupe of weeks ago visiting our grandson, my wife noticed a lone paddle boarder playing in the surf amongst all the regular surfers.  She thought that it would be fun to try sometime and as luck would have it, they rented boards not to far from were we where staying.  Michelle rented us boards and we spent 4 hours cruising (very carefully) around the bay.  I can proudly say that even though we came close a couple of times we never fell off. 

 We had a great weekend.  The B & B was run mainly by Amanda, the wife of the husband wife team that owns the place.   It was beautifully decorated with a modern nautical theme.  Our room was spacious, comfortable, and well furnished.  Amanda was a great hostess and a fantastic cook.  She whipped up some omelets and home fries the first morning that were probably the best we had ever had.  The second morning, she made a Canadian bacon, pesto, eggs, and crepes plate that again was fantastic.

Oh yea, Amanda had a little help from Zilla :-)  

 Amanda offered bicycles that Michelle and I took advantage of on our last night there.  We cruised the streets around the island on a very nice summer night. 

 Michelle and I usually don't like to stay at the same place twice because we like to try out new things but if we ever need a quick get away and had little time to plan, we will definitely stay at the Blue Heron B & B again!

Thanks Amanda!

Some of the sites around town including some beautiful sunsets;

Little E!

My wife and I had a great family photo shoot this past weekend. We've never been out to Frederick, Maryland before but we met up with a the very nice family, mom, dad and as I kindly refer to as “Little E” :-) The location was picked by the family and as we've never been out there before we Googled the location and then showed up early so we could walk around to check out possible photo shots. We found Frederick to be a very cute little town and a perfect place for taking these kind of family shots.  It was a great morning for photos as well.  It was slightly overcast not too hot and very light on people traffic and just an overall nice setting with grass, brick, bright colored buildings and a river that ran right to the middle of the park.

We love taking family pictures especially when young kids are involved.  We always tell the family that everything that we're going to do today is dictated by what the kids want to do.  We just let them do there thing and we follow them around to capture what ever “their thing” is that day :-)  Other than you'll see some fancy accessories Little E is wearing at times we don't try and pose them in any particular way. Every once in a while the whole family would huddle up together for a moment for a couple of quick family shots. Little E was great.   We walked up and down the boardwalk.  She loved the flowers and picking up any little something off the ground.  She also loved playing with a ball and took a real liking to the pearl necklace my wife brought along. 

Anyway, we did a great time for about an hour and a half and then it started to rain but by that time we had well over 400 pictures and some great shots that we will share with you below.  

Take care everyone – Steve and Michelle

Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard

A couple of weekends ago my wife and I met up with some friends at the Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard.  They were having a wine festival where we got to drink some fine wine and listen to a good band called The Kelly Band. We pretty much dance the night away even though the skies opened up and it poured down rain.  Didn't slow us down a bit but I did have to put the camera away :-)   The band was excellent in fact we plan on seeing them again at the Tarara Winery on October 1.  If you have the day free, please plan on joining us out there.  

Oh and by the way, my wife and her good friend Theresa made it up on stage with the band.  This is pretty much the norm for those two (by this time it was pouring down rain so I had put the camera away already so I wasn't able to capture the moment, but I know it will happen again so until next time :-)  

Take care  - Steve and Michelle

Bride to be! :-)