Kristie Serra Photography Blog »

Wow, June really came and went in a hurry, didn’t it? What a fun month it was for us… my twins graduated from Kindergarten (*sigh*), we visited Oregon and had our first family camping trip, we saw Toy Story 3 (I totally cried), we explored some trails and fit in lots of picnics.

Before July is here, I wanted to share our favorite iphone images from June…

My favorite: B is for Bear (M and I took this in a stairwell while we were waiting to scare Ali and A. hee hee)

Hubby’s favorite: the beach cruiser

A’s favorite: BOWL! This is the bowling alley from the Goonies where Chunk smears his pizza and milkshake on the window while watching the police chase. We bowled here while visiting Astoria.

M’s favorite: B is for Bear

Quigley’s favorite: the smiling pancake. He had his very own party with the pancake mix tonight!

I hope everyone has amazing holiday weekend! We are off in the morning to explore the Olympic Peninsula. We will be camping near Port Angeles, hiking through the Rainforest, visiting Forks and the other surrounding areas! Looking forward to the adventure!

Happy 4th!
xo,
Kristie

Since writing THIS POST, I never would have imagined what the next year had in store for us! Today we are celebrating our seventh anniversary, 3,000+ miles away from home. It’s something we didn’t see coming at the time, but I guess that’s how some of the most amazing adventures begin, don’t they?

The last year has been so many things… It has allowed us to reinvent ourselves and it has taught us so many things, which we will always be so grateful for, ALWAYS! So, a little recap: we packed up our life to take a huge leap of faith and follow a dream, we left our family and friends, we cried, we prayed a lot, we downsized, we felt a little more free, we felt homesick, we played in snow, we discovered skype, three out of four of us started school, three out of four of us LOVED school, we made our little place feel a little more like home, we lost our dog, we found our dog, we struggled, we made new friends, we visited our friends back home, we cried some more, we played, we biked, we hiked, we left the country, we came back, we hugged, we kissed, we climbed trees, we lost our dog again, we found our dog again, we camped out, we camped in, we realized that no matter where we are, as long as we are together, we are home!

I couldn’t imagine being on this adventure with anyone other than Ali. I am so proud of him for having the courage to go after his dream and make a new life for our family! He’s just finished his second semester of art school. He was born to do this! His talent and imagination blow me away everyday! It’s amazing!

In the last year we also discovered Petracovich, an amazing folksy group out of San Francisco. We looooove their music and I am excited to share it with you. Click here: http://petracovich.bandcamp.com/track/you-waited-for-me to listen and download “You Waited for Me” for FREE. If Ali and I were to ever have a song, this would be it! You’ll find other amazing songs of theirs on their website that you can download for free as well. Enjoy!

I want to leave you with these beautiful words from “You Waited for Me.”

You waited for me

For the bones in my feet

To harden and grow steady

Now I’m a sturdy little bird

I’d go with you around the world

Or I’d stay right here on this block

For years and years and years

Ali, my love, I’d go with you around the world or I’d stay right here on this block for years and years and years. Happy Anniversary. I love you, Bub.

There is something so fun about just hoping in the car and going. No plans. No agenda. Just the open road. My hubby surprised me with a little road trip to Canada (Vancouver, BC) on Mother’s Day. In a little over two hours we were there! How wonderful is that? We had no other plans but to explore as much as we could in the few hours we were there.

One of the places we visited was Granville Island. If you are like me and most moms I know, you have tons and tons of images of your kiddos and lots of images of your hubbies with your kiddos, but very few of you with your kiddos. I have to admit, most of the time my hair isn’t done, make-up isn’t on and my teeth might not even be brushed, so I prefer to be behind the camera, but there are those times where I want to be in front of the camera with my boys.

This day, happened to be one of those times. It was Mother’s Day, I couldn’t sit back and take more images of the boys with their daddy, so I turned the camera over to my hubby. He took lots of pictures of us that day, but this ONE, I had no idea about.

This ONE snuck in with the hundred that had us looking into the camera.

This ONE makes me feel the squeeze of M’s little hands on my head.

This ONE makes me fall in love with my hubby all over again.

This ONE will always remind of how perfectly M. fit in my arms, even at six years old.

I’ll leave you with these beautiful words, how true they are…

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.”

-Aaron Siskind

xo,
Kristie

It’s hard to believe that this Thursday marks sevens months here in Seattle! We’ve had some seriously fun adventures. One of my favorites was our first time to one of our local beaches.

Our good friends took us in April. We explored the beach, had a picnic, made friends with a crab or two, dug holes (almost to China), froze our booties off, found some great shells, had a sword fight and climbed all over the beautiful driftwood.

Oh, yes, I forgot to mention the giant stuffed sea turtle! He made the trip with us too. If there is any chance that A. can bring “big turtle”  ANYWHERE, he does! He’s in bed with him every night too! The image with the turtle on his back, I swear, is a glimpse into his future.

We’ve explored a few other beaches since April, so more images to come.

Hope you’re enjoying your week.

xo,
Kristie

I thought it might be fun to share some of our products from time to time. A definite client favorite is the session image box. The image box features a custom design and includes all the session gallery images as 5×7 prints. When they come in, I’m not sure whether to drool first or hug them (no worries though, I never drool on the actual products).

On a side note, we are heading out of town tomorrow for a little family adventure. This weekend is The Goonies 25th Anniversary Celebration in Astoria, OR. We are packed, the car is loaded and we will be driving down in the morning to do a little Truffle Shuffle. We can’t wait! I hear the Oregon coast is breathtaking–I hope to have lots of images to share!

Before I go, I’ll leave you with quotes from one of my favorite scenes from the Goonies:

Chunk: Listen, okay? You guys’ll never believe me. There was two cop cars, okay? And they were chasing this four-wheel deal, this real neat ORV, and there were bullets flying all over the place. It was the most amazing thing I ever saw!

Mikey: More amazing than the time Michael Jackson come over to your house to use the bathroom.

Brandon Walsh: More amazing than the time you saved those old people from that nursing home fire, right?

Mouth: Yeah, and I bet it was even more amazing than the time you ate your weight in Godfather’s pizza, right?

Chunk: Okay, Brand. Michael Jackson didn’t come over to my house to use the bathroom. He was about to. But his sister did.

Enjoy your weekend!

xo,
Kristie

He might be six going on sixteen and already too cool for his really cool shoes, but under those shoes….

… he still wears his Care Bear socks, which makes me realize that no matter how old he gets, he will always be my baby!

My baby, who looks a little (okay, a lot) like Pig-Pen, can’t seem to walk in a straight line without falling. Today was their first field trip. My hubby and I had a blast chaperoning the trip to the zoo. Just before running out the door this morning, I grabbed our first-aid kit to throw in my bag. My hubby couldn’t understand why I would bring it along. Funny how moms just know because I needed it three times, twice for M. and once for A. No other kiddo needed my first-aid services. Ha!

I love that little twinkle in his eyes and the crinkle he gets on his nose when he smiles BIG. It seems impossible that he and A. only have two weeks left of kindergarten. Oh, if I could only slow down time, I so would!

xo,
Kristie

Where on Earth have I been? Well, it’s been a combination of a few things… working through a bit of a funk, soaking in and enjoying the boys’ last month and a half of kindergarten (*sigh*) and taking a couple fun day trips all the while trying to figure out the perfect balance for the moment. Sometimes all you can do in step back and take a little break. So, that’s what I did.

It feels great to be doing this post. I’ve thought of including our monthly favs in a little book maybe after a year or two. Just something random and fun, so I want to keep this going. With that being said, here are our favorites for May…

My favorite: it’s a tie between “beware of bob” and “I live in Canada and I think Leslie Glass is cool.”

The stories go like this: the bob sign caught my eye while driving through West Seattle. I thank my lucky stars for being blessed with a hubby, who is willing (whether he likes it or not) to pullover at a moments notice so I can snap a quick pic of the most random things. So, we pulled over and I walked up to the house to take the picture, I was sure to stay on the sidewalk, but just then the front door opens and out comes their dog. I LOVE dogs, ALL dogs, as a kid, I wanted to be a German Shepherd when I grew up, but this one looked like if I took one step closer to their house, he would eat my face. So, I stayed put, smiled, got my pic and got out! I’m going to assume that the dog is BOB!

For Mother’s Day, we headed to Vancouver, B.C. On our way, I was talking with my best friend, Les. Jokingly, we were coming up with a to-do list for while I was in Canada. One of the things on the list was to tell a Canadian about Les. I needed a picture to prove it, so I made the sign and my hubby and I kept an eye out for someone we thought might play along. These two in the pic, holding up my sad little napkin, were so nice and so much fun–it couldn’t have been more perfect!! Of course, I couldn’t just walk up to them and ask them to hold up a napkin so I could take a picture. I had to tell them about myself and where I live in the States and about Les and where she lives and how I had moved and how much I miss her, etc. They were probably thinking, “oh, please just give me the napkin!!” Hahaha!! Anyway, mission accomplished!!

Hubby’s favorite: our rain boots. Taken on South Alki beach this past weekend. Local friends, be sure to check out the Beach Naturalists program.

A’s favorite: the zig-zag mohawk dog. There isn’t a dog that he’s met that he didn’t like!

M’s favorite: the buzz kite. To infinity and beyond! We were having a blast trying to channel Mary Poppins.

Quigley’s favorite: the zig-zag mohawk dog. There isn’t a dog that he’s met that he didn’t like! He’s like his older, two-legged brother, A. Ha!