Ollie

In the midst of all the hair dying this weekend, I let the boys take a bath (instead of the usual shower.) And I ended up taking a sort of update to my favorite picture ever.

Now:

Then:

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Automattic Grand Meetup 2016

Here it is, the massive, picture-heavy post recapping our big yearly company meetup. This year (and I hope next year and beyond) it took place in Whistler, British Columbia. What a gorgeous setting! Getting there wasn’t my favorite (mostly because of the two-plus hour bus ride from the Vancouver airport) but once we were there, it was fantastic.

Mountains on the way! (And a bus window reflection)

The view from our room. The hotel on the left is where half of the company stayed.

My crazed “I GOT POUTINE FINALLY!!!” face.

I feel like they could be twinsies.

More potential twinsies. (Or triplets since Mikey is in both pics.)

KarKar and me.

The first day was our team day, so I spent the first half with the hiring team, and the second half with all of Happiness.

Athena! Love.

Karen and a bunch of HEs.

Beckett and I got up early one morning and went for a run around a 3.5 mile loop. It was hilly (mountainous, even, for this NOLA girl) and I almost ran all of it. Except for a few steep uphills. I wish I had better photos of the route, but they’re all blurry.

We spent time over the next few days in classes, and I didn’t really take pictures there. But here are a bunch of pretty pictures of Whistler Village:

The whole company took a pic. See if you can find me!

On our activity day, I went up the mountain in a gondola with a few others. It was terrifying and fun and awesome and gorgeous. We hiked a bit, saw some snow, rode a chairlift into a cloud, and saw a giant rainbow. Good stuff.

Video of the chairlift up. It was incredibly quiet and peaceful. Except when I was shrieking in terror. (Kidding.)

On the way up.

My terror-filled face on the chairlift.

Snow! And rocks that we would have plummeted to.

SNOWBALL!!!!!

It was v foggy/cloudy up there. And snowing a bit? Or sleeting? Let’s just say snow.

The chairlift down looked WAY scarier, but because we couldn’t see anything, it was okay! I took a time lapse video of it:

More pics on a mountain:

On the way up.

The weather was so random, as you can see from those photos. Turn one way, and it would be cloudy and gray, and in another direction, sunny and blue.

After the chairlift, we took the peak-to-peak gondola between Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains. It was pretty crazy.

The cable droops between the peaks. So weird and cool and kind of scary.

High above the trees.

A river runs through it. (The valley)

Don’t come up behind the animals and touch them on the back.

A12s in a gondola!

GOLD!!!!

One day I had some free time and spent it hiking with some friends. We went to Lost Lake, and I don’t think we found the path with the incredible views everyone else got, but it was a lovely hike and I did get some nice pics.

Wait up!

Picturesque stream.

Picturesque path.

Elizabeth capturing the picturesque view.

Picturesque Lost Lake

More lake that was lost.

Random rocks.

I have a thing for “path” pictures.

Picturesque grass.

Does it chap my hide that my favorite pic was taken with my iPhone? Maybe a bit.

The WWWP5K was Monday morning, and it was on the same path that Beckett and I ran a few days before. The distance was a bit vague, but we ran straight for 37 minutes WITHOUT STOPPING AND ON HILLS AND STUFF so I figure we covered at least 3.1 miles. I guess Orange Theory works after all, eh? I haven’t really run distances in a while, so I was very pleased about this.

Okay, one more batch of pics from our closing party. I was wise this year and didn’t stay up until 4am the night before, so I was able to enjoy it a bit more.

YUM.

YES INDEED.

Clicky wins.

The toast.

The stage.

A12s rock!

Tutu queens!

But not too much, as I had to be up at 3am to catch the bus back to Vancouver, and then fly home for a zillion hours (whyever United thinks a layover in Newark between Vancouver and NOLA is a good idea, I’ll never know.)

First meal in Canada, last meal in Canada.

Finally made it home at 10:30pm, to many, many, many hugs from my boys. Here’s what Oliver drew before I got home. (RIP me.)

Until next year!

Month 105

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Due to inclement weather, we had to take this month’s picture inside. And due to our small living room, the proportions of this picture are a bit off as well.

How did I get those smiles, you might ask? I just pulled out my old trick from when they were toddlers and yelled, “POOP!” Worked like a charm.

Also, they look a lot more alike in black and white.

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Glamour Ziggy

I kind of randomly decided to take some photos of Ziggy. That’s about all I have to say in this post. (Except I didn’t turn the ottoman around to show a non-chewed up corner because Ziggy did it, after all.)

23 hours at the beach

My friend and coworker Deborah and her family went on vacation to the same resort Kiki and I took the boys to, two and four years ago. So I said I’d drive up for the night with the boys and hang out.

I got a free hotel room using rewards points, and Saturday morning, Oliver, Miles, and I hit the road. (Linus didn’t want to be in a car for that long, so he got plenty of quality time with Daddy and Ziggy.)

We got there in the early afternoon and swam and floated and ate and drank and swam some more until the evening, when the boys and I drove five minutes down the road to our hotel. We snuggled in bed and watched House Hunters Renovations and all konked out after our busy day. We hit the beach on Sunday morning, and spent a little more time in the pools, and then it was time to go home.

A short trip, but a really nice one! Next year, we definitely need to go longer!

I understand Linus wanting to stay home, but I wish he’d come. I’m in love with these pictures of Oliver and Miles. 😍 Really wish I had one of my green-haired boy!

And some more random pics taken with my phone:

Swimming at the Caribe

Bushwhackers!

Me and Deborah

Late afternoon overlooking the bay

Hotel breakfast!

At the beach

Beach

Miles rocking a hat

One last pic at the Caribe before heading home.

Pokémon hunting

Who knew, that hunting for Pokémon would make for such great pictures? The boys and I are spending the weekend in Baton Rouge with Emily and my mom and Larry. My sister will be here on Sunday with Andrew, so I expect I’ll corner that little one for pics when he gets here.

I’m just waiting for some photographer to come out with a “Pokémon Go Photo Session.” Maybe this is how I can make my millions.

And then I made them all stand for a sec in the golden late afternoon light for individual pics.

20160715-IMG_2601 — Emily, her mother’s daughter for sure

20160715-IMG_2613 — Oliver, pre-teen in training

11 days in Europe

Okay, I need to just get this written before I forget everything.

For a good recap of Spain, read Erica’s post here.

Friday morning

Arrived in Barcelona, after a flight with no sleep. I tried. I really tried. At least I got to catch up on some movies.

Had my first jamon sandwich, then met Erica at the airport (her flight arrived not long after mine) and we headed into town to drop off our luggage at a locker, and then we just wandered around until our Airbnb was available.

Many, many photos from that day are in this post.

Walked through the Gothic Quarter, made our way through a path of what felt like miles of blankets covered in fake Michael Kors handbags, “Nike” sneakers, and sunglasses. Finally got to the beach! Put toes in Mediterranean!

Erica and I went to the Sagrada Família on Saturday the 18th, after we’d given our talk. (More details on all that later.) I had tried to go when I was in Barcelona last time, cough cough, but didn’t get to.

Anyway, I’m not usually one for visiting old buildings or churches, but this was truly exceptional. So unique and breathtaking and many other adjectives. Construction began on this church designed by Gaudí in 1882 and it’s not done yet.

Erica and I also booked tickets to the tower, which was fun and hair-raising. (You take an elevator up but a tightly wound spiral staircase down, and it’s kind of terrifying.)

Without further ado…

Details outside

The interior

Views from the tower:

Terrifying staircase:

People right as they walk in, stop, dumbfounded, then take pics.

They say it’s going to be finished (finally) in ten years. We’ll see.

June 4, 2016 {number 102}

Their new friends (who sadly, went home today) are in this month’s picture. Can’t wait to go visit them one day!

Flower

April 4, 2016 {number 100!}

When I started taking monthly pics of the boys, I didn’t know when I was going to stop. I still don’t.

It’s possible I went a little overboard this month. But I had fun, and even got the boys actually looking forward to the monthly picture, which has never happened.