This is definitely a little bit too much.  After a week long sub-zero and snow, it’s a hassle to get out.  This morning I measured the thickness of the snow on top of our picnic table and the official record is 13 inches.  As I parked my car at the bottom of the hill, we have to walk in this thick snow for about 200 yards before driving anywhere.

But someone is having a ball!  Our friend, Matthew, is from Iowa and he certainly found home on the slide:

The plane dived through the clouds hovering above the city and I could see the ground and saw white.  “Oh, no, snow!”  It’s 1 o’clock in the morning and we were just coming back from a R&R trip to Cancun.  Freezing cold and snow were not something I was excited about.

The first thing comes to mind about Cancun is its turquoise, jade like water.  I could just sit by the beach and watch the impossibly blue water waves crashing down and let the mind drift. Nothing was more relaxing.

The second thing comes to mind are…well, foods.  I know.  You were supposed to enjoy the water and stuff, but as we stayed at one of these ‘All inclusive’ resorts, we could eat at almost any time at any places…restrurants, buffets, snack bars within the resort.  We just sat down and the very friendly waiter would come.  We would just order up a cold beer or a margarita, and pick whatever on the menu.  Often we would go to multiple places for a meal.  Definitely over-eaten!

Another highlights were snorkling near Isla Mujeres and the visit to Chichen Itza, one of the many Maya Temples.  The temple site was amazing but the draw back was that there were many, many visitors.  Every tour group would go to the same spots and you could hear that guide were talking about the same stuff.  So, if you can, I would recommend finding your own transportation and go there early and late.  Or visit one of the less crowded sites.

We went with another family and they have a three-year old, extremely active, cute, and athletic daughter, Alice, and our son, Anton, was just about crazy about her.  All in all, it was a great and relaxing trip.

Anton and Alice

Our friend liyong and his daugher Alice

Anton and Alice were checking out turtles

One the bus from Chichen Itza trip, Alice gave me a thumb-up

Big and small

Golfing…holding technique was not important

‘Mixed double’

All wiped out

Just beautiful

More tequila, senor?

Ocean view

The Majestic

Kiteboarding

Just feel it

Evan a door was so beautifully painted

The last day we met a former Marine, Morgan, getting a temp tatoo on his massive arm

One of the biggest rewards of photographing weddings is that you get to meet nice and intelligent people, and later develop a friendship with them.  And years later after their wedding, you get to meet their first babies…how sweet!

Erin is one of them.  Erin and Ben married several years ago. They work and live in Chicago area but Erin’s parents live in Seattle.  For the past few years Erin and I have been keeping in touch through emails.  This year Erin, Ben, and their lovely one year old daughter, London, came back to Seattle for visit (they also need to go to Michigan to visit Ben’s parents when they are not coming to Seattle) so we arranged a family photo session at Gaswork Park yesterday.  It was just so nice to see Erin, Ben, and their daughter, and Erin’s parents and siblings again!

The whole family was super easy and fun to work with.  They were very photogenic and apparently they are very close to each other so there were a lot of fun and great interactions among them and all I needed to do was to be ready and snap.  We all had a great time

And here is a link to a slideshow with a few more images:

http://jackzyoung.com/Webshow/Erin_Family/index.html