Last week we loaded up our three suitcases, a pack and play, lots of food, blankets and pillows and headed out out of town for the big Maughan Vaca 2014. Luke drove us the entire way to Portland in the first day. Brody and I hung out in the back with no tears (Brody) and no nausea (me). It was a miracle. We stayed the night in a hotel near the Portland Temple. Friday morning I headed to shoot the Dohrman Wedding then we packed up our car again and headed to Seaside! We spent three nights in Seaside with my parents and four out of five of my siblings. It was a total blast. Brody LOVED the Ocean, sand castes, carousel-ing and spending time with his aunts, uncles and grandparents. After Seaside, we headed to Olympia for the rest of the week.

PART ONE: SEASIDE (blog here)

While we were there we hit our favorite restaurants – Koibito’s, Chipotle and Red Robin! On Tuesday, we celebrated Emmalee’s 9th birthday with her favorites (which also happen to be mine). We devoured the crepes, pasta salad and ravioli. It was so fun to visit with both sets of grandparents on her birthday and throughout the week. Also, our dear friends, the Nash’s, came into town from China on Tuesday and stayed until Thursday. Brody had a fun (and a little challenging) time with their two toddlers. On Wednesday, we went to the movies, had dinner with my grandparents and watched Emmalee’s soccer game. Our favorite excursion was to the Point Defiance Zoo on Thursday. After a lovely Taco Bell experience (no sarcasm), we headed to the animals. We loved all the exhibits, the cool-ish weather and spending time with aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins.

Friday was party day! Emmalee’s party was at Chuck E Cheese with our cousins and some of her best friends. Brody is now obsessed with “moneys” so we had to whip out his Jake and the Neverland Pirate piggy bank that I was saving for his birthday. He loved putting his money in the machines and collecting his tickets. Every time he ran out of money, he ran to my mom “grandma, moneys?!” At the end of the day, he got to trade his tickets in for a rocket launcher, which he also loved. The rest of the day was quite busy between napping, photo shoots with some dear friends, packing up the car and shooting the Dohrman Reception. We left Saturday morning. Brody was a little more reluctant this time, but still did amazing for being a toddler enduring a full-day drive. It was a much needed break in the middle of our crazy summer. Thanks for everyone who made the #maughanvaca2014 so amazing!

Brody played with my camera for part of the drive. He took the bottom right photo of me….along with about 50 of the ceiling.

This was one of our longer pit stops. Luke tried to take a nap in the grass, so I explored the rocks and grass with this pantless baby.

Zoooooo

And a few iPhone snapshots from our phones:

Kylee Maughan

Kylee started Kylee Ann Photography 9 years ago, and has since grown from a one woman amateur show to a full associate team. We shoot 50-75 weddings a year, and thrive on kindness and service. After a year of teaching Intro to Photography at the local technical college, she discovered that helping other entrepreneurs create thriving businesses is what fires her up! She hosts semi-annual Kylee Ann Sleepovers all over the US, speak at conferences and teach online courses about running a small business and marketing.

kyleeannphotography.com/kylee