Category: Vacations
Thanks to the generous hospitality of our wonderful friend Stacee and her son, my family and I were able to visit Florida last month. We are so grateful that we were able to spend a week with our friends in such a beautiful location! We were in Hollywood, Florida most of the time, but also took a family day trip to Miami, had a memorable night on the town sans kids, and took an amazing trip to the Florida Keys. Here are some special moments from our trip!
Florida Vacation 2015 {St. Louis Children’s Photographer}
Write a Comment
Last Fall, I was able to attend Women’s Weekend 9. It was my fifth time going to this amazing retreat that happens once in the Spring and once in the Fall every year. Each time I go to Women’s Weekend, my experience is different, but the location and the women who attend hold a precious energy that is undeniably unique. I didn’t take quite as many photos this time, because it takes away from my experience when I see everything through a tiny rectangle on the back of my camera instead with my unobstructed eyes, but the moments I captured still take me back in time and get me excited about Women’s Weekend 10 in April!!
At the beginning of every retreat, Dianna holds an opening ceremony with a gentle yoga class. Here she is as she prepares to begin our class. Look at her beautiful smile! It was an awesome way to kick off the retreat, but I didn’t get any pictures because I participated in the entire class.
Recently, attendees have been able to enjoy (SUP Yoga) Standup Paddle Board Yoga (one of my favorite activities). I missed it this time because I stayed on the dock to take photos, so I hope I don’t miss it in the Spring!
My favorite place for savasana (so far) is on a paddle board. My face feels the warmth of the sun from far, far above with its powerful energy. The air breezes across the palms of my hands as the back of my hands rest gently on the top of the cool, soft water. The water connects to the Earth below and stretches out to a land that supports gently swaying, living, breathing trees, that reach up to touch the sky. With each breath, I feel the connection of everything that exists. Aaaaahhhhhh……..
This year was the first year that we had Hoop Dance at Women’s Weekend!! I was so excited to introduce Dianna to Michelle Schaeffer, the most amazing Hoop Dance instructor I know, and even more excited to find out that Michelle was able to attend! What a fun class!
My friend Jen took the picture of me on the right! Thanks Jen!
See you in the Spring Camp Manitowa!
Women’s Weekend 9 {St. Louis Lifestyle Photographer}
Write a Comment
What a privilege it was to attend Women’s Weekend 8 at Camp Manitowa this May. I met so many beautiful, strong women. Dianna Lucas, once again, you have coordinated an amazing weekend of relaxation, rejuvenation, and connection. Here are some highlights from the weekend.
St. Louis Event Photographer
Write a Comment
It’s been almost a year since my family and I drove to Gatlinburg with some good friends of ours and their families over winter break, so I thought maybe I should get some pictures up from our trip before the new year! We had a great time hiking, sight-seeing, and relaxing in our cabin. Here are a few highlights…
Write a Comment
So, I went on and on about how much I disliked snow on Facebook today, and about how I never take my kids out sledding when it snows in St. Louis, but then…I was inspired. As the kids got all bundled up to go play in our backyard, I too yanked on a couple of pairs of pants and prepared to brave the “wintry mix” that had been showering down upon us for hours. We had so much fun!!
There must always be snow angels…
There was a lot of ice coming down with the snow, which kinda hurts your face. Sometimes it was hard to keep your eyes open, as you can see!
But that couldn’t stop “S” from trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue!
Luna (the only Chihuahua I’ve ever known to like snow) had a blast too, until her tiny little paws started to freeze!!
Here’s “L” rolling around in the snow…
More fun down the snow slide!
I’m so glad I forced myself to go outside with my kiddos and capture these fun moments with them!! I hope all of you had a really great day with your family too!
4 Comments
-
Love!!!
-
Thanks Kalanit!! I am ecstatic not only that I went out to take these pocs, but also that it was still snowing while we were shooting. Sooo beautiful!!
-
-
These are wonderful! My favorites are 7, 8, 11, 13 and the one with your son cuddling Luna. Beautiful photos and what wonderful memories! Thanks for sharing.
-
Ellen, those are my favorites too!!! Thanks so much for looking!! 🙂
Write a Comment
I don’t have much time to work on personal photos, so these shots were taken almost a year ago! I plan to make a whole blog post, and can’t wait to finish it, but thought I’d at least get a couple of shots edited for our cousin. Here they are….stay tuned for more!!
Write a Comment
I was so lucky to spend my birthday on a women’s retreat a few weekends ago! Two friends and I attended the 5th Women’s Weekend retreat at Camp Manitowa, which was held at Rend Lake in Illinois. Our days were spent on yoga, meditation, dancing, challenging ourselves, and, most importantly, bonding with an amazing group of strong, beautiful, light-filled women. I hope I have another chance to do this again!
Here’s an image I took on our first evening together. The beauty of our intimate, spirit-lifting conversation set the mood for the entire weekend.
Who can resist an opportunity to pose in a field of edamame? Not Kalanit and me!
We got to ride down in a super cool red Jeep convertible!!
I love this shot of Kalanit walking into the campground…
And what an awesome bus!!
We stayed in yurts!!
Some of our yurt buddies… : )
Camp Manitowa is most known for their high ropes course. I can’t believe I climbed up at all, but especially with my camera! Holy cow!!! What an empowering experience!!
Here’s Asa looking awesome!!
And Shawna, the official event photographer…
A sign leading us to the labyrinth maze (spelled incorrectly, but still a nice touch)…
A symbolic mushroom (the reproductive organ of a much larger fungal organism growing beneath the forest floor) grew at the entrance to the maze. Since a mushroom’s life is so delicate, this one may not have even been there the very next day, when we, too, were all gone.
When we arrived at the labyrinth, each of us took a meaningful, silent meditational walk. Stones with special words had been placed in the middle of the maze by women last year. This year, many of the women added their own items that they had found on their walk through the labyrinth.
Ahhh…..UNITY…..and a photo bomb!
We all had the opportunity to tie-dye our t-shirts (a first time experience for me)!
One of my favorite parts of the weekend was when I took a kayak out for the first time ever and spent about an hour or so on the lake by myself. Wow. Pure peace. These images were taken with my phone since I was too scared to bring my real camera!
Since almost all of the women on the retreat were from St. Louis, I would just love to take classes with some of them right here in town! I hope one of these days I can find the time to get away and reconnect.
Peace, Love, and Happiness to you all!
Neshama
2 Comments
-
Fantastic photographs! Perfect collage! Yay! I smiled through all of them!
-
Thank you so much my dear friend Kalanit!!!! I’m so happy we were able to experience this together!
-
Write a Comment
Our biggest camping trip of the season happened on the weekend of July 13, 2012. Most of our mini vacation was sunny and beautiful, but we did go through a torrential downpour on Friday night, which, unfortunately, scared away a family as one member claimed there was a tornado on the way, and that there was no way he and his family were staying. They packed up in the rain and headed back to the safety of their home in St. Louis. The rest of us (including some first time campers) survived the storm, and went on a 5 mile float trip the next day. I can easily say it was the craziest float trip ever! Because the river level was so low, all of the surrounding campgrounds were putting their canoes and rafts into our part of the river. There were literally thousands of people on the Meramec that day! Overall, it was still a great experience with some of our closest pals, and we can’t wait to do it again next year! Here are some highlights…
One Comment
These are so gorgeous! They really capture the energy of Women’s Weekend and the spirit of the women who make it so magical. I hope that you will all make it to Women’s Weekend 9 this September 5-7! Thank you Neshama? for your amazing gifts! <3