One of the joys of being a daddy is watching your kids grow and do things they didn’t believe they could do. This summer we took our three year old to swim lessons. He spent the entire first lesson crying in the water. By the last class he was going under water.
Ready…Set…
Go!!!
Proud.
I love being Daddy. Much thanks to his teacher, Sarah.
We recently made a run to Seattle because my son is really into dinosaurs and we wanted to take him to see the real thing at the Pacific Science Center. If you’ve not been before, it is a kids playground. Our littl’uns loved it and we only wished we had more time to spend there. Here’s a few shots from the day.
My kids are so sweet (he said with shameless pride). My boy and his number one fan.
“How big is my plate of food going to be?” Where else could my little girl be so elated but at a HUGE dining table.
SWEET-heart. Who knew that I could love anything so much. Kids are a ton of work, but worth every bit of it.
My boy was captivated by the moving dinosaurs. Yolanda and I were having a blast just watching his fascination and excitement.
Allosaurus. ’nuff said.
I’ve got a bunch to blog about; but with crazy summer schedules and a baby due in September, it’s hard to keep up. Thanks for being patient.
BTW, know of other cool hangouts in the Pacific Northwest for kids? Hit me in the comments with your favorites.
Some great friends of ours graciously offered to watch our two kids for a weekend, which allowed me and my sweetie to go on a babymoon! Leavenworth is a cute little town with a Bavarian theme. I just wanted to share some photos from our refreshing trip.
Riiiicola!!!
Hey pretty mama…
I had at least one authentic meal, sausage and Bavarian potato salad.
We did a lot of window shopping through the shops and boutiques. Check out the picture below of a shop that I like to call the “Knick-Knack Attack!” The walls of the entire shop were covered with little knick-knacks.
My friend/coworker is good friends with a farmer that grows cherries in Benton City. She made arrangements for us to go picking! Here are a few portraits from our outing. We have a ton of cherries, now, and we are loving it. My son had a single focus…can you guess what it was? Eating cherries!
It’s funny because before that morning, he had only had a few cherries. Up until our outing, he was scared of cherries because he had accidentally swallowed a pit. He got over his fears.
Does anyone have a good recipe involving cherries? Leave me your favorite cherry recipe in the comments. On a related note, I don’t think it’s possible to eat this many cherries without being, uh, moved. Do I need to be worried?
The Fourth of July provides a great opportunity to photograph fireworks. The key to getting good pictures of your favorite pyrotechnics is to set a slow shutter speed and TURN OFF YOUR FLASH. If you’re using a point and shoot, then look for the button that controls the flash - usually it is indicated by a lightning bolt - and press it until the flash is set to off. Then, it’s mostly about timing. Because most point and shoot cameras have a significant lag time between the moment you push the shutter release and the time the camera actually fires, you’ll have to anticipate the fullest “bloom” of the fireworks and depress the shutter BEFORE that moment. If you happen to own an SLR, then the shutter issue is much less significant. That’s my photo tip of the month! Now, here are a few examples from our weekend…
By the way, we have the most awesome neighbors. This spectacular show occurred three houses away from ours in the middle of our street. It started a bit before 8 pm and lasted until 11 pm. It’s a good time as all of our neighbors break out their lawn chairs and hang out together.
Here’s my boy in a ring of fire! He really enjoyed playing with sparklers.
Happy Fourth of July!
My boy is really into Super Heroes right now. He really loves to do battle with me, Doctor Daddy, while he is Spiderman. Even my sweet Emma gets in on the action. Earlier today, she even broke out her kung-fu against me. All of that to say that I love being a daddy. And, I am blessed with uber-sweet kids. Here are a few snap shots from Father’s Day at our house this year.
This is my Daddy’s Day card. See if you can locate Spiderman, as drawn by Lucas. Here’s a hint…Spiderman wears red and blue.
Here’s my boy making his getaway in a boat…
Emma helping me with one of my usual responsibilities. It is Father’s Day, after all. Good girl giving Daddy a break!
Happy Father’s Day to all you Dads!
I am always looking for good and encouraging ways to leverage my photography for the benefit of others. And, thanks to some friends who are involved with a local MOPS group, I have a cool opportunity in the works. Stay tuned for details VERY soon…
Last month we kicked off the camping season with a short trip. It was a tad early because the weather recently has been crazy. It even snowed last week…spring snow! Luckily, we had good weather the weekend that we went. But, we’ll be waiting a few more weeks, at least, before our next outing. Here is a list of things that you can do with your family when camping.
Go for a walk in your rubber boots!
Hang out with your buddy on a stump.
Chill with a pretty lady on the bank of a river.
Tire swing…need I say more?
Go for a fast ride on the slide
Reach for the open sky!
How does a photographer celebrate his son’s third birthday? With photos, of course. Here’s how we roll…
The birthday boys’ favorite ladies get prepped and primped…
Set up the party room to receive a throng of toddlers and infants, who happen to be Lucas’ favorite people under three feet tall. Feed them lots of sugary goodness in the form of cake, ice cream, and smoothies. Arm each kid with paint…
Voila! Hand-crafted picture frames for each kid to take home. (I provide pictures from the event with which to fill the frames and memorialize their glucose-induced glee)
Sing Happy Birthday to my sweet boy.
Happy Birthday, Lucas. I love you!
I recently came across a posting about geek babies and have now been warned. I think I’m safe, though, because while I do like my gadgets and my Battlestar Galactica, I am not so high on the geek-dad scale as to advertise it on my kids…yet. But, I did recently ask my wife if I could buy our three-year-old son an iPod Nano. I just know that he’d love it.
“They cost less than many of those portable DVD players!” I said.
She responded, “No, honey.”
*sigh*
Well, a good photographer should have a hint of geek inside, especially nowadays.
Still sorry for the scarcity of postings thus far in ‘08. There are some big things brewing in my life. More on that later…
