Picture Time

 

Matt and I have kind of an ongoing debate about whether or not to get professional pictures and what a reasonable price to pay is when doing so. Recently (actually several months ago and it was about to expire), I bought a Groupon for a photo session and 8 sheets with Picture People.

I'd never been there before. It's a busy place. We arrived for our 5 pm appointment to be told that there was a session ahead of us. The kids were getting antsy. Matt was getting antsy. So I decided to take the kids to the toy store a couple of stores down. Miles is great at cruising now (as he should be, since he's almost SEVENTEEN months old), so I let him cruise along a shelf. I turned to look at something Brooke was pointing to and heard a thump. I looked over and Miles was winding up - like, scrunched up face, this really hurts, "I'm going to scream" winding up.

And is it bad that my first thought was, "PLEASE don't have a black eye!"? He didn't, but he did have a bloody nose, poor guy. Luckily, we had another 20 minutes or so to wait.

When it was finally our turn, the kids rallied and did a pretty good job posing. I kind of wish they would've asked my opinion on a background. I probably wouldn't have gone with lint-covered-black, but that's what editing's for, right?

The ones of them together are my favorites.

This guy would not sit still or keep his shoes on, so we got what we got of him.

We were so fried after the photo shoot that we waited to pick out the pictures. I went back about a month later (and waited about 20 minutes). I had to pick one pose. I'm a horribly indecisive person and the kids were acting up, so I hastily chose this one:

We now have 26 of these pictures, so let me know if you want one. We also got the CD for a really good price, so I can't really complain about the experience.

Family Vaca

 

We took our annual (see here and here) family vacation, just the four of us, to South Haven, MI, last week. We started out with a trip to the grocery store.

On the bright side, it wasn't miserably hot like last year, but we also had a couple of chilly/cloudy/rainy days. It was okay, though. We found ways to stay busy. Like blueberry picking.

We were having a lot of fun and at one point, I made the comment to Matt, "This is so nice and quiet. I'm surprised there aren't more people out here." Cue the girl who worked at the orchard (I guess that's what it's called?): "Excuse me, these rows aren't open for picking yet." We made our way several rows over where there were tons of people. Oops. In my defense, I'm a Rule Follower, so if they had been more clear about the rules, we wouldn't have gone rogue. But we also wouldn't have had as much fun.

We made a dozen blueberry muffins when we got back to Wheaton and Brooke was not impressed with how they tasted. Guess what I'll be having for breakfast for the next week?

Then, we ventured to Saugatuk for lunch and a ferry ride. I have many friends who have raved about Saugatuk and it didn't disappoint. I'd like to go back sans hubby and kids to enjoy the shopping, though.

One of the highlights of the trip for me is always eating most of our meals out. I gave Miles an onion from my salad one night to see what he would do and he immediately put it on his wrist like a bracelet. Maybe too much time spent with mommy and sissy getting ready?

Miles also got his first taste of root beer and now anytime Matt has a beer bottle, he thinks he deserves a drink.

There was a pool at the condo where we stayed. Matt got in with Brooke one day, but thanks to the miracle of the Puddle Jumper, we were mostly able to watch her from the deck (did I mention it was chilly?).

Matt and Miles waiting for Brooke and me to finish shopping. Poor Miles has been cutting teeth for over a week, hence the runny nose.

File this under, "Things Not to Put on Parent of the Year Application": we took the kids to a wine tasting. In our defense, the sign very clearly said, "Children welcome" and they had a bunch of sparkling juices that Brooke got to try. Blueberry was her favorite.

Miles is really into full-on mouth kissing lately and I can't get enough.

Brooke got WAY more sweets than she should have. Our first night back home, she asked, "When are we going out for ice cream?"

 

One of our favorite places in South Haven is Kids Corner. I think we like it more than the kids. I have visions of us taking them there as teenagers and forcing them to climb on the apparatus to we can get some pictures.

 

 

With that amazing structure, Brooke's favorite thing about the park was the old school metal slide. She would've gone up and down it all day.

We did get to spend a day and a half at the beach and all had a really great time. The weather on those days was perfect. (I'm realizing now that I should have cropped some of these pictures. Sorry.)

"Hey, take a picture of me." Literally what he said before I took this.

 

 

Annual photo shoot by the South Haven sign.

We couldn't get Miles to stay standing for a picture. He has too much fun "bonking" onto the ground.

It was a great trip, as usual, and so great to spend uninterrupted family time. We did have one minor snafu as we were getting off the highway a few miles from home.

We already can't wait to go back next year!