{ Randomness on an RV }

Descriptions and part II of our journey (with pictures) later . . . :c)

Family adventures (Part 1 - water park)

There's not a better day than today to tell about our adventures with my family, on my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's 7th anniversary. (Happy 7th, guys!!!!! Love you bunches!)

The past 4 days have been a very post-worthy happy time. Brad and Chel (and the kids) were "home" for a week. We spent some time with them Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We got home yesterday (Sunday) from a quick trip taking them back to Oklahoma and visiting with them, seeing their new digs. But I'll tell about those adventures in another post.

Thursday we all piled in the fabulous RV (rolling turd I think is what my sister-in-law, Kari, calls it?! funny!!) and went to the water park for a fun-filled morning and afternoon. It was the first time for all the kids on the RV (first for me, too!) so driving just 45 minutes was a thrill-ride for most of us. It was definitely one one of the highlights of Noah's day.



The water park was fabulous. Kinda crowded and plenty hot. But we still have a lot of fun. Adi, the baby of our family (just 5 months old) even really enjoyed it. My is she the BEST baby ever, in 90 degree weather even! I am pretty taken by her sweetness and beauty.



We started out by doing the fun stuff. I told Ash (Neil and Brad's 13-yr old sister) she had to do the "U" with me. She didn't want to, but I begged her. Begged. Reluctantly she actually said "ooooo-kaaaay". When she got to the top and sat on the tube with me, she screamed "I want off!", but it was too late. We went down down down fast! fast! fast! Talk about a thrill ride. It was soooo much fun. This was the same ride that Heather begged me to ride with her a few weeks prior -- and I was glad that I went. I think Ash can say she was glad she went, too, because when we got to the bottom she said "I want to go again!". Mission accomplished :c)

Carrying the raft up (that's me in the pink suit, Ash behind it):


Getting ready to go:


Going!


Going some more!


And then my husband and his brother went. They're both holding on for dear life!



It was so much fun. Kind of an out-of-body experience. Hard to explain but something I'd definitely do again! :)

I think it wore Ash out, because much of the day you could find her like this. Gotta love teenagers. I miss being one of them :)


Aunt Chel and Maia:


The kids had a lot of fun going down the small water slides:


And I had fun doing some of my notorious photo shots. "Only Val . . . " :)


Ella and her daddy. She is such a daddy's girl. (Don't ya love her swimsuit? Hard to tell here, but very retro 50's!)


And "the girls" before we left. Ashley, me and Chel (friends and family 4-ever -- so very corny, but so very true):


Oklahoma travels are tomorrow with lots of randomness photos called "the things I shoot when bored on an RV" :)

Proofing done! Chicago here I come!

This time of year is so busy for me. Wedding after wedding, shoot after shoot. It's never-ending. I love actually going out and photographing and I love coming home and post-processing on my computer, but I really don't like the time it takes me to post-process. Man oh man oh man. So while I have been down one computer and online a ton less, I'm still attached to my other computer as I proof away. I pushed myself incredibly hard this week finishing up 2 weddings. One I proofed over 1,000 photos (yes, that many), and the other, being just a reception, I proofed about 500. I figured I spent about 50 hours thus far this week post-processing. I've learned this week that I am not charging enough for the time I put in to my work. ((sigh)) At least I enjoy it. Now if I could only figure out how to balance that time between home/kids and work. (As I work I always am thinking "how do those other women do it?". I wish they would tell me.)

The good news is that tomorrow morning we're packing the kids in the car and heading to Chicago for a long weekend. Saturday, my beloved Johanna, is assisting me in photographing 6 shoots. All downtown Chicago!! How incredible it that?! I'm very much looking forward to this experience. It's something I have always wanted to do, and now unbelievably I am! The day is suppose to be gorgeously perfect and I think (no, I know) Jo and I are going to have an amazing time.

The rest of the time I am spending it solely with my family. Neil and the kids will be with me. We have no plans. We like to go places without plans and do everything spur-of-the-moment. That's a true vacation, when there is no thought processing involved!, for us. We've talked about the Chicago Children' Museum, Lincoln Park Zoo again, we don't know. But it's Chicago, and where we stay each time we're up there, we're within walking distance to everything. So we have the Windy City right at our fingers :c)

So with that said, I'll see you all Tuesday! We are coming home late Monday. Hope you have a great weekend. Think of me Saturday and send me energized thoughts as I have a feeling come lunch I will be exhausted. I'm shooting till 7:00. Yeah, I'll be tired.This is where I'm shooting. And maybe here where Buckingham Fountain resides. (Katie, yes we would LOVE lunch!! Thank you for the offer -- incredibly thoughtful.)

Here's a peak into the last two weddings. More, as always, can be seen at my other blog or flickr.








p.s. I haven't received my new laptop yet. I'm thinking if I don't, it's actually probably a good thing. It means I won't have a computer to take with me and I can't work on anything photo-wise no matter what. What will I do with my time after the kids go to bed? Talk to hubby? Read a book? Watch Joel on The Soup? Watch the Ferris Wheel turn with it's beautiful lights at Navy Pier from the balcony? All sounds heavenly. ((happy sigh))

And I forgot I had this one. Myself in action doing that photo up there. (Wanting to draw an arrow right now to that picture.) Heather shot it. She's so funny. It's kinda fun, though, to see what I look like. One thing I learned by seeing this picture is that I won't be wearing that dress again. It looks like a Moo Moo. Ha :c)

Gone, gone, gone for a week.

Hubby left for Hershey, PA (to meet with Hershey, actually! I told him he better bring me back something chocolate-y!), then to New Jersey and then to CT!

I so hate it when he leaves. It was really hard for him this time. Not sure why except that Maia has really been attached to her daddy lately and I think that's a big part of it. He also hasn't traveled for a while. I think the last time was when we all got the Rotavirus (not good memories with that one!). Thankfully we're all healthy this bon voyage. I hope Neil stays that way. He should get his results back from the heart test this week sometime. I just pray it's all okay since he'll be gone when they come back in.

So, it's going to be a long week. We have a few days planned out . . . like mom is coming over Tuesday night for dinner and to watch AI with us (and I may see if she'll go for our evening walk with us also) and then Wednesday morning we're going to go see Grandma Martha and maybe we can get her to take us to see the new baby -- her son, Brandon's wife, Sarah, is having their baby by c-section on Tuesday -- a girl! Thursday I might be shooting a senior portrait, and some time we have to go to the fish store to buy some new fish for our pond and I'm sure somewhere in there we'll make a trip to Starbucks and Target ;c)

Ok, I'm just blabbing now. I just really do not like it when he is gone. Makes me sad, makes the kids sad. Makes us realize what all he does do when he is here and how much we love him and how hard it is when he is gone. Neil is truly the best husband and daddy ever.

As you know, we went to Chicago a few weekends ago. We went to the Museum of Science & Industry and got this really neat-o picture taken when we were there. It cost us $20 (!), but to me, to have a family portrait for once (!), it's so worth it! The kids look star-struck, but I love it anyway. Our first family portrait (at a museum of all places - haha!) in a whole year!

Oh, and yep! That's me with a Starbucks! ;c)

Magnificent Memories (corny title, I know. . .)

What a weekend! (Did you miss me?! I hope so!)

Wednesday morning we were preparing for an open house on Sunday, but then Wednesday afternoon Neil calls me at home and asks "do you want to go to Chicago?" I was like "Huh? Why?" He said, "Well, I forgot that I have a presentation I have to do tomorrow in Milwaukee, so I thought I'd drop you and the kids off in Chicago for the day, then when I got back, we'd have the rest of the weekend". I said, "Ok, I have a wedding album that I must finish and then yeah, let's go, but I must finish the album."

So, I got my album done by 10 Wed night (yippee - huge stressor off my shoulders!), then spent a few more hours packing before we had to get the kids up by 7 a.m. Thurs so we could be on the road, drop the dog off, get Val her Starbucks and then be in Chicago by 12 at the latest so that Neil could then be in Milwaukee by 2 that afternoon.

What a tiring night and morning! But we did make it by noon and Neil dropped us off at the apartment (Neil's dad has an apartment right off of Michigan Avenue which we get to stay at every time we are up there if they are not using it - thanks to their amazing generosity!), then got on his way to Milwaukee to make his 20 minute presentation (seems like such a waste, doesn't it?!) and then was back by 5:00 that evening. The rest of the weekend we spent as a family packing our days full with great meals (here - always a must!, here, here, and here - also always a must), the Museum of Science of Industry, naps, meeting Sara, Seth, Jason & Jennifer for lunch, then off to Lincoln Park zoo with Sara, Seth, Blake & Emma, a walk along Lake Michigan (about 2 miles! but what a beautiful enjoyable walk it was), shopping (of course, um, hello?!, we're talking about Val here!), a walk to a neighborhood park for the kids to play, and much more.

It was just so enjoyable . . . we had the best time, but it went way too fast. We wanted so badly to make time to see Jas & Jo, Katie, David & Rachel, Matt & Anna . . . , but time just got away from us. If it weren't for the melt downs Maia had (meaning we had waited way too long as it was for her to take a nap) and for naps themselves, then we most likely would have had time. But it was hard, too, because we didn't even know we were coming till the day before and so no one else knew we were coming . . . and well, you just never know how an unplanned weekend will go, nevermind how a day will go with small young children. (Sigh . . .) But, our plans (hopes!) are to make a weekend of it again in May or June without our Mister and Missy just to take a much needed break as a couple with some of our dear friends. If only life could just stop for a little while, eh? (* personal note to Jo . . . did you guys know Randy & Amy are home?? Do you think you'll make a trip down yonder here? I hinted to Amy that Randy needs to have a "party" while they're here . . . hee hee . . . maybe we'll see ya? Call me if you're comin'!)

I will definitely post some pictures from Chi-town once I get to downloading them. It was such a magnificent weekend on the "Magnificent Mile" - perfect weather, all healthy, not too many worries . . . so I went crazy with my photography. Nahhhh . . . not Val.

Funky Summer 2005

I had yet another flash back in time when I ran across more pictures from the past while "organizing". I took them when I was still shooting film, and they reminded me again, how spontaneous & exciting film photography can be, yet also how much I miss it.

With this film, I used Kodak E-100, which is a slide film. I processed it as negative film, which does a a funky cross-processing to the film. And this kind of look is usually what I get, you just never know! I loved doing this with film and miss it. A friend of mine, Patty, showed me how to do this a few years back. She is a graduate student right now at SIU in photography. She has so many great secrets.

People ask why I am keeping my film camera. For 2 reasons - 1) It was my first "professional" camera and I carry lots of memories with that camera and 2) I can use film in it to create beautifully unusual pictures like these and it's EXCITING because you don't know how they will turn out until you see the prints. I can do this "look" with digital, but it takes a lot more time and it seems like the more time I spend on each picture to perfect and make it look like actual cross-processed film, the worse they look. So E-100 film I love and always will. And hence, my camera will always hold a very special place in my heart.

So, here are my pictures back from the Summer of 2005 when I was preggie with Miss Maia. We took Noah to the park that day in his cute brown wife-beater. We had a really fun afternoon. Ahhh . . . the memories . . . .






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Me and him at Chuck-E-Cheese

So a few weekends ago Neil and I took the kids to Chuck-E-Cheese. His first adventure there. The kids had a blast. We had a blast.

I took Alexis to the airport today in Bloomington, so passing by CEC reminded me of our trip. And my own first two experiences at CEC (and Noah's) were with Alexis and her children. Having Alexis back in town was so great. We had the best time.

So back to CEC. They have this one area where you sit and can have your picture taken and then "sketched" for just 1 token. So we attempt to do this; Neil, myself, Noah and Maia. Picture this: Noah will not come anywhere near the booth - of course. And Maia is wriggling and screaming, wanting to have nothing to do with it either. So I look at Neil and say "it's just us, so smile!". Well, ok, so we weren't completely by ourselves . . . Maia is on our lap . . . sort of. (You can see a piece of her plaid dress.) I do think it's a fun picture of us and we never have our picture taken together anymore. So I had to share this Chuck-E-Cheese sketch rendition of US. We are suck dorks, but cute dorks, don't ya think? Isn't the CEC phrase, "Where kids will be kids?". I guess we are kids then.