Park it!

Whenever we go over to the home of some dear family friends, the kids love to play in the grassy field behind their house. They live in a rural area that is just a wonderland for the kids' imaginations. They have a play structure too and lots of room to roam, so they definitely wear themselves out every visit, which is a great thing.

We live in a townhome, so my kids' time to explore the great outdoors is often limited to our little yard or the small park across the street. For the last few years, I've made it my goal to involve the kids in lots of extracurricular summer activities, go on nature walks, ride our bikes, and whatever else we can fit into our weekly schedule. This year, we thought it would be fun to check out as many new parks as possible. So while we'll still frequent our favorites, every week we'll also be visiting a different park just to spice things up. There are three little ones in our immediate neighborhood, so we've grown weary of the familiar scenery. After reading an article in a local publication on the best parks in our area, we thought we could even branch out to some popular hotspots and lesser known gems. The kids and I are excited for this new mission. I'll try to periodically post pictures and reviews of our park explorations.

Family Bowling

As I mentioned in a previous post, we took the kids bowling for K's birthday. She decided that's what she wanted to do and so we spent an afternoon at a local bowling alley. Thankfully they put the safety bumpers up on the sides for the kids (and us!) or we would've had lots of gutter balls. They struggled to get the hang of it at first, but gradually gained confidence and had fun with it. I hope we can tackle rollerskating this summer. That should be entertaining. Here are a few videos we shot for fun that day...

Spring Portraits

Over the last month or two, I've taken advantage of the few sunny days we've had to take the kids' spring photos. Their school does take pictures of them in both fall and spring, but the cost adds up. I do order their fall portraits, but I love taking their scenic shots myself every spring. I started the tradition about four years ago. Our neighborhood and the surrounding area provides lots of beautiful backdrops, so why not take advantage? I get the pictures developed throug Costco or Shutterfly, so it's pretty inexpensive. We are taking a trip to the Redwoods in a couple weeks, so I'm hoping for some amazing photo opps there too.

The most challenging part of the process is getting that one perfect shot that is frameworthy. Sometimes I luck out and get some good ones early on, while other times we have to make several attempts over several weeks to get it right. I suppose I am fairly picky, but I love doing it. Sometimes I even take portraits of my friends' children for them too. Obviously I am no professional, but I've learned about lighting and the various camera settings can have a positive or negative impact on the final photo. When we lost all of our photo archives earlier this year, that also meant the loss of all those portraits I've taken of the kids too. So this year I took more pictures than usual to start to rebuild our photo collection.

K used to be such a pill to get to hold still long enough, but she's getting better and more patient. I often end up with more of her as a result. She loves to ham it up and strike poses. I have to coach her into just smiling naturally and let me capture that as those kind often end up as her best photos. N doesn't enjoy getting his picture taken as much as he used to, so I have to be quick about it with him and hope for the best...hence often end up with far less of him. When they stop trying and simply smile, that's when the magic happens!

I love his dimples!

Trying to hard here, but I thought it was cute.

So serious

Love this one! It's so him...

My little ham

Too much sunlight in the background, but still loved it.

The wind wouldn't cooperate, but this is one my faves.

She loves to pose like this...it's so her.

7 years old

I seem to always be late in posting this year. Better late than never I suppose. We celebrated K's birthday recently. After doing the whole Chuck E. Cheese party thing last year and spending a small fortune on her special day, we went more low-key this year. Work has kept both DH and me so preoccupied and busy that we honestly just didn't have time or money for a big blowout birthday. Yes, I feel like a bad mom, but I pray that there'll be future birthday to "do it up right."

On Saturday night, we celebrated with cupcakes at the home of some close friends. DH made her a special birthday pancake, complete with candle...a tradition in our home. Then K opened some presents and delighted in her new stuff.

A few weeks prior, she had attended a friend's cosmic bowling birthday party, K decided she wanted to do the same. While we didn't splurge on a big party, we did take her to a local bowling alley and enjoyed a couple of games and some snacky foods. They also had an arcade that had lots of new and old school arcade games to enjoy. The kids got a kick out of knocking the pins down and I loved the bumper guards...no gutter balls! LOL. K and N played lots of games in the arcade. I miss arcades! I like to think I kick a little Ms. Pacman bootay! But I digress...

I must admit that this birthday has been bittersweet. K is already 7 years old! It's neat to watch her learn and grow. Yet I don't wanna think about my baby girl getting older. I always tell her to stop growing up and she just laughs. Yes, I'm a big crybaby about it. Can't they stay little forever or at least a few more years? My son will be 10 years old this fall, so that will likely put me over the mommy edge. Sigh.



Celebrating with friends




Hmmm, what should I wish for?

What will I wish for this time?



Lucky #7


Giffies!



Loves her horses



How do I look?

More girly stuff

Learning the art of Donkey Kong

Getting my Ms. Pacman fix

Ready, set, go!

Galaga!

Bowling baby!

Messing around

Yippee! I hit the pins!

So proud of my not-so-baby girl