Camping

These pictures are from way back at the end of July. We camped in Allegany with Jerry, Allison, Shawn and Cheyenne for a weekend and had a really good time.

Charlotte cooking a marshmellow on the first night we were there.



Grace contemplating her cookie. I don't think she ever did actually eat it. She is not the huge chocolate lover that her big sister is.



My handsome nephew.



Grace playing with her zoo animals. She likes this particular set and the tree is an important part of it. If the tree is missing she specifically asks for it. "Tee? Tee? Ah tee go?"



The girls playing together in the camper.

Camping Cont.

The campsite had the creek running right behind it, which was fun for the kids.



Shawn and Cheyenne are really great about looking out for their littler cousins. Cheyenne carefully helped Grace climb down into the creek bed.



Shawn and Cheyenne caught salamanders and crayfish. Charlotte was very excited about catching rocks.



Grace playing in the camper.



Charlotte playing in the camper, indicating her desire to not be photographed.

The attempt

OK, so I splurged on these cute little outfits for Charlotte and Grace. Charlotte loves her 'pretty dress' and actually asks to wear it often. Grace loves anything that Charlotte loves so if Charlotte puts hers on, Grace insists on hers as well. They dance around in our upstairs hallway together. It's adorable.

I asked Charlotte if we could go out some evening and take some pictures of her in the pretty dress. She thought it was a great idea. My photographer-mommy heart skipped a beat. I had all these visions of my children in their little outfits dancing and playing together in a field at sunset. Maybe that was getting a little carried away but I was at least hoping for one or two nice shots with them both in the frame together. Not necessarily looking at the camera, but at least so we could see their faces. Is that so much to ask?

Apparently it is.



It is very humbling for me to shoot my own children. I take lots of opportunistic snaps when I can get them, but I mean to actually set out with a plan in mind to have a photo session with my own children. I get lots of compliments about how patient I am with the children that I shoot. I credit patience and good timing to be a large part of the art of shooting little ones, which I wholeheartedly love to do. I am a little embarrassed at how impatient and ill-tempered I was after about the first 10 minutes of my kids running away, teasing me and being generally uncooperative. I have new found empathy for my mom and dad clients.

After I stopped taking myself so damn seriously, we actually did get a few keepers. Here is the best of Charlotte. It actually captures her very well, I think.



Here are two of the little one.




They look lousy at web resolution. Sorry about that.

Kitty

We had a fun weekend in Ripley with Grandma and Grandpa Mohr and Shawn and Cheyenne. I wish I had more pictures of the cousins playing together. They were so cute riding the rides together at Midway, but it was raining and I was a wimp about getting the camera wet. Next time.

Here are some pictures that we got the first night. The girls looove the kitty, especially Grace.






Derek gave Charlotte a piece of rope and showed her how the kitty would chase after it is she pulled it around in the grass. It works with little sisters, too.

On the boat

More pictures from the lake. Charlote and Derek getting ready.



Is the web-size too small to see that she has a big smile?



Chris wake-boarding. I didn't have the right lens on for these shots so I had to crop alot. Here is my best effort.



I liked Derek in the foreground on this one.



More of the girls in full bathing (er, wading?) attire.

The trip down

On the drive down to Raleigh made two camping stops. The girls really liked it. They especially liked the campground with a big twisty waterslide into the pool. Here is Grace at one of the campsites.



Charlotte and her Play-Doh barbershop thing. It really hasn't changed much since the '80s, actually.



The binky rarely bugs me in pictures of Grace. Let's face it, she has it in her mouth 23 hours out of the day. I almost don't recognize her when I can see the lower half of her face. But this shot would have been a definite candidate for enlarging and framing if we could see her cute smile.



Grace eating popcorn in the camper and watching a move before bed. Microwave popcorn and a portable DVD player. We really were roughing it.

Some vacation snaps

Here are the first batch from our trip down to visit Mel and Greg and family in North Carolina. There will be more to come. We all had a really great time.

Charlotte and Grace at the beach. Let's ignore the fact that Grace is screaming her head off (not in a good way).



I forget what she was yelling here, but it was a happy thing. This is Charlotte and her lobster. She held it's box in the car on the way down and patiently waited for us to get to "Carolina" and the lake so we would blow it up for her. She played with it the whole time we were there.



Charlotte on the beach at Mel and Greg's place. It is beautiful. We laughed because our girls were usually using two or three flotation devices at the same time, but never once went in the water more than knee deep (their knee-level, not ours). Safety first.



Mel and Grace on the boat. Grace saw this picture and pointed and said "Mel" very clearly.



Charlotte on the boat.

Charlotte's new/old room

About a month ago, Charlotte decided to move out of the room that she shared with Grace and sleep on the floor in the toy room next door. No problem. We really don't care where they sleep, especially if it isn't in our room. A few nights ago, Derek went to check on the girls and couldn't find Charlotte among the mess of sleeping bag/blankets/comforter/pillows that she heaps up to make her nest on the floor. Instead, there she was sound asleep on her bed next to Grace's, tucked in with her blankey and Dora pillow. Okay. So now she sleeps back in the blue room with Gracie. Who knows where she'll turn up next. Here she is playing in her "new" room.

In the tub

Grace in the tub last night. I like this first one very much. Technically it is not that great, but it just really looks like her to me.



She is giggling because I swiped her binky.



Okay, I want it back now!


This is the big Gracie smile that we like so much.

Lauren

Because I know her mama reads this blog, here are a few of my favorites from Lauren's 4 month pictures. Isn't she adorable?