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baseball trip 2011- day 2 Chicago I
We left early Tuesday morning for the 7+ hour drive to Chicago. It was pretty and the first farm was exciting. After that it was naps, DS’s, snacks and tons of “how much longers”. We stopped for a bathroom/lunch break somewhere in Wisconsin which just so happened to be across the street from a US Military Base. There were a ton of soldiers in the restaurant and I decided I would buy whoever was on line at Subway their lunch for the day. You know how I have a real soft spot for all US soldiers. I mean, they put their lives on the line for us every day. I figured lunch was the least I could do. It was awesome!!
And they were nice enough to stop for a picture with the boys. And Bob.
The guys pictured above even gave each of the boys a “challenge coin” from their unit. They explained that you get them for doing something good for your unit and gave them to me with a handshake. It was pretty cool and quite an honor. Timmy can’t wait to bring it in for show and tell in first grade. 
And we finally made it to Chicago. 
With no time to spare, we took the subway over to Wrigley for the game. 
Even though they spent most of their 12th birthday in the car, they still had a good day. 
Grandpa Jack and Grandma Inez even flew in for the game (and left the next morning). 
Looked up just in time to catch this. Love it!
Messing around with some sun flare. I was so bored. 
Then it was time for Tuesday’s surprise. Birthday wishes on the scoreboard at Wrigley!
And Bob. Tried to find him a elf sized birthday hat but didn’t have much luck. He celebrated the boys birthday anyway. 
Well, at least he liked the game. 
And I can’t go another day without props to my Pilates trainer Karen who suggested Bob come along on the baseball trip. I think a lot of people thank you, Karen!! -
baseball trip 2011- day 1 minneapolis
So after taking “bob’s airline” to get here (Ok, it was actually Sun Country, but who the hell ever heard of that one either?!) and making it in one piece (and being really pissed off in the airport cause it took them over 30 min to check us in which then caused us to be late for the flight & the last ones on the plane and that was after they tried to make me check my carry on bag cause there wasn’t anymore room- but the nebulizers are in there along with all the meds and my camera- and I stood on the ramp to the plane emptying the bag but then they said they were sorry since it was medical equipment…so that wasn’t good! Won’t be flying them again.)
We landed in the Twin Cities in enough time to make it to the car rental counter, to the hotel and to a late lunch before heading to the game. I love the area we’re staying in- all old warehouses. Photographers dream. Hakka was upset as the restaurant he was dying to go to (Hells’ Kitchen) was closed for cleaning. Bummer.
Bob the Elf decided to come out of retirement and join us for the trip. I think everyone’s pretty happy to see him!
John’s really, really BAD hat.
Uh…Bob? You remember what happened last time you thought it was a good idea to drink. There was that whole drunk driving incident with imprisonment (via Lego mini figs) and community service. You might want to rethink the beer.
So instead, Bob made friends with the camera man. Good move, Bob!
Keeping score. 
See, told you it was a good move schmoozing the camera man. Thanks, Bob!
Yup, that’s me and my camera in the background on the big screen.
And even Bob made his big screen debut. Not bad for his first day out of retirement.
Patrick modeling the BAD hat. 
When you are all reading this on Tuesday, the boys will be celebrating their 12th birthday!! Happy Birthday boys! I love you so much and hope you are enjoying your baseball trip. More surprises to come this week for them. And pictures, of course!
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7 for Sunday
1. So we embark on our annual baseball trip tomorrow. And this is all I have to say about that.
We will be visiting Minneapolis, Chicago and Milwaukee. Expect to see me on Facebook ALOT. Hope all of my friends have their phones charged up cause I’ll be texting everyone non stop. I have the Kindle loaded and charged. I’ll be posting from the road both about our ‘adventures’ and also portrait sessions while I’m gone so the blog will be way busy. Come and visit and leave me comments to read, ok?!
2. So not only do I have to pack 4 people for the trip but I have to pack up the house today as we’re getting all of the hardwood floors sanded and re-urathaned while we are gone. Good times. I’m just hoping they are done by the time we get back and that house can air out from the stink quickly.
3. One of my Canon 5d classics died this weekend. When taking a picture horizontally, I would get a big black block the entire width of the bottom 1/4-1/2 of the photo. Not good. Looks like a loose mirror, shutter and/or focusing screen. And after my friend Kate borrowed my 70-200 lens (I never liked that lens and hardly use it ever) I found out why I never liked it. I think I got a bad copy- all the images are soft. I didn’t realize since I never shot with that lens before buying it- I just figured it was a little softer than the prime lenses). So into CPS (canon professional services) went the broken 5d and very soft focus 70-200. They shipped out from East Hampton (so fancy- but only because I had shoots out there yesterday afternoon) and I’m hoping they will be ready by the time I’m back from the baseball tour. And a big huge thank you to Kate and Shira who both offered the use of their cameras yesterday so I would have a backup. It’s so nice to have photografriends who are generous with their time and equipment!!
4. I’m happy to announce that I have become a member of OpLove (Operation Love Reunited), photographing full sessions for military members leaving or returning from deployment on a voluntary basis. I’ve had this project in my head forever and couldn’t make a go of it on my own since the military presence in this area isn’t so accessible. I’m hoping that this will send some my way for sessions. If you know of any local to Long Island soldiers heading out or returning from deployment, please feel free to pass on my info. You can find more about OpLove here: http://www.oplove.org/index2a.php
And if you are the praying type, please think of the 31 service members who gave their lives this weekend in Afghanistan. So sad for all of us but especially for their families left behind. I can’t even imagine.
5. Went to Ikea this week with another photografriend Lori and went a little crazy on the blankets for newborn sessions. Well, they already proved their worth this week on a fantastic newborn shoot. Pictures on that soon.
6. This week had the weirdest weather I think I have ever seen. Green skies, hail, torrential rain, rainbows, bible skies… all within a few hours of eachother. Some from the ‘real’ camera, some from the iphone. Oh, and by the way- I’m pretty sure the hail was all my fault. I was in the ocean 3 separate times in the last week which never happens. I think I set off some kind of ‘end of the world’ thing. Sorry about that.
7. Some iphone shots from the Paul McCartney and U2 concerts we went to in July. Just realized I never posted them.Went with the Healys and the Nevills to Paul McCartney and ended the night in some bar in the Bronx with Rosanna doing the electric slide at 1am. It was so fun!!!
Paul looked and sounded great. At 69 years old he still puts on an awesome show!! 
We took the big boys to U2 at the Meadowlands. They loved it!!
Ok, well I’m off to pack. Joy. -
sunny & 85 degrees. everyday.
I wish this was my life all the time, but it sure was great for the 9 days were in South Florida over Eastover break.
Since my cameras were on their own spring break/spa weekend getting cleaned and callibrated, I borrowed “mr. mark’s” (the owner of Rockville Camera) Canon Rebel, but I never used it!! Not even once. I shot all the pictures with my iphone. Pretty cool, huh?
Using the ’tilt shift generator’ app.
And using the shake it app. 
The view from the 20th floor balcony. Should be the view out of the windows at home too. 
Timmy and his new hat. Timmy Beyrer? Tiny boy? Tampa Bay? Turkey Burger? Take your pick…
Same view night & day. 
Now we have to wait until Christmas to head back down. But hopefully summer will be 85 and sunny every day here! -
tampa & st. petersburg
Spent Friday afternoon & night into Saturday morning in St. Petersburg to see the Tampa Bay Ray’s play. More baseball. Ya.
1. The cool bridge, 2. Map of stadium, 3. The elevator at the hotel (Stephen King Shining at the Overlook Hotel with the blood pouring out of the elevators, right? Sorry, Sue Miller), 4. boys outside stadium, 5. at tropicana field, 6. john buying tickets, 7. carnival stuff in stadium, 8. boys in game having lots of fun, 9. my friend Colleen made the baseball player coming out of centerfield!, 10. more carnival theme, 11. patrick and his morning cup of coffee, 12. iphone pix out the window, 13. more of Colleen’s guy, 14. view out the window, 15. patrick’s milk moustache (its not really coffee), 16. inside tropicana field (so weird being inside for a game), 17. 89 degrees and 82 miles per hour, 18. cool building, 19. tropicana field, 20. a truck filled with melons (both watermelons and regular) on I-595.
The boys got their obligatory hats, shirts and a stuffed animal for Timmy. I read a couple of hundred pages in my book (The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz which is a true story about his escape from a Siberian prison camp during WW2). It was great and the boys are reading it too. But not during the game.