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the cam sweet 16
My first sweet 16 party to shoot. Had a blast. The kids were all so nice and having a great time, it really just rubbed off. The party decor was fabulous. It was a luau theme, and they did it up perfectly. Lots of bright colors and fun little touches that just made the party. And the fact that their house and yard backs up right on to the water- fantastic.
The ‘birthday girl’ did some singing with the band- she is an aspiring singer. So not only gorgeous (and that girl knows how to pose perfectly!) and so sweet, but talented too! Not a bad combo at any age, but especially awesome at 16!
Hope you had a wonderful birthday, Collette! Please click HERE to view the rest of the evening’s pictures.
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the boys 9th birthday “vegetable”- parts 1 & 2
Ok, so here we go with the birthday vegetable for the boys. (*all pictures taken with the point n shoot. So nice not having to lug the big guns everywhere, but the payoff just isn’t the same).
Friday night we went out to dinner with all of us and grandma & grandpa to Inatome (habachi style japanese). While it’s not John or Grandpa’s favorite, it is everyone elses and a very ‘birthdayish’ kinda restaurant. I grew up going there for most of my birthdays. There used to be a little old japanese lady who would come out with the ice cream and candle, shouting "hap — py birthday" in her accented high voice. Miss that, but it’s otherwise exactly the same and just as delicious. We are all lovers of the ginger "dip" and the salad dressing. Yum.
Timmy took this one of grandma:
And the boys all got origami birds at the end.
Saturday after a day at the beach, we headed to the Brooklyn Cyclones game, again with grandma & grandpa. Yes, I went to a baseball game. No, I still don’t like baseball. But it was the boys birthday and so I sucked it up. Had fun with them, but not so much with the baseball. Although the seats are good. Ya know, if you want to actually watch some baseball or something.
They are actually not miserable, just eating. Plus they still won’t show their teeth!
John almost got nailed right in the head with the runaway ball from the outfield that missed him by inches. But he got the ball after it landed under the seat so that was a good birthday souvineer for the boys. Timmy enjoyed meeting Sandy the Seagull and hanging out at the game.
More pictures to follow of the actual rockin birthday party and one more dinner. All part of the big birthday vegetable.
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the bur family (@ the planting fields)
My third shoot for one of my favorite families to photograph. They are just so photogenic. Good thing they are on my growing up squared plan, huh? Their little girl is now on the move- fully running! Which makes my life a little more ummm….fast moving! But she’s still a joy and as smiley as ever.
We went someplace completely different for this shoot. Mom and Dad I believe had their wedding photos done here at the Planting Fields. Wow- it was gorgeous! We wandered around and really, there were no bad spots in the whole place. Around every corner was another gorgeous surprise location to shoot in. Now, if I could just keep up with her…
We were moving fast to avoid the incoming rain storm (complete w thunder and lightning) but got caught in the middle. At least we were under a covered area. It was pretty much done from then on as it just kept drizzling the rest of the time, but I had gotten a ton by then, so it was okay.
There is a $50 photography permit required to shoot here, but I think it’s TOTALLY worth it. Really, an unbelieveable location.
To view the rest of the images, please click HERE.
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a new logo
So here it is:
Hope you like it. This will be on all 2009 packaging, with some appearances in 2008.
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the boys whirlwind baseball adventure
As dictated by the boys. I’m just typing and plugging in the pictures. A ridiculous amount of pictures follow…
Day One:
At 4:00 in the morning we went in the car to LaGuardia airport with Uncle Nelson, us, Dad, and Grandpa Ken. We took our flight to Washington DC where we had breakfast and Jack had a muffin. Jack held up the muffin showing it Dad and Patrick and started saying "muffinie goodness"! Then we boarded the plane to Kansas City. We arrived at the airport around 9:15. Then, we picked up our rental car and drove to the hotel. Once we got settled in, we went to Aruthur Bryant’s for lunch. They made world famous Kanas City BBQ. We really liked it,(but it could use some personal hygene.) After lunch, we went to the Negro League Baseball Hall of Fame. We learned about famous Negro League players like Satchel Page, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, and Jackie Robinson. When we were done, we went back to the hotel for a little while and then we went to the game. When we got to the Kauffman Stadium it was the Royals vs. the Chicago White Sox. They had really cool waterfalls at the stadium. The Royals lost 4-2 but we got some good stuff anyway. We headed back to the hotel and got some sleep. (after 20 hrs of being awake).
It wouldn’t be a vacation w Grandpa Ken if there wasn’t a restaurant in a really bad neighborhood with an armed security guard:
Day Two:
We woke up at the Sheraton, had breakfast (including more of Jack’s muffinie goodness), went back to the hotel room, relaxed a little bit and took a quick dip in their indoor pool. After the pool, we went to the ballgame and it was REALLY hot. The Royals won 8-2 this time. We went to Strouds for linner (lunch/dinner). Strouds Chicken is famous for their pan fried chicken and it was like country style. It used to be a house in the country with a log cabin, then in was some kind of manor, and then it was sold to some people that made it into Strouds. The food was really good. We got hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and fried chicken. Patrick went on a walk with Grandpa and got some really cool pictures. After eating at Strouds, we drove halfway to St. Louis and went to sleep in a new hotel. The Econolodge was disgusting and it smelled bad. And there were bugs. Seriously.
Day Three:
We woke up and got breakfast at McDonalds and it was pretty good. After breakfast, we drove 2 hrs. to downtown St. Louis. We went to the Cardinals team store and got merchandise before the game. Then we went to the Gateway Arch. We had to wait on line for a really long time but when we got to the place where we had to get up to the top of the arch, we went in these cool space capsule kind of things and we spiraled up to the top. We got a couple of great pictures from up there. It was a great view. Then we got down and we went to Ted Drewes which makes frozen custard like Carvel. Except it was much better than carvel. When we finished eating, we went to the Anheiser Busch Brewery for a tour. They had clydesdale horses and a lot of cool other stuff. Dad liked it cause it had BEER. It smelled like barley and yeast which we sorta liked but sorta didn’t. At the end of the tour we got free beer and soda. Soda for us, beer for dad and grandpa. For dinner we went to Charlie Gitto’s on the Hill which is an Italian restaurant. We had some fried ravioli there and it was REALLY good. Then we went to the Cardinals vs. Phillies game at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals lost 5-3 but they had cool statues in the front of the stadium and a cool team store. We left in the 8th inning, and went to a new hotel which was much better.
Day Four:
We drove for a while to Chicago. When we got to Chicago, we went sightseeing downtown and saw the Sears tower, lake Michigan which was pretty cool, the watertower that survived the fire, the opera house, and a cool mossy church. We had lunch at Lou Malanatti’s which had Chicago style deep dish pizza which was really good. Then we went to the team store and to Wrigley Field for the Cubs vs. Astros game. The Cubs lost 2-0.There was a huge rain delay with tornado warnings with a 2hr 45 min rain delay. The hotel we made reservations at had a blackout cause of the weather. We heard tornado sirens but dad told us it was the police! So we went to a new hotel (the super 8 motel) and it was okay.
Day Five:
Technically, there was a day five, but not much. We took the plane home and Jack had more muffiny goodness for breakfast.
So there you have it…a jampacked vacation with lots of baseball and lots of good food. A big thank you to Ken for the trip, John for the trip and for taking pictures, charging the camera battery, and not losing/breaking the camera, and to my boys for taking tons of pictures just for me (how awesome are the ones of the arch??!!) of things they knew I would like. I have them so brainwashed.
