Went with John tonight (they all came back this afternoon from their whirlwind baseball trip, exhausted but great). And it was even his idea to get the tickets and go! We had a great time. There is seriously no bad seat in that place and the views are incredible. The Police were so good- Sting sounds exactly the same and really put on a great show. And I was especially happy since they played my most favorite Police song- So Lonley. I find that a lot of the time the band playing doesn’t play whatever my favorite song is by them, so tonight was a complete success on that end.

Took the little digital camera (loving that thing-so tiny and easy. Granted, not the BEST pictures, but it does the trick) and took some shots to share.

Since it was yucky out yesterday (and both my shoots had to be rescheduled to September due to the bad weather and the fact that I’m taking August off!) I decided to take Timmy over to the Childrens Museum. He loved it! We had a great time running around and checking out all the stuff.

First the "tot room" where he drove a backhoe:

Delivered the mail:

Manned the lighthouse:

Crossed the bridge:

Drove the train:

Steered the "pirate" ship (all the while singing "yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for meeeee…)

Then on to the bubble room:

Nate & Colleen, this one’s for you:

Practicing to be The Turn’s next drummer:

A bizillion Timmy’s:

And every husband/father’s worst nightmare- a bizillion me’s with cameras:

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Then, while walking around from the back parking lot to the museum, I found what I think will probably be my new favorite location. Fantastic light, great "urban decay" in an old warehouse type setting. There are old train tracks and loading docks w stairs too but it was starting to rain so we had to go. But Timmy was great and said he would let his "silly old mommy" take some pictures before we left. Can’t decide what finish I like the best- bright color, urban acid, black & white…. and since I can’t decide, well, you’re getting about a bizillion pictures to look at below. What do you think?

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Also went out to dinner last night with "the playgroup girls" since Celeste is in town from Georgia. Unfortunately, Maureen couldn’t make it and Jennifer wasn’t feeling well so she left early. The remaining 3 of us walked down to see Brian of The Turn play a few sets. Didn’t bring the camera (I know, I know) cause I didn’t feel like lugging the whole thing and John has the new little digital in St. Louis with him. I had to snap one of Brian with my cell phone cause I was having some withdrawl issues being around the band with no camera. He rocked it like usual and I had a great time with the girls. (waving– hi celeste!!! miss you already!)

That’s what he’s been telling me all day. With the big boys and John in Kansas City today, it’s just me and the little boo. We are enjoying eachothers company and had a great day at the beach. And wow- it’s easy having one kid!

And wow- I’m wrinkly and that grey hair is just o so attractive. When did I get so old?

The boys were up and out at 4am, in the air at 6am. And I just got a phone call around 12am NY time that they were just finishing up at the baseball game and heading back to the hotel. Nothing quite like being up for 20 hours. I’m getting small trip reports throughout the day. They arrived, got the rental car, checked into the hotel, went to the Negro Baseball Hall of Fame (where apparently Jack answered a trivia question- the only one out of 200+ people there. Stood up in front of everyone and everything! But I was also informed that Patrick told Jack the answer. I’m sure we’ll hash out the whole thing once everyone gets home.) And then had lunch at some BBQ place, "rested" in the hotel room with 2hrs of Nintendo DS playing, and headed over to the Royals game. John said he’s taking pictures, so we’ll see what there is to see when they return. They have a lazy morning and then a late afternoon game tommorrow, then driving to(wards) St. Louis. These kids (and adults too) are going to be shot when they get back home Tuesday. Luckily, John and I are going to see the Police & Elvis Costello Tuesday night so maybe we can avoid some of the wrath.

And I’m getting my hair highlighted next week. 

No, not the Saturday Night Live version either. But lots to catch up on…

• went to dinner tonight with John & Nelson (nothing like going out to eat with both husbands) to a restaurant in Smithtown called H2O. It was delish. Mostly seafood and delish funky sushi.

• had a shoot on Saturday morning and then while all the boys were at the beach, I went to Barnes and Nobel all by myself (bliss) and bought a ton of new books. I was all out and I always have to have something good to read. Really enjoying Laura Lipman books (thanks for that Ken!) so I bought a new one now that I just finished two others of hers. Also picked up a biography of Marie Antoinette which is great so far. A few others that looked good and were on sale.

• remember how I bought that new crumpler camera bag (looks exactly like the old one just bigger)? Well, I made a new friend in the process! When I offered the old bag for sale here on the blog, I had a taker out in Iowa who it turns out has been a blogstalker since I first started the blog. She said her husband always makes fun of her cause she reads all these blogs of people she dosen’t know (I do the same thing– I find photographers blogs whose work I love and visit everyday. I have about 45 that I visit daily!). So now that we have conversed a few times via email and that she now owns my old bag, she can say she does know me. Which leads me to my next point…

• i know you are out there blog stalkers! I’d like to get to know you so if you are so inclined, please leave me a comment here on the blog and introduce yourself? I get quite a large number of folks visiting here everyday and while I know who some of you are, there is no way I "know" all of you. So come out of hiding and say hi, ok!? It’s easy to leave a comment. Just page down to the end of this post, click on "comments" and fill in the info. I would really love to hear from you! C’mon…

• bought yet another new camera…but this one is just your run of the mill point and shoot digital. I need something I can just toss in my bag and take with me to events that I don’t want to lug the whole setup. I took some pictures with it at the beach the other day. I have to get over the fact that the picture quality will not be the same as the 5D’s (this is a difficult thing for me). But it is easy and small and convenient so I guess I’ll take the trade off. It’s great for what it is. And I’ll be sending it with John and the boys on their baseball trip. And of course, it’s a Canon. I’m very brand loyal!

• we went down to the beach on Friday- and it was a beautiful day. So that was my 5th visit to the beach this summer. August can’t come soon enough! Just one more weekend of working until September. We found 3 crabs on the beach (so rare) and I had to ‘crabsit’ the little one until the boys ran back to get the camera. One was small and alive. And then we found two big ones (unfortunately dead) but one was red and and the other blue. Pretty cool.

• We went to the Billy Joel concert- last play at Shea about two weeks ago (been so busy posting clients shoots that I haven’t blogged much about stuff around here) and it was a blast. John and I went (he also invited some clients from work) and we had fun. Yes, John had fun. It’s true. I swear. This would’ve been the perfect time for the small camera, but we are going to see the Police and Elvis Costello in a week or so, so I’ll bring it to that (hoping that it comes back alive from the baseball trip). Anyway, Billy Joel was amazing and he had several incredible guest appearances that night (we went to the Wednesday night show)- John Mayer, Tony Bennett, John Mellencamp, and Don Henley. Our seats were not so great in that we couldn’t see the stage much cause we were blocked by speakers and lights. BUT, we were in the first row of the upperdeck and the BOUNCING of the whole level was just crazy. The whole thing was seriously bouncing up and down all the way across Shea. My friend Jen was there and she was sitting in the section below and really thought the whole upper deck was going to just fall on top of her. It was nuts- but I liked it!

• Last, went over to the ‘crunchy club’ on Saturday night for the Big Wave movie/pool night where the kids can go in the pool all night and watch a movie on the big giant screen. It was Alvin & the Chipmunks this year and the boys had a bunch of fun. John’s partner from work, his wife and kids met us there and I think they had a good time too. The water was warm but the air was kinda cold so we had a lot of blue lips. We didn’t get home til around 11pm. Timmy made it thru the whole thing and had a blast too.

Think that about does it for the catching up. For now anyway. Hope everyone had a good weekend. Don’t forget to leave a comment and say hi!

Ok, so about a year ago here on the blog I discussed how Timmy learned to swim in the big pool- albeit wearing his swimmy vest. Here’s the post. Well, today at the "crunchy club" the kid basically taught himself to swim. In the big pool. All by himself. No swimmy vest. Just swimming. He’s pretty awesome and  still "cuter than pie" ala Jack & Patrick.

A few weeks back on a rainyish weekend when I was shooting,  John (& Nelson too) took the boys to the Coney Island Aquarium and then to a Brooklyn Cyclones game. At the game, Timmy’s picture was on the big screen as the "best smile" of the game. Really, the kid is too cute. If I say so myself.

As for the big boys, they had their second swimming lesson today with Robert (who they are loving- they were watching for him to get off the lifeguard stand for like 15 minutes before their lesson). They are really doing great. Learning the strokes and even some diving today. Actual real headfirst diving. From a knee for now, but they’ll be getting all the way there soon. And most importantly, they really like it.

Worked up the invitations for the big boys birthday party where The Turn will be playing! They are SO totally excited.

Front:

Back:

John and Ken booked a big whirlwind baseball trip for just the boys coming up the first weekend of August. They are flying to Kansas City (ya, the plane is at 6am. SIX AM. That means they have to leave the house around 4:30am. Good luck with that.) on a Friday, seeing the Royals vs. White Sox Friday night. Visiting the Negro League Hall of Fame Museum Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon more Royals vs. Sox, driving toward St.Louis Saturday evening and stopping where ever to sleep. Sunday morning visiting Gateway Arch and seeing St. Louis vs. Philadelphia Sunday night. Monday, driving to Chicago to see the Cubs vs. Astros that night and leaving Chicago Tuesday morning to fly home. Do you think they might be a little tired when it’s all done?

Just a side note…I know there are a lot more pictures of Timmy than of the big boys. But there is a legitimate reason for that. One, most of the time, they are at school and Timmy’s around more. Two, they are so totally sick of my camera. Like Pavolvian dogs, when they hear the velcro ripping on my camera bag, they scatter like bugs. So while I’d like to take more pictures of them they suffer severely from PCS (photographers child syndrome) and will not have it unless they are in the mood or bribed. So I try to leave them alone as much as possible so when the really important things come up that I need pictures of them for, they may possibly cooperate. Maybe.