-
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. -
just being….
…on vacation.
ok, the first picture was before vacation but it was pretty cool anyway so I just stuck in in the post. All pictures are from the iphone. Love that thing!!Off to Tampa today so the boys can see a Rays game and I can catch up on some reading on the Kindle while at the game. Don’t judge. I hate baseball but I’m doing the family thing by going. So I can read at the park if I want.
Working on a post about our new, unwelcome foray into the world of food allergies- it’s a lot to process and I haven’t fully wrapped my head around the whole thing yet so it’s a little tough to blog about still. But as my blog stalkers and friends know, I am all about putting it all out there- if it helps someone else going thru a similar thing, or if it leads someone to us with advice and stories of success then that’s what it’s all about! Maybe on Monday. Taking the weekend off from blogging to just be…
-
so, EVERYONE is on vacation??
Not only are we on our spring vacation, but my camera bodies and 2 lenses decided they were taking a little spa vacation of their own. They are getting some facials, mani-pedis, and a few massages at the camera spa this week. Ok, so maybe not exactly that- but they are at Canon getting a good cleaning and recalibration. I guess they have to rejuvinate too, before the Communion Craziness that is the entire month of May begins. So after getting my massages, suntan, and hopefully some relaxation both my cameras, lenses and me will be ready and raring to go!
The two big gaping holes in my camera bag make me a little sad.
On the scale at the UPS store. 
It was almost as traumatic as if I were sending my kids off to sleep-away camp for the summer. 
But I did get emails from Canon today that they arrived in one piece and they are getting started on their spa treatments (I mean cleaning and calibrating) tomorrow.You know I couldn’t be without a camera entirely (omg- my palms are sweating just thinking about that!) so my excellent friend Mark (the owner of Rockville Camera) lent me one of his for my cameras’ spa weekend.
And don’t you worry, there are still lots of blog posts coming this week and next. I would just like to add that editing pictures and writing blog posts from the 20th story balcony overlooking the ocean, intracostal, A1A and North Miami Beach is a vast improvement from wearing my coat in the house in front of the computer. (sorry for anyone still wearing theirs!)
-
welcome home, annabella!!
After a very long 5 year wait my friends adopted a baby girl from China,making their family of 5 (they have 3 boys, too!) into a family of 6. Jenn was nice enough to let me crash their homecoming at Kennedy Airport two weeks ago for their baby girl’s big debut to snap some pictures of the reunited, thrilled family! What an honor it was for me, especially after following Jenn & her mom’s travels in China, watching her meet her baby girl and watching them getting to know eachother all thru Facebook updates and Jenn’s blog. There were a number of tears shed behind the camera, too!
The waiting is the hardest part (thanks, Tom Petty) but there was quite a long one from touch down to making it thru customs.
The whole gang. 
Three very excited big brothers! Love how they got all dressed up to meet their new sister. 
More waiting… (this was at around 11:30pm so there was definitely some exhaustion mixed in with the waiting. That, plus the fact they hadn’t seen their mom for just over 2 weeks just made the anticipation all the worse.)
And, here they are!!
Beautiful, beautiful baby. 
Annabella went right to her daddy and seemed quite comfortable there for the rest of the evening. Love the way he looks at her the rest of the night. Meeting her brothers and looking quite content about it. 
She really liked Devin’s hat. 
First picture of Mommy, Daddy and Annabella together. What a special moment and I am so lucky I got to capture it. 
And the first picture of the whole H family. Yes, I know you are crying now, too. 
I had noticed that she kept making this face on the pictures that Jenn posted from China, so I figured I’d make it at her and see if she would do it back. And she did! Smart and gorgeous little cookie!!
Going to her forever home. 
H family- wishing all of you all the happiness in the world (but, you already have that!) an easy, smooth adjustment for Annabella and all of you. And all the love you can stand!! Thank you so very much for letting me photograph this for you. I hope you and Annabella will treasure the pictures of her first meeting the rest of her family and her first time on US soil in her new homeland. xoxo -
the slat family {& tiffany’s christening}
A new to bsquared family, but one that I’ve known thru all the boys. Their second oldest is in class with the big boys and their second youngest is in class with Timmy. They were celebrating their newest addition’s Christening (in style, I might add- do you love all the Tiffany stuff for little Miss Tiffany?! I knew it was going to be a great shoot after seeing the whole family’s coordinating outfits and the Tiffany bags set up just for me!)
Isn’t she just a beautiful baby?!
The same face. 
Four beautiful blonde girls. 
You know I love some baby feet. 
And baby feet in a row with a ton of fabulous shoes? Even better!
My first time seeing a baby roll her eyes. As in, what are you doing to me?!
Ridiculously good looking family! Thanks for a great session- hope the Christening and party were wonderful!