Continuing the back to school edition, here’s the picture of the week, and the picture of the week from a few months ago:
He certainly has gotten big! And one more of my no-longer little guy:
The last time I saw my house was August 1. Finally, after 24 days away, we’re back home. It was a long trip!
First, we went to Virginia to visit the in-laws. We went to Doumar’s and spent a day at Busch Gardens, among other things. Then, the boys and I went to visit my mom in NC. We stayed there for almost 2 weeks, doing not much of anything in particular. Last weekend, Noah and I went to my old camp for their 75th reunion weekend. It was fabulous. All the old camp activities I remembered, including sleeping on bunk beds in a cabin! (Noah wanted the top bunk, and I was more than willing to let him have it!) And while I remembered the songs, and the fun, and the people, the one thing I’d forgotten was how strikingly beautiful the place is! It’s in the mountains of NC, nestled practically in the middle of nowhere (the 300-some acres of the camp is a conservation easement) and it’s just glorious. I didn’t have as much opportunity to take photos as I would have liked – it rained all day saturday, and we were frequently busy doing all the fun things camp has to offer, but here’s a couple I did get (there will likely be more at some point – these are the only ones I’ve gotten edited so far).
This is a real, working mill! They mill corn there, and use the resulting cornmeal, flour and grits to help feed the campers, and they also make chicken feed for the chicken’s on the camp farm.
I spent a lot of time swimming in this lake as a camper! I’d forgotten how incredibly peaceful it was to see.
So that’s a small glimpse of camp. It was a wonderful weekend, one I won’t forget for some time. Now I just have to convince Noah that he wants to go to camp there. He still doesn’t see why he would ever want to spend the night away from his parents.
A new one for the picture of the week this week. Every so often, I get an idea for a picture in my head, and then I have to try to create it with my frequently less than willing models (aka, my kids). This was one of those. Daniel has these ducks on a string, and once a week or so, he’ll spy them while he’s down in the basement playing, and not long after, we hear the ducks (and Daniel) coming up the stairs. Then he informs us that he’s taking the ducks for a walk, and he walks through a few rooms of the house, then settles down at the computer to show the ducks how to play games on nickjr.com. (Oddly, the ducks were Noah’s, when he was a little younger than Daniel is now. And he didn’t care about them at all. Daniel, on the other hand, loves the ducks.) Last time the ducks came up for a walk, a seed got planted in my head, and this is the result.
The little man for this Picture of the Week had such a head of hair! I thought his little hair-covered noggin was just adorable.
I’ve been meaning to make this a photo of the week for a while now. My 6 year old came into the room while I was editing it, and just started laughing. And with a smile like that, how can you not share the giggles?
This is a sort of sentimental picture of the week. This is from almost 10 months ago, on Noah’s first day of school:
Today’s his last day of school. He’s done with kindergarten and on to 1st grade. Same backpack, though now he’s a good 2 inches taller. And he’ll probably add another inch before he starts school again in the fall. I hope he enjoys 1st grade as much as he enjoyed kindergarten.
This week’s picture of the week is from a session I did just before Thanksgiving last year, while visiting my mom and sister in NC. It was a bright, sunny day (though warm for November, thankfully!) and it took this little guy a long time to warm up to me. But he finally did! This is one of my favorites from the session, just because of the wonderful fall colors. I love his little shadow too.
I love this bridge. It’s just great for pictures – it’s got a great feel, and it’s wonderful for leading lines. It’s in direct sun though, so unless it’s cloudy, it’s a difficult setting. Fortunately, on this day, it was beautifully overcast (I think that’s a phrase you’ll only hear from photographers. Or perhaps meteorologists) so the bridge was perfect. I’d just gotten some new pettis, and needed a model to try them out (funny, my boys aren’t so much into the pettiskirts). My friend’s 2 year old was happy to help, in exchange for candy, of course. This is one of my favorites from the day.
Something different for the Picture of the Week today:
These flowers bloomed outside our old house. I took this photo a long time ago. Right after I’d gotten a new lens, and I’ve had that lens for almost 2 years now.