Ojai- Pool

And this last picture pretty much sums up my kind of pool time. I brought 5 cameras, yes, I used them all, had some sunblock, and a good book. What more can I ask for.

my heart skipped

when I walked in the living room and saw this. . .

I mean I know he loves to read as much as I do, but still to just mosey on into another room and stumble upon this just makes me melt. (and it makes my house look kinda cool in black and white)

first roll

Here’s a few from the first roll I developed from Diana. I really had no clue what I was doing. And unfortunately the film speed was really slow, put those two together and you get a lot of blurry photos. But that’s okay, I’m learning.

This one I forgot to wind the film wheel so it got double exposed.

I got some neat ones from Ojai i will share later this week.

Cisca’s Family Photo Shoot

A few months ago Cisca had asked me to photograph her family and due to some bangs that needed some growing out, we waited until August to take them. We went back and forth on locations for awhile and actually the morning of we switched one of them. We started out at Temescal Canyon and then headed to the beach after an outfit change. If you have clicked over to my photography site recently you may have seen some changes to the home page. And if you would like to read and see more about our shoot click on over to my photo blog.

We talked a lot about what their photographs should convey, we wanted a lot of feeling and emotion, and most of all, natural. Which is right up my alley. I could honestly post pictures for days from this beautiful family’s shoot.

What’s summer without. . .

some summer swim photos. I just realized today that I haven’t posted anything about the kids swim lessons this summer. Greta is finally in a class where it doesn’t involve Aaron or I in the water. It’s lovely. Because that water is really cold.

The kids had 2 weeks of lessons in July and are in their 2 week session for August. To explain Gunnar’s love for it he told me the other day, “Mama, you know how something you really like goes by fast, but something that you don’t like takes a long time? Well, my class is like 30 seconds long!” Good sign. Just watching Gunnar exhausts me. He has a real kick butt teacher this time and she rocks. I love her. She stands next to the edge and just instructs/yells. Love it! If their knees are hitting their kickboard they’re out of the water and she makes them show her the right way. He goes back and forth doing 50 meter laps and I seriously get tired for him. But he loves it.

And Sawyer is my fish. He is supposed to hang out on the wall til his teacher instructs him to do something. Impossible for Sawyer, all you see are his feet because he dives to the bottom and then comes back up, checks if it’s his turn, and then dives back down. After their 2 weeks this month we’re heading down to San Diego for 8 days, so I figure by the end of the month they will have gills and fins.

Some of Gunnar

And Sawyer

And Greta

the best part

Hands down, the best part of our trip to Ojai is watching my kids just roam and run. Everything was so green and lush and the kids normally don’t get this kind of acreage to investigate. There were awesome trees to hide behind, beautiful little flowers just the right size for small hands to pick and a lot of games made up in the grass among the 3 kids.

Princess & the Pea

This has to be one of my favorite purchases for Greta to date. I absolutely adore it, and she adores it equally as much. The afternoon I decided to pull it out, because I’ve been saving it for a few months, she played with it for hours. I mean HOURS. I mentioned awhile ago that she loves Lauren Child’s Princess and the Pea. And I found this seller on Etsy who makes these sets. I custom ordered ours so that the doll has dark hair. It even comes with this adorable tiny pea. And a handmade bag that it all fits in. This set is played with every single day. Morning and night. All. Day. It’s not cheap, but worth every penny. She even pulled out the book and tried to reenact the page where the princess is taking a bath. Oh and Ken and Barbie even got to use some of the mattresses too. Don’t worry, they’re already married. Greta made sure of it.