our 4th of july

This is how we spent our day...

Headed to "Family Fourth" at the downtown Bellevue park. After 30 mins Cole decided that he was "tired of all of this" and Blake ended up screaming in his stroller the entire 15 min walk back to the car. We decided to skip the big firework show that night and bought our own fireworks instead.




I got a few shots of this little cutie enjoying his favorite treat, a popsicle.




Cole was actually excited for fireworks! Which was nice, since last year he spent the whole night hiding under a blanket in the house.



He still wasn't too sure about the loud ones.



But loved the sparklers.




And Mr. Cranky Pants here got to sit in his throne on the porch and watch the fireworks while eating some snacks. He was fascinated by the lights and sounds but eventually got too cranky for it all and went to bed.


By the time it was dark, it sounded like a war zone in our neighborhood. Pretty much all fireworks are legal in Lynnwood so we had about 5-6 big firework shows going off all around us. Once we were done with ours, we just sat on our front porch and watched all of the others. Cole really got into the fireworks this year and insisted we all clap after each one. The older these boys get, the more fun stuff like this becomes!

And that was our day. Hope everyone else had a nice 4th of July as well!

photoshoot fail

Lessons learned today:

- If you think it's going to be too bright for pictures, it's going to be too bright for pictures. Especially if you have two incredibly pale little boys who just reflect that light right back at the camera.

- A nice camera cannot work miracles. Well it can work small miracles, but not big ones. And you might as well forget about it if you are too busy to "deal with manual" and you have to pop it into Auto.

- Taking pictures of two wiggly boys is always easier with two people. A.L.W.A.Y.S.

- Attempting a photo shoot right before Blake's nap time is not a good idea. Neither is attempting a photo shoot any time of the day while Blake is teething.

I follow a lot of photography blogs and every once in a while a photographer will post some amazing shots of their children. Then if they are feeling nice, the next day they will post a few of the "bad" shots. You know the shots where the kids are being crazy, and refusing to look at the camera. It helps us novices feel a little better about our attempts at photography. This is going to be kind of like one of those posts except without the post of amazing shots first. Because I took 190 pictures at the park today and came home 0 for 190.

I didn't even both to edit these because it wasn't worth it. Even now they crack me up and I'm sure in the future I will still find them amusing...


We went to a local park that had this huge "climbing" rock that I thought would make a nice backdrop. As you can see they boys were more interested in climbing than having their picture taken.



Is this some sort of celestial angel? Nope, just Cole. Check out the glow.



More glow and I can't seem to keep that kid away from his brother's hair.



I then decided to move over to a bench in the shade because of the glow. Unfortunately Blake was only interested in finding a way off the bench.

I love this one of Cole. Too bad he has a chubby little fist on his neck.



Finally, they are both looking at the camera. Although my centering is WAY off and they don't look too amused by my antics to make them smile.



Awww, hugs are always cute. Not quite what I was hoping for but still cute.




Then, I found a spot on the rock that I had at first dismissed because it was pretty shady. After a few tests shots, I wish I would have gone there first. By this time Blake was ready for a nap and sick of the whole thing. Cole had already run off with some random little girl to go play. And I was getting a little self conscious in case anyone happened to be around to hear me. Because there was a lot of "Cole sit down" "Cole get back over here and sit down." "Cole look at the camera" " Cole sit down and smile" "Cole SMILE", if anyone was around to hear me they probably thought I was a little crazy!




But the trip wasn't a complete bust because we did get to do a little of this.


Just to reiterate.. these are the "good" (but not really so good) shots. You don't want to see the bad ones!

I have some older photos to post soon and we have fun 4th of July plans at the Downtown Bellevue park. Hopefully I will get some better shots with Nick around to help. Have a fun weekend!!