The cutest ones are usually the cheekiest ones, and Blake is no exception. But we got to celebrate his birthday in March with our ridiculous little family, and there was no shortage of fun or noise. Here is the whole set, full res.
Franklin Park Conservatory
On a chilly, sunny, gorgeous day, I met up with a friend to walk around Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus, OH. We shot lots and lots of photos, had a really lovely lunch, and then I headed home. Here’s what I came home with (full set/high res here).
EnterTRAINment Junction!
So if you travel a bit south of us, there’s a really cool place called EnterTrainment Junction. There’s a model train museum, which is just awesome. But there’s a ton more, too! There are train rides, a funhouse, places to eat and cool little shops. There’s also an awesome kid’s play area for those of us who just need a break…
If you ever have the chance to stop by West Union, OH, it’s well worth a visit! I took Emma there earlier this year so that she could blow off some steam and see something new.
If you’re interested in the full res photos, here’s the whole set!
It’s Nearly Easter, so why not post Christmas 2016?
The title says it all. We had our family Christmas in Dayton in the early part of 2017 because that’s how cool and chill we are and not at all because we’re all so ridiculously busy that it’s the only time we could all manage to be in the same room. <ahem>
Here‘s the whole set!
Lantern Festival
Towards the very end up 2016, Keith drove us up to Columbus, OH, to the Ohio Chinese Lantern Festival. There’s not a ton I can say about it besides that it was amazing. And freezing. But mostly amazing. Here‘s the whole set of photos.
Thanksgiving 2016
I love my family. Deeply, wholly, and forever. So when my brother and SIL initiated a conversation about using Thanksgiving as an opportunity to get out of town for a weekend, everyone included, we jumped at the chance. We all bundled into our cars and met up at Murphin Ridge Inn in West Union, OH. We spent time together, drank and ate all our meals together, and let the kids run wild in the countryside getaway. It was awesome and perfect. These are my people and I love them greatly. These are some of my best shots, but you can see every one here.
Fireworks!
I will link the photo page here, but I’m just going to post all of these because I LOVE them. The first two shots are from my back patio – the rest are from a parking area near downtown Dayton, OH. It was a rainy, windy, smokey night – but I love them all anyway!
Florida Vacation
So a little while back, we decided it was time to take a short family vacation down to Florida to enjoy the sun, sand, and inappropriately attired beach-goers. I do have my favorites, but the whole set can be viewed here (for the 2 or 3 readers I still have).
We went to the airport and waited for the shuttle, and Emma was pretty excited.
Which she did not hide at ALL, much to the chuckles of the other travelers.
Since the plane was taking soooooo long to unload, Emma decided that the best course of action would be to insist on reading approximately 3 dozen books.
Once we finally arrived, I had scheduled an adventure the next morning for us to go on a cool pirate cruise!
Unfortunately, Emma barfed in the care en route to the cruise, resulting in the immediate and necessary purchase of the tour shirt. Methinks someone may have done it on purpose because she wanted a souvenir. But I digress.
Someone was very proud of her acumen with the water cannon.
She was officially sworn in as a Bluefoot pirate.
Thusly, she was conscripted to protect all of us adults against the dread “other pirate” who attacked our boat and stole our treasure. All’s well that ends well, and she was awarded with a bag full of gold doubloons and gems.
We did some relaxing at the hotel pool and shared some lovely frozen drinks to cool off from the super-heated, ridiculously humid environs.
We also managed to go on an airboat to see the Everglades and manged to catch a close (too close?) view of some of the area wildlife.
Emma was unsure how she felt about all of it.
Either way, we survived and can mark that one off of our lists.
Finally, we hit the beach one last time and Emma enjoyed digging with her new shovel while I enjoyed the shade and doing nothing much at all.
All in all, we really had a lovely time in Florida, “America’s Weiner”.
Frautography 