My Photographic Adventures: Annual Visit to Chicago

Every year we go to Sundog we always try to stop by and visit our friends living in Chicago and visit with Carl's grandmother who still lives there. We usually just spend a weekend, but it is nice to take a moment and catch up with old friends we only see once a year.

When we go, we stay with Carl's best friend, The Kantowskis, which is adventure all its own. We each have two kids and they are just young enough to get into a lot of trouble and wear us all thin, but also have a lot of fun together. Unfortunately for most of our visit my camera wasn't working. The first place was the Museum of Science and Industry which was a ton of fun, but the only lens I brought that day decided to break so no pictures there. We also went to a BBQ with a bunch of Carl's fraternity brothers, but I forgot to charge my camera that day so another miss fire. So only a few moments from our quick weekend adventure with the Kantowski, but they are fun I promise. I only wish our kids lived closer because I know they would be best friends. One of my favorite moments of the trip was watching Evan idolize Erik and copying everything he did. It was sweet to watch and fun to see Erik be the boss of all the kids. A big responsibility but someone had to do it.

So in the midwest they have something called humidity, us Californian don't understand it. As a photographer I am not use to adjusting for it. One morning we went to a park, but try as I might by camera kept fogging up. I think the trick is that I need to let it sit and get the same temperature outside before I start taking pictures, but man it was driving me crazy. Here are a few examples.

Once my camera finally got warmed up I was all set to go and it was a fun morning at the park. That' the thing with kids, its just spending time together and the simple things that get them going sometimes.

The kids at meal time, it was a bit chaotic, but it worked. Elliot really liked feeding Mia.

Then the only other moment I got was right before we left when it was raining and Tracy decided to distract the boys by making oobleck. Elliot was sad and sitting on my lap while I took these pictures, but Evan and Erik sure had fun with it. I have done it a couple times since we've been home. A great project for the kids.

Also every time we go to Chicago we visit with Carl's grandma and the visits are never often enough, but the boys get to know her a bit better every time. This day she got them cars and ping pong thingys that had fun with. Always a great time catching up.