A Carlsbad Thanksgiving

This year when I went to figure out everyone plans for Thanksgiving my family had either planned to spend Thanksgiving somewhere else or were working or were unsure if they were working or not. This left me feeling like I didn't want to spend Thanksgiving at home and since we had been planning a trip to Legoland for over a month and it kept getting cancelled for various reasons we decided to do it over Thanksgiving.

I have to say it was fun celebrating Thanksgiving out of town. Our only stress was trying to figure out where to eat Thanksgiving night because everything was booked and we didn't want to go too fancy. In the end we had dinner at 4:30 at Karl Strauss and were in bed asleep by 7:30 that night. Or the kids were, us to follow by just an hour or so.

Legoland was a blast. Erik was the absolute perfect age for it, whereas Elliot was probably 6 months too young. He was afraid to go on any rides and just being at the amusement park really stressed him out.

When we first arrived we just saw a bunch of Legos at miniland. I was a little worried that this was what it was like and we would be bored, but Erik loved it because it was all the Star Wars stuff and due to one of his friends at preschool he is a little Star Wars obsessed these days.

 

I wasn't sure what to expect when we went. I was actually wanting to go to Disney more because I didn't think it would be much fun, but in the end it was completely worth it. With Erik we can only go on certain rides and this place is full of the perfect ride for him. I truly love watching my kids be happy and enjoy themselves. It just fills up my heart. Erik's favorite ride of the entire park, the roller coasters. He LOVES them and asked for more even though there are only three in the park. I think we might be visiting Six Flags very, very soon.

 

Elliot wasn't into the rides, but found other things to amuse himself. His favorite ride was a very slow train that we could ride over and over and over again. The smiles on his face while riding were worth every second. Unfortunately none of those images were captured by me. Sorry!

We went to Legoland two days and the second day we figure out much better how to manage Elliot stress with Erik's roller coaster obsession. The first roller coaster was right when we went in the park so that was easy, no line. Then we went on many boat rides which seemed to be what Elliot liked the most. Then lastly when Erik went on more roller coasters Elliot was either playing in the park or dirt pit and completely happy. Once we stopped trying to force rides on Elliot, he was much more content.

The third day we decided to go to the Safari park since neither Carl or I had been before and I really didn't understand it. I am so glad we made the trip. It is a zoo, but in the middle of the zoo there is an open range where animals live in their natural habitat. You basically take a tram around and learn about the animals and watch them live in their herds. Its gorgeous and fascinating and I only had a 50mm lens so I decided to enjoy it instead of taking pictures. I did take pictures of our zoo visit though.

Definitely a successful vacation and we were all exhausted after our trip. Erik for the entire week kept begging to go back to Legoland so you know he enjoyed it.

Holiday Pictures

This year when I was planning our Christmas card I was thinking of a fireplace setting with the stockings, Christmas tree and the boys. Then my friend asked me to do her pictures and what ended up happening is that she cancelled and I took her spot and ended up photographing the boys. It was a new location for me, but proved to be very valuable and geographically different and interesting.

This photo shot presented some challenges. Usually I bring Carl along to enlist his help so at least one or two images where both boys were looking, but this time I did it alone. The result is that Elliot is not looking at the camera all.day.long! So it was more about capturing the energy and mood of the boys that day and I just went with it. We can't win them all.

I started off with this outfit.

The minute I saw the picture with these jackets I HATED it so I took them off and finished up sans jacket. Which was sad because it got rid of the red pop that made these Christmas images.

 

 

Boys will be boys, especially that day.

 

But in the end I got something usable. Final images and card not on this blog. Usually I do one single strong image for the front of my Christmas card and I just didn't feel like I captured THAT image this year. So instead I just went for a mood and tried to capture my children's spirit in the many different forms that came out that day. Very different from what I normally create, but different is good.

This is the only image I edited for the final card that didn't make the cut.

Here are some other contenders.

 

Christmas cards arrive next week so expect them in two weeks. I try to get them out as soon as they are done for fear of getting some else off my to do list.

Happy Halloween!

This year was quiet for us. After an insane weekend of nonstop activities we decided to keep Halloween simple which ended up being a fortunate choice. Elliot got a hacking cough that day and it was so bad all he wanted to be is held and cuddled the entire day. Seriously I was cooking dinner and carrying my 2.5 year old on my hip because if I set him down he just started crying hysterically. Thank goodness he is lite.

Erik was healthy though so Carl picked him up and took him to his company Halloween party. They had a good time and it was a perfect because Elliot got alone time with daddy the day before so Erik got a turn the next day. Love it when it works out.

For the actual trick or treating we just kept it with our family and stayed local. Elliot insisted on going out, but again I had to carry him from house to house and sometimes even to the front door. He just wasn't feeling well, yet refused to stay home and we felt guilty forcing him since it was Halloween.

We started our rounds around 6:20 and only 20% of the houses answered their doors. We quickly realized next year to not plan on even starting until around 7 pm because its too time consuming. I got discouraged since so many houses were empty and we went to my brother's to surprise him and see if his street was any better.

Surprising Glannie was fun because I told the boys to just trick or treat and see if they notice them. We got there when there were about 5 other kids at their door. Annie just handed each of the boys a candy and I stayed out of sight. Then when I told the boys, go ahead and walk inside she got a weird look when they did and then I came out of the background and laughed at them. They totally didn't notice the kids :) It was fun.

Elliot had enough once we got to Glannie and finally accepted just staying there and passing out candy while Erik and roamed their street. Their street was fun because a lot of the houses went all out with decorations and holiday fun. Erik really enjoyed himself.

Then we headed home where it really picked up at our house and we spent the rest of the night passing out candy and eating it. All in all a fun day regardless of a really sick Elliot.

Erik lined our pimpkins right in front of the door so everyone could see them. In order they are from left to right, Mommy, Erik, Elliot and Daddy's pumpkin. Everyone choose their own face and I carved everyone's except daddys. I took this picture on Halloween and we carved the pumpkins on Saturday. It was so hot the last couple of days, in the 90s hot, that our pumpkins were wilting already.

Lastly our traditional picture spot with our Halloween pumpkins. I am all about photo traditions these days.