Just Be Blogged – Page 201

the garcia family • orange county family photo session • downtown seal beach

i love seal beach. there are so many awesome little nooks and crannies to be found. when we walked down an alley and found this awesome sign, i said under my breath, “i am so coming back after we are finished to snatch this lovely into the back of my car.” AND I FORGOT TO DO IT! i still mourn the loss. especially when i look at this shot.

the garcias are an awesome family who are grounded, fun to talk to, and great with their kids. kami is currently co-authoring a book that got picked up by the publisher of the twilight books. cant wait to see how that progresses for her! their oldest is a ham and completely photogenic and into it. their youngest was a bit of a wild card and totally made me work my butt off. its the age, definitely the age. 1 year olds are notorious for being aloof around a camera. so instead of standing and posing, we did lots of STUFF to keep her interested.

stuff like getting swung like an airplane…

or getting loved on by her big brother (whom she ADORES)…

or being safely cuddled in daddy’s arms because the sand, the water, the sun, and the noise of the beach were just too much to take for her delicate sensibilities!

we had to improvise for the foot shot. sweet honey would have nothing to do with the sand, and i love her little piggy toes on her dads, and just the hint of a full diaper and those chubby legs…

sibling shots with a one year old…typical…you take what you can get, and this happened in a split second.

fun morning, ill be dreaming of you forever picture-show-gallery sign.

san diego children’s museum • thanksgiving break

over break, emily (who is giving away a camera strap today on her blog!) and i organized an outing with the kids to the new children’s museum in downtown san diego. except one of the kids, who decided at the last minute to stay home with her dad. i did my best to change her mind, but she is happiest shuffling around the house with her catalogs and her ipod, so i didnt take it personally.

the slogan at the museum is think, play, create. i love it. its the most inspiring space EVER. this huge warehouse space they modified. i want to live in it. they have details galore. really cool, humorous, clever details. my favorite, i think, were the vacuum cleaners attached HIGH on the wall and connected to harmonicas. they come on randomly and you’ll hear a blast of harmonica. so fun, so cool. oh but my other favorite is the rain house. you go in and it sounds like there is a huge rainstorm happening all around you. i want to live in it.

on our way down anna was grumpy, so i handed her my camera to cheer her up. she mostly took photos of clouds, and more clouds, and blurry trucks, but these i love. (passing oceanside, drew, stocky legs, me with my ipod)

we got there and everyone wanted to go off in separate directions so we wrangled them all up to get in line for the pillow fight room. while in line, they climbed the walls. and drew found his name.

the pillow fight room is really gorgeous in a weird way that possibly only i appreciate. there are old mattresses lining the walls (i need that) and the vintage-y prints on them made me drool. they have all of these awesome foam tires and the kids stack them up around their bodies and then ask someone to push them over, its hilarious. yindi even got in on the action, brave little girlie.

we followed them around mostly, and took turns chasing yindi mostly, and enjoyed watching them all have fun.

when she crawled into that wall we couldnt stop laughing.

drew rallied a bunch of kids and they created this huge fort. i said, “pose in front like the king of the castle!” he did.

had to get in front of the chalk wall. hurry quick before yindi runs away again! and before someone comes up the stairs and kicks my camera!

there is an outdoor patio where you can create anything you want with clay, or you can put on an apron and paint on an old VW bug. someone wasnt too thrilled with the apron.

i drooled again over the oilcloth covered tables and stools. simply made out of some probably recycled wood barrels that look like they once had rubber tubing wrapped around them at home depot.