Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks...

Tomorrow we are headed to Detroit to watch my uncle throw out the first pitch at the Tiger game. It is going to be a family adventure as a lot of my extended family has rented a bus to drive us there and back for the game. I have never been to a major league baseball game before or even in a major league ball park so I am pretty excited.

I realized the other day as pictures were streaming across my screen saver that I never posted any pictures of Evan or Hailey during their baseball seasons. Now is as good a time as any I figure, so here they are! I just found some of my favorites of each of them.

Evan in the outfield.

Trying to adjust the batting helmet.

I love how intent he looks in this shot and I also love how shooting through the fence gives it a sort of vignette.

Again in the outfield. He hated being in the outfield but he doesn't have the catching and throwing skills to spend much time in the action.

He enjoyed playing this year and I loved watching him. It was so different from when Spencer played. To be honest when his season started I was totally dreading it, but when your kid actually hits the ball and gets on base, the game can be pretty exciting!

Number six at bat! I love how in this shot he looks like he is looking over at the camera. Maybe he was, but most likely he was listening to a coach or someone.

Getting some coaching from Daddy at first base.

Ready to run to third!

Waiting on third with a little bit of style!

Their team had a great season. They ended the season being fifth out of sixth teams but in the playoffs came back and made it to the finals. They ultimately lost in the finals but not by a landslide. Evan was very excited about his big trophy.

Hailey played tee ball this year through community services. When the boys played tee ball the teams had fifteen or sixteen kids on them. She started off with seven and usually only had four show up for the games. I was disappointed. It doesn't seem like the program is very popular anymore. I don't know if she will want to play next summer or decide to do something else.

Catching the ball!

Throwing the ball.

Filling her glove with dirt.

Waiting for some grounders.

Hitting the ball. BT Dub - another lefty.

Hydrating on the bench out of a princess water bottle.

Accepting a trophy for a season well played.

And what could be better than a trophy? A trophy and a popsicle!

In the city

On Monday we spent the day in the city.

Not the big city, but a bigger city than our own. I had an ulterior motive to spend a little time downtown and we couldn't let the summer of 2011 end without our annual summer visit to the Meijer gardens.

I didn't take a lot of pictures. Not for lack of subject matter or anything. It is just that we have been there often enough that the pictures look like the same thing except the subject has on a different outfit and is maybe a little taller. It didn't have anything to do with the fact that I had a senior photo shoot later that night and I needed to have space on my memory card.

Or maybe it had a little to do with that.

This Doovy of ours is getting so grown up looking.

Baby girl splashing in the fountain. As I sat and watched her doing this I remembered back to what seems like yesterday but was in fact three years ago when we were at the gardens and she wouldn't stop crying. It turned out that one of her poor little toes was mashed in her shoe. Once we got her bare foot she was ecstatic to play in this fountain.

We went on a kids tram tour of the sculptures for the first time. It was fun for the kids and gave them a chance to interact with the art. Evan really got into it. He was answering questions and working out ideas. Some girl next to him kept hearing what he was saying then would scream it out and get the credit for the thought. She was really irritating me.

Evan and Justin Beaver. I'm here all week folks.

My three kids cannot get enough of this old fashioned water pump. I think we should install one in our yard. It would keep them constantly occupied.

Evan loves the cacti room. He wanted to pretend he was going to sit on it. Hailey almost really knocked him into it after I got this shot. Luckily quick foot shifting and disaster was averted.

My motive for being in downtown Grand Rapids was to take some picture to submit to the Grand Rapids Photo Project. It is a project (obviously) that two women are working on for Art Prize. Basically there are six venues in the city that you need to photograph while standing on these bright orange footprints. I had heard about a couple other families that walked around downtown with their kids looking for footprints like it was a treasure hunt and having a fabulous time.

My kids were into it only until the first set of footprints was discovered. At that point they were over it. They wanted to go back to the car. Their legs were tired. Their toes were hurting. But Trent and I were on a quest. A quest to see a moose. Vacation reference.

Second shot. Grand Rapids Art Museum. Kids sitting pretending they are eating dinner.

Evan wanted to be the one to find the footprints, but would drag along behind with his tired legs. Then he would be furious when someone else found them.

Don't they look so happy to be walking around the city on a beautiful day? I mean what would they be doing at home besides watching TV or playing games on the computer. Mean parents trying to give them a little exercise and culture.

Fifth shot. Calder sculpture. Almost done kids. One more to go!

Little sister decided she would emulate the homeless and take up residence in Calder Plaza.

A painted wall as we walked toward the final shot. Big cities are so awesome.

My three footprint hunters after they found the final. It was a long and whiny road back to our vehicle.

And when we got to our vehicle - look what we found! It took us a bit longer than we anticipated. I hope that when we go back for Art Prize the kids are a little more excited about walking around. Maybe if we get them out of school for the afternoon like we did last year. Even tired feet are better than sitting in class! In hindsight, we could have planned it out much better. We ended up back tracking a lot and could have streamlined our route. It was an adventure in the city - someday we will look back and have a good laugh.

Pink! Pink! Pink!

There has been a pink glow coming from our upstairs for a few days now. It is not a new nightlight or the beams of a beautiful sunset. It is the reflection of light off the walls of Hailey's new big girl room.

After over ten years, the nursery is no more. The yellow paint has been covered with pink. The flashcard border has been removed and thrown away. The ABC themed accessories have been packed into a box in hopes that Hailey or one of the boys' wives with exquisite taste will want to use them in their own nurseries some day. And just for the record, I wasn't sad - it was time - our four and a half going on twelve year old needed a space that was her own.

We bought two colors of pink. The one I call bubblegum and the other can only be described as fuchsia. My vision was two walls one color, two walls the other. The painter (Daddy) and the little girl that would inhabit the room had a different idea. At the end of the job we had one wall a sweet bubblegum color and three walls fuchsia-riffic. It looks good - just a bit on the dramatic side.

Little by little we are trying to get the room completely together. We don't have anything on the walls yet. I have a couple of projects that I am working on for that. I am looking for a new or upcycled bookcase for her. We went through her books and I was very impressed at how many "baby-baby" titles she was willing to part with. Today I have been painting a dresser that I bought at an estate sale white and spray painting the clothes hooks that were on her door and closet door pink. I still want Daddy to make her a platform for her bed.

She is thrilled with it and is so proud to show it off to anyone that comes over. Little by little we are making progress - finding things here and there. The fun is in the hunt anyway!

On a whim...

My "to do" list is a mile long and growing.

Our list of summer projects that we wanted to accomplish has one thing crossed off of it.

We are rapidly running out of time in the summer of 2011 and that is exactly why we didn't worry about any of the "lists" and decided on a whim that an afternoon at the beach was in order - black paint all over our bodies be damned!

I am so glad that we did. The breeze was just enough so that you never felt hot. The waves were just big enough that the kids had a ball playing in them and I never feared that they may be in danger.

I promise that Evan really does eat. Even though this picture makes it appear that he doesn't.

Ev was his old self today. He has had some issues this summer. At times he seems to be becoming more of an introvert and I have no idea why. But today, he was laughing and getting along with his siblings and smiling for my camera every time he saw it pointed his way. The two of us even went on a short walk to scout out some locations for a shoot I have later this week. I snapped shot after shot of him and he would ask me "Did I look good in that one?" So funny.

The kids are in love with my old boogie boards. I am so glad Trent never convinced me to sell them. Now I am on the lookout for a third! Hailey wants her own!

Hailey has not taken a nap for the past three or four days. I fear our napping days are behind us. She was tired today though. She crawled up on me with her towel and her yummy fingers.

On our walk Evan found a piece of a bike tire tube. Of course he brought it home with him. Some things about him will never change!

Oh Summer! Why do you have to go so soon?

Her eyes...

Sometimes when I see her eyes all I can hear is Bruno Mars' song in my head. I still have no idea where those eyes came from.

The theme this week at i heart faces is beautiful eyes. Head on over there and check out some stunning photos by some amazing photographers.

Trick of the trade

I was editing pictures today from a recent photo gig and was very excited to learn a new photo trick. I have noticed that when I look at the pictures that I put on my blog, they don't look as crisp on the blog as they do in the pictures folder. I found out today that there is a little trick known as sharpening for web.

I decided to try it on two of my favorite photos from our vacation. I know I will have many more favorites. I haven't even begun to sort through the over seven hundred pictures I took on our eight days away from home. Gulp! How many rolls of film would that have been back in the day? I used to shoot mainly rolls of twenty four - so we are talking about around twenty nine rolls of film. A little excessive? Maybe.

Anyway here they are. SOOC shot:

Sharpened for web shot. I don't see a lot of difference here. I am wondering if it was because I had such a long exposure to catch the waterfall. I still love this shot.

I loved this picture the instant I took it. It is so hard to catch moments like this between these two. SOOC shot:

Sharpened for web shot. Holy smokes what a difference! I almost think it is too sharp. Hailey's hair looks a little "solid" or something.

Another thing to add to my pile of stuff to do. It is always fun to learn something new!