Oh, yea! We celebrated!

After the storm, there was some beautiful light. So we headed out with our cameras. Well, Abby and I had cameras. Ryker had his bike, and Daddy was there to be the camel when nobody wanted to carry around their stuff after discovering PUDDLES!

Ryker's re-discovery of puddle-jumping! It's been so long!!

Water, water, beautiful water!!

Oh, I should take photos with their faces in them? Sorry, momentarily distracted by the water. Did I mention...it rained!!

Tip-toe through the puddle.

Then, pounce!

Oh, yea!!

YES! We should make this a sport!

This is where I told Ryker to be more silly. 

This is about as silly as it comes! And yes, he did take that spa treatment earlier this week. No pickles. A pedicure by mom. He picked green and black polish...you know, school colors!

 Abby trying to dunk her brother in the puddle.

Just kidding! I love you!

 Interesting hair!

 Time to go home and take a bath after this shower!

Poor Daddy...stuck with a tiny bike and a camera!

Pure joy

Today, I should be doing about a million other things. But I got distracted and then inspired and I simply MUST share my walk down memory lane! I am cleaning out folders on my computer to make room for photos and videos from Africa. (So I am at least accomplishing something!) And I came across these. 

The background on this story is that Abby saved up her money, and we took her to Chicago to American Girl to buy her first big girl doll on Memorial Day weekend nearly two years ago. It was an amazing experience, and she enjoyed it. But not as much as she thoroughly loved what is to follow that she discovered on our walk back to the parking garage. It was a loooooong walk, and we were almost there. 

But Abby sees something. Something that looks kind of like a hobo. A bike with a big painted box on the back. And she stops. I'm so glad I took a photo of this, of all of this because just looking at these brings a HUGE smile to my face, such a precious memory! 

Here she is, tiny and alone in the city sidewalk -- compelled to look at this....this thing. 

Her stopping and looking inspires others to stop and look. I'm thinking she's a little strange. Well, I know she's a little strange. But the momma bear in me is thinking, "Don't get too close to that hobo or whatever." I was thinking worse, like it was some child predator in a box. I was definitely skeptical, but what's new!

I think this guy on the left is thinking the same thing I'm thinking. I can tell by the look in his eye. He doesn't stop. Abby looks at us with pleading eyes; she doesn't want to leave. She has to KNOW what's in that box???

Hesitantly, we let her. It's a puppet show, and she LOVES it! My then 7-year-old is in heaven. As she dances with her new doll, I can't help but snap photos of her. She is absolutely captivating! Some people stop to watch simply because of how adorable she is, or at least that's what I deduced! 

Here she's smiling with her teeth. She never did that for like three years! But she can't help herself. She's not thinking. She's simply....enjoying. Laughing. Loving. 

I'm STILL skeptical of exactly who's in the box, so I take this photo for a little follow-up research at home!

She loved imitating the puppets with her doll, dancing along to the music that's playing from somewhere inside the box.

She's undeniably having the time of her life!

Ryker finally can't take it anymore. Her joy is contagious, and he decides to move in. But you can see...he's a skeptic like his momma! And there's Abby, smiling with her teeth again. See the guy on the right. He is snapping a photo of the puppet. 

In a classic move that Puppet Bike is known for, the kitty dives down and gets her own camera and takes a photo back...here's my kids' reactions:

Ryker, with a half smile, is still a bit hesitant. Not Abby, though. She apparently knows a good thing when she sees it. 

I still haven't seen these puppets, because I'm shooting from the back/bike side of the box, so I swing around for a look. Wow. I was expecting something different -- spectacular, I guess you could say. Not so raggedy and grungy. 

Look! Kitty wants to see me, too! Oh, my! Kitty doesn't even have eyes!!!

But that doesn't stop her from putting on a heck of a show! 

With her sidekick.

Abby gets brave. she wants to see the man behind the act. Ryker, too, but he keeps it a few steps back!

Ditching the doll so she can dance along with the puppets.  

Please don't leave, Abby says. This is SO much fun!!

Good-bye, Puppet Bike! After she grabbed her doll and we walked away, she held my hand and said, "Thanks for letting me stay for that, Mommy. That was the most amazing thing ever!" 

If I had only known -- a few dollars tipped to Puppet Bike was much more economical and rewarding than a trip to American Girl! 

What a timeless lesson? All the money we think we need to spend on our kids, but it's the simple joys in life that leave the most lasting impression, that bring the most pure joy. Abby taught me something on this day: Slow down and enjoy life, look for the simple and embrace the artistic. And for goodness sake, don't be such a skeptic! 

Proof I can't take a good sports photo

I usually have my camera with me wherever I go. I love to take photos. Of people. Doing the things they love to do. I love candids -- a moment captured when nobody is posing or even paying attention to the camera. That's the journalist, the artist in me. So, you might think people, candids, activities people I love enjoy. You might think I'd take some rockin' sports photos. Oh, how wrong you would be! I know aperture, ISO, shutter speed. I know the technical aspects to taking a good photo. I can change the camera settings to make a photo in the same lighting look entirely different. And yet I cannot for the life of me take a good sports photo, though I try. I do try. I take my camera and mostly resort to video -- except for the one goal Abby got in soccer. I didn't take a photo or a video. Frankly, the best boys on her team whose soccer skills are amazing couldn't get a goal, so I really didn't expect her to get one. She did. They lost 8-1. She was the 1!

So, I know if I use a flash, I can freeze the action. And I'm certainly not one who's opposed to artificial lighting. But in sports photography, a flash looks SO ARTIFICIAL to me, even when my speed light is bounced. (Although my new speed light is pretty amazing!)  I like artificial lighting that looks natural -- that's the point and the difference between an amateur and someone who thinks she's a professional. Haha!

OK, so here are three photos (the good ones) of my kids in sports. They are so horrible!!!

So, there you have it. I feel so bad because everyone knows I take photos, so when they see me show up at a game, they think I'll be posting great photos on Facebook later of their child scoring the game-winning basket or stealing the ball. Gulp. Now my secret is out. So sorry! But I do still try, so keep checking in. You never know. I believe in miracles!