visit to western Mass Part II

Once in Shelburne Falls we went to see the Potholes.

This was Maddie in between the fence that stops you from falling down into the potholes. I stuck my camera out and shot back to see what I could get.

Maddie decided she wanted to take pictures so I gave her my backup rebel. It was on full manual and I taught her to adjust the shutter speed to make an image lighter or darker based on how the first one came out on the display. I showed her maybe twice and she knew what to do from then on.

She took this picture of my mom, grandma and me.

I love how the lady is watching Maddie in this picture.

We made our way to the bridge of flowers. It was nothing like I expected. I thought it was going to be a car bridge with flower boxes or something like that. I was definitely wrong. It was a small pedestrian bridge with flower beds completely covering both sides of the small path. Maddie was SO excited to take pictures (oh yeah, Jackson was asleep by the time we got to the Potholes. we were right next to the car at the potholes so we just left him in the car and at the bridge my grandmother stayed in the car with him.)

I was amazed at how serious she was about taking pictures. Absolutely everyone that walked by her made a huge fuss over her.

This is one of the many great photos she took. That's my mother's hand.

and one more. One of the things I loved about going through the photos later was seeing an underexposed image followed by a perfectly exposed one. She absolutely blew me away.

If you're interested in seeing all of the photos she took you can see them in her very own flickr album!

She took this one of me...(my mom in the background talking to a stranger as usual)

while I took this one of her.

On the way back down the bridge I tied the neck strap in a knot so it was shorter that way if it slipped out of her hands it wouldn't smash on the ground. She was shooting with my 50mm lens while I had my 100mm macro on my 7D.

Of course I have to share a couple that I captured too.

After we had seen all the dahlias we could (that's basically all that was in bloom at that time of year) we made our way back to Turners Falls. We had to drop my grandmother off at her house so she could meet my cousin's son there after school. My mom took me to Poet's Seat which is another place I can't believe my parents never took me to.

The view from the mountain was awesome and the coolest thing is that the main building at the bottom of this photo is the hospital where I was born.

I wanted to climb the tower. My mom stayed on the ground with the kids and took a picture of me once I was at the top. I'm not overly afraid of heights but I was quite uneasy up there.

Maddie continued taking pictures (in the background).

...to be continued again.

Visit to western Mass Part I

Since I tagged over 50 photos to share from our trip in October I figure I better make a few different posts.

With a lot of my parents' family living in the Turners Falls area my mom and I try to take the kids out there during the week for short visits a few times a year. In the past we've left in the morning and come home in the evening. There is so much to see out there and I really do love driving around with my mother and hearing her stories of growing up. It's such a beautiful place and even though I was born out there I only lived there for the first 6 months of my life before moving to Connecticut (then to upstate NY then Boston in 1983). There are so many places that I've never seen. So I wanted to make sure we could stay for a few days instead of being so rushed that we'd have to squeeze in visits with my grandparents and maybe even see some other family members that I don't get to see very often.

I called my Aunt Linda (dad's sister) to see if she was willing to board the four of us for two nights. She was thrilled and I just prayed that the kids wouldn't behave badly so that she would regret being so hospitable.

We left on a Thursday right after the kids got out of school at 11:30. It was just before Columbus Day weekend and I was hoping for peak foliage in the Berkshires. We first arrived at my mom's parents' house for a visit. We wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather so the four of us and my grandmother and cousin Jessica drove to an area where we were able to walk while the kids rode their bikes (can't think of the name of the place).

My mom saw this incredible caterpillar on the road. I took lots of pictures of it and the kids thought it was so cute!

Four generations (my grandmother HATES to have her picture taken)

Back at my grandparents' place the kids rode their bikes a little more around the back of their building.

Then the four of us and my grandparents went to dinner in Bernardston. This field was next to the parking lot of the restaurant.

Inside the restaurant. The kids were relatively well behaved while there although I think we took four trips to the bathroom. I can't wait until a public bathroom isn't a novelty anymore.

After dinner we went Aunt Linda's house for the night. The kids did so well going to sleep. We put Jackson in "my" room and Maddie in "my mom's" room. There was a little bit of talking but my mom was able to get them to settle down. Then my mom and aunt and I were able to have a nice chat until we were all tired and went to bed.

In the morning we got up and got ready to head out for another busy day of traveling around. My mom drove me by where her aunt lived. She spent a lot of time there as a kid. Just down the road from there was the Connecticut river and my mom thought I'd be able to get some good pictures. There was a house at the end of the road right on the river that my grandmother lived in when she was little.

I didn't get much there except this one.

We continued up the main road a little further until we got to Mt. Herman School. The campus of this boarding high school is just breath taking.

We walked around the campus a little while I took some more pictures. We eventually made our way to an adorable british tea house right off of rt. 91. The whole place was picture worthy.

After breakfast we strapped the kids in again and drove to where my grandfather grew up. A long time ago his parents sold off their land and streets were named after them. Wayland is my grandfather's name and Fargo is his last name.

We came across an adorable looking farm stand type place. We stopped in to see what they had but the place was closed! We were so bummed but we were greeted by the sweetest cat in the world.

Madison and Jackson were in heaven with him. He wouldn't leave them alone. You know how some cats eventually have had enough of the petting and out of absolutely nowhere they bite you. Yeah, that happened to poor Jackson. He was heartbroken. Even so he didn't want to leave the kitty. I think we strapped them both in crying that time.

By this point in the morning we had given my other grandmother (dad's mom) enough time to get up and ready (she's 91 now!). We went in to say hi and then brought her with us to Shelburne Falls where I hoped to get some more pretty photos. I was looking forward to the Bridge of Flowers. In 37 years I had never been there and my mother couldn't believe it. Actually she said she has pictures of me there when I was a baby and my dad was wearing plaid bellbottoms that she made.

Continued in Part II! I know you can't wait. It's OK you can admit it.

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Skating

OMG! Another month without a post. So so so busy with christmas card designs for clients.

I've been so overwhelmed with how to catch up on here. Do I say "screw the stuff I've missed and just start fresh now?" Or do I stay strict with chronological order? So while I'm trying to decide I feel anxious and the blog just sits. I had a conversation tonight with a fellow blogger who said to just wait until January when I'm not so busy and catch up then. After all, what's another month?

Oh and another thing I'm horrified at myself for is that in November it was the 22nd before I realized that I hadn't taken the kids' monthly pictures on the 17th. I've been a day late two or three times since they were born but it was because I physically couldn't do it on the 17th but this time the date just completely slipped my mind.

So while I'm going to catch up in January I am going to try to keep up withe current stuff when I can...like today. What a crazy day.

This morning I took the kids to the first day of gymnastics class. It's held at the skating rink in town. They took the same class at the same location last year and loved to watch the people skate. Today after class was over we watched the guys playing hockey for a while. They begged to go skating so we went to a used sports store and bought the cheapest skates we could find. All three of us left with "new" skates and drove right back to the skating rink. They were SOOOOO excited to get their stuff on and get on the ice. I talked to them a lot about how they were going to fall down a lot and that that was ok and how it was going to take a lot practice to be comfortable.

My prediction was that Maddie would fall down...a lot, and get frustrated and cry. I couldn't have been more wrong. That child had a smile on her face the entire time, was exclaiming, "Weeee!" and said "ouchie!" when she fell down. She could even get back up to hold onto the crates by herself. I was so proud of her and so impressed.

The only skates the store had to fit Jackson were hockey skates rather than figure skates. With no toe pick (I didn't realize the toe pick would be so helpful in learning) he had no way to push off to get going. I was trying to teach him to push to the side but it was really hard for him. He did get independent enough that I could skate around but he wasn't moving very fast and wasn't overly happy. He didn't cry when he would fall down and he didn't want to get off the ice. He was content to hang on the milk crates for dear life. At one point I reached down around him to lean on the crate and made him go really fast while holding on. He loved that!

Oh, when free skate was over and it was time to go, Madison was heartbroken (and tired) and she hysterically cried the entire time I was getting all of our skates off and shoes on and half way home when she finally fell asleep in the car. I felt so bad for her. We're definitely going to have to go again soon!

OH and just as we were all getting on the ice I realized I had left their helmets (bike) in the car. I stopped in my tracks and told them that I had forgotten the helmets. There was another mother there watching her kids skate. I said to her (in a funny way), "is it total child abuse to send your kids on the ice with no helmets?" She just looked at me as if to say "yes". I showed frustration and told her I had left them in the car. She told me she would stay with the kids while I went to get them. So what's worse? Letting your kids skate with no helmets or leaving them with a total stranger while you go get said helmets? Obviously they were fine when i got back and the mother had even put their mittens on for them.

Wow

Since I'm here updating my header I might as well update the blog too. A month and a half?? That has GOT to be some sort of record. Not one post in October. Unreal.

Since my last update the kids have settled into school. Jackson had quite the transition. He's not exactly clingy with me but he sure does love his mama and he wanted me to stay at school with him. I learned quickly that I couldn't tell him we were going to school in the morning because he would cry and wouldn't want to get ready. The first day I dropped him off he complained that he was tired the whole way there. When the director of the school came to the car to get him out of the drop off line I told her he was "tired" so she went and scooped him up out of his car seat and brought him with promises of a nice rest once inside. He never cried though and had a ball while he was there and said at the end of the day that he didn't want to leave. He got progressively better as the days went on and maybe the 5th or so day he declared in the morning "I want to go to school!" I knew we were going to be fine after that.

Maddie has had no issues what so ever.

We had our first parent teacher meeting in October and the teacher was perfectly pleased with each of them.

Dance class has also been going very well. They both absolutely love it and are doing so well in an instructional setting.

Attitudes about Jackson being in dance class have been mixed; either all in favor or dead set against it. Unfortunately Jackson's father is one that is against it but he's also the one to call him a wuss if he cries after getting injured or to tell me that I'm turning him into a girl because I hug him, so I'm not surprised at his opinion but it's just so absurd. I could go on and on about this topic but I'll stop now.

If you read my photography blog or are friends with me on facebook you'll know that I've been very busy with sessions which is great and having a few hours while the kids are at school two days a week has been so helpful for me to get some things done.

I guess that's it for now. Dance class is over so it's time to go.