Spring Photo Challenge

Spring is barely here in Chicago so it was hard to capture "spring" photos.  Flowers and plants are just budding...like today.  So the closest I got was the two days of nice weather we had around Easter for some outdoor playtime.  

Here is my son with his first popsicle of the season.

 And here's the runner-up :)

Linking up with Bower Power

Senior Pictures

Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking my little brother's senior pictures.  I had so much fun!  And I want to say that he had a little fun too :)

Here's a sampling of my favorites.

These first two were taken in my parents' backyard.

My brother is awesome at playing the guitar.

The rest of the pictures were taken in Milwaukee, in the Third Ward area.  It gave us so many great industrial elements to the photos, like this cream city brick.

And how perfect is this quote that was painted on a building?  Great inspiration for a senior!

I'm pretty proud of myself, since I'm an amateur photographer just starting out.  It was a great day and a special memory that was made.

Linking up with Simple Things Sunday

Printing Instagram Photos

I have hundreds of Instagram pictures and have always thought about getting them printed.  And then I found this awesome vintage photo album at a flea market and the square photo pockets seem to be made for Instagram pics.  So I did some research on a few companies that print Instagram photos and decided to go with Printstagram.  You can choose from 2 different sized prints that come out to about 25 cents a photo.  Not bad!  They also offer things like calendars, stickers and books- all using your Instagram photos.

And today, here is what I got in the mail.  144 prints of some of my favorite Instagram shots.  This is the photo album I found while flea marketing in May.  I think it's from the 60's.

And here they are inside the album.  I went with the 2.5 x 2.5 inches prints but it looks like I could have gone with the 4 x 4 inches ones instead.  Oh well...still looks good.

 Here are some of my favorite shots.

A Beach Vacation

This past week we met up with my family for a week-long vacation in Hilton Head Island, SC.  We used to go every year but this was our first time in 5 years.  It was also the first time my son would be going.

These next two pictures are my absolute favorites :)

There were some golf lessons...

And of course lots of days at the beach.

This was Beckett's first time at the beach and he was hooked.  After the first 10 minutes he had no fear of running right into the waves.  He especially loved the taste of the salt water and sand :)

Linking up with Simple Things Sundays at Simple as That.

Summer Happenings

Summer is upon us and we are taking full advantage of the hot weather and summer events in our town.

It all started with the Memorial Day parade.

Then we tried to swim.  Someone's not fond of the water but I have a feeling that will soon change.  For now I'll just enjoy this view :)

Another great Father's Day.

And last night we LOVED watching a movie in the park.  Kids were everywhere, the heat left with the sun, and we sprawled out on our blanket under the stars.

Perfect summer night.