Summer Lovin

I'm currently having a love affair with summer, soaking up every lovely thing this season has to offer. Last year I was too busy for weekends of summer fun. We had weddings to shoot and very very little time off. This year there are still weddings, but they are spaced out and I'm currently not the one shooting them.

Of course I also have a very good reason to slow down and soak up the summer this year. He's 11lbs 2oz and he's just started smiling at me like I'm the coolest person in the world. I know he'll only feel that way for a few years, so I want to take advantage of every moment.

This weekend pretty much sums up all that is wonderful about summers in Wisconsin.

Friday night we took AJ to his first drive in double feature. I've decided the drive in is the best idea ever for new parents. We sat in the car with AJ in my lap and when he wasn't eating he slept like...well....a baby. I plan to make many more trips to the drive in this summer.

Saturday morning we were up early to walk the streets of Downtown Appleton with Barb. It never fails, the farmers market makes me wish I lived in a big city where you walk to the grocery daily to buy fresh ingredients for dinner.
Since there's no move in my future I'll have to settle for taking pictures of pints of perfect berries.

Spent Saturday afternoon at home with this little man, enjoy a lazy little nap on the couch. Please note the super cool bib that came in the mail from our favorite Finn Torm!
Sunday, we fired up the grill and invited a few good friends over for an afternoon in the backyard.

The monkey man was too little to enjoy the food, but he did seemed pretty content to sleep in his swing as the grown ups ate and talked and laughed around him.

We wrapped up the afternoon with what just might be the best cake I've ever tasted, courtesy of Barb. I know that sounds like an exaggeration, but I'm serious. Cake that contains vegetables has no right to taste that good.

The only downside of this weekend is the knowledge that summer will be over before we know it!

If you're happy and you know it...

AJ is a man of many expressions and now we can add smiling to the list. Here he is yesterday when all was right with the world and the playmat was the coolest place to be.

Unfortunately, that was yesterday. Today we're seeing a less desirable expression:

Don't feel too bad for the little guy. I promise he wasn't being tortured.

Unless you consider being asked to nap in his crib torture.
He has a rough life.

The Other Side of the Camera

As photographers it's not often Karl and I find ourselves in pictures, especially not together. But when our little monkey arrived, we knew it was important to document our new family just as we are right now.

Enter our good friend Heidi of HJ Selch Photography:
We also took some shots with my family since they were in town visiting.


And ofcourse we needed a few shos of the little monkey all by himself.
Looking at these images, I can't believe how much he's changed already! So thankful for our little family of three.