Starting 7th grade

Going into 5th grade

Detroit Riverwalk

 Just a few shots from our river walk.  There are beautiful things all over in Detroit.

                                                            

Oh Cranbrook, how do I love thee...

Another scouting trip...                                           

Cranbrook, a museum/ private school/ outdoor gorgeous world near us... is well, gorgeous.  Every time I go there I find new places that are begging to have a family shot set-up.  I take the kids and make them pretend to be a family getting their picture taken.  It's really a win for me - I end up with lots of cool pictures of my kidlets and I also have location shots I can show clients!

 

Below is a favorite!

 

 

The one above nearly makes me want to be a more fastidious gardener.  Almost.

 

Camping next to band camp...

 I took the 4 kids camping this weekend to the camp where all the band families go for the week in our town.  There were dozens of kids there for mine to pal around with and every night we could scoot across the street and see the how far the band had gotten in their routine.  MAN, those kids work hard.  No, seriously,  those kids work hard.  They range from 8th grade to 12th grade and they are working their behinds off.

My older 2 sons want to be in the Marching band, so I thought we would go and we could check it out and the boys could see what it was all about.  Well, by the time we left, my niece, who lives in our district, decided she was all about color guard too.  So, I guess it was a good trip.  The kids were mesmerized and I can think of worse things than learning a killer work ethic.

I, of course, had the opportunity to shoot the camp.  It was nice and I know a lot of the kids already and they were fun to photograph.

The last 3 shots are from the last night.  The seniors march down the lane by their cabin and the rest of the band line the street.  At the end the entire band meets in the middle and they hug and they cry.  It is very emotional and sweet and powerful.  There is a lot to be said for rites of passage.

State Parks...

 I am not sure if we could have asked for better weather.  Camping in Michigan when it is about 83 degrees during the day and nice and cool during the night.  A weekend of being unplugged.  And how weird is it for me that my feet look like the small ones in the dirty feet picture?  Ahk, they are definitely not little ones anymore (well the older 3... I still have the wee one)

                                                                  

 

                                        

 

                                                                           

   now it is time to have a real shower...

Gone camping

See you in a few days, my crew is going to unwind in the woods...