Friday, June 26, 2009
Lauren attended her first organized class today. I signed her up for 8 weeks of gymnastics through the Chicago Park District. Only $40 - what a great deal cost-wise. I wasn't able to grab my camera until class was over. It was a workout for me too keeping up with her around the obstacle course. She seemed to like it and the only major challenges are keeping her from running off to investigate the adult size equipment and keeping the little kids from knocking and rolling into each other. Of course there are always interesting things that happen when you're around little kids... at the end of class, Lauren and I stepped off the elevator (in our sock feet) into a puddle of fresh pee pee. One of the darling little girls in the ballet class hadn't made it to the bathroom in time.
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Sunday, June 14, 2009
We took a trip to the Morton Arboretum today for a photo shoot. It was a nice day to take some photos of Lauren in some of the dresses Liz has made for her recently. We were right in the middle our photo shoot when one of the park supervisors stopped us. It turns out that professional photographers need a permit to use the park. Oh, wait a minute -- the photographer is Daddy and he's not a pro! With that sorted out, we were back to our photo shoot.
Lauren was a real trooper through all the photos. She still doesn't like to sit still or pose for us, but we've learned a new trick. If we give Lauren something to hold, it captures her attention and slows her down for a few seconds -- just long enough to capture a few photos.
After the photos, Lauren got to enjoy some exploration in the kid's area, including a wade through the stream -- probably her favorite thing.
The "professional" confusion turned out to be our fancy sun reflector we used in these photos. It's a simple trick for getting warm sunlight into the scene, even when it's high noon like it was today. The reflector costs about $35 online -- totally worth it for any parents trying to photograph their kids. One other must-have accessory -- a grandma to help with toddler wrangling! Ann has been in town all week, which was a huge help. She helped wrangle Lauren while Liz helped wrangle the reflector.
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Thursday, June 11, 2009
Apparently we weren't the only ones to wake up with that idea. It's raining pretty good in Chicago today (it's been doing that off and on the whole time Grandma Ann has been here) so we've been having some indoor fun. We've already been to the Field Museum (on a free day) and every Thursday is a free day at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, so we went there today. I finally remembered to bring the camera along on the trip so we got some pictures in the butterfly room. Starting this Sunday it's a free week at the Shedd Aquarium, so you might guess where we'll head next :)
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