All the Ways It Can Go Wrong

We took professional family photographs on Monday morning. I spent time trying to figure out the clothing situation. I actually did two loads of laundry on Sunday night so that the kids would have appropriate socks to wear. I picked out Chris's clothes and he had a freak out moment that his pants might not fit and I'd cause him bodily harm for Ruining Everything. I had a freak out moment that I don't own that doesn't clash with someone else's outfit. And I can't forget to mention that despite it being December and everyone else in the world is taking holiday photos, Josie is wearing a yellow dress with daises.

I scheduled our appointment at Sears was for 10 am in hopes of the children behaving. I even fed them a snack before we left. I gave them fruit snacks, thinking that they couldn't possibly ruin their clothes with fruit snacks. Josie proved me wrong by dropping a half chewed, red one on her dress. I didn't even realize there was a stain until we were at the studio and, luckily, it doesn't seem to appear in any of the photos.

Thinking we'd need plenty of time, we headed out early and arrived to find that Sears didn't even open until 10. So we drove around for twenty minutes. Oops. While driving, about a half mile from the store, I saw a woman in casual, professional clothes with magenta hair running down the sidewalk. Turns out, she was running to get to Sears and open up the studio to take our pictures.

The studio time went ok. The photographer and another worker tried to keep the kids entertained but it wasn't the greatest job ever. And of course you can't expect perfection with a 3 year old and 1 year old.

Some pictures weren't centered.

There were shadows, squinting and not looking at the camera.

There were awkward poses.

There were interrupted games of Peek-A-Boo.

There was a broken background curtain, more squinting and a confused child.

"If one more person tells me to smile, I'm going to rip off this flower and crack it over their head."

Mount Diablo

We headed to Mount Diablo State Park on Saturday. We should have gotten some fabulous pictures and taken a nice hike. Instead, we forgot the camera and it was cold, windy and raining at the park. I'll spare you the pictures of us sitting in the car while it rained that we took with our phone.

It took us just over an hour to get there, giving the kids and I quality nap time. Then it was up for 3000+ feet. Did I ever mention that I got car sick as a kid? I thought I was over that, but mountains definitely push my tolerance.

When we arrived at the top we found that the observation deck was closed for repairs, so no great views of the mountains on one side or the bay on the other. However, the summit was actually indoors. They'd built the building up around the summit and had a platform built so people could stand on it.


After sitting in the car for an inordinate amount of time, the rain let up. We also traveled most of the may back down the mountain to get out of the wind and cold. Chris and Xander did take a short hike.


Then we let Josie loose in the parking lot to stomp in the puddles.


My favorite view was on the way down the mountain. I love the clouds (fog) in the valleys with the little towns.


I hope we can go back in the spring. There was a postcard on display showing a field of tulips and I would love to get pictures of the kids running around there.