Category: Family

We are on vacation this week at my parents’ house in Virginia (don’t come rob our house, we took all our valuables with us!) It is extraordinarily beautiful here, and fortunately, there are lots of fun things to do nearby.

This week I’ve been challenging myself to take more pictures with my good camera, play more, interact more, an Instagram less. I am allowing myself some “latergrams” but for the most part I’m really trying to enjoy the moments we are having together instead of uploading the moments at the exact time they are occurring. This is a challenge to me and against the 2nd nature that I’ve acquired in the past few years.

But…I’m loving it! It’s really fun to not have to hit “pause” in the middle of an activity so I can upload to Facebook or Instagram. It’s fun to just PLAY. Yes, I’m still taking pictures (tons of them) but I am waiting til later to upload, edit and share them. Later, you know, when we’re not in the middle of something. (Radical concept!)

I’d show you some of the images I’ve captured of our fun and of the beauty of this place, but ironically, the internet at my folks’ house is not working well enough for me to upload any photos. I am totally seeing the humor in that, I swear!

We’re having an awesome time and I can’t wait to share all our pics with you…later.

How do you get in the game with your family on vacation? Do you take pictures throughout, upload on the spot, or later? Or do you just chuck the camera altogether? I’d love to hear how you do it.

 

 

 

This is not a sponsored post, just FYI for my local friends!

A couple weeks ago the kids and I were invited to a media day at the new Sky Zone location that opened up here in Dayton. Funnily enough, the first time I had even HEARD of Sky Zone was about two weeks before that, when Joshua had been invited to a birthday party there. But, the Dayton location wasn’t open yet so they went to one closer to Cincinnati. Joshua raved about how awesome it was, so I was quite excited to hear that they had one in our city!

The kids and I headed out quite excitedly for our tour. If you aren’t familiar with Sky Zone, it’s basically an indoor trampoline park with dodgeball courts, basketball hoops, and a foam pit as well as wall-to-wall trampolines. And it’s SO FUN!’

The owners, Joel and David, gave us a tour and let the kids have the run of the place. We had an awesome time. I was very impressed with their friendly staff and the spacious birthday party rooms they have. And also, I really just had a blast jumping with my kids. They have sky-robics there every week and I am seriously considering going! I can’t even believe I just said that!

If you are in the area you have to check out Sky Zone Dayton. I really cannot wait to take the kids there again. The owners told me morning is usually less crowded, so we are going to try another morning soon! Check out all the fun we had! Even though I am an old lady, I loved it! They even have a “Toddler Time” on Friday mornings that I hope to take Jonah to before summer is over.

For more info on hours and pricing and special events, check out their Facebook page – and then take the kids in to burn off some energy. It was a blast! Thanks for having us, Sky Zone Dayton!

First of all, I must say that the title of this post is a direct quote from Anchorman, from Ron Burgundy himself, and if you didn’t get it, WE CAN’T BE FRIENDS. That’s just an FYI. If you go out and rent the movie after the fact, I will let you back into the fold. But anyhoo. On to the fabulousness.

Last month we had our family portraits taken and I’ve been remiss not sharing them until now! My friend Tess of Tess Augustine Photography took them and I love them! She is not sponsoring this post, I just wanted to share them. But if you are local to Dayton you should totally book a session with her. I was very happy that she was able to get some good shots because neither Jonah nor Sophie were especially cooperative. I expect that from a 3-year-old but GRACIOUS Sophie picked the wrong moment to make a power play. Nevertheless, Tess worked her magic, and here are some of my favorite shots!

There you have it! Our first whole-family pics since Jonah was born. I really love them and I am so glad they turned out well even though the kids were being crazy. Thanks Tess! If you’re local and need some pretty pics, check out Tess’ Facebook page.

Feel free to  insert comments below about how lovely we look!