Land of Little Horses

Back in May, Evan was out of town for the weekend so it was time to find an excursion with the kids! A couple of months ago I had bought an online deal for 4 people to a place outside of Gettysburg, PA called "The Land of Little Horses". It was a good price, and I thought it would make for a fun day long excursion. Turns out that my friend Beth also needed something to do with her little one, so she and Ellie joined us for the day. It took about 75 minutes to get up to the park, and we were there for the afternoon. Luckily we went on a day early in the season, when it was a bit cooler, so they weren't very busy and the kids got to enjoy all of the activities.

What's a little horse? Well, this guy is a good example! You can read more about the horses themselves, and their history, on their website (www.landoflittlehorses.com). I just know the kids were very excited by horses that they could pet, and were their size!

We arrived just in time to see the hourly(?) show, where we learned about the horses' history and got to see some up close and personal.

 

The girls were very cute petting the little horses! This one was actually a dwarf little horse, so even tinier than the rest. Henry still didn't want to pet it, but that's about what I expected from him!

 After we left the show, we walked down past some more animals and found this little play area. The kids enjoyed the swings and sand pit!

 We then continued on towards the pony ride area where we found these cutouts for the kids to enjoy.

 

Next up were pony rides! One was included with each admission, but Henry didn't want to do his so Natalie got to go twice, which she was very excited about. She and Ellie both loved it!

 

The last event we did was to go to the actual little horses show. It has a name, but I can't remember it right now. The horses have been trained to do little tricks: run in formation, balance on pedestals, etc. There were also goats doing tricks, dogs, and pigs. It was very cheesy, and you can see that the tent still looks like it is out of 1978, but the kids loved it and Beth and I were entertained.

And the we even managed to get all 3 kids together for a photo! Will wonders never cease. 

I'm not really sure I would feel the need to go to this place again, but it was a lot of fun to go to once, and if you have the chance to pick up a discount offer and go, your kids probably will enjoy it!

Fun with selfies!

I had the good fortune to be home for the end of June, and the first two weeks of July (well, we weren't home as in *our* home over July 4, but we were all together!). However, on the third week I had to head off on a 5 day trip, which included an overnight in LA (to help with a training session), and then 3 days in Albuquerque NM for sales visits and a conference. It had been really nice being home with my family for that period, so I knew I was going to miss my kids a lot during this trip! Before I left for the airport, the kids indulged me with a selfie phone session. It's like our own photo booth!

 

 

So They Think They Can Dance

I love when this show comes back on every summer, as it leads to videos like this!

Seven Oaks Lavender Farm 2014

Last week I took my daughter and a few of her friends to the Seven Oaks Lavender Farm in Catlett, Va. I went last year and did a photo shoot with two of my friends' daughters there; when I needed an all-day activity with 4 six year olds, this was the first thing that popped into my head. I thought the girls would enjoy picking lavender, and it was a great opportunity for a photo shoot. I made the girls each a tutu, we packed up picnic lunches, and off we went!

The playdate was originally scheduled to be with just Natalie and the two girls in the middle, but my friend Danielle asked if she could come along with her daughter Lila - why not? And two adults is easier than one, right?

We started off by heading to the pen where there were baby bunnies to pet! This was a huge favorite of the girls, and we ended up back there again before we left.

 

 We then managed to get the girls away from the bunnies to go pick lavender! They had a really nice time filling their baskets.

 I wanted to take a photo of them with their neatly wrapped bouquets, but of course the silly photos won out!

We then headed up to the big house for lunch on the porch. It was really nice that the girls ate so well and quietly so Danielle and I could have a nice grown up lunch together!

And more silliness afterwards!

 Then, as I mentioned before, back over to the bunnies for more petting fun.

 

 We had a fantastic day at the Lavender farm - I hope that we get to go back again next year!

Last day at the OBX

We had a pretty great last day at the Outer Banks! My dad needed to work at his summer job that morning, so we took the kids over to The Promenade so they could play some mini golf while Grandpa worked. Henry had a bit of an issue at first, as he did not like having to wait for his turn or to go in order around the holes, but after a bit he got over it and joined in the fun- the kid even got a hole in one! I unfortunately didn't get that on video, but did get these two great videos of the two of them each shooting in 2 on a par 3 - not bad!

Later that afternoon, before dinner, our friends Tina and Tony came down to the OBX from Virginia Beach, where they live, and joined us over at the Sound for a bit with their daughter. It was a lovely afternoon! We weren't the only ones who thought so - we arrived to find some more wildlife there than we had seen in previous visits.

The kids all had a blast, as did Tina and I hanging out in the water with them. Unfortunately, I failed to get any photos of them, but I did grab these pretty awesome shots of my two.

Truly a lovely, lovely way to spend our last day!

Fun in the surf

On July 5, we went over to my aunt's condo on the beach for dinner. Prior to eating, we headed down to the beach for a few minutes - the kids didn't have bathing suits with them, but they had a lot of fun playing in the surf anyway! At first Henry didn't want to go near the water (despite his love for it earlier that week), so I grabbed a few shots of Natalie running around in the water.

After he saw how much fun she was having, however, Henry was ready to go in the water too!

And this post would of course not be complete without a video of the kids having fun running in the surf!

July 4: Family photos on the beach

Last photos from our July 4 on the beach, I promise! It doesn't often happy, but on this day I was able to get some very nice family photos, between Evan, myself, and my dad. It's always nice when I don't have to cajole everyone into a photo! Love having these memories for years and years to come.

Evan grabbed this shot of me, my parents, and the kids. Henry wasn't being super cooperative, so this was the best we could get of him.

Then Evan handed his camera to my dad, who grabbed this nice family photo of the 4 of us. Love it!

At one point, my mom went and sat down on these stairs, and I convinced my dad to go sit next to her for a few photos. They're so sweet!

Dad asked Natalie to hop up there with him; she was still holding my other camera at that point. Look how happy everyone is!

July 4: Natalie the photographer

Yesterday, I highlighted Evan's photos on the beach...today, it's Natalie's turn! After Evan had taken some photos with my Rebel, he had to take Henry off the beach for a bit, as he was getting antsy. Natalie really wanted to take photos, so for really the first time ever (definitely the first time outside), I trusted her with my good camera. I gave her a quick tutorial on how to take photos, fixed the settings for her, and let her have some fun! (Just like with Evan's photos yesterday, I didn't really edit these at all).

She was describing to me what she was shooting, as she captured "the wave curling over". Not bad!

She asked if I would "walk away" from her so she could get some photos of me doing that (she's heard me ask my subjects to do that during shoots). This was my favorite of the 4 or so she took.

She also grabbed some candids of my dad!

I asked her to take some photos of me with my parents too, as I don't have many of those from recent years. Not a bad job at all!

She asked her Grandpa to go stand by the No Swimming flag. Excellent framing!

And, as we got back up to the beach access where Evan and Henry were, I asked Evan to pose for a solo shot. I took mine much more close-up, but here's her wider shot of them. Too cute!

Note: This post comes to you from 6,000 feet above the world, as I fly to California. How amazing is technology that I can post this from a plane?!

July 4: Evan the photographer

I know I take a lot of photos, but occasionally I turn the camera over to Evan and let him grab a few too. Well, very occasionally. But now that I have two DSLR cameras, I may be willing to hand the reins over more often, and give him the Rebel (no one else is touching my new 60D - that's my baby!). When we went down to the beach on July 4 to check out the aftermath of Hurricane Arthur, Evan grabbed these shots of the beach. Note that when I don't take the photos, I really don't do any editing to them, beyond converting from RAW to Jpeg for sharing.

This flag would be why we did not go in the water!

The other nice thing about Evan taking photos is that there's actual evidence that I am there!

And you get to see some pull-back shots of me taking photos of Natalie!

I do love this one he got of Natalie!

And the two of us :)