personal :: the cottages

i grew up going to our family cottage, which was built in the 1930s by my great grandparents. we spent chunks of every summer there, playing with cousins, being parented communally by grandparents, aunts, and uncles. i remember waking up each morning to the sound of the water lapping at the sea wall, the tinging of the lines against the mast on the sailboat, and the smell of bacon, eggs, and bakery bread cooking downstairs. i remember being in a swimsuit all day, playing in the dirt, swimming until our skin was prune-like, rowing around in the small row boat with cousins, reading books on the couch you could just sink right into, exploring the cavernous "down below" (cellar), catching frogs and toads... the list could go on and on. i remember the aesthetic and feel of the place, with all its vintage furniture, dishes, and decor mingled with more modern contributions from the more recent generations. i can still smell the place. 

it was (and is) my happiest place. and every summer since we sold it, i grieve its loss afresh. 

so, when my amazing brother and SIL arranged for us to spend a few days in her family's 1930s cottages near to the lakeshore, there was no answer other than "yes! a thousand times yes!" this is my SIL's happy place. i imagine she feels similarly about it as i do about my own childhood cottage. and though it isn't my precious cottage, the similarities were plentiful, and it felt a bit like going back in time. i had always dreamed of taking my own husband and children to my family cottage, which won't be possible... but this might be the closest thing. 

my mom and her partner also joined us for the first two days, so this was great family time. we ate delicious meals brought together by our combined efforts and lots of farm-fresh produce and grilling, played at the beach for a chunk of time each day, read and chatted inside when there were storms, had adult conversation over chilled beverages after kids were in bed, did some fire works on the beach, released paper lanterns, visited a park/playground, and much more. 

i'm so grateful to be living closely and raising my family alongside justin and marguerite. and so grateful that hazel and gus get to grow up knowing and playing with claire and anja. and so grateful to have a mom who is so active in our lives, and her partner who jumps in on all the crazy. 

here's a small (okay, it's actually sorta big) sampling of images from the 4 days we spent in this tiny heaven. 

i have a few regrets about how i photo documented this trip. i sorta stopped two and a half days in. i didn't document in the indoors stuff, which there was plenty of because of the storms. i didn't document transitions or much of the beautiful food we prepared and ate. and i didn't take my camera down to the beach in the afternoons, because i was nervous about sand. 

at the same time,  i guess maybe having a semi-vacation from being "on" constantly as a photographer was probably needed. so, it is what it is. :)

personal :: the sofa life

my little family travels 2-4 times a year to Wisconsin to visit tim's family, because most of them live there, in sun Prairie or milwaukee.

we just returned from one of our Wisconsin visits. on the return trip, we stayed a night with his brother dan and SIL jess, who live in milwaukee with our 4 nephews. one day i'm going to do a proper full-fledged family photojournalism session for them, but this time, i just took a few informal ones, just because. My own kids and husband are inserted into some of these images, too, because we were all enjoying a lazy monday morning together.

it was a fun challenge to take the bulk of the photos in one room, and mostly on one couch. when i think about how much of a family's daily life centers around a sofa, it makes sense, though. isn't this true of your own family? there are so many comings and goings on the sofa, and so much can happen there, from wrestling, to lounging, from reading, to cuddling, from diaper changes to computer work. there's so much life on a sofa.

btw, jess recently gave their living room a little make-over, by applying her crafty skills to the space. i  love her new collage wall, her mustard yellow rug, and the curtains she sewed. mmm. :)

so, enjoy this fragmented snippet of our monday morning with our sibling-friends and cousin-friends...

it's just fun to keep shooting like this -- with an emphasis on photojournalism and storytelling -- even just for personal projects.  if you'd like me to tell a story that's unfolding under your own roof, get in touch. 

personal :: attention diverted

we became refugee foster parents this year, in a short-term transitional program. it has been one wild and incredible adventure. each time, the kids who come to us seem to have been specially chosen for us, and they become more of a blessing than a chore, though the work will always be challenging. 

but we've been in the thick of a particularly difficult placement the past week and a half. it's a placement which draws to a close this weekend, if all goes as planned. and this has taken every ounce of energy i can muster, has brought me to the end of myself and reduced me to tears more times than i care to tally up.

meanwhile, i miss this space, miss dreaming about photography and documenting my own family life, as well as photographing others. i'm glad to know that i can give a bit more to those things again quite soon. i think we'll take the rest of the summer off from foster care.

tonight i'm off to South Haven to photograph a rehearsal dinner in a candid, photojournalistic way for a delightful bride. and on Sunday, it's the second Milk Time : A Unique Photo Event for Breastfeeding Mamas, which is nearly, but not quite, sold out. Particularly right now, when I'm running on empty in the foster parenting department, these opportunities to get out for a bit, seeing and celebrating the connections and love between others, camera in hand... well, that's serious self care. it's my therapy.

and, just because a post without a photo is hardly a post at all, here's a recent shot of my little family sharing a meal on the front porch, between our last two foster care placements. love them so.

so, what's going on in your corner of the world?

happy first day of summer!

personal :: birthday adventuring

hazel has been looking forward to her birthday for fully six months. having no real grasp of time, every time anyone's birthday was happening, she would think it was also hers. we tried to explain that it would be her turn when there were leaves on the trees and the weather turned warm, which had limited success. 

at last, her very own birthday arrived. ever since this winter, she has been consistently asking for cake, balloons, and a kite... at the beach. so we determined that we would make those things the backbone of her birthday this year, in lieu of a party or gifts. and, since she is also interested in trains, and tim discovered that the Amtrak station in St. Joseph is right across the street from the beach, we decided we'd get there via train. to put the icing on the cake, we invited her cousins, aunt and uncle, gaba (grandma) and great aunt to meet us at the beach.

it was a gift of a day. hazel was ceaselessly overjoyed, which meant that we were, too, of course. and after returning home, she told anyone who would listen, "hey, know what? it's my birthday right now! i'm 3!"

i invite you to come along, virtually, on our adventure day... beginning from the moment she woke up... and ending with the moment she fell asleep again (en route back home). 

it's so fun to do these mini visual stories for my own family, though my one regret is that it usually means i'm absent from the images (ah, the plight of the photographer-mama!). but that's why YOU might want to consider having some like me come on over and tell one of your family's stories with my camera. so that, for once, you an also be in the photo-documentation of those stories. i'm serious! do it! :)

personal :: first haircut

she'll be 3 years old in less than a month. she has never had a haircut. i was afraid that if i cut it, the curl would be lost, because i've heard horror stories. but the hair was... um, BIG. 

after beginning to imagine what a slightly shorter cut might look like, we decided to go for it. our neighbor-friend Chelsea came over from across the street, scissors in hand, and set up shop on the front porch. she's a pro, and a darned good one (you can find her here, if you're interested). 

hazel was looking very sleepy and i wondered if she might even doze off during the haircut. but drowsiness coupled with a large orange balloon aided in holding her still. also, the chocolate chips that were promised as a reward at the end. :)

so, here's the story of my daughter's first haircut, on the front porch of our house, by a good friend, at the age of 35 months...

personal :: the community pool

we don't have a community pool in our  neighborhood. in fact, we don't really even have a park. the only one we DO have just lost all its playground equipment and now consists of just lots of woodchips and approximately 4 trees. 

but we DO have this large sunken area in the parking lot of the hispanic church. it fills with water after rainy days, and becomes a popular place for some neighborhood children to play. 

it also just so happens that this "pool" is adjacent to the driveway where the neighborhood taco cart is positioned. 

this is a story in which my daughter hazel and her grown-up friend michelle join the big kids at the community pool (aka giant parking lot puddle), where they "swim" and play games...

have a little story you'd like me to tell for you? get in touch!