Almost time to order...

I'm almost finished with our vacation book. Here are just a few random pictures from the trip.

I was dreading the sleeping arrangement. Jake would be spending the week sleeping with Dan and me. I figured that meant a full week with little sleep for  me. The first night was difficult, but after that it was ok. It's not something I want to do regularly, but we managed without too many middle of the night disruptions. I was also relieved when we returned home and he returned to his own bed without any problems.

We packed some toys to bring along on the trip. I didn't over pack because I knew we would be buying quite a few new things in Disney. I shouldn't have bothered bringing or buying anything. Jake was completely entertained by a pile of coins.

He also spent some time playing with and watching videos on my iPhone. It really is amazing to watch a child just shy of 3 operate an iPhone and flip through the apps like he's been doing it all of his life.

I just thought this next shot was so funny. At one point, Jake went into the bathroom in Marco to use the potty. I heard the water running and was so surprised. I knew there wasn't a step stool or anything to stand on in that bathroom. This is what I  found when I walked in.

I don't know why I was surprised. This is the child that walked at 9 months and climbed out of his crib at 20 months.

I have one more interesting trip story to tell. I hired a "professional" photographer to take some family pictures on the beach. I linked her to my website, so she would be familiar with my work, too. I must admit that when I found her site, I was swayed by how inexpensive she was and the fact that she would turn over the files to me. You get what you pay for.  When we met on the beach, I was shocked by the fact that she had a huge external flash. This is outside at sunset. I took plenty of beach shots and never resorted to using a flash. Right away she started posing us. That was fine, but I made it clear that I wanted more photojournalistic stuff after a few posed shots. We were struggling with location because the little sand fleas were driving us crazy. We made our way closer to the water to escape them. Dark clouds were rolling in, and we could hear distant rumbles of thunder. I was hoping we could move quickly to get the shots I wanted. She was anything but quick. She would take a few shots then check them and shake her head. The lighting just wasn't right. She wasn't happy with the camera settings. She wasn't happy with our positions on the beach. It went on and on. At one point, she asked me to check her camera settings! She couldn't figure out the lighting, and she's been doing beach photography and weddings for 10 years!  We had to head inside when a light drizzle started. I asked her to take some quick shots while we were walking in. She commented that she doesn't like walking shots because they are too hard to focus. What?  Seriously?  She told me on the walk in that I would not have to pay the balance. Good. That would have made me very crabby. She sent me her RAW files, so I could work on them myself as she doesn't work in PS or Lightroom. I have no idea how she edits. She got a few shots that I liked. I wasn't expecting much. Oh...then when we got home, I got an email from her with some shots asking me to critique her work. She's been at this for 10 years! I set up my website in April! LOL
I have some to share that I liked. I spent quite a bit of time editing her files.

See my big smiles?  They were FAKE!  I was so pissed with how this shoot was going!