While finishing up this session I just fell in love with a few and really wanted to share them. I hope you enjoy!

These ladies really knew how to rock the shoes!

I was a birthday gift, okay. Well, the photos are the gift, but, still, I like to envision myself as a gift :)

I had a great time hanging out with this family of ladies and getting some cool shots. Just two for now but I will add more a bit later.

Also stay tuned for a Holiday Card Event announcement if you live in the Atlanta area.

Okay - it is sunday, but I already know I have a full day tomorrow, starting at 8:30am with a “ladies of the family” shoot. Yes, I do get up early and shoot in the morning. So since I will have a hundred things to do tomorrow, I thought a couple of pics left from Seattle could tide you over.

In case you wanted to see a pic of the whole fam, here we all are. Who do you think Will looks like?

I have been taking Will to Souns since he was 10 months old. Here’s a quick blurb about it:

By demonstrating the early reading potential of infants and toddlers, the Souns program is revolutionizing the way children are introduced to the printed word.

Souns is an informal early learning program for infants and toddlers. It is based within a small, community-minded organization with decades of experience with young children in Fayette County, Georgia, USA, and has received support through funding from organizations such as Rotary International and United Way.

He loves his Souns and really likes pointing them out when we are out and about. If you at all interested please visit their web site, you will not be disappointed. Since I know the Souns crew pretty well, they ask me to do the photography for their new ads. I picked this up the other day, and - look - it’s Will in his publication debut, sporting my fav, “m” for mommy of course.

Arghhh! Where did my week go? Are you there, hiding under the bed, hmmm? Oh well, I guess you just went by too fast. I have a cool post lined up about my pics being used in a local ad, but I have to go make dinner. Mmmmm - meatloaf! In the meantime I wanted to share my all-time favorite band (at least for the moment). Go here, http://www.myspace.com/coconutrecords, for their myspace page and here for a cool video with my favorite song.

Of course I did not get to see the baptism. Mainly because I am sure no one in the church really needed to hear, “MOMMY, WHAT THEY DOING TO BABY”; or, my favorite, as he points to a person we do not know, “MOMMY, WHAT IS DAT?”. And, of course, all is said in the loudest, most annoying voice and always - and I do mean always - said at least 5 times in a row. His new thing is to repeat himself over and over. I often consider myself lucky if I get away with only 5 repeats considering that I am usually assaulted with an all out blitz of the same sentence:

“WHAT YOU DOING, MOMMY?” “WHAT YOU DOING, MOMMY?” “WHAT YOU DOING, MOMMY?” “WHAT YOU DOING, MOMMY?” “WHAT YOU DOING, MOMMY?” “WHAT YOU DOING, MOMMY?” “WHAT YOU DOING, MOMMY?” “WHAT YOU DOING, MOMMY?” “WHAT YOU DOING, MOMMY?” “WHAT YOU DOING, MOMMY?” “WHAT YOU DOING, MOMMY?” “WHAT YOU DOING, MOMMY?” “WHAT YOU DOING, MOMMY?” “WHAT YOU DOING, MOMMY?” “WHAT YOU DOING, MOMMY?” “WHAT YOU DOING, MOMMY?” “WHAT YOU DOING, MOMMY?”

This is usually when I finally break down into a pathetic, crazed version of my formal self - disheveled with branches sticking out of my hair - screaming, “Please, for all that is holy, stop saying that!”

Anyway, the church had a nice garden, and we hung out there in the shade. And, of course, I had my camera.

WE DO NOT PUT OUR FEET ON NATIONAL ICONS!

I mean, really! I expect that kind of behavior from Will but you, Josh? I mean, really.

Traveling can make you delirious.

Tuesday, 9:00 at night

Will, it is time for bed. Let’s go put on PJ’s.

No.

It’s time for bed. Let’s go.

NO!

Seriously, I don’t have the fight in me tonight. Let’s just get ready for bed.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Why not? Are you not tired?

I WANT PANCAKES!

It pretty much went down hill from there…

Will, last Thursday, looking up at the Space Needle

So, it is really hard to blog while running around trying to fit everything into one week and crashing hard every night on the most uncomfortable bed ever - and sleeping in the same room with a toddler. We are home now after a long day of travel, and the kink in my neck is slowly going away. The kid is doing well at adjusting back to Atlanta time, which is shocking the hell out of me. So we loved Seattle, and we did not miss the hot weather (our grass is totally brown from the 100 degree heat we missed), and the cool climate and crisp air were amazing. The people were totally cool, and have I mentioned the awesome trees? But we still missed home. There is something about travel that takes you outside of yourself and makes you see the world and the people closest to you in different ways. You come back different than you were before and even longing to hit the road again, but the crazy thing is that it also makes you more of you. You realize how great you have it and how much you love your little part of the world. It makes you a better citizen of where you come from. I always find myself telling people how great my little town is and become almost proud of the heat here when others complain about it. So, all in all. I love everywhere I have been, but I love where I live even more.

The coolest part of Seattle is that they have so many cool places to take photographs. Gas Works Park is by far the coolest thing I have ever seen, and I saw four other photographers while I was there with there clients doing shoots.

Another weird thing is that we did not see a single Wal-Mart and saw hardly any fried food while we were in Seattle. It was like heaven.

As promised, the following pics are a bit of Seattle for you to feast upon:

We ate at this place called Ray’s one night. It looks over the water, as pretty much everything does in Seattle. The food was great.

This is the Experience Music Project building. We did not go in, but it is pretty cool to look at.

We all know what this is. We went up to the top, and Will’s fav part was the glass elevator. He even asked me this morning if we could do Space Needle again.

This is a small peak into Pike Place Market. Oh, the flowers, the vegetables, and the fresh fish! I wanted to buy it all and come home and cook; it was so yummy. I could seriously do 10 more posts on just the market.

A cool winery we went to and some Ferry boat abstracting.

Finally, here are some bits of Gas Works Park. The cool part is that they left up a bunch of the old structures from when it used to be a factory and made it a park. So there are grassy hills, gorgeous views of the city, and metal and cement structures for the plants to grow on.

And what is a post without Will? This is also from Gas Works on one of its many hills.

The weather in Seattle is awesome. We narrowly escaped the 100 degree heat back home, and now we are enjoying 65-70 degrees with a nice breeze. I can’t say I am very excited to go home to the heat and humidity, but I do miss my bed. Well, we have been all over and have eaten everything, from Pike street market (which is as cool as you can imagine) to the children’s museum (which Will loved). Today we started out with croissants in the market, took a ferry across the Puget Sound and back, and then ate at Salumi - serious yumm. We have also been checking out local breweries and wineries, which means lots of tasting ;) Tomorrow is Dim Sum (I can’t wait) and then the Space Needle and some other local attractions. It is time for bed for me and picture time for you.

These are all of Will. Tomorrow will be Seattle pics.