This is going to be a long one

I have lots and lots to share.  We had an absolutely fantastic weekend!  I started Saturday morning off with a super fun session with two little ones:

Here’s a cute out take from that session:

Then Saturday afternoon we took Tanner to Gage Park to ride the carousel, which loved, then hated, then loved again. 

(Above photo is courtsey Kris Kasprzyk.)

Then we ventured over to the Topeka Zoo.  We purchased a Friends of the Zoo family membership, which for just $40 we can go the Topeka zoo as many times as we would like in the next year, plus we get discounted admissions to other zoos.  A trip to Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo is in our future, so that’ll be great.  Tanner had a great time at the zoo, he wanted to feed the goats, but just wasn’t sure about it.

He also enjoyed the giraffes (and getting a lift from Dad):

The fun continued on Sunday, when we took a “mini-vacation” to Kansas City.  First stop was Loose Park, which is where the Kansas City mini sessions will be held on May 30.  What an absolutely gorgeous park!  There is a beautiful pond with several bridges…perfect for photos.  Here’s some action shots of Tanner running…

 

and running…

and running some more (with his tongue sticking out).

He would occassionally stop running to take a breather:

Or peek into the water:

He even laid down a couple times and took a break:

Then we went over to a nearby rock wall and got some cute shots, including this one:

Notice that light area at the upper right corner of the above photo?  Well, that’s a great big water/mud puddle.  Yes, you know what happens next…Dad gets distracted by the other photographers and camera gear around us and Tanner runs and falls face first into the puddle.  I didn’t see it happen (thus, no photo…darn!) but here’s the aftermath:

I don’t know what was more upsetting to Tanner-that he fell in the water or that we wouldn’t snuggle him (he had a change of clothes…we did not).  After a quick outfit change and drying of some tears, we went over to the rose garden at the park.  Not suprisingly, Tanner wasn’t up for photos, but I did get this one:

Now that I’ve had a chance to visit Loose Park, I’m even more excited about the Kansas City mini-sessions.  If you’re interested in one of the sessions, just let me know.

After the park, we had lunch and went antiquing while Tanner napped in his stroller.  Pre-Tanner, we went antiquing all the time, so it was great to be able to go again.  I found some great finds that will be perfect to use in photos (of course!).  Then we went to Nebraska Furniture Mart where I got an early Mother’s Day Gift…a new camera!  I really, really wanted a little bitty camera to carry around in my purse.  I love my 5D, but sometimes its just not practical.  So, I got the Canon SD800.  I’m not sure what the “SD” stands for, but as far as I’m concerned it means “super duper” because this is a great camera!  The battery had a little charge in it so I was able to get these shots when we went over to Legends. 

Tanner on the yellow brick road:

This next one cracks me up with Tanner in front of all the pink dresses:

(Above photo courtsey Kris Kasprzyk.)

Finally (I told you this would be a long one), here’s a shot I took of Tanner on the way home.  Yes, he talked me out of a sucker…I figured he was already a muddy, sticky mess, so why not.

All of the SD 800 photos were edited using my professional photo editing software.  The photos look good “straight out of the camera” but look really good after a little editing.