When the sun peeks out in our neighborhood we get out as often as we can.
On days like this it *almost* feels like a real summer day…
And after all that play in the sand comes the necessary scrubbing in the bath tub!
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If you follow my blog (or know me personally) then you probably know about my fabulous mommy friend and photographer Rachel. I mention her every now and then. She’s half of my two-person cheering team when it comes to my photography, parenting and just life in general.
Well, on the day of my Jack-Jack’s birthday party I barely picked up the camera. I was already pretty spent with the preparations and set-up plus I wanted to mingle with our friends so I was not motivated to also take a ton of pictures on top of everything. But mostly, I didn’t pick up my camera much because I knew Rachel would cover it. That’s just the kind of friend she is. Not only does she act as pro-event photographer at my kids’ birthday parties, but she also brings them the most thoughtful gifts and then sends me an email with all the edited photos from the party just HOURS after it’s over. I mean, did I luck out in having her in my life or what??
And she has graciously sent me all the high res shots, plus allowed me to share some of them here on my blog.
To have these pictures of a milestone event in our family with ME IN THEM means more than anything in the world to me.
The party was simple and small. I actually didn’t even bake the cake this year. (something that I still feel guilty about right now!). But it was so delicious and better than anything I could have made so oh well. I can’t do everything right? 
The sun came out for the few hours we had the party at our neighborhood playground. And I got to enjoy it all with my guests instead of manning the camera.
It was such a fun few hours and I couldn’t have hoped for a better way to celebrate my baby turning 2!
Thank you Rachel for everything but mostly for the priceless gift of these pictures!
Some days we hang around the home and finish projects and household chores. Some days we get out to the playground, park or maybe even the beach.
Some days we do all of the above. This day that’s what we did. I took my little munchkin to the unusually warm SF beach after dropping Rex off one morning. I was on the hunt for my Negative Space shot
Boy does she love the beach. Something about the sand and tossing it around puts the kid in a GREAT mood.
She’s got all kinds of moves for tossing sand around.
The thing about sand? It gets EVERYWHERE. And is next to impossible to get out. Yeah we left shortly after this.
After picking up her big brother we hit the new Dolores Park playground. Again.
This was more BOTH our speed. She’s climbing, sliding and riding everything she can and I’m totally fine with it all. It’s not sand. And that’s good news for me.
I have to admit I didn’t get much housework done that day. But some days it’s worth it to just get out and play.
Laundry can wait another day.
We’re having another heat wave.
That means lots of days at the playground in the warm sunshine.
Jack-Jack has a new playmate too. Her first friend her age. Yay! It makes getting out to play more fun these days.
Someone just has to send her mama a memo on how to dress her for these 80 degree days.
Oh well, my kids don’t let it bother them much.
It’s all good once the sun goes down and the wind picks up again. That’s the typical hot SF day.
We were in shorts, skirts and BAREFOOT. That is a treat indeed when you live in SF and can go to the playground to play in the sand this way!
The playground was packed with the neighborhood families all enjoying a rare hot day. I’m sure we spent about 2.5 hours there.
And Jack-Jack was in her element. She explored and tried everything she could dig, climb, swing or slide.
Have I mentioned how much I adore this age?
Her big brother was mostly content to play in the sand the whole time. I finally coaxed him out of the pit and had him climbing and swinging too!
I do regret not remembering to ask someone to snap a shot or two so that I’d be in some of these pictures. I’ve been pretty bad about that lately. I need to get back into that routine of asking someone or even Grizz to take over the camera every once in awhile.
I promise to do better next time!
We slowly packed up and headed home as the sun set and the cool air blew in, picking up Thai takeout on the way. Ahh… love these easy breezy days of winter. Or is it spring? Whatever it is, it was a happy one.
We barely go to the Zoo in the summers because of the fog, so it’s unusual to find us there in the winter when it’s wet and cold. But we’ve been having crazy warm weather this January. And we had a long weekend recently. So off to the zoo we went with some friends.
We got there pretty late not realizing they closed early in the winter.
So we spent most of our time at the playground.
The cold sand wasn’t much fun for some of us. So we didn’t stay too long.
We left before the sun set for some hot chocolate, corn dogs and lots of crayon coloring!
Hooray for long weekends filled with birthday parties and playdates!
Over our wet weekend in SF, we had a few hours break in the rain. We capitalized on it by squeezing in a couple of activities back-to-back during those precious sunny hours
I had scheduled a photo session swap with another photographer mom I had met on the ClickinMoms forums. We got up early, dressed appropriately, and headed to our favorite summer haunt – AT&T Park. It’s pretty deserted here in the off-season so it worked well for our family shoot
I can’t wait to see the shots she got. I know it couldn’t have been easy photographing all four of us. My kids are very quickly and easily distracted these days. We almost made it to an hour. I consider that a win in my books. I get to photograph her family next weekend. I’m super excited about that!
After that we met up with another mom-photographer and her kids for a playdate at a very colorful playground in the Mission.
Our kids go to the same school so it was nice to chat about school stuff as well as geeky photography topics. And since she shoots with a D7000 too we were happily exchanging notes and trying out each other’s lenses! Now this is my kind of playdate!!
The kids got to draw, chase and play while we talked ISOs, aperture and exposure. Good times
After running around we took the kids for some doughnut treats. I love that she has a little boy with the same little boy humor as mine. I can totally relate to having to deal with stunts like these on a daily basis!
It’s was a busy but totally fun morning. And later that evening the hubs and I even braved the rain and went out on a sushi/sake/pool date.
Yeah this would fall under the category of what a happy day for me is like
My baby girl. 3 years old in a few hours. *sniff* way too many things to cry about tonight!!
After 7.5 years, my baby, my first-born, my son, finally lost his FIRST tooth! Why am I crying??
Finally got to open her gifts the day after her party!
Our pretty bridge on our way home way past bedtime last night.
Our dinner view in Sausalito last night.
What I'm working on - finding beauty in the ordinary... #cmglimpse
Leopard party for the 3yo officially in the books. Time to take off the ears, yeah?
So this was going on in our house today. Yeah.
Americano's.
Golden hour on the east side of San Francisco
Got out for a rare happy hour outdoors in the city this evening
This kid . God I love her.
Morning light.
![](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7283/8740344302_c1ee791ff4_m.jpg "Had my baby girl play right "in the middle" of the pretty light. #cmglimpse")
Had my baby girl play right "in the middle" of the pretty light. #cmglimpse
Started a creative workshop this week. Already finding inspiration everywhere...
Her last few days of terrible-twos. She turns into an angel at age 3 right?
My morning so far... ❤
The only way we watch an #sfgiants game at home.
Dining al fresca with this munchkin.
Date night happiness. That is all.
