'Tis the Season

One reason for my sporadic posts lately is the fact that we've entered "The Season."

The Clausen kids were born in May, June and July (of slightly different years, obviously). That means that from late April though late July, I tend to spend a ridiculous amount of time and energy planning, prepping for, executing, and conducting follow-up (ie, nagging my kids to write thank you notes) for birthdays. And since this season overlaps the end of the school year, it can get pretty crazy around here.

Anyway, tonight's task was making cupcakes for Foxy's "summer birthdays" party at school. She and two classmates have birthdays that fall outside of the school months, so her preschool honors them with a special little party.

Foxy's all over that plan, but I'm tempted to see it as one more to-do on the season's endless list. And then I see how much she enjoyed licking those beaters and I think that perhaps it's not such a bad idea, after all.

More Disney Cruise Pics (LOTS More!)

As I flipped through our photos from this trip, I decided that I did a reasonable job of capturing the sights, sounds and excitement of the week. Not a great job, but that was to be expected. I tried hard to be very present and play with my kids much of the time, setting aside the camera when I might otherwise have picked it up and stalked them like one of the cheetahs in "African Cats" (which we saw in the full-sized movie theater on board!).

I think I struck a decent balance. I caught some of the fun in photos, while capturing much, much more of it in person.

Here's some of the documentation, with a tiny bit of commentary...







Here are my parents, who took us all on this fabulous vacation:

























This is the "shark" that terrorized Magens Bay, on St. Thomas:





And I know that these are kind of heavy on pics of the girly, but she's my most agreeable subject, and the boys were often off at The Club, doing big boy stuff...



Some boat ambiance pics:





This area's called The Cove, an adults-only pool area where my sister-in-law enjoyed some nice, peaceful time on a lounge chair (lucky girl!):







And some shots of the very best part of the cruise, Disney's own island in the Bahamas:









Apparently, the fish in the snorkling reef were THIS BIG:



And the hula hooping was just as impressive...







And that's about it. I've got more, but I think that gives you a good taste. If you and your family are considering going on a Disney Cruise, I can tell you that my family gives it a hearty endorsement. My almost nine-year-old is even begging for us to go back for his birthday in July. That isn't going to happen, but we may well try and swing another cruise in the next few years... In the meantime, I've got to get working on plans for our summer RV road trip. Now that should be good for some photos...

An Experiment

We're driving home from a super-quick, super-awesome trip to SF (don't worry, I'm not behind the wheel), and I thought I'd see if I could do a blog post entirely from my phone.

SO. Behold my birthday boy and his buddy just before entering AT&T Park today:



Cool!! This old dog learned a new trick!

Total Change of Pace

This past week, I tackled something completely outside of my comfort zone: on-location photography for a budding musical artist. This guy is a friend of our family and is putting together his first album. I was pretty blown away by his talent as well as his understated confidence. I hope that this is the start of a great career and big things for him.

Here are a couple of my favorites. :)





And if you happen to be waiting on a post with more Disney Cruise pics (*cough* Mom *cough*), I promise that it's coming soon. This past week was nuts, and I still have some real work on my plate. But there are a lot of fun shots from that trip, and I definitely want to share more...

A Little Taste

It sure seems like I've been away from the blog -- and the real world -- for quite awhile. In reality, I was only gone for about 10 days, vacationing with my family and soaking up all that a Disney Cruise in the Caribbean has to offer. But that's just long enough to find myself completely, happily, thoroughly unplugged.

I'll have lots and lots of fun and silly shots to share soon. In the meantime, I must focus on a little work and getting the Clausen family back in the groove. For now, here's a little (teeny, tiny, barely representative) taste...