Roma!

So I was knee-deep in work and general to-dos this afternoon when I was struck with the desire to revisit the photos from our epic Clausen family vacation of a few weeks back. Our crew of five headed to Italy, Austria and Germany for a two-week trek that was filled with fun, craziness, and more than a couple of random challenges (like having to go eight -- EIGHT -- days without our luggage!). And though I traveled for several days while missing key items that I'd packed into my luggage, I did have my camera for every day of the trip. Yay!

After a quick flash of guilt for not hitting the next to-do on the list, I took a timeout to pull some of the shots from our first day in Rome. I figured that I'd post them here, and hopefully I'll follow-up later with shots from each of the other days. My goal is to sort through the 1,000+ images for a half-hour or so each day (or most days) for the next few weeks. Eventually I'd like to have them all organized then put them into a book that we can all flip through together... My photos from our last trip are still sitting on my hard drive, though, waiting for some attention, so I'm not exactly going to hold my breath or get my hopes up too high. :{

The first day we hit the Colosseum and then the Forum. These are just shots from the Colosseum... So I guess I'm really just recapping the first half of the first day. :)

First up was a quick lunch near our hotel and then a snap of the kiddos on the nearby Spanish Steps.



Then it was off to see this beauty:





We rented one headset and Brian listened to the guided tour and then explained it all to us as we walked around.











The partially reconstructed floor shows how it actually looked back when the venue was used for gladiator versus animal fights to the death. We also learned that the Latin word arena means "sand," which is what the floor was made of. We also learned that it was littered with trap doors through which animals and people were raised from the alleyways and cages below.





The kids took a little time to chill here and there...







And pose...







A few more quick stops to rest and return the headset and then it was off for a gelato break!







We got some water (the first of many, many times we'd buy bottles of water on this trip), and then we headed across the street to the Forum. I have oodles of photos from over there, too. I am dying to dig into them as well, but the kids just wrapped up their first (half-) week of school and they're ready to go swim...

Lil' Performers

Just a few quick snaps from Saturday's big performance at California Adventure. Can't resist these cute Lil' Rads. :)

















And some good news: Apparently my cell phone is on its way back to me now. Another day or so and I'll be completely back on the grid. Yippee!

Adios, School Year 2012-13!

Last week was a whirlwind of end-of-the-year activities and fun. At times I felt like I was going to lose my mind, but then I don't think that's unusual for a parent of elementary school kids, especially at this time of year.

Each of the Clausen kids had a fun way to mark the end of this school year. For the littlest Clausen, it was a big reading of her favorite piece of writing at Room 3's special Author's Party. (Her selection was called "All About Dance." She was also thrilled that she got to go first.)





She was bursting with pride and fortunately she had some solid family support there to hear every word and celebrate afterward.



Clausen kid #2 had a fun Bunco & Breakfast party on the last day of school. When I stopped in to say hi, he told me that he was so disappointed because he had NEVER ONCE won a round, either during practice the day before or during the party itself. According to him, he stunk at the game. (A game of complete chance, if you don't know that already.)





And then he got a bunco!! His smile killed me. :)



And later that day, the biggest Clausen kid proved -- as he has since second grade -- that there's no need to remove your fedora for sports. Even water sports.











He also looked darn cute with his buddies. :) These guys are on to 5th grade in the fall!



And there was no rest for the weary. Despite it being the first day of summer vacation, we were off the next day to HOT, HOT, HOT Visalia for three baseball games in 109-degree heat. The car thermometer actually read 118 when we started it up after game three, but it settled down to 109. Sheesh!

Here are a few favorite shots from the day. I'm shocked that my camera didn't malfunction or start to melt. I sure did...







Fortunately, we're done with trips to the valley for this season. Our remaining baseball games and tournaments are local. Thank goodness!

A Few Snaps from The Weekend

This weekend our family embarked on a new adventure: all-star baseball. We'd heard many stories from past participants and were well-prepared for the heat, the aggressive valley teams' base-running, and the short break between games. Even with the advance warnings, though, we thought it might be tough to notch something in the win column this first weekend. After all, our team had had a grand total of two practices together before heading off to Tulare.

Despite the limited practice, our little guys really rose to the challenge. They came focused and ready to play. They scrapped their way through a tough first game and came out on top, winning 3-2. They were ELATED. Unfortunately, I was still driving out to the tournament, having stayed home Friday night to shuttle my daughter to and from dance rehearsal and to host a sleepover for our other kids.

No matter. There was plenty of good baseball left to watch and a lot of fun to be had hanging out poolside with the other families. And there will be LOTS more of it to come in the next six weeks.

Here are a few snaps of our little all-star, proving that he can play hard on the field and off. :)

Pitching:





Catching:



Batting:



Stealing home (successfully!):



Celebrating an awesome first day as all-stars:



Love those little dudes!

Wow... It Has Sure Been Awhile :)

If you check in here periodically, you've probably noticed that it has been awhile -- a long while -- since I posted much of anything.

Truth be told, I sidelined the blog for much of spring in favor of spending time on my family and focusing on my health. I've been exercising up a storm (though also eating up a storm, so... no real change on the scale). And I've been giving my extremely busy kids the time and attention they deserve. Not to mention that it's hard to blog from behind the wheel of my car, where I seem to spend so much of my time right now.

While I have been working, the load has been purposefully lighter and most of my projects have been commercial (ie, not terribly blog-worthy). As for Clausen photos, well... I really haven't felt the urge to blog a lot about the family -- preferring to stay in the moment and leaving the camera in the bag most of the time.

I have also turned to Instagram to accommodate the occasional creative urge. I like that it's photo-focused, and it's just so easy to post something on the fly. Snap, crop, label, done. So if you want a more regular dose of the view from behind my lens, check me out on Instagram at emclausen.

So that's the quick update. Oh, and remember my comment about the busy kids? Here's what the youngest yahoo was up to last weekend. She and her Lil' Rads performed (rocked it, really!) at Children's Day in the Plaza.











Aren't they stinkin' cute??