Work Travel

Kelley had a business trip up to Secaucus, New Jersey to meet with Ernst & Young today.  She was on an early morning flight up to Newark after heavy storms passed through the area.

The meetings went well and she flew back the next day on a little prop plane.

And a running-to-the-gate kind of layover in Charlotte.  A kneeling bus got her from one terminal to another.

Second Day of School

And the kids were up early enough to ride the bus.  The bus comes at 7am on our street, so we have to be up and out of the house in record time.  So early that they even tracked footprints of dew across the street with them.

They couldn't get down to the end of the street fast enough to wait for the bus with all the other kids from our street.

See?  Fast.

Those are the Kindergarten moms hovering close to the bus.  Even on the second day of school, they were shedding tears over their babies growing up.  Our kids barely looked back.  

First Day of School

The alarm clocks sounded early, but the kids woke up and got ready quickly.

They were more than willing to make plenty of silly faces for me.

Have a great first day of school Owen and Chloe!

It's really difficult to hold up a heavy camera and take pictures sometimes.  When I'm driving.  :)

Kelley was supposed to be in Colorado Springs today for a three day photography workshop, but it got canceled yesterday.  She was glad she didn't miss the kids' first day of school.  And the whole family also got to meet her boss Marie who was in town for customer meetings.  We went out to dinner together and then had frozen yogurt at a place called Yogli Mogli.

The kids liked staying out a little late and getting to celebrate their first day of school with a sweet treat.

Chloe is really perfecting this face.

She must be getting some really great reactions to it as this is non-stop and not just for the camera.  It's awesome.

Meet the Teacher Day!

This morning was the day for the kids to meet their new teachers.  Since there were so many school supplies to bring in, we brought them in today rather than sending them in on the first day of school.

Those bags of tissues and wipes and hand sanitizer were pretty heavy!

We arrived a little early and talked to friends while we waited outside for the doors to open.

We went to Owen's classroom first and found his desk ready and waiting for him in Mrs. Tossie's classroom.

Then we headed downstairs to Chloe's classroom.

Her desk was ready for her in Mrs. West's classroom.

Both teachers were so nice and the kids are excited to start school.  How can we be parents to a first and third grader already?

School Photos and Supplies

After getting up the first two wall clings at Discovery Point, we ordered two more and got those hung up.  Think they turned out great!

The kids love being able to see some of their own up on the walls.

It was a good mail day and brought new laptop skins with Kelley's business logo.  Now everyone in the family with a Macbook can sport a Pear Tree Photography logo!

We went school shopping over the weekend and got all the kids' supplies.

Can't believe all of this cost over $150, can you?  It did.  Even with Walmart brands.

Todd's Tennis Match at Country Club of the South

Another perk of the kids staying Up North with Papa Wenzel and Grandma Sharon is that I get to attend Todd's tennis matches.  This morning, he was playing mixed doubles at Country Club of the South (one of the fanciest neighborhoods in North Georgia).

 Todd and Melissa won this match.  Go Todd!

Kelley's Photography at Discovery Point

After we got home from Minnesota, Kelley worked with the owner of Discovery Point to decide on the favorite images from her photo shoot of the kids at the end of June.  Two of the images were enlarged to 24x36 and printed as wall clings.  

Pretty neat to see her images up on the walls and so large.  The kids really like them, too!

A Photography Night Out

My friend Cas and I joined a local photography society.  Most of the fun is had when we go out for Mexican before the meeting.

After the meeting, Cas wanted to do some self portraits so we brought our tripods out for some low-lighting shots in historic Roswell.

I played around with slow shutter speeds and caught tail light trails as cars drove by.

Late Lunch

It's weird being home and not having the kids around.  We almost don't know how to act.  But we're making do and went out to lunch with friends.  At 3pm, just because we could eat lunch in the middle of the afternoon.

Nancy's Pizzeria made wonderful deep dish pizza, but friends made the lunch even better.

Driving Home

There was an early morning departure from Up North.  And even though the kids were still asleep, there were too many tears.  Good byes stink.

These heavenly skies made the drive home a little easier.  This was one of the many windmill farms we saw.

I will always love these bridges of the Midwest.

And the big farms.  Don't see many of these in the South.