Last Monday we all went to the Zoo, still in celebration of Sid turning 2. We thought she would really enjoy it and we were right.
The San Francisco Zoo is not the largest of course but it is decent. I never had been there before and I couldn’t wait to get there. The night before, Larry {My brother in law and former resident of SF} told us we needed to be up bright and early for an early head out. Of course we agreed all but Nicky & Manny {lil sis & her BF}. Since we wanted to have a nice breakfast before the Zoo and they didn’t care to, we said we’ll meet at the Zoo at 10am.
We got to the “Bashful Bowl” around 9am and had breakfast. I had Eggs & Bacon with Biscuits and Gravy, a little bit of Larry’s hash browns and a little bit of my sister’s pancakes. This easy hole in the wall restaurant has had a good reputation for good food and large portions. But on Monday, that wasn’t the case. Our pancakes were like crapes and the portions were a tad smaller than normal. However, it was good. Our waiter wore full on cover-up that Erica could not stop “silently” laughing at, talked at the speed of light and we couldn’t understand a word he said and not to mention he had an accent. He brought all our food out, well all but Rubens. We waited a good 5 minutes to see if he would return and nope! We asked him about Ruben’s meal and he pretty much just forgot, which was ok since he apologized and had a friendly smile. He brought Ruben’s omelet out about 5 minutes later… Cheese-less! LOL It was good anyway and besides Ruben is not the biggest cheese fan anyway. No worries!
At 10am we got to the Zoo and waited on Nicky and Manny, they were no where near even being ready or on the way which is about 45 minutes away. We decided then to go in and just walk around. Nicky and Manny didn’t show up until about noon and that’s when we went to the petting zoo. Sid loved it, and wanted to pet everything, kiss everything and touch everything. The animals didn’t seem to mind her and it was all pretty safe. Around 2 pm we were hungry. We had packed a lunch for us all and took an ice chest full of waters and other drinks. We had asked the staff if we could bring our lunch in and they said it was fine but the Seagulls are pretty aggressive and are not easily shown away. We then sat at the car and had our lunch. A few birds started circling our car and we pretty much got scared one of them might snatch our sandwich right out of our hands. They didn’t!
After our lunch we headed back in for the final tour. We had a nice rest of the afternoon and pretty much fell in love with the gorillas… well one of them to be exact. The baby. The baby gorilla was so dang cute, totally in love with Sid and wanted her cookie. Sid was eating a cookie and looking through the glass as the baby gorilla kept coming up to her and licking the glass. It was too cute! The Penguin feeding and the Grizzly bear feeding were pretty neat too. Actually, the Penguin FEED-ER, was a total cutie pie, so that’s why we stayed and watched! LOL There was this one bird that clearly did not like me, a red large parrot or something, every time I got near it, it would totally yell at me all loud, finally after the 4th yell, I got scared and ran out of the rainforest exhibit! Needless to say, it was a total fun and exciting day!
I know im not the best animal shooter.. but I sure enjoyed it, hopefully you do too!
Happy Birthday Sid… my tiny beautiful niece turned two this past weekend, April 10th 2011!
The party was pretty much a disaster up until it actually happened. First, we had no clue that our Sister Erica even invited people to this “picnic” that we had planned. She’s a big planner but Nicky wanted something small. We planned on a simple picnic, just us. When we found out that she invited some of her family and friends, Nicky freaked because she was pretty much on a budget and had no idea. The original plan was to take Sid to Chucky Cheese but she thought it would be too much, so we decided on a picnic.
Of course the grocery shopping was not fun. We all had our own ideas of something simple and all wanted something different. Mom came up with the brilliant idea of “Sacked Lunches” It was perfect. We made Chicken Salad Sandwiches, bought a big box of small bags of chips, packs of cookie, we also made pasta salad and fruit salad, it was all yummy!
We stayed up all night putting together the sacked lunches and wrapping gifts. Erica pretty much got a headcount of everyone coming and “thought” there was enough lunches. We did plan on taking extras just in case. The morning of the party, the headcount was all messed up, people were calling and canceling but were showing up, or saying they are coming and then not. We put everyone’s names on the bags and decorated them all cute. So pretty much that was a bad idea! LOL
The next morning Erica had made a 2nd mini cake for Sid that she can thrash so I can take pictures and we all fought over who got to decorate it. Erica frosted, I decorated and Nicky write on the top. I also had a session that morning and couldn’t stay to help with the organization before the party, my big sis had to go with me as well since we did a “mini makeover” on my client. We shot the session at the same park that we held Sid’s picnic, so everyone met us there.
Nicky & Mom were in a bad mood due to some tiffs at home, the cake got smashed and the cupcakes got smeared, hence the no pictures of that. It was a disaster. We didn’t have enough food, it was cold and windy, Nicky didn’t bring any diapers for Sid, and flowers from the trees were flying everywhere!
After Nicky and Mom cooled down, and Uncle Larry went to buy some big sub sandwiches & chips, things started smoothing out. The party actually turned out cute, the people were happy, Sid was filthy with a giant fat heavy diaper, the sun came out but the wind didn’t stop. Sid smashed her mini cake Mom bought and I brought her FAVORITE thing in my house… my mini vintage birdcage. She loves that thing and that’s the first thing she goes to when she comes to my house, besides me!
After the party ended, we were all happy again! We all went home and crashed, even Sid…
Pretty much I have a lot of sessions and do not have the time to really edit my “personal” photos… so all the pictures here just have a natural enhancement, nothing fancy but I love them all! Hopefully you do too!
This was my session from this past Saturday April 2nd 2011 {Family♥} and I had lots to worry about. Ok, maybe not lots but it seemed so. Adrianna had been rescheduling her session with me for a whole month. Every time it was the day before, the weather was just horrible! As it came closer to Saturday the sun was just flaring and the days were warm and I was excited!
Of course.. Saturday the 2nd comes around and yup.. The sun was NO WHERE and the warmth was gone! I was shocked since the days before had been total beach days! Our session was for 6:30 pm and all day I looked out the window and walked out side just hoping the day would flip. It didn’t. I let her know that the session would still come out good and sunny {with my magic powers} trying not to discourage her from going through with the session. Of course we shot anyway and the wind was breezy, the air was crisp, not exactly my idea of a perfect shoot. Anyhow, it was fun!
We met in a tall grass field and discovered lots of HUGE lady bugs.. It was fascinating to see so many and so large. The kids loved it, they wanted nothing more than to look for lady bugs. I followed them capturing some natural shots so their mama could see them… being them! It was adorable, I’ll have to use that location more often… here is just a few from Saturday’s session with the Ruiz Family!
This is my cousin Steven and his fiancé Cynthia, how adorable are they? They have been together for quite sometime now and have 2 beautiful daughters. They decided it’s finally time to tie the knot, become united and share their lives together and guess who gets to shoot it? You guessed it, ME!
Sunday I took their engagements because they need them done ASAP. The wedding is June 11th and they still have not sent out or got started on those invites. They are now rushing to get them done because June is just around the corner and they need plenty of printing and mailing time.
This duo is just too cute. They are both quiet, and were not sure how to express their love to the camera but I thought they did a great job anyway, here is just a few.
