My new lens

I have been meaning to post shots I've taken from the 50mm f/1.4 lens that was graciously gifted to me.

First, my kids.

And a couple pictures of my newborn cousin Silas.

Is there anything greater than a newborn baby? I think not. I can just smell his baby smell through the screen. Like clean cotton and breast milk. It's intoxicating.

Wait, what were we talking about?

Oh right, the lens. As you can see it produces perfectly dreamy portraits of these guys. I'm addicted to the bokeh. It's going to make Christmas pictures awesome this year!

Vacation-o-rama Part 3: New Jersey

In pictures

You need to see this

I promise promise to get back to vacation photos tomorrow, but I had to show this video.

I loved my wedding and all, but this is probably the greatest processional EVER!

(by the way, I don't know these people. The video was shared with me on Facebook, and I just had show everyone)

Vacation-o-rama Part 2: Washington DC

We left Ronnie's and headed to D.C. The hotel that Matt works for has a hotel there that is absolutely gorgeous (and cheap if you happen to work for the company), so we stayed there.

We wanted to see some sights in Washington. You know, the usual White House, Capital Building, etc., etc. But having two small kids in a place that requires a ton of walking make it tough to do all of that.

So we saw 3 monuments which was fine because I'd never seen any of it.

We saw the Lincoln Memorial.

And when you're at the Lincoln Memorial and you turn around you see...

...the Washington Monument.

Two down.

And to the left of the Lincoln Memorial (when you're facing the Washington Monument, of course) is the Vietnam War Memorial. If we saw anything at all, we wanted to see this.

This is Matt's uncle. His mother's brother, Charlie. He was the eldest of 7 children and was in Vietnam for one month before he passed.

This memorial is very somber. Even though neither Matt nor I had met Charlie, we felt an incredible sadness there. Everyone else visiting the memorial was calmly quiet and you could feel all of the heavy hearts. I'm glad we were able to visit.

So the hotel we stayed in was in a little up and coming harbor town called National Harbor. We walked around it to look at the overpriced shops and restaurants from the sidewalk and we came upon this fella.

Hm. Well...he's a puzzling guy. He's also kind of huge.

Here's a shot with Mad for scale.

He's a giant that seems to be buried in the sand...or trying to climb out...or doing a Night of the Living Dead impression, I'm not sure. Actually he's a sculpture and there's more info about him here.

Part of all of his limbs are showing.

High five!

Don't tell me you don't want to tickle this foot. You KNOW you want to.

Here's his knee. The detail is pretty amazing.

This was my favorite part. His arm looks like it's just going to pick you right up by your head. I may frame this picture.

Ok his head is a little creepy. It looks like maybe he's in a little discomfort. Perhaps he's saying, "Hey, I don't think I like being buried in the sand, thank you very much."

Here's a broader shot. Can you spot Matt? It's like Where's Waldo.

I tried really hard to get a full shot of this guy. He's just so huge that unless I was flying above him you really can't see his grandeur. And I left my jet pack at home to make trunk room for luggage.

So that was D.C. Up next is New Jersey, July 4th and Ocean City. Stay tuned.

Vacation-o-rama Part 1: Virginia

This year's vacation was a doozy. We were gone for almost 2 weeks, visited tons of family, saw Abraham Lincoln, swam in the Atlantic, ate clams, drank way too much, and even climbed on a creepy giant statue buried alive under the sand.

And there's so much more.

So instead of blogging about it all at once, I thought I would break it down into parts and try to share as many pictures as possible.

I took a lot of pictures. A ridiculous, insane amount of pictures. Anyone is welcome to go see them all here. They are not public, though, so if you don't have permission and want it you can e-mail me or drop a line in the comments and I will gladly give you clearance.

So let's begin, shall we.

We left June 25th and headed to Virginia to see my half brother. First and foremost, Virginia is absolutely gorgeous.

The entire drive through that state looked like this.

A little back story: Ronnie is my half brother from my father's marriage before he married my mom. Got that?

I hadn't seen him in 9 years. This visit was long overdue.

See the resemblance? We both look a lot like my dad.

This beautiful lady is Ronnie's mom, Rita. She drove 3 hours to see us while we were there and I'm so glad she did.

And then there's this kid.

Oh boy. The cuteness is blinding.

This is Katie, and she's lucky she didn't end up in my suitcase.

I think we were there a grand total of 15 minutes before the kids were in the pool. It was a gorgeous day.

Too sweet, right? My kids loved Katie so much.

I didn't even ask them to pose like this. They were just lying together and I frantically searched for my camera while I screamed "Don't move! Stay there until I get my camera!!"

We had a bonfire that night (in their amazing wooded back yard) complete with s'mores.

These things could be about 47% less messy, but I guess that's the "experience".

There's that face again.

The morning we left, Ronnie gave the kids a drive around in the trailer behind the lawn mower. I have video of this, but it took me long enough to upload all 900 and some-odd pictures, so I haven't even gotten to video yet.

We were only there for one night, but I can't tell you how much it meant to me to see Ronnie, Linda, and Rita again and to meet precious Katie.

Sometimes lives change so much and so quickly that you don't keep up with loved ones the way you should. This was one of those situations. I regret that it took so long for us to reconnect, but I can promise that we have a lot to look forward to.

Speaking of regrets, there's this.

I think I might be in trouble for that one.