To wrap up this week’s series of photos from our recent trip back east, I wanted to share a few last snapshots. Our visits to Washington D.C. and Amish Country were quick. The majority of our time was spent with family. They are why we traveled there.
Before we dive into these photos, I wanted to add something: My purpose in sharing pictures from our trip is not about our trip. My intention is to share with you how I document, with hopes that you will find even a tiny bit of inspiration in documenting your own. As you know, I focus a lot on documenting the everyday. This week’s focus on my blog happen to come from a vacation perspective. But you’ll notice in today’s photos that while we were on vacation, these are all very much “everyday” type of photos.
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Watching my nephews play soccer has been on my bucket list for a while and I’m thrilled that we finally got to see them in action. I ended up taking a LOT of pictures for them. I like to pictures and that’s great. But I really love to take pictures FOR people. I guess you could say it’s part of my “love language”. It is a gift that I can share with others. And the cutest thing? They actually really enjoyed that I was taking pictures and told me so. They’re teenage boys! What a score in my validation book.
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Food, food, food. And yes, probably too much of it. It was so fun to share meals with family in their homes.
Apparently my Mom’s favorite new thing to make is whoopie pies. It’s a new-to-me food group. And watch out — the woman knows how to mass-produce treats.
Of course she made plenty of her classic chocolate chip cookies. I may or may not have eaten 57 of them.
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We went on a really nice, long walk through a new community in our little town. The kids went on a tractor ride through my parents’ property. We swam. We had slumber parties. We played. We relaxed.
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The kids had serious cousin bonding time. And bonding with grandparents. It was a wonderful time of reconnection. Grandma and Claire especially because Claire has such a fascination for all the knick-knacky things that my mom has everywhere.
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The kids are particularly fond of Grandma’s Amish clock that sings every hour. Okay, so she has like SIX singing clocks. Hilarious. I love how Claire was trying to pick Crew up to see the moving parts on the clock.
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Isn’t she so beautiful? This is my great Aunt Eva and I love her so much. David and I haven’t had living grandparents for quite a number of years but Aunt Eva is like a grandma to me and I treasure the time we had to catch up. She is 93 years of age and has the softest hands on the planet.
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We stopped by my brother’s architectural/engineering firm. With my camera around my neck, I took a load of pictures around his office. Again, for the love of sharing pictures.
We also got to see one of his projects which is underway and looking awesome. He oozes talent.
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My other brother in Maryland is an optometrist and the BEST at that. I know I’m biased but seriously — he’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet and really passionate about what he does. Plus, he let our kids take a peek through the equipment. (Photo taken on my iPhone with poor lighting but hey — that’s alright.)
{ NOTE } If it’s been a while since you took your camera to work or photographed a loved one at work, you can find some inspiration here and here.
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Remember that big brush pile I showed you in Monday’s post? Yeah, that’s gone now. As tradition has it, we had a bonfire in my parents’ backyard.
As you can tell, we are so grateful we were able to go on this family trip. I am so grateful for family connections. Not so much for humidity, but for the time we were able to spend with some of the people we love the absolute most. And I’m grateful for photography that allows me to capture these memories. And I’m grateful for Project Life because it’s so not overwhelming adding a few favorites to our family’s yearbook, which I’ll be doing this weekend. ; )
Thank you for sharing your family time with us. You have a most beautiful Aunt. So very nice your children get to know her. Great you took pics of your nephews playing soccer and they liked it. I still get the oh mom do you have to and my kids are all grown. My grandchildren like it tho. I will be taking pics at my son’s college graduation tho tomorrow. I won’t give in! Have a great weekend.
Thank you for describing taking photos for people as “love language.” It describes perfectly why I do it too.
Where in MD is your optometrist brother? My hubby needs a new one badly!! Always looking for a great dr!! :] Thanks I appreciate it!
You can email me at ashley@ourdailychocolate.com
Your description of your Aunt’s hands actually made me cry. My grandma passed away at the age of 93 in January of this year. I said her eulogy at the funeral and one of the things I mentioned was that I have many fond memories of her, but I will never forget how incredibly soft her hands were when I held them……and again, crying….
Thanks Becky for sharing your family with us!
Tiffany
LOVE the bonfire! (You didn’t take that back to AZ with you now, did you?)
2 cool things about this post:
I think my love language is giving photographs to people too! I always see random strangers at the park and think “man I would love to take their picture & get their email and email it to them because that would be such a great moment” but then I think that would be too weird….so I just stick with giving pix to family and friends!!!
the other cool thing, my niece is in Optometry school here in Chicago and she is loving it! I am so proud of her!! She has about 1 year left plus rotations….wouldn’t that be cool if she did a rotation with your brother?~!
learn from the best~! she can pick where she wants to go!
awesome post!
tara
Fun snapshots.. to remember by..
thank for sharing..
That is so cool Becky! Thank you for sharing:)
I too, love to take photos for people. I’m curious, what have you found as the easiest and quickest way to share these images with them? Sometimes I just bring my card reader and download them on to their computer on the spot, but then I don’t have time to edit them…just wondering what works for you.
Thanks for sharing ~ love Project Life. Love your blog. It’s wonderful.
Kathy
My favorites are the bonfire and your aunt.. My first thought when I saw her picture was “aren’t her wrinkles beautiful?” What camera did you use for most of these pictures?
Thanks for sharing your photos. Your aunt Eva is beautiful. Exactly how I want to look.
Love these photos, it’s always nice to be with family. Your aunt Eva is beautiful, wonderful that the kids get to see her. Thanks for sharing these with us, showing my love thru photos is my favorite thing to do.
great post! it is fun having all my family close by, but there is something special about LIVING in their space for a solid week.
i’ve never heard of an amish clock. my husband has a new job based in lancaster and i’m going to put this on the list for our next visit there. the amish marble run has been a huge hit with my kids.
i love the first picture and the picture of the 93 year young lady…she radiates peace in my eyes!!!
wow…just wow. Love every picture for what they are…radiating LIFE! I am really lucky to have my own Auntie Hazel who is 102 and Auntie Viv who is 88; what blessings they are! Thank you so much for sharing Becky, it is a wonderful and gentle reminder of the reasons for taking photographs and sharing life.
How sweet…how fun…how beautiful. Thanks Becky!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Becky,
Your Aunt Eva is so beautiful! She looks great in fact! I love seeing the pictures you take and how you take them. I always think I have to have the people in the picture looking at the camera, but I really like how you take action shots of life! Making me look at picture taking in a whole new way. My 9 year old has a friend over for a sleep over tonight and I made sure to get action shots of them playing. Thanks for all I learn from you!
Thanks for sharing, Becky. I am also from back east, a small town in northern NYS, now living just outside of SLC. Your photos, especially the ones from Amish country bring back so many memories. I really love the bonfire. My mom cleans up the roadsides and the hedgerows around their home and we always have a big bonfire with all that she collects. My kids love the bonfires in Grandma and Grandpa’s backyard and it is something I remember with fondness from my growing up years. Thanks for reminding me and for the prompt to get it recorded somewhere other than in my mind. You are awesome!
Love the chocolate chip cookie recipe. I think this will replace the one I have been using for years. I only got about 4 dozen so maybe I made them much bigger than your Mom. Wish I could have put in the nuts but outvoted by husband and four boys
Do you have your Mom’s Whoopie Pie recipe?
Becky I cannot thank you enough for sharing this post. It really spoke to me about the importance of documenting everyday life even when you are not actually in your everyday life.
We have just returned home to Australia after a 5 week holiday in the UK, taking our 2 sons (aged 3 1/2 & 1 1/2) to visit their great-grandmother, who is 93. Today I am starting to put all my notes, memorabillia and pictures into order for Project Life and I am really pleased with the combination of photos that were taken – a lot of ‘vacation’ pictures but also a lot of ordinary life, as that was what I really wanted to document for our boys. As you can imagine I was thrilled to read your post about the same subject! So thank you ever so much.
ps several times on the trip I gave our DSLR to each of our boys to take pictures with, partly so I could be in some of the photos and partly because I have noticed that people really relax when a child is holding the camera and they lose that ‘posing’ look. We ended up with some really great photos that they took, very natural and candid, I love them.
Thanks for a great post and lovely photos. I too, love to take photos and give them as gifts for others!! Funny, I love whoopie pies…I’m from MA & my inlaws from MO had never heard of them til I made them last 4th of July!
Great moments captured!
Thanks for letting me lurk and learn.