Bubble Festival

Favorite Five for Friday

This was quite the week!!  I wrapped up portraits at a childcare center, Little Mates in Morgantown.  It was kid wrangling fun, super-charged silliness and lots of singing, and I'll tell you what - I needed a nap afterwards!  I'm hoping to do more school portraits in the coming months.  It's an area of portrait photography that begs to be expressed with natural light, in my humble opinion anyhow - I may be a bit biased, though.  

I also wrapped up a large family portrait session of 9 at a friend's home.  She and her family are very private and wish not to be shared in the social blogosphere.  OH, how I wish I could share their portraits with you, because they are beautiful!  We managed to get our session in just after a thunderstorm, which has been a frequently occurring weather trend this past week (that, along with loss of power as a result of the storms - ugh).  

I'm also prepping the house, yard, art activities, journaling prompts, yoga poses, games, and overall gearing up for the start of our summer camp for girls, beginning on Monday.  Busy Bees is coming up quickly and I'm finding myself excited for it, eager to see the girls and have fun with them, yet also mildly panicked as I juggle all of my creative projects.  Must remember to breathe.  Just keep swimming.  Just keep swimming... ;)  

We, the girls and I, attended a Summer Solstice Bubble Festival at the Berks County Heritage Center in Reading with our fun-fabulous neighbor, Jo!  I was thrilled Jo let me know about it and invited us to go!  It was a wonderful way to usher in the joyful celebration of summertime!!!  I, of course, had a blast making photos of the people gathered, enthralled with wonderment at the ever changing shapes and colors, and then... popping of BUBBLES created by the one and only, Grandpop Bubbles!!!  Such a neat event complete with live music, sundial crafts, a fire pit to roast marshmallows and/or hot dogs, and refreshing ice cream!  We screamed for ICE CREAM!  :)  Many terrific thanks to you, my dear friend, Jo, for including us!  

This past weekend we celebrated Father's Day with our favorite guy, Kurt.  We had the good fortune of having family visit with us from Maine!  Kurt's sister, Jeri and her husband, Scott were in town for a day or two.  We celebrated an early Father's Day with a cookout on Friday night, including Kurt's adorable mother and his brother, Jeff and his lovely wife, JoAnne.  We shared a beautiful evening and a delicious grilled meal together.  Our Emilia even had the special opportunity to play round after round of chess with her uncle Scott, who explained the game with utmost patient care.  Thanks, Uncle Scott!  Oh, and now, that's the only game she wants to play!  

And with that...  I'll share my favorite 5 frames from this past week.            

I shared more of the Bubble loving, summer welcoming crowd and event over at my personal Facebook page:  click here to view.  And on my Flickr photo stream:  click here to view !  So many bubbles, so many smiles!  Such a treat!!  :)  

Pool time is an everyday occurrence around here lately.  Yay, for cool fun!!!  I am relishing in this image of my healthy girl, Alanna, as she enjoys a renewed vigor for life.  With shouts of, "Mom, watch this!"  Be still, my beating momma heart.  

Kurt and his mother share a loving embrace during our family get together.  I love this so, SO Much.  The one bit of marriage advice I would hand out to women considering a mate for life is this: make certain he Loves, Respects and Honors his mom.  You won't go wrong.  If he shows this love and admiration for his mom to you and everyone, than he's a keeper.  

Normally, the girls and I would cook up a breakfast fit for a king to serve in bed for our favorite guy on Father's Day, however... this year was different.  We were unable to make this happen as we were without power for more than 12 hours.  So, instead of cold cereal, we took him out for breakfast to a local diner.  I caught this moment on my cell phone and it speaks volumes.  He's an All-Star Dad (note the t-shirt) and I'm so proud of him and all the love he has for all of his girls, including me and Chelsea.  This guy took on the world for me as a single mom over 20 plus years ago with a ready-made family and an ex-husband who was present in our life while Chelsea was growing up.  He continues to take on the world and give us his all, everyday.  There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do for him.  He's a keeper.    

Thanks for stopping by to view, hear all about the latest happenings with me and the family, and for your constant support.  I appreciate your encouragement, my friends!  What have you been up to lately?  What's on deck for you?  How was your Father's Day?  Do share in the comments below.  As always, I'd love to hear from you!!

Happy Solstice!  Happy Summer to you!!