For awhile I was taking more photos than I had time to process, and I’m still getting caught up.

These photos are from back in June when I spent the day with Andrew in Chicago at Navy Pier. It was part of the new “one-on-one” program we’ve been trying to institute with each child.

So here are some of those photos, and the rest are on SmugMug.

Normally I have a much higher good to bad ration when shooting, but because there was a lot of experimenting going on, and some of the photos were taken without a tripod to hold it steady, I only ended up with just over 20 that were any good after shooting about 80 different locations. But after all, it was a first attempt.

All processing was done in Aperture using the HDR Efex Pro plug-in (which also works with Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom).

So, enter the new “Tractor Wagon” (this is what Andrew calls it). It’s made to carry 1,000 lbs, so I’m pretty sure it will be up to the task of carrying the boys all the way through adulthood.

But this one is so big, we realized today that it easily carts the boys around, Sydney and a few bags of daily necessities while we’re out.

The down side? My legs are KILLING me from being the horse to this cart. But the kids loved it.

The rest of the photos are on Flickr

From there we caught a bus to the brown line, and took the elevated L train back into the loop where we had parked.

Seeing life through the eyes of a 3 year old is so amazing and fun, I could have spent the entire day with him. And the one-on-one time is just such a treat for me as the parent. Being able to give 100% of your focus and attention to just one child, and not feel bad about it is really great. I could tell he really enjoyed it as well.

There are some of the photos I took here, and lots more on Flickr. I think he even makes my photography hobby more fun!

Thanks for a great day Andrew!

We also got to see several places where they were shooting the next Transformers movie (#3). Large parts of Michigan Avenue were shut down and they had a car dangling off of the Michigan Avenue bridge.

All in all, it was a great day. Summers in Chicago are really the best. You can find the rest of the photos on SmugMug.

We had an awesome day downtown with the boys. The weather was great, and love him or hate him Mayor Daily sure knows how to create a beautiful public park. There’s always something to do down there, even with our little guys.

Here are a few photos, and the rest are on SmugMug.

Because I have not been feeling well since getting back from the Thailand trip, we decided not to make the trip to MI this year for the annual family reunion. I think we made the right call even though we were both disappointed that we didn’t go. The boys were really looking forward to it, it’s all they’ve been talking about. 

So, instead we took a much shorter trip down to Chicago’s Millennium Park and walked around with the boys and just hung out on the grass for awhile. 

There are more photos here of Andrew only because Max was still sound asleep in the stroller when we stopped. By the time he was awake they were both ready to eat so we didn’t have time to get more photos of him. 

Here’s a short movie clip as well of them playing in the grass for the first time.