The weather this past weekend was a bit nuts. It would rain one minute and then the sun would be pouring in the next minute and then it would rain while the sun was still out! I had a shoot that evening, but I didn't offer to cancel or postpone because I felt like we would get enough dry time with as weird as the weather was being. And I was right! While it wasn't *sunny,* it didn't rain the entire shoot and the clouds were fantastic. I snapped this image on the way back to the car because I love the slope of the hill and how green and lush Minnesota is right now. And it smelled delicious!And here are my internet shares to entertain you:+ Would you let your 3 year old go on a weekend getaway without you? I'm actually charmed by this.+ I am totally making/inhaling this for breakfast.+ These photographs of our president are just phenomenal.+ Did you know you can rent Julia Child's french cottage?
As usual, we packed as much into this weekend as we possibly could. There was a big soil delivery, gardens planted, walks taken, slides conquered, multiple farmer's market visits, several shopping trips, a graduation party, dinner out for pizza and several photo shoots. And Jamie installed the last of the window air conditioner units so we are now set for summer! (The end of the week is supposed to reach the mid-90s.)
I should start by saying that on Friday, Ezra and I got donuts (National Donut Day), and he was smitten from the get go. So that evening, when we went to one of our favorite pizza joints and they placed raw dough sprinkled in flour in front of him (as they always do with the kids because it's like the most amazing play-dough ever), he dove in and tried to eat it. These were his reactions.
Yeah kid. A little different than the donut you had for breakfast.
On Saturday morning, a bunch of soil was delivered so I could plant raised beds in those two watering troughs right there. We thought Ezra would love seeing the truck dump the dirt. Instead he was terrified.
However, he is a boy after all, so the dirt itself was a huge hit. He helped us transfer it both with his new plastic sand shovel and bucket, and then he attempted to use the adult shovel. Good luck with that, kid.
For the record, we planted strawberries, basil, cilantro, chives, romaine, thyme and beets in one container (and some flowers that the nursery lady told me might help keep the squirrels away). And in the other we have cherry tomatoes, carrots, radishes, leeks and green beans. We had a cucumber plant left over, so we're trying that in the yard. Wish us luck.
Sunday morning began with another walk to a nearby playground. Another child was having a birthday party and Micky and Minnie mouse showed up. Ezra has never seen them before, so he had no associations other than "What the HELL is THAT?"
Sunday afternoon was spent at a graduation party for Shuttersmack's summer intern (!!!!) (more on that later), and a few people were playing guitar and singing and this boy here was far more interested in that than cupcakes, cookies or rice krispie treats.
And at the end of it all, he was conked out. What a weekend.
I had a family shoot over in St. Paul on Thursday night, and I snapped this image of the water falls near Como before I plopped the family in for their images. It was such a gorgeous night, and there was a jazz band playing in the pavilion and there were food and drinks and a lake and wildlife and... yeah. I just loved it. And it wasn't even crowded!Anyway, I took Friday off from work and played hooky with Ezra all day today. And I left my camera at home (blasphemy!). But seriously, I'm busy enough being one-on-one with the kid that I don't have time/energy to take photos. I'm sure I'll get there eventually, just not yet. Today, we had donuts (National Donut Day!) and we went to a toddler yoga class and we bought groceries and napped and played and went for a long walk. It was wonderful, and I'm so happy that I have a flexible schedule so that I can enjoy these days with him.For your internet share of the day, I know I have linked to many articles by/about 
I'm not one for flowers (sorry!), but spring always makes me appreciate the grasses and variety of greens that one can plant in a Minnesotan garden. Ironic, then, that I made this photo black and white, eh? I couldn't help it. I loved the texture. If you close your eyes and clear your mind, then look again, it almost looks like hair on a Pixar character. I love seeing new things in photos.To see some of my favorite kinds of gardens, you can check out 
I loved this image because when I look at it, I can smell summer and I can hear the bugs and I can feel the damp air. I snapped this between portraits last weekend as I was tromping around the tracks with a lovely pregnant mother, her husband and her 3-year-old boy.Summer evenings for me have meant a lot of cooking dinners, feeding the family, bathing and getting the kid into bed, then grabbing my camera gear and meeting clients in spots like this one. I love that I have daylight until 9 pm right now, I'm not gonna lie.Another thing I'm doing a lot of these days is trying to think of presents for graduation gifts. Because of that, I'm including a few ideas in the internet shares today. Happy Wednesday!+ I don't have a microwave, but if I ever get one