Film...

A long long time ago, I took film pictures. I had two cameras that I use to carry with me everywhere. My Nikon and my Yashica, a 35mm and the other a medium format. I've added a few more film cameras through out the years; a Holga 120CFN that can take medium and 35mm film and a Lomography La Sardinia 35mm film. In the years that I've had my cameras, my daughters have taken over my toy cameras and I'm fine with that but the Nikon and the Yashica are my proud possession. I will never get rid of them and to this day, I still keep film in my fridge just in case. About two weeks ago, the Yashica came out to play and it made me so happy but it also scared me as I didn't know if the pictures I was taking would be any good. Film doesn't give you the same satisfaction as digital does where you see the result right away. With film, you have to send it away to get processed and hope for the best. Here's what came out of that film...part of it.

Parenting can be hard...

I was told a very long time ago that I would never have children. That my best chance would be to have a surrogate because I had a one in a million chance of ever having children. Three years later, Maxine happened and five years after her, Sofia. I am a very lucky person. Those two are the light of my life...and the grey in my hair.

Nobody ever told me that parenting would be hard. That there would be up's, down's and in between's. That I would have to make decisions on the fly. That once they would start school, I would be starting school all over again, including homework. That sometimes I would have to fight for them because they are still too young to fight their own battles. That they could give me the best hugs ever. That when they would say "I love you," it would be the sweetest thing I would ever hear. That their kisses would be as sweet as they are. That a cuddle is really nice when you've had a bad day. That sometimes hearing "mommy" for the millionth time would make me want to run. Parenting is hard...hard for the mind, the body and every other way. Some parents drink a glass of wine (or two) at night to take the edge off. Some eat chocolates (me) and some, well some might just go to the gym a lot!

I wish I would have been told all of these things before hand or at least given a hint. Then I tell myself maybe the bad days would be easier to deal with but I'm not sure if I would have listened if someone would have taken the time to tell me everything. I've had a bad day and yes they happen. I get frustrated and in turn get frustrated with them. Hence I'm here writing about it. Being a parent is hard and it's ok. All the up's will make up for the down's and in between's. I just hope that at the end of the day, those two little girls will still love me and want to spend time with me when they are older and hopefully wiser than I will ever be.

Terranea Trails and The Huntington Library

The hiking trails next to the Terranea Resort are fantastic for kids. The terrain is easy for them to walk/run and they have markers along the way letting you know about the vegetation, wildlife and history. Maxine didn't want to go at first because she thought it was going to be really hard but she ended up loving it. They also have a tidal pool and although the tide was too high by the time we made it down, she still managed to run around with Sofia as they let dogs go down and there is a huge patch of sand. I can't say enough about how much the girls loved it.

The Huntington Library. What can I say but wow. This was our second time and our first with Sofia. I forced Kurt to bring the runner for her because I thought it might be too much walking and I was right. She was walking and running when she fell like it but going uphill was easier for her sitting down. The same can not be said about the rest of us and we were tired after 3 hours of walking. And we didn't get to see everything! They have a cafe which made it easy for us since I didn't want to carry to many things with us. It has such an amazing history and so much to see that it makes it worth the price. We will definitely have to go back again by the end of this year.

We finished the three day weekend by eating fried chicken and waffles at Roscoe's. Good fun, good food.