The Gianarelli Family at Officer's Row

When fall comes in Vancouver, WA, one of the most popular places to see the leaves, is the road straight down Officer’s Row near Fort Vancouver. The tree-lined streets light up with colors and offer great backgrounds. So when Shelby booked her family session and wanted fall colors, I put Officer’s Row on the top of the list.

With two little ones, with PLENTY of energy, we tried to get them to burn off some of their energy. Letting them run around the open grass fields was great for that purpose and to get them to warm up their smiles.

I learned, however, that there is NO limit to these little ones’ energy. They just kept going. We took them back across the street to explore the porch and grounds of the Marshall House. I love the porches of the homes, but as you can tell, trying to get them to hold still was near impossible.

To me, true portraits like this capture what your children were like at this age, they grow so fast, and we are soon to forget.

It just means that you’ll get a sweet portrait and some fun outtakes along the way. Squirmy little ones are so cute, even if I have to chase them the entire time.

Another distraction? Go climb a tree!

They have some fun, and we can get some sweet shots of them.

I don’t usually recommend playing in the road, but Evergreen Road at this section is slow-moving and very well watched by enforcement. Not to mention, it is a National Park and has plenty of crosswalks and people walking up and down the road. So drivers know to use caution along this stretch.

The trees stretch along and pop with color in fall.

Before leaving, we still wanted to try to get some more energy out, so we had them run to the gazebo in the middle of the grass stretch.

The old fence is always a great little stop to pull the boots on tighter before the run.

At the Gazebo, I encourage family snuggling and sitting down, and just enjoying their kids. Especially if they love to watch, the planes taking off from Pearson. It’s a great way to catch their attention and relax on the stairs.