Every year I get to meet with this awesome family and capture them as they grow. This year, the session even included a discussion on what the best holiday movie is. Can you guess Kris’s answer that we then recreated with Ronin??
Each year, we pick a new place to meet up and explore. This year, it was Whipple Creek Park out in Ridgefield, WA. None of us had been there before and I heard that there was an old mill there. We met at the south parking lot and started our hike.
Just down the hill, there is a little stream crossing with this cute stone wall. Perfect for a pause and a look around.
The trail forks just past this bridge. You can see the old mill to the right, but we figured we would end there, so to the left it was!
This loop was lined with colored trees and a lot of fun paths for Ronin to run around on and get out some of that endless energy that he has. Margaret was trying so hard to keep up.
Along the trail, I got Mom and Dad to stop and take some shots together. Much like my Husband and I, they turn sarcastic with each other with the attention is turned to them. But I also think its so important to not only capture the kids and the family, but also get the parents alone. Its a time in life that everyone needs to remember.
After this shot, we had to run to keep up with the kids running up and down the trail.
After the games played my Ronin and Margaret, we headed back down to the trail and over to the mill. The mill was made out of stones from the creek nearby and had a water wheel. However, it had fallen into serious disrepair, so at this time, there is a crew restoring it. With that, came the tarps covering it, so we worked around it, while still getting some of it included. I am excited to see the restoration when it’s done!
By this time, little Margaret had enough of us. As a parent myself, I just had to capture it.
It was about this time that we started to have a conversation about our favorite holiday movies. I mentioned Gremlins, but Kris was adamant on Die Hard. Lucky for us, there was a gravel pile next to us and Ronin had already climbed to the top. Add a little bit of Photoshop, and BOOM.
With one child falling asleep and the other running out of energy, we headed back up the hill to the cars, but not without stopping for a few last shots.
Thank you to this amazing family for choosing me to capture them year after year. And for Liz being an amazing preschool teacher to my daughter years ago. She set my daughter on a great course for success.
