Amusement Park Pictures

Tis the season for amusement parks! We went this week, and I have some picture tips and ideas here for you! I always like to get a family picture. This means I have to ask a random stranger to take it. First, I have us stand in the area where I want the picture taken. If you have time to be picky, look for one with a huge camera. This shows you that they must know what they are doing. I like to get a picture either right as you enter, full of excitement and hair that is not yet windblown, or towards the end of the day, when it's still pretty light out but the lights have just been turned on. This makes for a festive picture.

I like to play with my camera in lines. This picture was taken while in line, by my husband.

Here's an action shot of my little girl, hanging on tight! I took this shot almost every time she came around to make sure I'd get a keeper.

Here's a posed shot. The lighting was favorable and she looked so cute!

I zoomed in on my husband and baby boy for this one. I was in line to ride with my daughter. I don't even think they knew I was getting their picture. I liked how they were interacting.

Here is my daughter in line, and in her own little world.

While waiting for the ride to start, I had taken a couple pictures of my daughter and husband smiling at me. For this one, I had the brilliant idea to make it look like they were actually RIDING on the ride. They were good sports, and it made them laugh for the picture, too.

This isn't even a ride, but doesn't it look like my boy is waiting for it to start and zoom off?

The cutouts. Ok, what is the point of this? Well, last year, we took a picture of Daddy in the "Andy" cutout. Once you take a picture, my daughter thinks it's a tradition, and runs to pose as soon as she sees a familiar prop. It did turn out to be adorable!

This picture actually IS a tradition. I take this picture of my daughter every year. It's cool to look back and see how much she grew. It was so much fun to take my son to Storybook Forest and hear his excited little noises as we walked through. He liked it more than the rest of the Park.

Other tips:

When an attendant comes around to check your seat belt, don't hesitate to ask them to take a picture of you on the ride. I've never had one tell me no.

Carry your camera and extra batteries, film, memory card in a small case right on your person. Make sure it's hands free.

If you want to plan ahead, have your family wear colors that will go together and not clash. This makes it easier to scrapbook later and you all look like you belong together. One year, we wore red white and blue. This made for fun pages and amusement parks are the epitome of summertime, as are the patriotic colors!

On the other hand, I like to wear bright colors on my daughter so that she is easy to spot when she is climbing up tall nets and running across bridges and the like. These make for fun pictures, too. (especially with cotton candy in the shot!)

Scrapbooking amusement park pictures can be a challenge, since it can be hard to find stickers that match your theme. You will probably have to think outside of the box. I know for a fact that Creative Memories doesn't make amusement park stickers any more. Try to match your clothes, and remember that stars always work with amusement park pics.

Scrap Happy!

Backyard summer fun

Here are some pictures of my girl and her little cousin. They don't get to see each other more than once a year. Aren't they cute?
I just love this one! It shows the size difference between a 2 year old and a 6 year old.
Apparently, the slip and slide also works as a drinking fountain!
These girls have such a great time together. I just loved to watch them play.
Scrap Happy!

Boating with a five year old

It was a hot and humid day, when my daughter and I decided to tackle one of the things still left on our "50 things to do this summer" list. We packed a lunch and water bottles, and my daughter brought along white bear and kitty, with a complete wardrobe for kitty in a shoe box, as well as a jewelry box with all the essensials, lipgloss, coins and jewelry. We were loaded down this way, even as we struggled to put on our life jackets and pick up our oars. The instructor told us that if we both leaned to one side, everything in the boat would fall in as it tipped, and would sink to the bottom, never to be seen again! That was enough for my little girl to decide to leave all of her prized possessions safely on shore!

I really think that this talk and talk of the waterfall to avoid had spooked her, and she no longer really wanted to do this, but she was a good sport, and other than very light grumbling, she didn't say anything.

We headed out, in a zig zag pattern, away from the safety of shore. The lilypads and their flowers were interesting, and my daughter was convinced that the fish were holding onto her oar with each stroke. We made our way to the front part of the lake, where I stopped to take 1 or 2 pictures, and as I did, our canoe turned around! It was pretty much the only break I got. Although I took that as our cue to turn back, I found the return trip to be much more difficult than the trip away from the docks. I don't know if it was because I was so much heavier than my 5 year old, or because I was really the only one rowing, or what...but we kept getting turned around by the current and the wind. We even went toward the side shore several times, although as they had told us to, we were trying to avoid the sides due to debri in the water which you can get caught in. I was thankful that we were having trouble on the way back rather than the way out, as I had gotten better at my paddling by now. I may have given up if it had been that hard from the beginning, even though I'm not a quitter.

Each time I stopped for just a second to take a picture of my daughter's back, the boat would turn! I did get quite a workout! I loved feeling the water splash across me as I switched the oar from my left to my right. It felt really good on such a hot day! It was also nice to share this experience with my daughter, even though once she was talking to me and then asked, "Why aren't you talking to me, Mommy?" To which I replied, "Because I'm trying to keep this boat going straight and it takes all my concentration and strength, honey!"

My tip of the day? If you feel it would be a good experience to take your young child out on a boat, you may want to consider a Kayak. This way, you have 2 oars on one, and don't have to switch sides, and the kayaks are smaller, there isn't such a big space between you and your child. I imagine that this would have been much easier.

caught in a summer moment

I couldn't have posed this shot if I had tried. The setting is fabulous, the subjects relaxed and having fun, just doing what they do, and I just stumbled apon them. Although they saw me, (even though I tried to be sneaky) I told them to ignore me, and keep saying whatever funny things they were saying. This picture screams "SUMMER!", and it's my favorite picture in a long time. Unposed. I love unposed!

50 Fun things to do this summer

This summer, I created a list of things for my daughter and I to do. They can be anything, from little things like blowing bubbles, to bigger things like going camping. As we complete activities on our list, we check them off. I try to get a picture of us doing them, too. We have learned a lot, and have had fun together, doing things we probably wouldn't have thought of doing, or gotten around to doing, if we didn't have them on our list! We have found the park with the best swing, caught tadpoles, had picnics and hiked. Even after we cross something off of our list, we still find ourselves coming back to do it again, if it was something we really had fun doing! We have gone to so many different parks and waded in several different creeks and had many more picnics than usual! Best of all, we are having fun playing together. And making the memories is the best thing that isn't even mentioned in writing, on our list!

In the pool with Daddy

What a beautiful, sunny, summer day! We had been shopping at the outlet stores in Ocean City, and came back in time to have the pool to ourselves pretty much. My daughter had just started swimming that summer, so we couldn't get enough of watching her swim underwater! She never seemed to get tired of swimming from the side of the pool to her Daddy. Back and forth, over and over again! I just sat in the sun, with my feet in the water, enjoying the sight of the 2 of them playing together.

Tip of the Day: These pictures were taken in the evening, so the sun was not directly over head and didn't create a glare on the water. I loved the color of the water,and tried to keep it the focus by using aqua sticker letters and the little ripple sticker along the side of the page.
I also used a gold flecked page instead of white. I think that helps the page not to look so plain. I love the way the aqua looks with the gold page as well.

Scrap Happy!

At the pool

Going to the pool is relaxing, because I don't take my camera more than a couple of days. If I have my camera, I am thinking like a photographer. Sometimes I wish I had my camera, but with out it I am able to just enjoy living without having to worry about capturing the moment. On this page, I combined all my pictures taken at the pool over the summer. I used a water camera. It was nice not to worry about it getting stolen, and also because my camera wouldn't be sitting in the sun. Since I was filling my page up with a lot of pictures, I didn't use a whole lot of page elements. I did punch squares of water out from pictures I cropped, and put letter stickers on them to spell out the name of the pool. I used paper and stickers from the power pallets, so that they went together and I didn't have to worry about them matching. CM did that for me! I only matted my very favorite picture, so that it stood out.

I have been scrapping lately, as well as taking my business a little more seriously. I just finished Christmas and New Year's. Now I have January and February to do. Remember, I had just gotten my digital camera, so I took a lot of pictures in that short period! I can easily take 100 a day at the Children's museum, although I don't print them all. I also have most of May to do.I still feel overwhelmed, but I shouldn't.

short and sweet

Ahhhh, Summer! I love it! There are so many things to do that you just can't do at other times of the year, especially when you live in the northern states. Often, I find myself at places that I have gone yearly, and I still take a few pictures to capture the moments. Last year, we spent the day at a local amusement park and I only took a smattering of pictures. I put them all on one page, and I decorated it very simply. Often when I overlap a central picture, I mat it, to seperate it from the others. I did that here. I used two, soft, blue papers on part of the page, and just decorated one corner of the page by punching out 4 squares and placing a square sticker from the CM Lazy Days pack right in the center of the 4 squares. It kind of mimics the way the pictures are placed on the page, actually. In the left hand corner, I jotted down a few memories of our day in what we in the scrapbooking world call "bullet journaling". It really says all that it needs to. I used the photo I took of the entrance sign as a sort of title for the page.

I love this page!

Scrap Happy!

Summer, Summer, Summertime!

Tips of the Day: The pools are open and my little one always wants to play outside, which gives me lots of photo ops! To take great pictures outside, make sure that the light of the sun is coming in from the side. This way the kiddos won't be squinting, and they won't be backlit! Evening is a great time to take pictures, now that the sun is sticking around longer! If you take your camera to the pool, try to keep it in the shade as much as possible. If there isn't any shade, at least put it at the bottom of the beach bag. Consider purchasing a water camera for shots at the pool or beach. They really take good pictures now, and although they used to cost a lot more to develope, if you send them to Snapfish, they cost the same as a regular roll of film. I was at CiCi's all you can eat pizza place the other day and they have a calender through the summer and September that gave great ideas for things that you can do in the summer. I want to try and do a lot of them! This idea booklet is free with purchase. Doing all this summer stuff means more photo ops!

Scrap Happy!

Playing at the Park

It was a great day for the park today! I went with my kiddo, her dad and our friends. I finished off my roll of film there, (the one I just started on Sunday!) because there were some adorable shots! I did miss one of my rules though. I didn't get any pictures with me in them! I just worry that my daughter will think I wasn't there! I got the cutest pictures of my daughter taking her 10 1/2 month old friend down the slide! I also got some shots of the glee on her face as her Daddy pushed her in the swing! She laughed so hard that she got the hiccups! But my favorite picture is of my friend's bottom half sticking out of the top of the enclosed slide as she let her little guy go down the slide for the first time! It's priceless!

Tip of the Day: There are so many photo ops at the park! It's best to go in the late afternoon if you don't want a whole lot of other kids jumping in the way of your pictures. It also makes for better lighting than the direct sunlight you'll get earlier. Have the adult pushing the kid on the swing pull the swing back and hold it for a second. This way, you get what looks like an action shot, without the action. Best of all, just watch the action, and click when you see that moment! No kid likes to have to pose in the middle of playing.

Scrap Happy!