Tag Archives: Kids

365 Day Photo Challenge 297/365 “Remembering Old Times”

23 Friday Oct 2015

Posted by in Photography

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

https://tchphotography.smugmug.com/Botanical-Gardens/i-QFZHBpW/A

Tonight my girls were gone to a football game and my wife was up the hall grading papers as she normally does this time every evening and I was following the football game via a twitter account.  I got to thinking how it was when I was in the band at their age and things that happen after I graduated.

The year after I graduated high school I remember driving back to the school after a football game to pick up my younger brothers who were in the band during this time.  I pulled up to the school to find some other teenagers already there.  I had assumed they were there to pick up someone but after a few minutes after I arrived I found out they were up to no good.  They were there to steal gas and batteries and I had interrupted them.  They came up to my car and wanted to know what I was doing there and I told them that I was there to pick up my brothers.  They encouraged me to leave and let them get on with their business.  I didn’t hesitate to do so.  I didn’t go home, I went to the nearest neighbors and called the sheriff’s department.  They were there within minutes but the thieves had already took off.  I went to the store across the street and called 911 and talked to the dispatcher and gave her the description of the vehicle. The thieves were caught with all the extra gas cans full of gas along with the several batteries that they had taken that night.

When the band busses pulled up in the school parking lot the sheriff department was still there asking questions.  They had already apprehended the thieves and were bringing them back to be identified.  All the kids on the bus wanted to know what was going on and of course me being the hero of the night I couldn’t wait to tell my story.  After I got home my dad reminded me that these boys wouldn’t stay in jail long and after they got out they may come to hunt me down.  After my discussion with my dad, I didn’t feel like a hero much anymore.

I never heard anything else from those boys.  I was a hero for the rest of the season but I was always looking over my shoulder.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 292/365 “Family Time”

18 Sunday Oct 2015

Posted by in Photography

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

12107277_10153221589878946_132638884958406606_n

After yesterday’s long day cooking at the Founder’s Day Celebration, today was spent relaxing; well, for the most part.  My daughter’s had signed up to volunteer at the Botanical Gardens helping with their Fall plant sale and my wife and I decided to go along and take a walk among the flowers and plants.  It was such a gorgeous day, a little cool in the shade but beautiful nonetheless.

12107896_10153221606958946_3567655901592329760_n

As you can see there wasn’t a cloud in the ski as we walked in the flower gardens.  I brought along my camera and took tons of pictures of all the roses that were blooming.  This was the first time in months that my wife and I has had an opportunity to take a walk anywhere without the kids tagging along.  Better get used to it I guess.  College days are just around the corner.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 272/365 “Another One College Bound”

28 Monday Sep 2015

Posted by in Photography

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

m2042141

I say that with very mixed emotions.  I have twin 17 year old daughters and both of them have been looking into colleges lately, more this past week than ever.  I am not ready for them to go off to college.  They are my babies and I’m not ready for them to grow up much less go off to college.  I

When my son went off to college I was ok with it.  My wife, however, was not.  Although the school is not but 45 miles away he was not coming home but a few weekends out of the year.  My son and I had spent a lot of time together camping and doing other activities with the scouts so I I figured I’d have problems with him going away.

I’ts going to be different with me with my girls.  We don’t do a lot of things together because dad isn’t cool.  We don’t have anything in common and we don’t watch the same television shows.  It kind of reminds me of the commonality of my wife and I.  Anyway, when they go off to school they will be missed a lot.  I’m not sure how I’m going to handle it.  Just going to take it one day at a time.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 215/365 “The Weekend”

01 Saturday Aug 2015

Posted by in Photography

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

https://tchphotography.smugmug.com/Chicago/i-f8C7xss/A

I had a very relaxing day here at the house today.  I got up and got the smoker ready and spent the majority of the day smoking a couple slabs of ribs.  All three of the kids were at work and the wife went on a shopping spree for the girls to purchase them back to school clothes.  In between the times I had to tend to the smoker I spent some time cleaning up some files on my laptop and removing unused programs to make room for more pictures.  I even got to watch some pre recorded Perry Mason shows to help pass the time.

Tomorrow will be spent much the same way except I have plans on doing some riding tomorrow being that I won’t have to be tending to a smoker.  The kids will be at work again and the wife will be doing some grocery shopping.  Nothing exciting but hopefully another relaxing day before the work week begins on Monday.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 185/365 “Good Day Off”

03 Friday Jul 2015

Posted by in Photography

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

http://tchphotography.smugmug.com/Chicago/i-4Q8GdMP/A

Spent the day with my wife of 24 years today while on my day off from work.  I really needed this time alone with my wife.  We went out to lunch, just my wife and I.  My two daughters were at work and we left my son at home with his Netflix.  It’s the first time that my wife and I had a “date” in many years.  Everytime we go out on our anniversary we always end up taking the kids.  We always enjoy the company of our kids but there comes a time when you need alone time with just the wife.

We went to Olive Garden, my wife’s favorite restaurant.  After we ate we went to Lowes and I picked up a smoker so I can smoke some ribs tomorrow and then we went to the cycle shop and I picked up my new road shoes.

After arriving back at home, I put my smoker together, put the new cleats on my new road shoes and spent some quality time with the girls once they got home from work.  The girls showered, ate supper and went to bed.  Not too much quality time there but I’ll take what I can get these days.

As with the canoe’s pictured, life can get confusing sometimes and it may seem that it will take some time to get untangled.  My advice is to take your time, have fun, spend some time with your spouse and your kids.  To me that’s the most important part of life.

365 Day Photo Challenge 161/365 “Tough Day”

09 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by in Photography

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

http://tchphotography.smugmug.com/Botanical-Gardens/i-WrdQdqB/A

It’s been a long day today.  I had to get up early this morning to 1) make sure my girls got off to work and 2) get my wife to the eye hospital to have Cataract surgery done. Getting my girls off was one thing but getting my wife to her appointment was another.  The smallest thing makes her nervous, so much so that it makes her sick to her stomach.  It’s like dealing with a five year old.  She also has a very low tolerance for pain.  A paper cut will cause her to scream for pain meds.

It was an early night for the girls.  They got home, ate the supper I prepared because the wife couldn’t do it and took their showers and went to bed.  They are currently working at a local water park and they have to stand up all day helping people on the water slides.  I’m hoping it’s making them a little more responsible.  It’s good for them. It was also an early night for the wife.  It was a very stressful day for her.

After the supper dishes were cleaned up and put away I was planning on going on a bike ride but mother nature had other plans. A couple of thunderstorms showed up and I don’t ride when it’s lightning.  Tomorrow means that I’ll be back at work catching up on what wasn’t done today while I wasn’t there.  Just one day closer to retirement is what I keep reminding myself.  Have I said lately how much I hate my job?

Hoping to get a ride in tomorrow to relieve some of this stress that’s building up inside me.  Twenty five miles should give me a good start.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 142/365 “A Different Sort of Memorial Day”

24 Sunday May 2015

Posted by in Photography

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

http://tchphotography.smugmug.com/FT-Toulouse/i-kDFMrB9/A

I woke up to the sound of the bathroom door closing and my daughters inside getting ready for work.  Normally I try to sleep in on the weekends but the last two mornings I’ve gotten up to the sound of my girls taking showers and doing their hair.  This has been so tough on me because my baby girls are growing up on me.  What made is so bad today is that my wife had found some pictures of them yesterday when they were about four or five playing with our then kittens.

I have never been diagnosed with depression but I know I have it at times.  Today was one of those days.  I didn’t ride my bike, too windy was my excuse.  I spent the day on my computer looking at pictures of my kids when they were little.  Not really feeling sorry for myself but then again maybe.  When my girls are at home we don’t spend much time with each other because our interests are so different.  They stay in their room watching tv and I stay in the den either on my laptop or watching tv or both.

The girls are seventeen and are both working at a local water park.  I am not ready for them to be working but I’m proud of them that they want to work and earn money to spend as they wish.  My girls are smart and make great grades in school and have never given us any cause to worry.  Neither one date which is fine by me because some of the boys they hang around with would not be my first pick for a boyfriend.

As a parent I worry about each of my kids.  My son is going back to school tomorrow and I won’t see him for several months.  But I worry about them each time they get behind the wheel.  My girls are not that experienced behind the wheel and I just worry that each time they leave the house it may be the last time I see them alive.

I’m reminded of yesterday while at the ballpark all those kids that are dependant on their parents to do everything for them.  My kids are independant and I’m proud for that but I’m also reminded that it wasn’t that long ago when they did depend on us to everything for them.  I sometimes miss that.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 141/365 “Achievers League”

23 Saturday May 2015

Posted by in Photography

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

_1TH4748I stood between home plate and 1st base.  I watched kids step up to the plate, most of which needed help of some sort.  Some were in wheelchairs, some had walkers while others needed no help at all.  Regardless of their abilities, all made a home run and you should have seen their faces once they hit that ball.  It was funny watching these kids
“run the bases”.  Nearly all kids ran to first but second and third would always seem to be missed but they always found their way to home plate and managed to “jump” to score.

There were no outs and no scoring involved.  Although I did hear the announcer say that the blue team scored 732 points during their time at bat. “Could the green team have a come back and win the game?”  All team members had a chance to hit the ball then it was the other teams turn at bat.

Each player had a specific song that was played as the child’s name was announced.  It made the kids feel important.  Some gave high fives and waved to the crowd as they stepped up to the plate.  A couple even danced a jig when they made it back to home plate after their home run.

Only two innings were played but in the faces of all these kids it might as well been twelve innings.  These kids didn’t care, they got to play baseball, they got to hit the ball, they got to run the bases and they got their names called out over the intercom system along with their favorite song. There were no parents fighting with the umpires or among themselves.  Both sides cheered for all the kids not just for their own.  For about an hour we lived in a perfect world, at least in these kids eyes.

For now this is the only picture I’ll post.  I’ll have to get permission to post the link to where the rest are located.

“Life Goes On!”

365 Day Photo Challenge 51/365 “Cast for Kids”

20 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by in Photography

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

DSC_0008

Feeling much better today so but the weather here sucked.  We’re still under a weather advisory but nothing has happened but a little rain.  Tomorrow and Sunday it’s supposed to rain all day which makes for a lousy weekend.

Anyway, on a brighter note; I’m excited that I ran across a set of pictures today that I did for a great organization called Cast for Kids.  This group organizes an event every year that matches kids with disabilities with bass fishermen of the area and takes them fishing for the day.  Whether or not these kids catch anything, which many do not, they all receive a kids tackle box (Pictured here) a plaque which has a picture of them and the boat owner attached, a hat, a fishing rod and reel and an experience that will last a lifetime.

I was so honored to be asked to help with this event.  Their regular photographer had taken ill suddenly and someone suggested me.  I did it two years in a row when the local chairman quit and the new chairman had someone else in mind.  I think that was the last year our local group did the event.  Too bad for the kids though.DSC_0021 DSC_0065