Brainwashing Your Way to a Happy Childhood

A couple of weeks ago on a Wednesday night after we dropped our older kids off at the church for a service project, Andrea and I took our younger kids to the San Clemente Pier so she could help me give my kids the illusion that I'm a fun mom. See, if you let the kids do something on a weeknight that's more than just the usual of homework, chores, and playing somewhere quietly enough so Mom can pretend like she's all alone (in theory, that is; I have absolutely no personal experience with that one), then the kids will think you're super rad. Also, if you take enough pictures of the event and then refer to it often enough, eventually you can crowd out all the memories of the normal weeknights, and your kids will think their childhoods were nothing but non-stop fun. It's a long-term project, but you gotta keep the big picture in mind.

We got to the pier just as the sun was hitting the horizon, so I tried to get some pictures of the children with the sun behind them. Honestly, I'm surprised even one of them stopped when I said, "Turn around and smile!" I love how both Emmas are in full sprint mode.

I did get them to stop long enough to get this pic, but barely. Their expressions just kill me though.

...And they're off!

So I tried to get a picture of the sun/what was left of the sun. Kevan, I am not. And in case I haven't mentioned it before, be aware that the picture quality is going to go waaay down for another 6 months or so. Sorry. You're just lucky I'm not using my phone to take these.

My cute girlies:

Maggie and Not-My-Emma:

They whole way down the pier, the kids would climb up on the railing, look down at the water...

...and then take off running again. This is Sam, trying to catch up:

So if you're ever interested in taking a picture of Sam, here's a hint: instead of telling him to say, "Cheese," have him say, "Lightning McQueen!" It has about the same effect, smile-wise, but makes him a whole lot happier. See? (No guarantee it will make him look at the camera though.)

Another shot of all of them. Like herding cats, I tell you.

Sam, peering through the slats.

And my sweet Emma Grace with the pier and San Clemente behind her.

There's this little statue guy there, advertising fishing pole rentals (I don't quite get the Italian-guy-chef-deal connection to fishing poles, but whatevah), and Spencer (who, for those of you who have never met him, is Sam's doppelganger; sometimes Andrea and I have to check their faces to make sure we don't leave with the wrong boy) thought he was pretty darn great.

I imagine it will be no surprise to anyone who has even a passing acquaintance with Maggie that this was her reaction to the fishing pole man:

I promise you, Kevan did not take this next picture. Even I get lucky sometimes and get the perfect shot. These girls have known each other since they were toddlers, so you can imagine how much fun they have together. I'm a little proud of myself for capturing the moment so well. Never mind that I was hanging half off the pier. Totally worth the risk of death.

Down at the end, there were several fishermen, and the kids were fascinated with them. As a side note, you should know that one of them totally looked exactly like the Gorton's Fisherman (I hear you should trust him), and Andrea and I really wanted to get his picture, but it seems that in America it's not all that normal to whip out your camera and take pictures of anything that amuses me. Go figure. I even tried to use our old Egypt standby of having someone stand near what I want to take a picture and make it look like I'm taking a picture of them when in fact I'm getting the funny thing behind them, but alas, again with the kids and the running off and the not coming back. So just try to use your imagination. He was awesome. Anyway. Like I said, the kids, they liked them the fishermen. Megan even offered to watch some of their lines for them. She's generous like that.

This next series is pretty bad photography, but it cracks me up, so you get to see it. I was asking Sam who his best buddy is, and he was answering, "Spencer" (or "Thpenthew," as a more accurate representation of his pronunciation would be), not realizing that Spence was right behind him, mugging it up.

And here he had caught on that Spencer was back there, and was motioning backwards and saying, "Him!"

And then...he turned around and shoved him out of the way. Best buddies for sure.

This is my attempt at being artsy-fartsy. If I ever get around to reading the manual, I might find that there's actually a setting for that.

And Mags, next to one of her beloved fishing poles.