It was a very warm spring day in Chillicothe.  One might say “unseasonably” warm.  My only real goal was to take some pictures at the Train Museum, but we found ourselves visiting two thrift stores, two parks, and the Dairy Queen first.  It’s all about compromises, people.  By the time we arrived at the museum, we were a little hot and a lot tired.  Thankfully, the lovely gentleman running the show that day knew how to work with kids and their rather shortened attention spans.  After a quick game of “checkers” (piling them up in the middle of the board) and some quick fiddling with an old phone and typewriter, we were on to the good stuff – the electric model train set and tour of the old caboose.  I have a soft spot for trains.  My dad was a big model train buff.  So when the lovely tour guide explained that the guys who used to care for and add to their display had all either died or moved away it made my heart ache a little.  I could totally see my dad having done something like that in his retirement.  Sigh and sad face.

Change of subject.  Can we talk footwear for a moment?  As you can probably tell from photos of our “adventures”, Jack and Abby’s go-to shoes are Crocs, or mock Crocs, as the case may be.  Abby has a pair of Chucks that she sometimes tolerates.  Jack, his scruffy velcro Vans.  I have learned not to drop significant money on their shoes because they are insufferably and irrationally picky.  I honestly don’t mind them wearing Crocs all the time, except sometimes in pictures they irk me.  For instance, the picture below of them playing checkers in the old train depot.  Why oh why didn’t I just pull their shoes off?  I love bare feet and they would have made the picture much more timeless and in-keeping with the surroundings.  Ugh.  It’s because on our adventures I am only half photographer.  Maybe even just a quarter.  The rest is Mom trying to hold the day together and make sure the kids stay alive and fed and maybe learn a thing or two in the process 🙂

So all you moms with cameras out there, don’t judge your pictures too harshly.  Maybe just hire a photographer once in awhile to focus on the pictures so you can focus on your kids.  Wink-wink, nudge-nudge.