amy foltz photography

Playing with cousins is pretty much the best way to spend a summer afternoon. I remember how much fun I had with my cousins and it's so cool to see my kids with my cousin's kids now. They even have some of the same arguments we used to have. Funny how that works.

On this day, it was girls against boys. The girls made a very cute little girls only "clubhouse" in a bush while the boys perfected some stunts on the tire swing. Good times.

When Daniel and I went on our trip in May, we stopped by Indiana Dunes on our way home. We loved it so much and knew the kids would too, so we took them up to Lake Michigan last week for a short little vacation. They had SO much fun! It was their first time there and they loved the beach even more than I thought they would. It was so nice to get away for a few days and just enjoy each other. 

My work camera (Canon 7D) is in the shop and I didn't want to take my backup, so I just took my little Nikon point and shoot. I love that little camera! It has manual settings, so I'm still in control, but it's small and light and cheap enough that I wouldn't cry too hard if it got ruined with water or sand (although I would definitely be upset if something happened to the memory card!). So all these photos were taken with a little Nikin P300, and while I certainly wouldn't use that camera for a client or for anything I want to print big, it's PERFECT for stuff like this. I would have been too afraid to take my work camera out all day in the sand anyway, so if I only had that I would have missed most of these shots.

This is the one shot I knew I definitely wanted to get, and I got it the first night we were there. This one is definitely going on my wall. I have a thing for silhouettes, and I plan to get a different one of all 4 kids together every year. Last year they were up on a hill with a wagon, and I'm thinking about using bikes next year.


Jack loved the beach!



Abbie found a stick and I told her to write something. She wrote happy :-) It seemed appropriate.


Joey loved the lake and spent most of his time in the water.


Jonah liked the beach but was pretty fickle about the water. He'd like it one minute and be freaked out the next.


This is Daniel and Jonah. It's one of my favorite shots from our trip.



This is the lighthouse in Michigan City.


Abbie was SO cute in her sun hat...it's a wreck now since she dunked it in the lake, but I got some cute pictures of her in it first!



This was at West Beach in the national park. It was probably the easiest beach to get to since we could push the stroller all the way.


We stayed late to watch the sunset on our last night there. It was pretty awesome.




Joey was our photographer for this shot.


I think Abbie took this one.


This is Joey working on his Junior Ranger book. Joey, Abbie and Jack all got Junior Ranger badges and patches.


In the bottom right corner you can see Daniel and Jack walking up the dune.





Told you I liked silhouettes!



This is the whole family at the Bailly Homestead at the national park. I meant to get one of all of us on the beach too but I forgot :-(


The walk down to West Beach.

Joey wants to be an artist when he grows up (or a preacher...or a football player...or a movie producer). He's been on a zentangle kick lately.



After we tried out all the places I wanted to use, we headed to our church. Joey plays the tambourine on Sunday mornings and wanted some pictures with it. I love that kid!





 I had a great time with Joey. With four kids, it's hard to find time alone with each one but this was a good day. He even said it was fun, and he usually hates having his picture taken. Maybe bribing him with McDonald's helped a little.