po-dink town {pictures}

A couple of weeks ago I came up with the brilliant idea to take the kids to Po-Dink Town to snap a few photos of them in a couple of new (to me) locations. I still hadn't taken Ethan's "school" pictures yet, so off we went. While this seemed like a good idea in theory, I guess I really didn't think it through very well. Mainly because I didn't bring anyone with to help wrangle my crew.

We started out at a cool building just off the main drag where I took some individual shots.

Ethan had the privilege of being my first test subject.

He tends to be such a ham that it's hard to get a non-cheesy smile out of him.

He's certainly going to be a heartbreaker.

Maya was up next. I really love photographing her. Partly because she has the most eclectic sense of style and partly because she is simply photogenic.

That sassy look on her face? 100% real. That's just how she rolls. She pretends she doesn't want her picture taken even though she truly loves it, so she sort of semi-cooperates with me. She goes where I ask her to, but grumbles the entire time while posing.

She's a very complex girl. I am already quaking in my boots just thinking about her teenage years. Somebody please prescribe me some Ativan, STAT!

Then it was Brenna's turn. For some reason, this is the only picture I took of her that I really liked. That just happens sometimes.

After Brenna, Elliot was up. I took a bunch of shots of him that were adorable, however I wasn't paying close enough attention to my (faulty) metering in my camera and over half of them were over-exposed.

I did get a couple though. He was pretty cute, too. He knew just what to do in front of the camera and was very good at flashing his pearly whites. Even if his "smile" did resemble more of a grimace.

Last up was Wyatt. He had been hanging out in his car seat up until this point and was definitely getting a bit antsy. Combine that with the fact that he's an almost-two-year-old boy and you get a subject who refuses to sit still.

So I just chased him around with my camera for a few minutes.

Then I put him back into his car seat and we took off for our next location. When I had scoped out Po-Dink Town the day before, I came across a very cool blue building. (It may have been on private property. Don't ask permission, ask forgiveness?) As it turns out, it was an even better spot than I realized. In addition to the building, there was a pond, some big rocks, and some cement pipes. Of course, it was a bit tricky to focus on taking pictures when I was trying to keep Wyatt from certain death, but it was still fun. My biggest goal for this area was to get a picture of all five of the kids together.

Attempt #1 at least captured all of the kids together in the same frame.

Then we found the cement pipes.

In true biggest sister form, Brenna helped her littlest brothers jump from pipe to pipe.

At one point, poor Wyatt got stuck between two of the pipes. Being the shining example of a mother that I am, I took advantage of his precarious position to take a couple of photos before helping him out.

I also made two more attempts at getting a picture of all 5 kids together on the pipes.

Still not exactly what I had in mind.

After jumping around on top of the pipes for awhile, the crazies eventually decided to climb through pipes. An activity that caused my claustrophobic sweat glands to go into hyperactive mode. Thankfully they all made it out. Phew!

It was clearly exhausting though. Maya had to take a little rest on a rock.

At the end of the day, this was the best picture I snapped of all 5 of them. It may not be your typical family picture, but I happen to love how it so clearly shows each of their personalities. And they love how they were treated to Happy Meals at Po-Dink Town's Germland McDonald's when we were done.