in the navy

the annual wan family photo shoot was this past weekend, with my friend winnie behind the camera. i'd been racking my brain for ideas on what we could wear this year - you know we're usually in the super cheesetastic matchy-matchy gear in these photos. but i didn't want to repeat previous color schemes, and this ruled out white/cream and red. we'd considered brown, but figured we'd blend into the background. and so after i managed to convince the hub that we didn't all have to wear the exact same thing as in previous years, the teen and i headed to forever 21 to find something blue to wear. the hub had a light blue shirt, and the bean had two different navy dresses to pick from, so we went with it.

he's always wanted to head up to the mountains for pictures, but none of the other photographers we've used were willing to go up there without charging an exorbitant travel fee. happily, winnie was totally open to anything, and so after the hub vetoed a couple of my more local ideas (old town pasadena/pasadena city hall not being "christmas-y" enough, oy), we settled on beautiful lake arrowhead.

winnie met us near our casa on sunday afternoon, and she climbed into the car for the ride up. it was a warm day, and we were looking forward to some nice cool temperatures up in the mountains.

of course, it was still 80 degrees and super warm in the direct sunlight once we got there. bleh. and the bean decided to enjoy the scenery on the drive up (or, rather, the DVD of "finding nemo" we had in the player) and refused to take a nap. ugh. although she was still pretty cheerful once we got to our first stop, the UCLA conference center. it's a gorgeous spot, and we took a good handful of shots there.

i mostly kept my own camera in my bag and let winnie work her magic, so i don't really have much to show right now. i'm dying to see how they turned out, but i've vowed not to bug her for them. so far, i've done well. heh.

the bean ended up falling asleep when we got back in the car to find another spot. figures, huh? but i thought that if she slept for at least an hour, she'd be all fresh and perky and ready to go. so we headed into the village, transferred her into the stroller, and headed off in search of some grub. we grabbed salads and sandwiches at a bakery and munched happily as she snoozed away. afterwards, we stopped at the rocky mountain chocolate factory for some dessert.

and that's exactly how it worked out - sort of. she did sleep for an hour, and we headed to the playground to amuse her for a bit before we put her back to work. do you love her outfit? it was a birthday gift, lovingly handmade by my buddy amber. when i held up that one and another navy dress she'd opened on her birthday, she zeroed in on this one. "po-dots," she said. and that was that.

while she spent some time on those swings and woke up fully, winnie got some shots of the teen. she looked so pretty that i caved in, snuck in behind her and took one for myself.

we took as many shots as the dwindling sunlight allowed, and then we called it a day. i ended up driving home while everyone else (except the bean, who continued to watch "finding nemo" in the back seat) nodded off.

ooooooh, i can't wait to see those shots! um, no pressure, winnie. heh.