silver bay

so. you may wonder why in the hell i would risk taking my 14 day old son on a place cross country. he was ironically, or luckily exactly old enough to fly on southwest.

well. let me tell you why.

i grew up at this camp. sort of. every summer during highschool, my best friend, cat & i would go with her father to her grandmother's cabin in the adirondacks. i've always loved nature, but cat & her father really introduced me to it. we'd go hiking, kayaking, we'd rock in the chairs on the inn porch enjoying the view of the mountains, breathing fresh air & swimming in the second cleanest lake in the country.


this place is magical. it's my safe haven & every time i visit, i'm completely restored back to a healthy, happier version of myself. there's no t.v.'s or cell phone coverage & until recently you couldn't really get access to a computer- so you're cut off from the world. it is fabulous.

cat & i worked at the camp every summer during college. i've made some amazing friendships over the years. i dream of spending every summer with my children there. i'd love for them to grow up in that environment, running wild at night -safely, spending their allowance on ice cream at the shop, learning to swim in that lake.

so. that's part one. i go every chance i get. i need this place.

part two. the camp was nice enough to put me on the preferred vendors list. ideally- i'll book 4 or 5 weddings there during the summer to allow that dream of mine to come true. i booked anna & rob's wedding last july. once we found out i was pregnant & more than likely going to be recovering during it i came up with some back up plans. my dear friend lauren was "on call" for me if i couldn't make it & if i could, another friend, brent from vermont was going to drive down & help me shoot it.

here's a few pictures from the wedding... it was awesome!




i was pretty determined the babe was gonna come early & there would be no problems at all. as you know he came two days late & that made it a pretty tough decision. such a tiny lil person... could he handle the adventure? i think we honestly were most concerned about getting pissy with each other while going through security. about 5 days before we were to leave i decided i felt well enough that i should at least attempt it. the midwives were all for it & the pediatrician was hesitant but agreed it would be fine. plus, i knew i'd feel great once there.

it went so perfectly. all of it. traveling: finn slept through most of it & never cried. & it was a looooong day. 2 legs on one plane, waiting at another airport, another leg & then 2 hours of driving. & that's how i spent my 28th birthday. heading to my favorite place on this planet with my babe nestled in the moby on my chest & my man next to me.

steph picked us up at the airport & we headed into saratoga, a cute little town, for my birthday dinner. we stayed with carolyn, "the" boss at silver bay, who is now a very good friend of mine.

the wedding went really well too. stephani brought him to me right before the wedding so i could breastfeed & then bryan brought him to me during the dinner. i think they had to feed him a bottle or two, but it was all very smooth. i didn't have to go longer than 3.5 hours without him.
i was fairly sore afterwards, i even cried. but. i am one tough cookie & if i've learned anything in the past 2 months it's that pain passes. my new mantra: this too shall pass.

so now... the pictures!

aunt snefani & finn snuggling.



"i will not wake up."

mama lovin.

steph took some cute pics of us as a fam.


you've all seen the poop picture with bryan, but i'm not sure if we've informed our curious readers that finn sharts. that's right, he sharts. not just a lil baby fart or toot. a loud, image provoking shit/fart. steph caught our reaction to one said shart.

the water was a little chilly, but we wanted him to experience it, just his toesies.


bryan worked some from carolyn's house. he looks mad here but he kept saying "why can't i work like this everyday?" she had a beautiful view of the mountains & the weather was awesome, all the doors were open letting in a nice breeze.
we even got some stormy skies. us desert folk like that kinda thing.

and last but not least, we stopped by to say good bye to carolyn before we headed to the airport. thanks carolyn, you're the best :)

little finn will get the pleasure of visting silver bay new york 2 more times, once in september & once in october, both weddings of friends of mine that i get to shoot :) let me know if i've convinced anyone that this is the best place on the earth & you want to come with!