Weekend with Kyler

My brother, Kyler, has been visiting since Friday evening. He arrived at our home in time for a quick dinner out and then Shane's last non-tournament baseball game. Saturday we went to the farmer's market for a few small pies a friend was selling and then drove around town to places Kyler remembers a little bit from his early childhood. Everyone but me and mom moved away from Manhattan in 1996, the year Shane was born. Kyler (my step-brother) was about 5 years old at the time. He has only been back once since then, for my wedding.

We drove by our old house, which used to look much better!


His old apartment and daycare:



To Bluemont (Manhattan) Hill just for fun:


He probably didn't go there as a kid. We walked down the steep, never-ending steps and I'm very much regretting this today. I'm soooo sore! My knees killed me the whole way down and now my right knee and thigh are telling me how much they hate my bright idea! In the past I've not had any problems with walking down the steps and haven't been too very sore from climbing up the hill, even when I went straight up without the steps! I'm soooo out of shape. I guess it's about time I got back into a routine to keep myself a bit more fit and healthy while pregnant. Now that I'm feeling better and able to have a bit more energy it's time to use it.


And we went to Pillsbury Crossing, which he did remember!




We got out when we saw this:


A copperhead which later disappeared under water!

Late Sunday, while I had dinner in the oven, we went driving around in the country to see if I could find a good spot for taking pictures later tonight and then drove over to the Rocky Ford Fishing Area behind our house. Then we went home, had a great dinner (if I do say so myself!), and played games as a family for a while. It's been a wonderful past few days!

The boys have loved having Uncle Kyler here, as have Shaun and I. It's been way too long since I've gotten to spend any time with him! Hopefully we can do this more often. This time he happened to be visiting his grandparents in DeSoto, KS and sent me a Facebook message asking if we wanted to see him. OF COURSE! I love Facebook! LOL We'll see him next at my sister Allie's wedding in early September. Hopefully we'll also get to see him each time he visits his grandparents but since he's no longer going there each summer to see his father (who moved out of the country) I don't know how often that will be. Luckily he's 18 now and able to travel easier by driving himself places. I'm hoping he decides to come down occasionally during college breaks while he's earning his welding certificate. He also plans to travel for work once he has his certificate so that may facilitate some visits. I just don't see us going back to the UP of MI any time soon, especially since Allie and Cory won't be there too much longer. Kyler and Allie are my only connections to the UP and even as beautiful as it is, I just don't see us getting back to that part of Michigan for a long, long time.

On a more positive note...I've been wondering if I should give up on my photography hobby/business for a while. I don't want to because I really love it but I truly don't have the time to put into it that I used to. I know this next year will be crazy and I don't want to expect myself to do much photography on top of everything else. It's been nice to have the occasional extra income and I really do love it. I'm just concerned about having any time to do it. Well, just as I was thinking this over the past few days or so, as of today I've had two requests to photograph people! Tonight I'm doing a family session for a friend's brother and his family before he heads back to Iraq. This weekend I'm possibly doing a wedding reception for a couple who were recently married in Spain. Both of these were from friends calling to see if I was interested, which of course I always am! I love that I get referrals when I'm least expecting them. I guess this would be my sign that I shouldn't give up my hobby but should just hold out and wait for referrals. I haven't advertised in the past and there is no way I'm going to right now with so much already on my plate. I'm happy to have the opportunity to use my talent when someone wants to knock on my door (or rather call me)!