Baker Family Weekend

Last weekend we packed up the family, gassed up the car and headed to Fresno, Ca to see me Sister Beverly and kids. I’ve always enjoyed hitting the open road and going for a drive. Not only is it fun to just get out of town, but it also seems like long drives cultivate meaningful conversation, which I thoroughly enjoy. The drive up was fairly easy.. we packed our lunch to save a little money but ended up eating it at an IN-N-OUT table which confused my oldest son Jaden.. “Cheeseburger? Where’s the Cheeseburger?” It was pretty humorous. Taking the drive up the Highway 99 was quick and peaceful. I was amazed at the number of tractor sales/rental dealerships I saw. It seemed like for every two parcels of farm land there was one tractor dealership. Once we arrived at my sister’s house, we had some great visit time. Jaden and my nephew Luke went straight to work playing, with Maddy doing his best to tag along. The first few images below were captured after arriving. I love capturing images of my family.. sometimes I feel like I don’t do it enough.

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The next day, Saturday, we drove up into the Western Sierra’s for some snow time! We ended up in the Shaver Lake area which is South of Yosemite National Park. We were very excited to go “play” in the snow, as this was the boys first snow experience. We attempted a trek up to Huntington Lake first which is at a higher elevation but decided to return back down the hill after multiple hilarious attempts at parking. With my courageous wife at the wheel, and several “locals” watching the “city slickers”, we tried to park our feeble 2-wheel drive mini-van with no tire-chains in an icy, snowy parking lot… let’s just say it provided for some great comedy! From there we went to the closest sno-park and had a great time. We were especially excited when the white, powdery stuff that apparently is called “snow” started falling from the sky. After a great time playing and sliding we headed back down the hill. On the way, I captured one of my favorite images of Shaver Lake, see below.

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On our final day in Fresno, we spent some time at a local park. It was a joy to be able to get Bev, Ashley and Luke in front of my lens. Of course I also took some pics of my sons as well. There was one moment that was pretty hilarious. While I was taking photos of my sister and her kids. I turn around and see the silhouette of a little boy peeing against a tree. It looked pretty funny and endearing, so I proceeded to grab a few pics. Apparently Jaden didn’t think it was too funny because he was VERY mad at me! “Daddy, I don’t like that”.. “Daddy, why did you do that” etc etc. Ultimately I promised him that I would NEVER take pics of him peeing in public again. Please enjoy a few of my favorite grabs from the weekend below..