Wednesday, December 12, 2012

The Holidays Are Here!

The weather forecast this morning said today was supposed to be overcast and dry (perfect photo weather!), so I stuffed Harper's new Christmas dress in my back pack and we biked to Hyde Park Village for a holiday photo shoot.

Of course, the weather forecast was wrong. It turned out to be pretty sunny for most of the morning, which made things tricky because our little camera can't handle anything except absolutely perfect lighting. Perhaps, if we are very good, Santa will bring us a new camera for Christmas someday. 

Temptation! It had rained the night before and Harper had such a hard time keeping her hands off of the wet display. 

But she did play a little hide-and-seek between the giant packages.

"You're it!"

Eventually I was forced to pull out the big guns and had to get "Dina" the Christmas Dinosaur out of my backpack to keep her focused. I love the lighting in this shot. And dinosaurs make everything better.

Look over there, mom! Santa Claus is sleeping on the sidewalk in front of that wine bar! 

This was taken just after I told her I had forgotten pennies for the fountain. It was one disappointment after another all morning long.
 
By this point she was pretty tired of my shenanigans.

After a short apple cider break at the local coffee house she was in much better spirits.

Then it was back to the fountain, wishing for pennies.

Twirling!

They had a huge Christmas tree on display in the main square.

Harper was fascinated with the ornaments on the tree.

I threw caution to the wind and finally decided to let her play in the water in the hopes of getting a couple of candid shots. 
 
Don't you think she looks like a little present snuggled in there with that bow on her head?

Then the splashing really started! I'm not kidding... I have probably twenty unusable shots like this with her eyes closed. But she sure had fun!

Soaked and sated. That dress is going straight to the cleaners. Two year olds and taffeta do not mix. I don't know what I was thinking.
 
One last time checking out the ornaments.

Our pretty Christmas girl in Santa's sleigh.