Family pictures

Nick's birthday was two weekends ago, and he wanted to spend part of the day up in the mountains. Photography is a new hobby of his, and he was eager to try out some of the new camera equipment he got for his birthday. So of course I saw the opportunity to hijack the event and turn it into getting some family photos. 

We managed to look pretty civilized and borderline idyllic for some of it: 

Nick will want you to ignore the remote in his hand in this one until he has edited it.  

And for the rest of the photos we looked like the bunch of crazies that the North family really are: 

Doing big brother stuff.

Marshmallow bribes. 

I can't even tell you what's happening here.

"Stop kissing us."

Gwen wants a marshmallow too!

There were moments of that day that were filled with perfect moments in beautiful surroundings with the people we love most, and I just wanted to bottle them up and keep them forever. Then there were moments like when we discovered that Gwen was covered in tiny bugs, or Espen's misadventures in peeing in the bushes, or when I got snippy with Nick for looking at me "wrong" as I was carrying a post-pee misadventurous Espen across a stream. 

Mostly, like our picnic where we ate tasty food in beautiful surroundings while golden Aspen leaves drifted through the air around us, and it was so bitterly cold and windy we only lasted five minutes, life is a bit of both. And let's be honest, isn't this what life as a family is really all about? There's a lot of pee and poop and meltdowns and kids trying to eat the forest floor while all you're trying to do is create some beautiful memories here, people! And then there are parents getting frustrated and resorting to bribery and yelling and getting even more frustrated, because clearly those are not working. And then there's those moments when you open your eyes and realize that the kids are not cooperating for pictures because they're having so much fun exploring nature and being together that the last thing they have time for is to sit still and smile politely. And so you just look at each other and smile over your funny kid who just wants to play at gathering wood and building a campfire, and you take a picture of your little girl taking her boots off and chewing on sticks so you can remember her like this forever. And then you look at each other again and laugh at this crazy, messy, noisy happy life you have created together and know that you are the luckiest people in the world.