Daisy's Birthday

This week I had some time off to hang with Daisy and Ali.  We had a fun week of activities planned starting with Daisy's Birthday on the Monday.   She's two now, although if you ask her how old she is, she's still programmed to say "nearly two".  Ummm... maybe we shouldn't have taught her that!

The fairy outfit & pink kitchen were top presents, but easily better than both of these has to be the new bed.

Amazingly our order for Daisy's bed (placed about 4 weeks ago) happened to be delivered on her birthday - how cool was that.  She was totally stoked with it, so dismantling her cot wasn't the emotional loss we thought it could be.  Instead the new bed come trampoline was an immediate hit, so much so we struggled to get her out of it.  Better still, today (Sat 23rd) she slept in till 9.45am - brilliant!

Later in the week we had a trip into town for new shoes - Daisy's feet are perpetually growing.  No sooner does she have a new pair of shoes she's out grown them!   Anyway, as this is a pretty boring excursion for a toddler we took her to the park later that day to make up for it.

I'm now amazed how Daisy has progressed from needing daddy to help with apparatus, to now riding everything solo.  How did she grow up so quickly?  Thank goodness we've got another one on the way now!

She now walks up the slides, who wants to use the steps - that's for babies, and also likes to climb across this circular stuff.  Otherwise known as a parental nightmare as you can just imagine Daisy falling through the gaps when she forgets to pay attention.

Best of all though from my day in the park is this photo of Ali & Daisy.  It may not be everyones cup of tea, but I love it.  Probably because it's my two girls, but aren't they cute.  Bimpy (Ali's nickname) clearly dressed Daisy this morning as they always end up matching in an unintentional way.  Check out how their cardigans both open slightly to reveal the white triangle of their tops underneath.  That's the little details about this photo I love....well along with it's symmetry in the slightly unbalanced way.  Ali is only little at size 8 & 5' 5 1/2" (yes the half is important) and Daisy looks just like a mini version of her mummy.  Neither of them barely touching the floor.

Photographing a friends wedding

Last weekend I attended my friends (Alec & Victoria's) wedding in London. This time I was a guest, rather than the photographer, which to be honest is something of a novelty. My wife kept referring to it as a busman's holiday, as you may have guessed, 'cause my camera did come along (although only one camera and a restriction of 3 lenses).

It's good fun shooting without the need to produce images that fulfill a brief and also spend time with my wife & friends - rather than whizzing around like a hoon as I normally do!

Anyway, here's a slideshow from their day accompanied by Eva Cassidy singing Songbird; which her step sister also sang so beautifully in the church. Anyone revisiting this post will note the change from Amy Winehouse which was previously used as it struck me in a moment of inspiration over lunch today that Eva may be even more appropriate.