Here we are 1 minute into the park.  (Keep this in your memory as a reference photo.)

Some boudoir photography of Minnie’s bloomers

Sara was so excited to ride the Dumbo ride…
…because she knew Danielle rode it when she was about her age.
Here’s a great shot of the kids with the mice while Eli plummets towards the earth below.

We love us some Buzz Lightyear in this house.

Luke made us ride the Buzz ride about 10 times while we were there.

This was the 1st time Jo & Sara ever rode a roller coaster of any kind.  I didn’t tell them what to expect and you’ll see at about the 23 second mark that Sara is holding on for dear life.
Once the ride ended they were both hooked.  They then went on to ride everything they could at the park.

Sara was right at the hight requirement for Space Mountain and she loved every minute of it.  Jo was a bit more “cautious”.

Remember that happy photo?  Here we are at the end of the day.

Sara fell asleep during the night parade.  Jo kept shaking her trying to wake her up to see the princesses, but she would have no part of it.
I didn’t take this photo, but Disney, E-mailed it to me so I figured you would like looking at it.

Vacation Destination Achieved!

Somewhere on the road to Atlanta Danielle mentioned that DisneyWorld was only 7 hours away, but she figured I was to “old” to add that in as a spur of the moment vacation stop.  Well, I showed her.  So, after about 2,500 miles of driving we are back and I present you with photos.

Sara really enjoyed the front facing camera on the iPhone4.  At one point she filmed a 15 minute monologue.  It’s riveting.

From the moment we had out trip planned I knew I wanted this photo at the aquarium.
I can’t explain how giddy I was when I actually saw it on my big computer screen.  We are ordering the biggest print we can and hanging it in our house.

This was Elis’ 1st trip to the beach.  He felt “safest” on the sand.  You’ll see why later.

Sara the mud model.

Here is Eli’s first trek out into the ocean.  :)

Check back tomorrow for Disney photos.

Or when Avril Lavigne was singing Complicated & Eminem was cool because he had that song Lose Yourself?

You remember when iPods looked like this and were HUGE!

You remember when Alex & Danielle got married at 10:00 AM on June 22, 2002?

I do.

Over past year or so I found Danielle going through more and more Burt’s Bees Beeswax Lip Balm.  It’s something that I like to pick on and wanted to get a photo of it to document this little stage in our life.  I have always loved the artwork for Supersize Me and knew that the chapstick would make for the perfect parody.  Ironically, this is the only red shirt she owns. (It’s one I made for her when she went to get her drivers license renewed.)  One of the reasons’ I love Danielle so much is that she let’s me be “me”.  She’s willing to play along with my little games and does not get too annoyed with me.  (I can be very very annoying.)

She is much more comfortable snapping a shot with her iPhone than with my big fancy camera, but, if it were not for her trust, encouragement, and support there is no way I would be the photographer I am today.

She is my biggest cheerleader.
She visited my blog when no one else did.
She believes in me when I don’t believe in myself.

I am honored that she continues to choose me and could not imagine living my life without her next to me.  She constantly is giving of herself to those life sucking things we call children and her encouraging words are what keep me going in the hard times.

Weddings have very little to do with marriage, but spouses have everything to do with them.
I am so thankful to have the best person I know for a spouse.

I love you D.

One day Danielle pulled up from grocery shopping and as she was unloading she let out a scary scream.  My wife is not a screamer so it really caught my attention.  I asked “what’s going on?” and she said there was a snake.  Right next to me on the desk was a video camera so I picked it up and headed outside.  The following footage is what happened.

Two more things before we roll the footage.
1.  If you are at work, just go ahead and gather everyone around now.  (It will save  you time from having to start and stop the video as your co-workers hear the screaming/laughing.)

2.  Leave nice comments about my wife.  (I have seen many of you brides freak out over a missing boutineer so don’t even make fun of her for thinking a snake might eat her children.)

Since I got it about a month ago I have had about 6 client meetings and each of those couples has almost been more interested in it more than my photos.  I get all kinds of questions about it and basically the meetings end up with me talking about the wedding with the bride while the dude just looks at comic books on my iPad.  Hey, as long as they’re booking right?

The most common theme seems to be “It’s basically like a big iPhone right?”  Let me answer that question with a little story.

Imagine all you knew as a child were bath tubs.  Then one day, someone explained and told you about a “big bathtub”  it’s like 10 times the size of a bath tub.  No big deal right?  I mean, we’ve all seen bath tubs and know what they are.  The thing is, once you actually get into a swimming pool you realize this is nothing like a bath tub.

That’s exactly what owning an iPad is like.  The photos and technical specs don’t begin to do it justice. I can’t even begin to express just how much our kids love this thing.  They are constantly reading, watching movies, or playing games on this.  This will be the only computer they grow up knowing.  It’s amazing just how “strange” a keyboard and mouse seem to a 3 year old, but every kids just “gets” this device.  It took Luke, our 2 year old, about three minutes to figure out everything he needed to know about it.  This is the future of computers, education, books, movies, and wedding planning.  That’s right, I said wedding planning.  You know that ridiculous binder you have full of pages, phone numbers, lists, and photos.  They will all be on this device within the next year.  Now you are interested right?

If you are a parent of younger kids, you HAVE to really consider getting this for your family.

If you are a student, you should totally convince your parents to get you one for school.

If you are a bride, you and your fiance will fight over who gets to keep this till you get married.

If you are thinking about booking, call me up and I’ll give you a free demo at our meeting.

I will only show you one image below.  You’ll have to visit her site to see the rest.

Take a look at the rest of them here.  Also when you are over there, do me a favor and leave a nice comment.  Let’s see if I can set the record for most comments on a post.

[One side note... I'm pretty sure I'm the worst client in the world.  From the moment the session ended I was totally stalking her blog checking, checking, and re-checking to see when they would be there.  To all my brides and grooms out there.  I know how you feel.]

Last week we headed out to New Mexico to visit Danielle’s Grandparents.

The shortest distance between two points is…. a curvy line.  Super.  It’s not like we have 4 kids.  I’m sure they would LOVE a 14 hour car ride.  One way.  Awesome.

This was the solution we came up with.

In fact, as far as photography, we only took iPhones on this trip and were able to photograph and film tons of great footage.  It was kinda fun to be limited to what it could do.  Maybe I’ll shoot my next wedding exclusively on an iPhone.

We actually managed to only make 4 stops each way.  The trick is, when you stop, make the kids run FOREVER.  Then they get tired and can’t wait to “rest” in the car.  (The little red and black dots are Sara & Joseph.)

We had told the kids they would also get little prizes along the way.  Jo was expecting a Lego set and as we got a few miles outside of Abilene he muttered this quote:

“Mom, are we going to get my Lego set soon because I feel like we are getting close to where they don’t have anything.”

True-er words were never spoken.

Somewhere along the Texas border my phone decided I was in Mexico and jumped me onto TelCel, an international carrier, and wanted to charge me many pesos for data.   Awesome.

At one of our stops, we found a little photo booth and crammed in for a Family Portrait.  Hey, it’s no Mug Machine, but it worked.

Las Cruces is a great little city, but they have some jacked up business names.  These were some of our favorites.

Super original.

La Tee Da should add an “RAMA” to the end of their name.

I really wanted to go in here, but Danielle was scared Eli would get eaten.

Regardless of how much time we spent in the car, it’s always nice when you can get your kid to play Jenga with his Great Grandfather.

Anyway, a Maldonado tradition was born and every kid since then has had Uno photos.

A few weeks ago it was Eli’s turn, so it is with great pleasure I give you Eli’s Uno Session.

Everyone’s age.

And, a quick look down memory lane at the others.

Well ladies, it’s that time of year again.  And, just like last year, I’m here to help you out through what could be a rough couple of weeks in your relationship.  It’s March Madness.  The next few weeks will be filled with tons of college basketball, lots of ESPN, and very little alone time.  So, rather than fight it, why not embrace it.  That’s right, fill out your own bracket.  It’s OK if you “don’t know” anything about basketball.  Just pick your favorite teams, schools, states, or colors.  Whatever you want to do.  The best part is your fiance will totally love you more for trying.  (Just don’t beat him or he might like you less.)

Here is where you can go to download your own bracket.

I have listed a few ideas/rules for you to try out.

1.  Only pick one round at a time.  That way you get a fresh start and are always still “in” the game.

2.  Set up the prizes ahead of time.
You can do a general 1st and 2nd place prize or be more specific and say if you win you get this and if he wins he get that.

3.  If you see him turning into a competitive “guy” then just let him win and know in the back of your mind that you are better than him.  

Also, just to give you a head start, I have uploaded Luke’s Midwest picks for you.

Hurry up.  The first games start Thursday!