A Plane, A Plane!

If you read the blog post about our kids’ birthday or follow us on instagram, then you already know how OBSESSED our kids are with transportation.  Up until now, it’s been mainly trains (we can literally sing the Thomas song backwards) and what the kids like to call “mighty machines”.  You know…bulldozers, combines, backhoes, excavators…basically anything that is humungous and makes lots of noise. 😉  Well, out of the blue Spencer blindsided us with a new plane obsession.  We think it has a combination to do with the movie “Planes” that their grandparents got for them, and the fact that we recently took a plane for our vacation back in March.  He came up to us one day and said, “Mommy?  Daddy?  I would like to take plane ride.”  Now, we don’t have any big trips planned for a long time, and this child has a memory like an elephant, however he’s also extremely impatient and would undoubtedly remind us that he wants to ride on a plane EVERY DAY until it happened!

Stephanie has a super awesome friend, Dan, who used to take her and all of their friends out in occasional plane rides in his family’s little 4 and 6 seater planes.  He had is instructor’s license back in high school, has perfect pitch, went to school for music (in which he is INSANELY talented), and is now a first officer for Endeavor.  Yeah.  We have pretty cool friends. 😉

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He was more than happy to take us up in his little plane!  When we got to the airport, the boys were completely enamored with the hangar and all the planes.  And Dan was super awesome and explained everything that he was doing during his inspection.

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Spencer was looking around while Dan was checking everything and said, “Yep!  Everything seems to be in order!”

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They thought the fact that the plane had to pee was pretty darn hilarious. :p

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Dan tried to get Spencer to sit in the left seat so he could “fly the plane,” but Spencer flat out refused.  He said he wasn’t properly qualified.  Yes.  We’re serious. :p

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Spencer was sooooo awesome when we were up in the air!  He insisted on holding mommy’s hand the whole time, and Dan seemed to be really impressed that he didn’t throw up even once (thanks for the warning Dan… :p).  We flew over Lake Eerie, learned about peninsulas and islands, found baseball fields, and realized how small combines look when you’re high in the air.  We’re both so proud of how brave he was the whole time!  He even yelled, “Weeeeeee!” when we came in for a landing!

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Cayden decided to stay behind. 🙂

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But he was really glad when mommy was back on the ground. 😉

It’s no secret that we love to travel, and the older our kids get, the more we’re able to do it, and the more interested they are in traveling with us!  We’re so grateful to Dan that he gave our kids this wonderful experience.  Our kids are our motivation for everything, and we love taking them places!  Just because you have kids doesn’t mean you can’t travel, and just because you travel doesn’t mean you can’t take your kids.  Commercial flying will be a breeze now, and we can’t wait!

What Everyone Can Learn From Our Time in the Dominican

So, as you know…since we’re officially full time photographers (yay!), we decided to celebrate by taking our first trip alone since our honeymoon!  We went to Puerto Plato in the Dominican, and holy moly…it was so beautiful!  We highly recommend this place to anyone looking to take a vacation!  The weather was beautiful, the water was crystal clear, the locals are so nice, and the seafood is TO DIE FOR.

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We wanted to share our time there with you all, but we also wanted to make the blog fun and informative.  You know.  Like we do. :p  So, here is a list of the top most important things we learned about our time away.  🙂

1.  If you have never flown without an adult before (because really…we’re hardly adults…) find one.  And find them fast!

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We literally had no idea what we were doing from the moment we walked into the airport.  What’s this kiosk?  Why isn’t it printing our boarding passes?  You mean our connecting is leaving before we land in Newark because there’s a delay???  What now???  What’s immigration?  Which one of these papers should we fill out?  Should we fill out all of them?  We’re just going to fill out all of them.  Why is Delta telling me to call United while United is telling me to call Delta?  You’re paying for our cab fare, right?

We were a hot mess y’all.

Luckily, we met some AWESOME spring breakers on our first flight who just happened to be going the same flight plan AND the same resort that we were!  Yes, they were ten years younger than us.  Yes, they had their stuff together better than we did.  We told you.  We don’t adult.  But they were awesome.  So awesome, that later this week, we’re dedicating a whole blog post just to them and their friends. ❤

2.  There will never be enough sleep.

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We will never understand why people ask if you feel refreshed after a vacation.  Because the answer will always be no. Lol.  We needed a stay-cation to recover from our vacation.  Traveling is exhausting, and there never seems to be enough hours in the day to do everything you want to do when you’re in new places!

3.  Say yes!

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Want to go watch a live band?  Yes!  Go snorkeling?  Yes!  Yes!  How about a Dominican club?  Yes!  Go for a walk?  Lay out on the beach?  Buy jewelry from hawkers?  Parasailing?  Scuba diving?  Yes.  All of the yes.  Trying new things together is a fun, fun adventure, and you’re making so many memories!  Isn’t that why you spend time together to begin with?

4.  Try the local cuisine.

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There is not much that excites us more than food.  We tried octopus.  OCTOPUS, YOU GUYS.  And it was amazing.

5.  Take trips as often as you can alone together.

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We don’t mean you have to spring thousands of dollars for an international trip two or three times a year.  But definitely take the time to plan trips and get away together!  Take a road trip, go down to Hocking Hills, head to Gatlinburg for a few days, or just lock yourselves in your house for a few days and turn off your phones.  Time together is precious, and we cannot believe we waited this long to do this.  This was such an amazing time for us to reconnect…especially since we had ZERO service and wi-fi was few and far between!  But it was amazing!  We weren’t checking our phones every five minutes.  In fact, we barely had them out.  And we didn’t watch a lot of tv because, well, we couldn’t understand most of what they were saying. 😉  It was just the two of us, our books, talking to other couples if we wanted, or staying alone if we wanted.  We had adventures, took lots of pictures, and made some amazing memories and new friends.  It was so nice to literally have no responsibilities and just EXIST with each other.  Sometimes in marriage, so often you’re working together for something.  You’re working together to plan the wedding, then buy a house, then try for kids, then raising your kids…and when the kids leave, well…now what?  Take these moments WHENEVER you can and work towards absolutely NOTHING except each other.  We promise your marriage will be better for it, and you’ll come out with no regrets, and lots of fun memories. ❤

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Bryan & Carly | Sandusky, OH Wedding Photography

We got to meet Bryan last year at John & Jess’s wedding.  We pretty much loved him right away.  Between carrying the groom like a baby and putting Michael Jackson to shame during “Billy Jean,” he was a winner in our book.  We ran into him again later that year at the Mon Ami Bridal Fair (man…that show has been good to us lately! 😉 ), and he saw his handsome mug in the album we just couldn’t help but order after that wedding.  He got a hold of us and the rest is history.

We literally can not help but laugh our heads off the ENTIRE time we are with these two.  They are both kind, hilarious, wonderful people…and I think that anyone that knows them will whole heartedly agree with us.  We hope these images really capture their fun loving spirit, and their amazing love for each other. ❤

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Coy & Keisha | Sandusky, OH Wedding Photography

Everything about Coy & Keisha’s wedding day was pretty much perfect.  From the decor in the hotel, to how amazing Keisha’s arms looked in that bangin’ dress.  From the amazing officiant (who happens to be a close friend of theirs!), to all of the little antler details and amazing flowers.  I mean, these let us take them to an abandoned air port hangar for pictures.  You don’t get much cooler than that. 😉

There was one tiny thing that we were concerned about up to their day:  the weather.  First of all, it’s July.  It’s hot, muggy, and we’ve had some experience in unairconditioned buildings this time of year.  Not. Fun.  But the week before, in addition to the looming heat, they were calling for an 80% chance of thunderstorms!  With their outside ceremony, we were a bit worried to say the least.  But, our good luck streak continues!!!  Seriously, if you hire us for your wedding, it won’t rain.  It may snow… 😉 but we have never had a bad experience with rain.  We’ve even been in the midst of rain storms while we’ve been in the church, then when we go outside, BAM!  Clears right up.  Then started raining on the way to the reception hall.

At any rate, it was neither hot, muggy, nor rainy!  It was amazing, beautiful, and perfect!  It didn’t hurt that the bride and groom pretty much made it impossible to take a single bad photo. 😉

So, here are some of our favorites from their wedding day.  🙂

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Ceremony Venue | James McBride Arboretum (BGSU Firelands)
Reception Venue | Caesar’s Crystal Palace
Florist |  Something Special
Cake Artist | Sweets By Sarah
DJ | Insync DJ Services
Hair & Makeup | Mandy Mullins
Dress |  Catan Fashions
Bridesmaids | David’s Bridal
Groomsmen | Men’s Wearhouse
Ceremony Chairs |Witt Rental
Ceremony Arch & Chair Covers | Your Perfect Day