Ragamuffin Reflections

Reflections and Ramblings Volume Twenty-Two

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A Lazy Winter Day at Home

Over the last couple days it has been hovering between -5 and 15 degrees outside. That kind of weather doesn’t really make you want to go anywhere for a while. So the kids, the dog, and I have been hanging out at home finding things to do.

This morning and afternoon I decided to get out my camera and take some pictures. Every time I do this I wonder why I don’t do it more. I love taking pictures of my kids and now the dog, too.

Here are some of the pictures. There’s a lot of them. The pictures I took in our basement were all in black and white. But for the most part, I included the color photos of when we were playing on the couch in the living room.

First Day of Preschool

Today was Micah’s first day of preschool. I of course had to take some pictures. 😃

I edited them all in both color and black and white, and as usual I’m not sure which ones I like more. So maybe this post will be in color, and I’ll create a second post with them all in black and white.

Finding Beauty in a Tragedy

On Saturday January 9th, 2016 a fire broke out after a small explosion in M’s Pub located in Omaha’s historic and iconic Old Market neighborhood. The fire ravaged the building and broke the hearts of all those who had ever stepped foot in the Old Market, especially M’s Pub. The fire would rage on for around 12 hours before it was considered under control. The Omaha Fire Department not only had to battle the three alarm fire in front of them, but also the frigid below freezing temperatures with wind chills hovering around -15 degrees.

Because of a major warehouse fire in Chicago a couple of years ago in similar conditions, I knew that whatever was left of M’s Pub and the apartments above it would look oddly beautiful once the fire was out. Subzero temperatures and thousands of gallons of water makes for an impressive sight. Here are a few of the pictures I took this morning.

Estes is Bestest.

We took our first family vacation recently. We traveled to Estes Park to enjoy a few days in the mountains. Sarah has never been in the Rocky Mountains, and so we thought it would be a lot of fun to go as a family. We rented a small “bunkhouse” designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright at the base of Old Man Mountain in Estes Park and spent a few days taking in the beauty and the sense of home that the mountains give.

I took quite a few pictures, but here are a some of my favorites. Sorry if I overdid it, but eh, I don’t get to see these sorts of views very often. 🙂

Untitled — After eight hours in the car, we made it to Estes Park. Of course we had to pull over and get our pic in front of the sign.

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Rocky Mountains — Here’s five pictures I stitched together. Feel free to click through and check it out on my Flickr. It’s pretty incredible.

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We walked up to the edge of Bear Lake. There was snow and ice at this point and it was a bit chillier, so we grabbed a couple pictures and headed back down.

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Speedy Ortiz @ Maha Music Festival

My favorite band of Maha Music Festival 2015 was Speedy Ortiz. I didn’t take pictures of all the bands at the festival, but I wanted to make sure to take some of them. And they brought it for sure. Because the stage was a bit out of the norm, I didn’t really have the ability to move around. So I just planted myself in one place and took a lot of pictures. That meant that I couldn’t really get various angles, and I couldn’t see the drummer (poor drummers…). But I did take a lot of pictures because it was almost golden hour, and the lighting got better and better as their set progressed.

Here are the pics I took. Some might be a little redundant, but eh…so be it:

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At the Slowdown

The other night I went to The Slowdown in Omaha to see a local band named Lot Walks. I took a few pictures of them, the bands that played before (We are the Willows, and Anniversarie), and some scenes around the building. Taking pictures of bands is one of my favorite things to do. I get to hear great music and I get to capture unique moments that only exists for split seconds of a time. It’s an interesting trying to balance simply being there to enjoy the band’s music, the experience with those around you, and taking pictures. When there’s no pressure of getting shots for the band, like just taking them for myself, the night is a lot more fun because I’m not concerned about missing specific moments.

For this show I just took my MX-1 and determined to just have an enjoyable night that would be getting myself hyped up for Maha Music Festival the next day. It was a low key fun evening. Here are some of the pictures:

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Catching Up

Whew! Life has really been flying on by. I need to post some pictures! Here’s some from the last couple months or so. Many of them are from my iPhone because I just haven’t been carting my camera around with me very often. I have been staying busy with the kids, as usual. I’ve also been working on a website/project which is built around storytelling. If that interests you, please check Library of Impressions out.

Ok. I’ll start from oldest to most recent. There’s a lot of pictures…

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Neighbor’s house with some vines growing.

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Daddy and Micah — This is me and Micah just minutes after waking up. He wanted to take a picture.

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In...and out — One of my favorite pictures ever. What goes in…must come out…

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Swimming with Grammaw and Papaw — Micah swimming.

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Well look, it's two people I love! — Love those smiles.

Naked potty training day one and molar number four coming in. This is the real deal, folks. // #💦💩🚽😬 — Naked potty training was quite the experience.

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Two parks. Two kids. Two tired parents = One successful Saturday. — Ezra soaring high at our neighborhood park.

Visual proof that local coffee shops are like little glimpses of heaven on earth. — At a coffee shop in Omaha.

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There’s nothing in this world that Micah seems to love more than dogs and puppies. He picked out “buddy” and LOVES him.

What shoe-d we do today? // #ezrayuuto #aksarbenliving #childhoodunplugged — Ezra hanging out on the couch.

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Go, set a watchman // #ezrayuuto #aksarbenliving — Ezra looking out the window.

Ezra seems happy to be outside today. It's about 300% humidity, though. // #ezrayuuto #omaha #childhoodunplugged #makemoments — Ezra smiles on a walk near the Missouri river.

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Walking along the Missouri River this morning. // #igersomaha #omaha #missouririver #bridge #omaha #bnwomaha #makemoments #momentswide #xmarksthespot — A bridge to Council Bluffs, Iowa from Omaha, NE.

Bean bag. — Micah chilling in the bean bag.

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Bedtime? But there's still plenty of daytime left! // #MicahMasato #aksarben #childhoodunplugged #windowwatching #windowwatcher — Looking out the window before bedtime.

Took a brief walk over to the park today to cool off on this hot summer day. // #igersomaha #OmahaParks #omaha #micahandezra #aksarbenliving #stinsonpark #summerfun — Enjoying the fountains at our local park in the hot summer heat.

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April, Come and Gone

Yikes! April flew by this year. It’s hard to believe, really. But I guess that must mean that life has been busy. Sarah transitioned to working night shift this month, and that has changed up our routines and daily lives a bit. I got a few good representative pictures this month of what life is like around here. I am going to be taking more in May because I’m going to try and participate in Pentax Forums’ a picture a day again. It’s been a while since I’ve done a pic a day, life just got too hectic. But I may try and start it up again this next month.

Anyway, here’s a roundup of some of this past month’s photos (and one video).

Maundy Thursday: an opportunity for lessons in servanthood and humility for these two kiddos. — On Maundy Thursday, we learned about servanthood and humility. Micah washed his brothers feet, imitating Jesus washing his disciples’ feet.

My Good Friday started off with this guy running into my room and jumping into bed. We decided to enjoy some morning laughs and giggles in bed before the little bro wakes up. Hoping your day is off to a good start too! 😄 — Micah climbs in bed every morning now. With mommy often gone, he gets half the bed to himself.

Easter at the Holland 2015 — Here’s a shot from before the service. The place was a really neat venue.

Ezra enjoyed eating Peeps for the first time – two of them at once. (Of course.)

Micah prepared himself for the elements.

I visited Echo Coffee in Omaha. It was good and a pleasant place.

Micah excitedly welcomed mommy home this morning after she worked three 12 hour night shifts in a row. It's been an adjustment this past week as she switched to night shift. But we are learning new patterns and are so appreciative for how hard mommy works — We all eagerly wait for Mommy to get home in the mornings. Perhaps no one more than Micah. Here he is welcoming mommy home as she pulls into the driveway.

Moving from Chicago was a big decision for the four of us. Hard to believe that was over four months ago now. But we decided that being closer to my family would make all the trouble of moving and getting settled into a new home worth it. And it has been. — I was glad to be able to watch my brother play some tennis at a rival high school in Council Bluffs. It was nice to just sit with my mom while he whooped up.

We got the meats. (But mostly curly fries.) — A quick family dinner at Arby’s. A very rare thing these days.

Mommy left for work. Melt down level: nuclear. 😭 — This is now the typical reaction in the evening when mommy leaves for work. It’s not the most pleasant thing in the world. Meltdown level: Nuclear.

And lastly a video of the boys. A glimpse into a typical morning at our house.

Life in Omaha (Part 2: March)

We are finally settling down pretty well here in Omaha. I have neglected to post the various pictures I’ve taken the past couple months, so I thought I’d take some time to go back post some of them. People often ask us if we miss Chicago, and honestly, how could we not? It’s an amazing city with some pretty incredible people. But we are happy and content with where we are. Sarah enjoys her job as a labor and delivery nurse, and the boys have definitely enjoyed having a house in which they can be as loud as they might want to be.

Here are some of the pictures that I took in March: [See February’s pictures here.]