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.

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.

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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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.

Untitled — I took pictures of the Easter service of my church. It took place at the Holland Center for the Arts in downtown Omaha. There were some neat buildings outside. You can feel free to check out some of my pictures from the Easter service on my blog.

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.]

Omaha’s Zoo is very well respected as one of the best in the country. We are fortunate to live about 10 minutes away. We now have a season pass and have already been there a number of times. Here’s Ezra enjoying the fish in the aquarium.

The jellyfish exhibit is always one of my favorites.

The colors of these weird creatures are incredible. Yet, they somehow still kind of gross me out.

After a winter of being indoors, we were excited to finally take our first family walk around our new neighborhood. Ezra was happy about it too!

The sun set as we went on our walk. Beautiful midwest sunset.

We have a park and playground near our house that we’ve visited a few times now, too. Micah loves to run around on the playground.

Ezra also likes being at the park, but he doesn’t seem to enjoy the slides as much as his brother.

Ezra does love the swings, just like his brother.

Sarah helps Ezra keep balance on a the dinosaur.

I finally got a Chemex, and I have used quite frequently since purchasing it. It makes the best coffee in my opinion.

For St. Patrick’s Day, we went to a parade downtown. Ezra was more interested in the things around him.

Birds enjoyed the parade on a beautiful morning.

I take so many pictures of the kids that sometimes I forget to take pictures of my beautiful wife. It doesn’t really matter what she’s doing or up to, she’s always pretty.

Ezra's First Haircut — March was also the month we finally decided to get Ezra a haircut. It transformed him into a little man.

Haircut for Micah — Micah also got a much needed haircut that day, too.

IgersOmaha Instagram Instameet #WWIM11 — I love being a part of the Instagram community. It is such a unique place on the web. But twice a year, Instagram hosts a global Instameet, in which local instagrammers in cities all across the world meet up with each other to go on a photo walk and meet the people whom we interact with on the app. This year I met up with a few instagrammers from the Omaha area. We explored Boys Town on the west side of Omaha. A unique place with a cool history (nothing like the boystown in Chicago, btw…)

Ezra got a cool superheroes book from his Aunt Lauren, but Micah had to check it out first.

Ezra's First Birthday — This picture is from Ezra’s birthday party, but it is one of my favorites that I have taken of him.

Stinson Park — Aksarben is the neighborhood in Omaha where we live. Aksarben is a growing area. Here in this park Omaha hosts Maha Music Festival. This year Modest Mouse is headlining.

bath time — Bath time now means two boys taking a bath at the same time. Ezra got a number of these toys for his birthday.

Life in Omaha (Part 1: February)

Here are some of the pictures I took in February:

At the Circus — We took a family trip to the Shriner’s circus. It was fun to see Ezra and Micah enjoying their first experience of a circus. And it had been many years since I had last been to one.

Later in the month my good friend Eric stopped by our place on his trek out west to California. A friend of his took an epic road trip across the country, and we were glad to be one of their stops along the way. It had been a while since Micah had seen Eric, and I think he was glad to see him again.

Here we are all dancing along and playing around to some music.

The day was pretty mild for February, so we stopped at a few places around Omaha. Here we are at the pedestrian bridge that goes over the Missouri River from Omaha, NE into Council Bluffs, IA.

Ice flowed down the Missouri River and it looked pretty neat.

A failed attempt at a shot of Eric and me. But…for some reason it still works. Clearly, it was a bit windy up there.

Sarah asked me for this shot…it’s the Nebraska-Iowa state line.

I thought the sliver in the moon looked cool between the wires of the bridge.

We headed over to Iowa to where the Native Americans met up for a Council in the Bluffs of Iowa with Lewis and Clark (hence the name of the city…) It’s one of my favorite places in the area thus far.

Not quite the Chicago skyline, but still a beautiful sight.

That evening we stopped at a really cool cocktail bar. This is my favorite drink. A rum drink corked with tobacco smoke inside to give it a great smoky flavor.

Bancroft Art Gallery

Today as we were driving around Omaha, we passed by a cool building that was covered in graffiti. We decided to stop and take some pictures, and as we did a guy pulled up in his car. It ended up being the guy who ran the place, which we found out was an art gallery and performing arts building. They host all kinds of events. He was kind enough to show us around his building and tell us of the various events that take place there. We snapped a few shots outside before we left. Pretty neat place.

Easter at the Holland 2015

Our church family recently had our Easter service at the Holland Performing Arts Center in downtown Omaha. I took a few ~~too many~~ pictures. Here is a sampling of some of them. It was a beautiful morning in a beautiful venue.

Omaha, Omaha! (Set…hut!)

Well, after a two month adventure at my mom’s place, we now live in a place of our own in Omaha. We’re thankful to be here and enjoying having a place to make our own. I had a few weeks where I didn’t really take many pictures because I was so busy, but I hope to be taking more pictures again. It’s also been a bit cold and sometimes snowy, so I haven’t really been outside much. And now that we don’t walk to get to places like we did in Chicago, I rarely get the opportunity.

But here are some photos from over the last few weeks or so.