fall colors with hailey and ryan

Fall is my favorite time of year — football is in full swing, evenings turn crisp ... and the leaves come out in full force! I grew up in eastern Ohio, in the foothills of the Appalachians, and October is the most gorgeous time of year. Hailey and my mom share a birthday, so I packed up the convertible and did the Great American Road Trip to capture the events.

Ryan is eight months old and already more than 20 pounds. One thing we learned — keep his belly full and he's all smiles. Of course, being allowed to play in the leaves and grass didn't hurt either.



Hailey's third birthday was a few days away. She's old enough now to understand parties with pizza and birthday cake. All you had to do was think about cake and you'd hear about her party.

My sister put Hailey into her birthday dress. Naturally, Hailey wanted to play on the slide a thousand times ... once she got that out of her system, she showed us her Steelers touchdown celebration. And naturally, the Steelers lost later that week.

Ryan is such an agreeable subject. Most eight month old babies are. I did get a few shots of him eating grass; we were a bit too slow to stop him ... as I said, Ryan needs to eat. A little fiber now and then is a good thing, I suppose.



And of course, I couldn't resist this wonderful shot of Hailey and her mom. It seems like yesterday that I was pulling her hair and generally making her life miserable. What else is a big brother for, after all?

But now, watching her with her family, I get an amazing feeling of pride and love. As I pressed the shutter, you might have noticed that I had something in both of my eyes at the same time. :)