THE AQUARIUM THROUGH MY iPHONE

I love my little DSLR camera and before little Maddie was born I was really working hard to educate myself on its vast capabilities, investing in new lens, and honing in on my editing skills. Since her birth, though, my iPhone has been my go-to camera and Afterlight has been my only form of editing. How in the world do mothers of multiple children hold onto their crazy, energetic, running-around-the-room children (maybe only mine are that way!) while holding onto their nice cameras, snapping crisp, clear shots. Nearly impossible in my mind! I feel like unless I have a personal photographer following me and my children around I may never get good shots of us ever again. So, I am trying to get over the fact I do not have 5 arms (still working on it some days!) and coming to terms my iPhone may just have to do in most circumstances. Sorry in advance for the lack of impressive photos on this blog (not that they were very impressive before, though!).

Today I took the kiddos and my DSLR camera (though it did not come out of my bag ONCE) down to the Newport Aquarium with a few friends. Brave, I know! I seriously could not do all that I do without the amazing (let me say amazing, amazing X 100!!) friends that I have. Auntie Joni volunteered to carry Maddie in her carrier for over 3/4 of the exhibit. How awesome is she?! Maddie fell right asleep on her and just snuggled in. I really could not and definitely would not do all that I do with the kids if I did not have great friends around to pick Tate up and show him certain aquariums and exhibits when my arms are full or calm Maddie down while I am tending to Tate or help me feed Tate his go-gurt while I am feeding Maddie and scarfing my own lunch down (just to name a few things). I know I do not thank them enough (thank you, thank you!!), but I don’t know what I would do without them (actually I do, I would seriously go stir-crazy inside because we would never go anywhere!! thank you for keeping me sane!!).


Here are a few dark, grainy pictures from our chaotic adventures of 3 women chasing after 4 children in an aquarium filled with sharks, stingrays and a mammoth crocodile… just another chaotic day in the life of Casey!

^^Aria is one of Taden’s best buds! They are either the best of friends or the worst of enemies! One minute they are chasing each other around giggling so hard and the next minute they are chasing each other screaming to get away!! I love both of their little, yet very big, personalities!

^^Watching the big shark tank! 

^^I am not quite sure how I feel about a double stroller yet. They are just sooo big!! We use this stroller. We purchased the stroller when we had Taden knowing that it would grow with our family. The stroller has 16 possible configurations: front facing, rear facing, sibling facing, add a bassinet, add a foot stool. It really has been a great stroller to use with Taden and is transitioning well with the two kids now. It is just taking me some time to get used to the bulkiness of two seats, two kids to push around, double the amount of stuff in my diaper bag, basically two of everything! It is just taking some time for my muscles to build up!!

^^They have the coolest, new turtle exhibit. We arrived to the exhibit just in time for feeding of the great, 85 year-old snapping turtle. I cannot wait until Taden is more engaged in the exhibits… see pictures below of his entertainment throughout the aquarium.

I hope you enjoyed our little iPhone recap of our aquarium, double stroller, car vroom-ing adventures. Until next time!!