Virginia Whalen Photography is up and running again after a short break for a trip to Illinois to visit relatives.  I had the most fabulous time visiting with my sweet (and now very big!) cousins and going on outings such as visiting downtown Chicago for shopping and the “Taste of Chicago,” seeing the Chicago Fire professional soccer team play (one of the players is from Spokane!), and swimming at the neighborhood pool.

Meet my cousins:

Sweet K.  I almost took her home with me.

Little Sister S, a cutie who melts hearts wih her singing of “Hey There Delilah”

Doesn’t she have the most perfect curls?

J & K.  J gave her about five loving kisses before she politely said, “I’ve had enough kisses.”  He’s a lady-charmer already, watch out.

There were strawberries to pick in the backyard:

Fun with sand, water, and mud in the sandbox meant throwing all the kids in a huge bubble bath:

The kids love to bike/scooter:

Our special surprise was the arrival of cousin Kevin, a favorite of little Matty.  Everyone loves tickling M because his laugh is indescribably cute.

After a day at the pool, waterslides, squirt guns, sand, and running around, these two couldn’t help falling asleep while watching Free Willy before dinner.  K: “Do you know why it’s called Free Willy? Because he gets FREE!!”

While I was there I started and finished a book I recently bought, called Footprints in Time.  It’s written by Spokane’s own Leon Dean and is a must-read if you’re a runner.  Coincidentally, one of the teams he talked about in the book who placed at Nike Cross Nationals is from the small city in IL that I was visiting.  How ironic is that? While running through the neighborhood I spotted some high school boys running and secretly wondered if they were the same boys I had just read about.  Order your own copy here: http://footprintsintimebook.blogspot.com/
I hope everyone’s summers are unfolding well!
Virginia