I'll be honest with you.  I think my children are adorabe.  Odd, perhaps even bordering on bizarre, but adorable.  And I love to take pictures of them.  A lot of pictures of them.   So, it makes my heart swell with pride when someone else wants to take pictures of them and afterwards that someone else says, "now that is going to be a cute picture."  And it really puts a spring in my step when that someone else is someone who actually earns their living taking pictures.  You know, like a newspaper photographer or something...

So, yesterday, the girls and I met Cindy downtown and walked the few blocks from her office to the Seafood Festival.  It was pouring down rain (the beginning bands of the thankfully lackluster Tropical Depression 10), but it felt so good to be out with my dear friend that I didn't notice at all.  Gracie was amazingly cooperative, taking in the sights and the sounds and she even said at one point, "I love walking in the rain."  And Abbie, my little social butterfly, stayed nice and dry under the red umbrella that's attached to the girls' radio flyer wagon.  We walked the whole perimeter of the festival in search of chicken strips or nuggets for Gracie.  Yes, it was a seafood festival, but try explaining that to a very determined 3-year-old.  I even suggested to her that she should try alligator since it tastes like chicken (honestly, I think it tastes better than chicken - I love gator on a stick!), but her response to that was to twist her face up in horror and back away from the booth that was selling that delicacy.... Finally, at the last booth in the whole festival, they had fried chicken strips.  That booth was nirvana for both child and mother, since they also had fried crawfish tails and boudin balls (boudin rolled into balls, battered and fried - yep, everything fattening that you can imagine all in one bite-sized little wonder).  We ordered, got our red and white paper containers filled to the brim with Cajun and little kid delights, and headed over to the tables.  My hands were full with food and the wagon and Gracie, so Cindy offered to carry the diaper bag and the picnic box that had wipes, sippie cups, a blanket, and bottled water.  Poor Cindy -  she expects a nice relaxing lunch and ends up with a demanding kid and a friend who dumps half her carry-on load on her!  But, as always, she was kind and gracious.  As she was trying to juggle the 12 million things I'd handed her, she dropped her Diet Coke.   A kind gentlemen swooped down and picked it up for her.  I was so busy thinking that that was a nice thing to do that I didn't notice the camera at his side, not until he walked over and asked, "Since I was so helpful, would you mind if I took a few pictures of your kids?"  Then, I saw the camera, and after a second, the press badge.  I agreed and he snapped away.  I was too busy grinning to get any details, other than to rib him about the fact that he was shooting with a Nikon instead of a Canon.  Cindy saved the day again and asked when the pictures would run in the paper.  The paper?  I didn't even think about that. Why did I think a newspaper photographer was taking picture of my kids?  Who knows?  But the girls being in the paper didn't even dawn on me until Cindy asked.  The photographer said, "Tomorrow.  If they don't make the paper, they'll for sure be in the gallery on the on-line edition of the paper.  But, these are such cute pictures that they'll propably make the print edition. "  I beamed with motherly pride. 

So, this morning, before he left for work, Steve donned his rain coat and headed out into the pouring rain (the last bands of the thankfully lackluster Tropical Depression 10) and grabbed the Saturday paper.  And there, on  page 3A of our local paper was this:



That's my girls!  Local celebrities!  Here's the picture in full-color from the on-line gallery



The photo is by Ben Twingley of the Pensacola News Journal.  I think it's a great picture, even if he did use a Nikon...

So, there's you answer about the mystery pictures from yesterday!  Have a great Saturday!