Since we haven’t updated any of you on our personal lives in 6 months since our fully vaccinated trip out West to visit our families in mid-March 2021 we felt like this BUSY, BUSY time right now would be the perfect time to update you all on 5 huge things that happened in our personal lives over the past month! All within the ONE past month we celebrated our 7th Anniversary, Rizzo the pup’s 2nd Birthday, Coco’s 5th Adoptiversary (7 years old), Jenny’s Birthday, & Jason’s mom’s First ever visit out to us in our 6 years here (5 years owning our house & 6 years with our pets)! Through we’ve been drowning in busy-ness (and business) we were somehow able to celebrate it ALL/ try to make it all special-!
Kevin the Elderly Cat Gets Sick (6 Vet Appointments/ Abscess)
All within ONE week at the end of August were our 7th Anniversary, our puppy Rizzo’s 2nd Birthday, and our 7 year old dog Coco’s 5th Adoptaversary! Sadly our cat Kevin had been “sick” for a FULL month leading up to all of these things i.e. 2 weeks in to being “sick” and one week before the scheduled sickness Vet Appointment Jason found a huge whisker stuck in Kevin’s right nostril that was poking all the way to his tear duct & was covered in a ton of goo. At that point a month ago with 3 Sickness Vet Visits in (and 3 more this past month totaling 6 visits & 3 antibiotics within the past 2 months- one which just ended yesterday) we were mainly focused on our sweet Kevin and fighting for meds/ help for him (and his literal life since he’s an elderly 15 years old). All of our plans were mainly revolving around non-stop wedding photography work AND giving him antibiotics every 8 to 12 hours. (It turned out that what we’d feared happened- no vets helped, so a poke of the whisker stuck inside his nose for at least 2 weeks devolved quickly into an abscess of his right cheek tear duct, so we quickly did our OWN RESEARCH and went to the vet 3 more times demanding each Antibiotic that we needed. It seems to have worked as 2 weeks ago his abscess burst and has been rapidly healing on his last 2 weeks of antibiotic pills. Yay).
Our Anniversary
Now that we’ve established THAT reality AND added in the fact that we were overrun with non-stop wedding photography work 7 days a week (10 to 16 hours a day most often), we’ll move on to the celebrations that happened in Kevin’s 2nd month of us helping him fight his abscess. We first celebrated our Anniversary the last week of August by getting fancy homemade maple apple donuts & freshly picked nectarines up in Eau Claire, Michigan where most of our peaches, apples, and more are grown. We then headed over to a Flower Farm to pick a huuuuge bucket full of flowers for only $20 up in Michigan as well! We stopped by an old Soda Shop/ Candy Shop for old fashioned sodas afterward (a Green River, a Pink Lady, and a malt), then headed home to check out our new Trader Joe’s which is just 2 minutes from our house (as opposed to 1.5 hours away like the one we’ve been visiting for 6 years)! We had a great anniversary dinner afterward with many Trader Joe’s goodies, then watched a movie with our pets! It was perfect for these elderly 30-somethings!
We also had our photo taken on an antique camera directly onto chemical coated metal for a 7th Anniversary straight! We used Jenny’s antique clothing that she’s collected over the years and love how these turned out! Thank you for letting us hire you again, Victor/ Eric!
Both of Our Dogs’ Birthdays
4 days later it was Rizzo’s 2nd Birthday, so we gave her her handmade Pupcake from the Farmer’s Market (complete with bacon, ricotta, peanut butter, and other dog-friendly ingredients) that Wednesday. (This is the same Pupcake that we got last year from a local Farmer’s Market, but this time we had to drive an hour to go get them a few days before their birthdays)! Coco’s Adoptaversary was (crazily enough) the day after Rizzo’s Birthday, so we ALSO gave 7 year old Coco a Pupcake for her 5th Adoptaversary that Thursday!
Jenny’s 35th Birthday Camping!
10 days after Coco’s Adoptaversary was Jenny’s 35th Birthday! On the day of Jenny’s Birthday we went up to camp on Lake Michigan for a few days for our 5th time in the past 7 years. Kevin needed antibiotic eye drops EVERY 8 hours at that point, so that was sort of limiting, but we prioritized him as our #1 concern and stressfully kept on schedule for our 3.5 days of camping and he seemed to really enjoy the trailer as usual. To camp we set a strong boundary and actually didn’t bring any work computers to keep ourselves from answering emails while we were gone for just a few days, though we did bring our cameras and cell phones to capture some of the beauty of our FEW days off. We actually walked on the sand & dunes every single day of camping and the dogs absolutely loved that hiking!
On night #1 on Jenny’s birthday we headed to the beach that evening after setting up our pop-up fully for hours and enjoyed some tacos and elote for dinner. We walked the dogs on the dog beach, but it was so packed and stressful on that hot 90 degree day that we headed up into the grassy dunes with them. Jason gave Jenny gifts all week and we both ordered nutella babkas and rugelach from a local baker for Jenny’s birthday desserts (which were delicious).
The next day we we did a little more hiking around the dune trails. We prepared for a bit of rain that was in the forecast by getting a few meal ideas ready that could be made in the trailer. The camper was pretty well protected from the rains thanks to the ample tree cover still at The Warren Dunes campgrounds. This allowed for a night of simple relaxing, accompanied by distant thunder and the sound of a gentle rainfall.
On Tuesday we enjoyed the Babka that we got specifically for Jenny’s birthday from the local South Bend Challah company. We had to be extra vigilant to ensure that the baked goods survived the close quarters of the pop-up and the hungry puppers. We brought a couple of birthday candles to sing happy birthday before diving in. We also finally were able to eat many freeze dried camping meals that we purchased last winter for our eventual camping trips. COVID has still made campgrounds very crowded and hard to book, so that fact coupled with our busy schedule meant that this short camping trip was our first of the year.
Later that night Jason hiked back up one of the main dunes to take advantage of the moonless sky. While the moon didn’t add any light to the scene, the light pollution from nearby Chicago made things very bright for some long exposure night photography.
On Wednesday (our last day there of the 3.5 days) we spent plenty of time outside to enjoy the nicer weather. Due to the recent quantities of rain the mosquitos made the outdoors a little harder to endure. We brought ample bug spray, but the mosquitos were still vicious. Jenny enjoyed some time in the hammock with plenty of layers to help keep the bugs from biting. The dogs enjoyed some time in their outdoor pen while we made nachos on a our outdoor camp stove.
We took the dogs on one final outing to the beach before another storm was scheduled to come in. They enjoyed some time on the beach before we hiked back on a less intense trail than the one we hiked a couple days prior.
Jason’s Mom Visits Us From California for her First Time Ever! (In Our 6 Years Here/ Owning our House)
On Thursday the afternoon that we returned from camping we immediately returned to work, had a Zoom call within our first 30 minutes home, and we photographed a 9 hour wedding up on Lake Michigan (in Michigan) the very next day!
Just 3 days after capturing the wedding in Michigan at Lake Michigan, Jason’s mom arrived for her FIRST ever visit out to us in our 6 years in Indiana & Michigan-! She’s never been in the Midwest, so we had a packed schedule for her 5+ days in! The forecast for the week was the actual worst it’s been in South Bend ALL of 2021, but we made due with the sudden rain and cold! We had to rearrange the entire schedule, but luckily we made almost all of the fun happen-! Though we do have our own international airport, on Day 1 that Monday we picked Jason’s mom up at one of the Chicago airports! We immediately drove her to pick up 2 famous local Deep Dish Pizzas and then after eating late lunch and choosing our favorite, we headed to Millenium Park to show her The Bean & more!
While in Chicago picking her up we also tried to go to The Signature Lounge at The Hancock Building, but sadly it was closed for the first half of the week. Instead we walked around for a bit visiting the Lake Michigan waterfront, then we headed back to Indiana to welcome her to our house and 3 pets-! We made a quick stop by Notre Dame that night for Jason’s mom to see The Grotto and light a candle. We returned a few days later to she could see The Basilica of the Sacred Heart and a few other locations during the daytime.
We took Jason’s mom around to many of the places that we frequent so that she could get a good feeling for what exactly there is to do in this part of the country. We visited all types of places such as the Unity Gardens, Potawatomie Conservatory, and our local casino. (We do not frequent the casino, but Jason’s mom Cari does enjoy a good slot machine.)
Later that night we made a batch of fried chicken of the woods mushrooms to let her have a taste of the local delicacy and she helped bread it all with Jason. She also had her first taste of Pho on her trip out to us last week!
Having never seen any of The Great Lakes, we made sure to visit Lake Michigan with Jason’s mom. Lake Michigan is only about 40 minutes from us here in South Bend, so we once again returned to The Warren Dunes for a quick visit. The weather wasn’t exactly the greatest as it was pretty windy and a little cold, but it did make for some impressive waves and picturesque cloud cover.
It wouldn’t be a true visit to Northwestern Indiana without a stop in Amish Country. The next day we decided to check out an Amish/Mennonite museum in Shipshewana, IN about an hour from us. We learned many things that we otherwise probably wouldn’t have known and even got to experience a “Tornado Shelter” in the museum. After the museum we stopped by a local general store and Amish grocery store for the full experience. We stocked up on many delicious cheeses and baked goods straight from the source.
On Friday (the last full day of her visit & only fully sunny day) we spent some time visiting with Jenny’s parents and taking a pontoon boat ride around the lake they live at. It was a nice relaxed time and a nice reprieve after many days of traveling all around the area.
Before heading back to Chicago for her flight back home to California, we took Jason’s mom to the local South Bend Farmer’s Market. We got a couple of locally made treats which we ate quickly before embarking back to Chicago.
We had one last thing on the agenda before Jason’s mom left which was an Architectural River Boat Tour through downtown Chicago. Jenny found a great tour on the tallest tour boat in the river. The boat took us through all the branches of the Chicago River while passing just a few inches beneath most of the bridges in downtown.
Once the tour had concluded we made one last quick stop by a restaurant to finish off the trip with a genuine Chicago Dog. We took them to go and ate them in the car before heading to the nearby airport.
Needless to say, the past month has been quite a rollercoaster. Between balancing our personal lives, our work and clients, and our family it has been non-stop. It’s been great having a bit of time for ourselves and to see and show Jason’s mom all the things we do and love. Amidst all of this we’ve been photographing weddings, photographing for the Indiana Adoption Program/ DCS (for foster children looking to be adopted), designing, editing, and printing photos and products, and trying our hardest to keep everything on track. The past month has been quite a busy and fulfilling time and we’re excited to have a day off this coming weekend (after being back and working for 6 days straight come this Friday)! We hope you enjoyed this look into our crazy lives & we hope that you all had a good end of Summer as well! Happy Autumn & to things slowing down eventually this winter (hopefully)-!!