On the note of never knowing what you are going to get when working with kids…..multiply that by 10 when you add the family pet in the mix.  Luckily I have always had dogs, love them and think I am pretty good with them.  With that being said when I spoke to this mom on the phone and she said she had a 3 year old, 6 year old and a 4 month old puppy, I was a little worried.  I had never met the kids , or puppy for that matter until the moment they arrive on the scene.

I had a plan on working with the puppy to get her finished first and then have the mom take her to the car.  I had all my squeaky toys and my assistant and I was ready.  What I was not ready for was the park rangers arriving on a tractor after the first shot out of the camera (literally) to tell me there was a fee for professional photographers at this park.  I really should have checked because I know many parks operate this way but I had been to this park MANY times and noone ever said anything.  Absolutely my bad.  Anyway he agreed to let me take a few more but by that point I was thrown and nervous.

I did manage to get wonderful shots of these kids because they were so cooperative.  They were both like little dolls with great smiles. (One with a toothless smile which I love) I guess I didn’t show the fact that I was flustered or they were just that easy going because we had a really good time.  Here are a few shots and we did get a great one with the puppy before she had to go to the car.