Streets of Shoreview

This is not a political blog, but I feel like something needs to be said. This goes beyond politics. I felt so betrayed by the government following the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. These two protesters didn’t deserve to be shot. Do people really believe they were attempting to "massacre" federal agents? If the incidents hadn’t been caught on camera, the government (under Trump’s pathetic, selfish leadership) would continue to lie to us about what happened (and maybe they're still trying). Imagine all the moments in history that were NOT caught on camera. That’s why I am proud to be from Minnesota, where citizens are looking out for each other, protecting each other, with cameras as their weapons.

 
I am actually relatively moderate when it comes to political beliefs, so it takes a lot to stir me up. This did it. 

R is the better citizen who has called our representatives and gotten out there to protest, as pictured above.

 
It's been kind of a rough January, so thank you for your concern.

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Announcing "Waking World"

If it seems like I have been giving less attention to my blog lately, it is because my creative focus has been on a new short film I am making with Veronica. It is called "Waking World", and it is almost done!

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RIP Grandma Krezel, 1932-2022

This is not necessarily my favorite photo of my grandma, but it is one I haven't posted yet. She passed away on Friday at 90 years old. She was a hard-working, loving, generous person and a faithful visitor of this blog. She will be missed.

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2000th post

Sorry for the delay. I wanted to have something special to mark my 2000th blog post and, well, this is something a bit different at least.

I captured a sort of video time capsule of the kids. However, even with the delay, we didn't put a lot of time or thought into these and the results are so-so. I also cut out a bunch of footage where the kids attempted to describe their typical day because it just went on too long. But I like this idea of interviewing them and will appreciate having videos like this in my repository one day. Next time I'll ask some harder hitting questions.

Just a few words about hitting 2000 posts (not counting my 338 wordier posts on Midnight Toast)...

This blog was started almost 10 years ago, so I guess I'm averaging around 200 posts a year. The 1000th entry was marked here a little over five years ago. I have slowed down a little, and I predict that trend will continue, frankly, because the pace is difficult to keep up! And having older kids means I'm less willing to get in their faces with a camera. I have to respect their privacy.

But I will continue posting for the foreseeable future. I really like having this visual log of my family life. You would be surprised by how often we look back to see what we were doing on a particular day years ago or what toy somebody got for their birthday, etc. It's our story and it will be interesting to see what the next 10 years bring.

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Somewhat reluctantly more professional

Kind of the elephant in the room lately--that I just haven't gotten around to addressing here--is that I went back to work in insurance software. My interests have always been split between the creative and the technical. Maybe I was leaning too hard toward photography and hitting my limitations. Or maybe the fun started to go away when I tried to make money from it. Or maybe I never gave this whole decision that much thought. I was recruited by a consulting firm and I had to give it a try.

Here's the thing: I only signed a three-month contract at this point, and I'm already a month into it. There's no guarantee that both parties will want to continue after mid-August. I'll admit having a job again is making life more stressful. We've already had some rough days. Yet, it still seems worth it. We were getting by financially before, but a second income sure helps in paying Montessori tuition, taking nice vacations, making upgrades to the house, etc.

I had almost two years at home with Omri (and really it was more like three because for one year I only worked during his naps). It went fast, but that was a significant amount of time. We bonded. Look at all the Old Red Car videos and the craft projects and the countless, undocumented hours we spent playing in our Lego/Hot Wheels universe up in his room. It was great but also challenging in its own way. I wasn't appreciating my time with the kids as much and was usually looking for opportunities to do things without them. I wouldn't say I was unhappy with the situation by any means, but I do feel like I can approach fatherhood more refreshed when I'm not with the kids quite so much.

Omri is also very sociable--much more than me--and I think he enjoyed finishing off the school year with full days there. It meant lunch with his friends and recess outside. This summer both kids are home with a nanny, so they are still getting a relaxing break from the daily routine while still getting around town, meeting up with friends, going to parks, etc. I'm feeling relieved to not be the one in charge of occupying them anymore (yet also a little left out of the fun).

I will miss the extra time for photo/video projects. Don't get me wrong--Moon Lake Multimedia is not closing up shop. But I will be more selective with what I projects I take on. I did two family shoots in the last couple of weeks, and I'm not actively seeking more at this time. For one thing, I want to keep myself freed up enough to work on a new short film. Those have a way of accompanying my life changes. I'm hoping to shoot this newest one around the end of summer.

I don't know for sure if this is a better balance or a worse one. The biggest difference from the last time R and I were both full-time is that I'll be working from home now, and that helps a lot. I don't have to leave before the kids are up in the morning.

I'm realizing there are no single solutions or final answers on how to live a life. It's ever-evolving. There's nothing wrong with mixing things up once in a while and trying something new--or something old again. I feel more positive about the new situation now than I did when I first accepted the job. This could be a really good thing for us.

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Mr. Dad

I started this entry over a year ago, but it never really went anywhere. My life has been in a transition since then and writing about it was like hitting a moving target.

I mentioned at some point that I reduced my work hours in order to spend more time with the kids. I was alternating between 10 and 20 hours per week. Well, as of this week, I'm a full-time stay-at-home dad.

R and I had been talking for a while (since we moved back to Minnesota, really) about the possibility of one of us staying home. We originally thought R would be the one to do it, but after some thought and soul searching, it made more sense for it to be me.

It wasn't a matter of who made less money because our salaries were identical. Part of it may have been my longer commute or the fact that I'm more of a homebody. Mostly though, I think R is more passionate about her work than I am. I worked in financial software for 16 years--it served me well--but my heart was not in it anymore.

Omri has another couple of years before he starts kindergarten. Veronica now gets summers off from having to rush out the door every morning. I love that I get more time with them while they are young. Our days are filled with more variety and more downtime. I'm on my feet a lot more than I used to be, which feels healthier, and I have more time to pursue my hobbies, which keeps me sane. I'm enjoying this life.

The other positive aspect of the situation is that I have the opportunity to reinvent myself. I'll eventually go back to work, at least part-time, and I'd like to do something different. I'd like to make a life that I'm happy enough with so that I don't need to retire. For now I'm just kind of following my interests and seeing where they lead.

So far my interests outside of the family seem to be (1) practicing photography, (2) slowly writing a middle school novel, and (3) watching/researching movies. So what do you do with that? Well, I've been taking on more professional photography jobs. You can check out some of my recent work on my new website:

www.MoonLakeMultimedia.com

I'm still making updates to the site, so check back once in a while. I'll continue to post snapshots of my family here at Four Peas in a Blog, while the new site will function as more of a client facing portfolio.

Staying home with the kids is not the most glamorous work; there are days when it would be a lot easier to go to an office. I have a lot of worries... Can I keep the kids busy/active/social enough? Will my patience wear thin? Can I handle the housework? But, hey, my old job was stressful too.

I've been called "Mr. Mom" a few times since this whole thing started. Don't embarrass yourself with an outdated term. I prefer Mr. Dad.

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Down

My computer malfunctioned last week and its fate now sits in the hands of the Geek Squad. If they recover everything, I'm going to give them a credit in my movie, which was nearly complete, by the way.

I will post more photos when I can.

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1000

Can you believe this is my 1000th published post on this blog?  It's taken me over four years to get here.  There have been 54,000+ page views recorded along the way.  Some posts only contain a single picture. Some contain more than 50.  I was planning to take a few moments to reflect on this body of work, perhaps about the evolution (hopefully) of my photography or some of the challenges I have in selecting the photos to include, but you know what, this is a photo blog and words have never been a priority.  The photos tell the story.

I have slowed down a bit and that trend will continue through the winter.  We're not getting out so often any more and when we do I don't always have my hands free to take photos.  Plus the suburbs in Minnesota just aren't quite as photogenic as the west coast.  The kids change and that's great to document, but the lighting and scenery in our house are relatively static from day to day.  And I don't want to repeat myself (too often).

Additionally, much of my creative free time has been spent working on a short film called "Grind." I don't want to build it up too much because, honestly, I'm not sure the general public will get that much out of it.  It's about my life as a dad/husband/employee, although I'll admit it's not big on plot.  I started it last March and the work continues at a very slow pace.  But I find myself at least thinking about it just about every day.  Sometimes I'll spend half an hour considering a single cut and then go back and change it again two weeks later.  Many of the shots in it, like the one above, are inspired by photos you may have seen on this blog.  The blog is sort of a trial ground to see what works and what doesn't.  Ideally, I'd like every frame of the finished video to be worthy of hanging on a wall.  It's going to take more work.

The blogging will continue.  Will it go on for another 1000 posts?  We'll see.

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Omri Robert

What an amazing day yesterday. So many great photos I can't wait to share. Stay tuned!

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The fourth pea

Veronica drew this picture of what our family will look like in September:

Yes, we're expecting another little one!  More as this story progresses...

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Leave

Hello, everybody. I am taking six weeks off from my job to spend time with our baby girl. There haven't been / won't be many opportunities in my lifetime to do something like this, so I'm taking advantage of this one.  We are going to get out and explore our surroundings now that we have the luxury of time.  Expect some photos.

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Veronica Elaine

Our sweet pea is here.

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