I have never understood the excitement that people have for taking their picture in front of stuff. How many pictures of family members in front of a fountain, or a wall, or a monument can one look at. I do have a collection of pictures we get from Disney Photopass photographers, and they are great. But they are generally what I tend to think of as “funeral” pictures. When you go to a funeral these days, there is this montage of pictures of people posing for shots, looking really happy…whether they are happy or not.

On the other hand, candid pictures of people doing stuff like today’s picture is so great. I caught the rest of my family on Everest one day, and they were having a blast. This is a wonderful memory that I will have forever.  One of my favorite child pictures was actually taken at Dollywood. One of the children on the trip with us didn’t like to get wet as of the last theme park we were at. But we tried to put a poncho on and hit the raft-water ride. We were drenched with 10s of gallons of water. Thankfully I had a waterproof camera with me, and the look of terror on this child’s face will haunt them at one or more birthday parties in the future.

But most of the pictures I take have no one in them at all. This is because I don’t like explicitly remembering what people were like when the pictures were taken, but rather letting my mind fill in the blanks for me. If I remember that my family was there, I remember the fun parts with them in their “ideal” forms. Thing like their weight, hair cuts, ridiculous clothes, sunburns, tears, tantrums, etc,  don’t exist in my memories.  As long as I can see what the park looks like, I can fill in the rest.

Now if I could somehow replicate the smells of the park, I would love to have that Main Street smell in my kitchen/foyer, without needing to bake and then eat pastries.