2008 Berrett Family Portrait
We took advantage of the professional photographer today (hired to document Nana and her posterity) and had a family portrait taken (just like everyone else did):

Look for a hard-copy of the photo to be enclosed in an upcoming holiday card mailing.

Portrait Photos of Eliana and Olivia
Last week while Berkeley and I attended a Mariners game, Kristy took the girls over to Bellevue Square for a portraiture sitting by Triskele Portrait Photography. We got the resulting photos back today:

Eliana's Preschool Portrait
Eliana brought home her preschool portrait today. Here is the scan.

Berkeley's Kindergarten Portrait
Taken last month on class picture day.

Southern California Vacation Log: Day 3: Family Portrait Day
We spent the morning exploring our resort. I doubt we will have much time to hang out here, it's too bad because it is a real nice place. We practically have the whole resort to ourselves. We played at the pool for a bit while Kristy got some spa treatments. Then we played with the outdoor billiards table and some large-sized chess pieces and checker boards near the pool. There is a very nice kids play area almost immediately adjacent to our condo that includes a sand box (with sand toys), a putting green, a basketball sport court, and a toddler playground.

In the afternoon, we motored up to Westlake Village for our portrait sitting with Mark Brandes of Brandes Portraiture. I forgot my shoes and socks at Dick/Bertha's house, so we had to make a quick stop at Nordstrom's in our old stomping grounds, Woodland Hills, to buy some new ones. Oops. Even with the small delay, we still managed to make it to the studio on time... albeit barely.

Mr. Brandes took us to edge of a nearby man-made lake for our family portrait sitting. He set up the chairs in a grassy area in between the sidewalk (we were just a few feet away from a fairly busy street) and the water's edge. I'm sure if I was driving down the street adjacent to the lake, I wouldn't have given the spot where we sat a second thought. So, I tip my hat to Mr. Brandes for having a great eye; our resulting family portrait is fantastic (in my very humble opinion). Here is a low-res version of the portrait:

We also tried to get a picture of just the kids at our outside location, but the kids were not cooperating. Here are a couple of candid photos that April (Brandes) took of our efforts.

		This is a wide shot of the site where we took our portrait. You can see the sidewalk and the road on the left hand side of the picture. Mark is in the foreground waiting patiently while we try and get the kids to sit still for just one second(!).
		More of the same - trying to get a good picture of the kids. None of our efforts were successful. This one is cute of Eliana though.

After we returned to the studio, we spent about a half an hour trying to get the kids to all sit still for an indoor portrait. The results were pretty poor. We did manage to get one decent shot. It's not great (no smiles). But it will do. Here is a low-res version:

We ordered a big (6' by 5') version of the family portrait and a small version (approximate 2' by 1') of the kids portrait. They won't be ready until sometime early in 2007.

Berkeley's Preschool Class Pictures
Berkeley's brought home his preschool class pictures today. Here are the scans:

The first picture is of his entire class (obviously). His teachers are Miss Karen (on the left) and Miss Katie (on the right).

2005 Autumn Family Portrait