This was my second time visiting the incredible Greensboro Science Center for a shoot with Cat and Mitchell! They’re members there and their kids are obsessed, so it’s a great place to spend the day and explore. I love this family. They’ve been close friends of ours for a long time, and we’ve known their kids since they were babies. And their kids are INCREDIBLE. They’re both really sweet and silly and insane and I love them. The youngest said she would “only be taking pictures with silly faces” during this shoot, and she did not disappoint. In fact, I think one of the few normal pictures she took was when I said, “Look at that llama made out of tinsel,” and she then ran over and posed and smiled politely with him. Smiling politely the rest of the time is not really her thing – her thing is mostly making weirdo faces and being the most excited child in the history of excited children. She also loves Halloween. I think we’re the same person. Her older brother is also very excited but in a slightly more reserved way, as evidenced by his extraordinary professional posing abilities. Can he walk over to a dock and put his hands in his pockets and pop a hip like a 1993 JC Penny’s catalogue or an ad for Dawson’s Creek? You bet. Can he find a turtle statue and sit on it in such a way where it looks like it’s a presidential campaign photo? Absolutely. Meanwhile, his sister is fake vomiting off the same dock. I love them so much.

Cat and Mitchell are two very good friends of ours. They’ve been photographed 6 times by us (insert lots of happy, nostalgic tears here) and we love love love them. Our relationship started out by us photographing them in unusually frigid weather for their engagement session in Greensboro, progressed to me jumping in a bouncy castle with Cat during a break in shooting their wedding, and now it’s devolved into me complaining about kidney stones to them at a Weezer concert. So they’re quite special to us, and now so are their children. Their son Cameron is seriously *the* sweetest and most adorable kid. Look at him. Look at him! He is constantly a smiling, happy, joyful little dude who is so sweet I could cry. He let me win at Candy Land. What 3 year old does that? He’s the best. (Note: did not let his parents win at Candy Land, definitely beat them by a landslide).

Sarah, his newfound little sister, is adorable and excels at looking cute, wearing baby Hawaiian print shirts, and staying awake until the exact moment I start eating lunch. Together, they are an unstoppable brother/sister duo I adore. We got to meet her and hang out with Cat and Mitchell for a day at Mitchell’s family’s new house in Kure Beach. This day mostly involved us discussing and worrying about rip tides, sharks, flesh-eating bacteria, and brain-eating amoebas before we finally were all brave enough to swim. Happy to say that none of things we worried about came true. However, I did break into hives for no reason and had to go in (it’s always the things you don’t see coming, isn’t it?). But – all’s well that ends well. We had a beautiful day at the coast with this family of four and we love them. Also, new family rule: no pictures ever again of any of you unless you’re all wearing matching Hawaiian outfits.

WE LOVE THIS FAMILY. They eat burgers with us and see Weezer with us and talk with us about friend things and are friends. Cat and Mitchell have been with us for a long time (5 times!), and Cameron has now been with us two times! Together, they all have the best colors of Converse shoes. Cat and Mitchell always have impeccable taste in glasses, and while Cameron isn’t there yet, I fully expect a super cool pair on him at some point in the future, even if they’re fake. Anyway – this year we took their family pictures at the Greensboro Science Center, which was gracious enough to grant us permission for a documentary-style family session there. We followed them through all their favorite exhibits: penguins, sting rays, giant aquarium with a shark who was really good at following photo cues, and a 2001 Space Odyssey style hallway that contained a singular ad for Big Bird which, from what we can tell, is one of Cameron’s favorite parts of the museum. We saw a red panda who defiantly turned away from me once I started clenching my teeth and talking to him in a high-pitched voice about his cuteness. We walked through some colored smoke that made Cameron look like a toddler-God. We took pictures with dinos and green screens and prisms. Then we ate garlic fries and all was right with the world. We’re happy to take pictures and explore with these guys, and so happy to call them our friends.