Day 432 - Family Portrait Day

I knew today was family portrait day because I did two things I usually never do: 1) I wore a belt. 2) I used a comb. Yet my pants were still saggy and my hair still looked crappy. Unfortunately, this was as well-groomed as I was going to get.

Since Emma's face looked much better today, we went ahead and took our family portrait. Our appointment was at 1:30p so we fed the kids lunch at noon and hit the road around 12:30p. My sister drove my parents in their car and followed us to the mall. For some reason, Anne passed me on the freeway but she only had to take one off-ramp and make a right so it wasn't a big deal..or was it?

I received a call on my cell phone, and Lisa answered.

"Hello?"

"umm..heh-heh. It's Dad...Scott's Dad. Umm...we took a wrong turn and we're lost."

"WE'RE NOT LOST!" shouted my sister in the background.

"Which way did you turn when you got off the freeway," asked Lisa in her demeaning sing-song teacher voice.

"umm.. We took a left."

"You were suppose to take a right."

"Heh-heh...I guess that's why we're lost."

"WE'RE NOT LOST!!!" yelled Auntie Anne while spitting pretzel bits out of her mouth.

Although they DID get a little lost, it didn't matter because we were thirty minutes early for our appointment. Since the waiting area had a play area with some toys and a TV, we took the kids out of their stroller and let them roam around. Andrew went straight for the television, pointed at it, and asked me, "Did you work on this show and get it canceled?"

Once my sister and parents arrived, we were able to go inside the portrait room and take our photos. We ended up buying a small package deal that included all of the photos on a CD. So what you see below are a couple of the pictures that we took with a brief description. Enjoy my groomed hair and belted pants!

Lisa always complains when I draw cartoons of us that I draw her so much shorter than me. I know in this picture it looks like I'm not much taller than Lisa, but she's actually standing on some risers. So my cartoons ARE accurate, ya damn midget wife!

My sister and I laughed when the photographer told me to give Anne a hug because the Ichikawas aren't touch-feely people. Notice the awkward positioning of my left elbow so it doesn't graze any part of Auntie Anne's (pretzel maven) shoulder. Got to make sure I don't get the cooties.

Emma was very grumpy and sensitive during the entire shoot. She would cry and reach her arms out towards Lisa. Then she would cry and reach her arms out towards me to hit me. I think she was frightened by all the lights and the kooky photography and her assistant. The photographers looked like Central Casting extras from "Freaks and Geeks." Nice enough, but I'm sure they would've preferred to be at a matinee showing of "Twilight."

This was the best picture of Emma and Andrew. The object Emma is holding on to is not an old sofa, but rather the muscular, toned shoulders of yours truly.

And of all the pictures we took, here is the best group shot. Everyone smiled except Andrew. I think the reason Andrew did not smile was because of the way Lisa was holding him. Either that or he felt awkward because Grandpa and Crazy Grandma weren't wearing pants.