Year of writing 77. Fairyland.

3/18/12

Today we got our family portraits done, like we do every year, by Anna Wu - who used to teach with me over at UFSA.  She is a phenomenal photographer (go alliteration!) and you should book her.  www.annawu.com   We've gone to the Oakland rose garden, and Wildcat Canyon in the past - both beautiful and both very Bay Area - and since this is probably our last time doing this in the Bay, we decided to go this time to the world famous Children's Fairyland of Oakland. Ok, maybe it's not world famous, and maybe it's just a bootleg Disneyland, where nothing has been updated since 1957, but that's all part of the charm. 

We began the sojourn with an all-out brawl over shoes.  Now, I do like shoes, I am very particular about which ones to wear myself - so when Isla decides to wear her red maryjanes with some pink tights and a purple dress, my inner fashionista starts to rage.  I tried cajoling, begging, threatening, reverse psychology, regular psychology, neurology, bribing... nothing worked.  So, red shoes it was.  THEN, because the wind was whipping around at about 30 miles an hour, she needed a sweater.  I've gone into this before, so I'll spare you the back and forth - but I refuse to lose two battles in a row, so pink sweater was on, and we were in the car. 

We got to Fairyland, met up with Anna and let Isla dictate the hour of photography... she ran from ride to dilapidated ride as we tried frantically both to catch up, and slow her down long enough for a shot of us all together - I think we may have got one with an alpaca photobomber, but with her skills on photoshop, I'm sure Anna can make that beast look something like me.  Isla was not one for staying put, however.  I've never seen her this excited for Fairyland - it must have been the extra attention.  I think we covered the entire ten acres in less than half an hour before landing at the Western themed section.  Since it's the most recognizable thing, and says Fairyland on it, we decided to try a family shot on the balcony of the Fairyland Hotel, just above the jail.  Try is the operative word here.  Isla decided she would be in jail instead, and we'd just have to deal with that.  We did.  Thanks to Anna Wu for this preview shot:

It's gonna be a great set.