Here’s the super brief on how I am connected to the Barbera family:

My dad was in Korea for a year (airforce move), by himself, while the rest of our family remained in the states. It was really sad and we only saw him a few times. Anyway…while in Seoul, dad met the Barbera family (they were stationed at the same base) and over time was, in a way, adopted by this fabulous family. I remember seeing pictures of my dad carrying this tiny little girl on his shoulders as they walked along the Great Wall of China. Parties, dinners, sight-seeing, you name it…my pops was invited. I know it’s nothing like having his own fam right there with him, but it was so comforting knowing there was a fill-in family on the other side of the world. So, naturally, when dad moved back and the Barbera’s amazingly were moved to the same base as my dad in Dayton, we stayed closely connected. We see them at every holiday and other occasional family gatherings on a Friday night or saturday cookout. They’re family to us. It’s been fun seeing the kids grow and getting to know everyone the way my dad was privileged to know them. 

There’s the “brief”. Now on to the photos.

Anne understands how I work. How fun to get an email from her asking me to just “hang out and take some picture while the sisters are in town”. That’s it. That’s the way I like to work. Take some time to settle into their environment and document some fun! Then we pulled in the occasional squish-in-tight-for-a-group-shot photo.

This tackle lasted a full minute. It didn’t stop and was as slow as it looks in these pics. Poor Timmy’s pants were probably coming off by the time this was done!

The two women on the left are Tom’s sister’s visiting from Cali.

The once tiny Julia is growing up. Love this shot of her and Anne.

And this was my favorite moment with Andrea…

Sibling love:) Tom is unsure about having it documented.

Ok, this was funny.  The guys wanted to show me what a “bro-hug” looks like. Intense and very uncomfortable. I like my soft girly hugs, thank you.

I love you, Barbera family! Thanks for having me over to “work” (it hardly looked like work, i know…)  while you played:)