memory keeping while on vacation

I tried something new this summer while on vacation.

I brought my Instax printer, my Traveler's notebook, and a bag with a few supplies.

My thought was to download photos nightly, edit them, print a few, and create a small notebook full of the little stories from our trip.

Did it work?  It was Amazing.  With a capital A.

Here are the details:

1.  I did not download every night, but I did most nights.  I would lay in bed with my laptop while the rest of the family watched tv, and I would quickly download and do a simple edit on the photos I kept, and deleted the rest.

2.  The next morning, I would select a few (maybe 4 or 5), that helped tell a story, and would print them while the rest of the family was still getting ready.  I tend to be the first one up and the first to get ready, just so the bathroom is free for the 2 teenage girls. And my husband tries to pretend he can sleep 18 more minutes and feel like it was 3 more hours.  Which doesn't work, but he hasn't figured this out just yet.

3.  On our slower days, I would gather the photos and the bag of supplies, and the Traveler's notebook and head down to the hotel lobby.  There was this long worktable, where I would set up shop and get to work.  At first I felt a bit funny, but no one coming or going seemed to even notice me.  I would simply adhere the photos to the page and add my words. Tell the story behind the photo.  Then to finish off the page, I would add washi tape, maybe a few stamps, and some watercolor.  This would take about 1hr.  Sometimes I went alone, and sometimes the husband would go with me and read on his tablet.  It provided some alone time for me, and allowed the girls space away from us, which is needed after many days together in a tiny hotel room.

4.  When I came home, the notebook was done, and I quickly made a digital book of many more photos that I cherished from the trip.  Easy Peasy.

Now, this worked great because my kids are not little anymore, so they don't need all the supervision they once did.  But I'm sure you can think of ways to tweak the system a bit to make it fit for your particular situation.

p.s. I also have sketches in my notebook, but that's a story I'll share another time.

Getting Rid of 89.2% of my Mini Albums

I'm working on getting rid of 89.2% of my mini albums.

What? Why?

I scrapbook.

I have ever since I had my first son, back in Oct. 1992.

But I'm also working on de-cluttering my space.

Now, I know this sounds crazy.  Why on earth would I get rid of books I've made capturing amazing family adventures over the years?  Because it's time.

Let me go back and explain a few things.

First of all, I have been scrapbooking for 24 yrs, as I mentioned above.

It was a passion of mine.  Recording all those moments. I loved the craft aspect. And the photography aspect. And definitely the documenting aspect.

All those milestones, birthdays, holidays, as our family grew from 3 to 6.

At some point, maybe 10 years ago, I switched to documenting the "little moments" rather than just Christmas or Easter.

And I loved this approach even more. So I made lots of pages.

I had an album for each child, along with albums for me.  This means, over the years, I have created  about 3 albums per kid and about 15 albums for me.  I took this project very seriously.  And, that's a lot of albums!

And then maybe 5 years ago I added in Project Life, which is just another method of documenting our lives.

At about the same time, I started creating mini albums for trips we took, whether a day trip or a week long vacation.  And we take quite a few trips. So I have made tons of mini albums, maybe 40 or 50.

Last year I decided to scan all of my scrapbook albums.  I kept some pages and created an album for my mom and one for my dad. And I got rid of the rest.

I know.  I heard that gasp here in Chandler.

It turned out to be ok.  Everything is stored on my laptop.

I asked the kids if they wanted to keep their albums in the physical form, or make them digital, and they all chose to keep the originals.

Now, back to the present time, it was time to address those mini albums.

I have 2 large baskets with these albums. I keep them in the living room for easy access. And on occasion, the kids will pull out the baskets and flip through the books.

But, I feel this constant pull to declutter. So, I decided that I would keep the Disneyland albums, but get rid of the rest. (I also kept all my December daily albums but I keep those packed up with the Christmas decorations)

I started to scan them a few months using my Tiny Scanner app on my phone.  It made me cry looking at my babies, who are no longer babies.  And I quit.  But a few months later, I scanned a few more, then quit again when I started crying. And then this week, I simply grew tired of writing the item every week on my "to do" list.  It was time to finish the project.  So i dumped them out on on the living room floor, in a big pile. And every few hours I stopped and picked up 3.  I probably started with 25 books yesterday, and am down to 6, which I will finish later this afternoon.

And yes, I cried again yesterday. I found there were some photos I simply couldn't part with.

I just couldn't toss out a beloved photo. So I didn't.  I wrote dates on the back, grabbed some tape, and started taping them onto my bedroom wall, where I already had some photo booth strips hung up.

Side note:  I love me some photo booth strips.

Anyways, I now have 2 cleaned out baskets, and I feel good.

That's all I'm aiming to do. Do what feels right at the time.

And if I want to create a mini book for another trip, I will. And I'm sure I will.

And if I feel it's time to get rid of that book in 10 yrs, that's ok too.

Now, let me know if you have any questions about the process.  And if you want to meet up at a photo booth, I'll be happy to hop in with you and make funny faces!