It has been a week since I took this photo.
Which means I've had a week to think about all of the ways photos don't tell the full story.
The Sunflower Festival at Schwirian Farm has been a thing for a few years now. Last year we stumbled onto it purely by accident, but this year was planned. Some of my favorite photos of the girls have been taken in that field of flowers, so now I'm collecting them for however many years it works out. The plan to go back to the sunflower field was very well communicated. Both girls had outfits in mind and were excited to go.
Until it was time to go. Alexis happily got extra dressed up and was all sorts of ready to leave, but Mila was tired. When that kid is tired, there is nothing that she can be convinced to do in any way, shape, or form. I drug her out anyway because I'm mean (and because it was the only day we could do it).
So many tears.
Such a fit.
All of the whining.
Mila managed to be all sorts of pissed the entire way there, and it's not close. It took us probably an hour to get there? And when we did get there, the real explosion happened. Mila had worn flip-flops, which is the worst idea for a field at a farm, so I had thrown her rain boots in the back of the car. Me getting her to change into sensible shoes could be likened to curing cancer or winning a gold medal at the Olympics or some other impossible feat. It. Was. Ugly.
For what it's worth, normally I wouldn't fight with Mila quite like that, but when she's tired, there's really no way of dealing with her. She can't be reasoned with or bribed and don't you dare suggest that she needs some sleep because she will become possessed by a demon and go all Exorcist on you. The only way out of the mess is to get through the mess, so whatever. I drug a bare foot kid out in a field and she magically discovered it might be a good idea to put her boots on.
And then Mila flipped some sort of internal switch. She went from "THIS IS THE WORST" to "OMG I AM SO HAPPY" in an instant. I got an hour worth of good photos of her as I did my best to keep up with her while she ran up and down the rows of flowers.
So, basically, the photos make it look like a very good day.
But that's not quite the whole story.