Afternoon with the Clements

We recently made the acquaintance of a certain Mark Patrick Clements. He is a photographer by trade, has a wife and four children, and is a German Irish mix. We happened upon him at the Kansas City PUG meeting that Paul spoke at earlier this month. We discovered that he and his family live way out in the country as well and not even an hour from us. Our time together was brief as he had to leave early.

We received a call this afternoon from the very same Mark. He was in the area with his kids and wanted to stop in. About half an hour later a dark mini van pulls in the driveway. Out comes Mark and three adorable blonde little boys. He introduced us to his flock.....Mark is the oldest, then comes Gabriel, and here is little Daniel or Danny...most times I call him Daniel Boone. They clung to their dad for the first few minutes but then spying the open yard and potential mud holes they ran off. Keeping a watchful eye on his young brood, Mark conversated with us about this and that for a while. It was interesting getting to know him better. He grew up in Texas, family of 14, married a girl from an equally large family and settled here in the Midwest.

Before long, having exhausted the yard and all its messy spots, the kids were anxious for a change of scenery. I headed to the store for some snacks as Paul and Mark herded the kids toward the direction of the pond. Every little boy likes to fish, right? By the time I got home they were all down by the water casting away. I put the food in our picnic basket and started out across the field. Vaulting over the fence I.......wait....stop....typing error....sorry...here we go...Delicately climbing the fence, I tried to avoid the sharp barbed wires. I always hold my breath till I make it over. As soon as I made it to the group the little boys descended upon me. I gave out pretzels, animal crackers and juice boxes. They loved it.

Mark let me use his Canon 70-200mm lens and I played around with it. Awesomeness!! Here are some shots taken with it:















Here is a shot of the little fish that I caught.....

We had a great afternoon and we are looking forward to seeing more of the Clements. :)