Enjoying The Views

Mother and daughter look out over Shenandoah National Park.

It's that time of year again. The Autumn hues--the golds, reds, oranges, and yellows--are starting to show all their splendor. It's still early in the season, but we didn't want to miss any of the changing colors. So we packed up the car with all three children and left at sunrise to see what we could find. We drove through Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, winding up and down the mountains, in search of beauty. While not all the colors have come to life just yet, there were plenty of picturesque moments to remember as we drove through tunnels of trees where the sunlight was hitting the leaves just right to make it appear as if the yellows and golds were coming to life.

Here I sit on my perch.

After stopping at a number of overlooks, we found a nice place to have an unplanned brunch before continuing our tour of the park. Just a few miles from our exit we came to a stop that had a number of large boulders that we climbed to get a grand view of the valley below. The kids loved playing and I enjoyed the sight of the vista with the sun shining down and the smell of the crisp Autumn morning.

I'm really looking forward to going back through the park again in less than two weeks, taking the same path, to see what amazing new colors we'll be able to see. Autumn is my favorite time of year and to imagine the transformation in just a couple of weeks is quite suspenseful.

Reconnect With An Old Friend

Over three decades ago I was given a blanket that I would always carry with me. This blue plaid blanket became the item I couldn’t sleep without for years. I loved that blanket. The years past and I eventually forgot about it—not knowing where it ended up. Well, when my first daughter was about 1 or so, my mother brought that blanket out of storage and gave it to her as a gift. After just a little bit of time with this 30-year old rag-of-a-blanket it came time to discard it. The edges were fraying, the dyes were faded, and the poor blanket looked like it was time to be recycled.

My daughter, on the other hand, had other plans. She was adamant about keeping it. So, after talking with some family who know a thing or two about sewing and fabrics, we decided to see if we could get it fixed. What that meant we didn’t know. Ultimately, my mother took it to someone she knew who had some experience giving new life to old blankets. After months of not having her blanket my mother told us that it was done and ready to come home. Before we made the trip to Grammy’s house I did a sketch to get my daughter excited about seeing her newly improved friend. She was so happy and excited to see her blanket that it nearly brought tears to my eyes. Now she won't go to bed without it. :-)

It doesn’t matter if you reach out to an old college buddy or if you resurrect a favorite childhood toy, if you have the chance, try to reconnect with an old friend. The joy can be contagious.

Summer Break Comes To A Close

Today officially marks the end of this year's summer break. Everyday for the past 65 days I have sketched something to do in an effort to get my kids thinking about how they could spend their time. Some ideas were pre-planned (like taking a trip or going to the zoo) and others sadly never happened (like learning magic or riding rollercoasters). But overall I thought the summer was a success.

View fullsize

65 sketches for the 65 days of summer.

Over the past 65 days while I focused on the Summer Break List Of Things To Do series, the Lunch Note Sketch community grew quite a bit on social media. Facebook saw an increase of 169% in page likes and Instagram followers almost tripled.

View fullsize

Best on Facebook
The highest performing sketch on Facebook was "Pray." It had a reach of 209, was clicked 32 times, and had 25 likes, comments, or shares. I created this sketch after learning of a family emergency and clearly it was probably one of the quickest sketches done all summer.

View fullsize

Best on Instagram
The top performing sketch on Instagram was "Ride A Rollercoaster." That sketch received 35 likes. Oddly enough, this is one of only a few sketches that we were not able to follow through on. The day we planned on going to the fair was a day filled with storms. There's always next summer, though. :-)

View fullsize

Personal Favorite
Of all 65 sketches that I had done, my favorite has to be the "Hug Your Dad" sketch. Obviously, I like the message given that I am a father myself, but I really liked the way the characters turned out in that drawing and the cleanliness of the text.

View fullsize

Quickest Sketch
There was a lot of time dedicated to these sketches. I'm not sure how many total hours it took, but the quickest sketch ("Relax") probably took only 5 minutes to come up with and post online. This particular drawing was done at the end of a wonderful beach vacation. It was my abstract ode to the ocean meeting the sky on the horizon.

View fullsize

Most Time-Consuming Sketch
The longest sketch, due to the fact it went beyond the typical sticky note (it was in fact 11 sticky notes connected together) was the "Build A Tower" conglomerate. The concept came fairly quickly, but the sketching and the logistics of posting it online took over 3 hours. You can read more about it and see the full piece in the blog post that was written.

I hope you enjoyed the Summer Break List Of Things To Do series of sketches. If you have a favorite sketch, please share it in the comments or on social media. Now, it's time to start sketching for school lunches. :-)

Wave

View fullsize

My 4-year old daughter is two weeks away from a new school year. The other day she said she was really excited to get back. So, to continue the conversation we asked her what she was looking forward to the most. Her answer was "art." That's enough to make me proud, but she continued by saying that she wants to learn how to draw people. And more specifically, she said she really wants to learn how to draw hands. So, I created the "Wave" sketch to show her that hands can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, robot or cartoon, four fingers or five. I can't wait to see where her love of art takes her in life.

The Making of "Build A Tower"

The other day we were enjoying some time at Bounce-n-Play. While I was stacking blocks with my son I thought "building a tower" would make for a great sketch. However, when I sat down to draw it out I realized the idea of stacking blocks correlated quite well with stacking sticky notes. So I did a few sketches to try and figure out how to go about creating something.

I still wanted to create a single note that could be shown off on social media like I always do, but I took it further by adding on to the tower. Eleven sticky notes later I had a sizable structure. The following images showcase the process from start to finish.

Idea Generation

This tower we built really got me thinking of a new sketch.

Preliminary Sketch

I wanted to jot down how I thought the multi-note sketch would work.

Build A Tower

Here is the one note that is used on social media.

The Tower

This image is 11 sticky notes stitched together. I was really happy with how it turned out. :-)

Build A Rocket

View fullsize

This is what a 4-year old, a box, markers, tape, and scissors looks like. Lots of fun and imagination. :-)

The process for sketching is never really defined. Sometimes the "Thing To Do" takes place before the sketch is done. Today's sketch is a good example. Yesterday I was playing with my daughter and had a blast (pun intended) turning an ordinary box into a rocket that provided us entertainment throughout the evening. This experience gave me the idea to create a sketch called "Build A Rocket."

View fullsize

With a box, markers, tape, scissors, and a lot of imagination we were able to turn this ordinary box into a rocket ship complete with an eject button, a cardboard pet dog/cat taped to the side, and lots of smiles. Her imagination runs wild and I wouldn't have it any other way! The whole reason I sketch a note everyday is to show that there is a lot we can do -- both kids and adults -- to insert a little fun and creativity in to our day. This image shows the true essence of Lunch Note Sketch. Let's get creative!

Vacation Notes

My family and I recently spent five days at a beach in North Carolina. Four adults and three children (Auntie and Uncle were there) spending time in the pool, the sand, and the ocean. It was glorious. Now that we’re back I wanted to show off the vacation-themed sketches that were done while there. There’s nothing quite like sketching notes while listening to the waves crashing against the shore.

For the past 35 odd days I have been sketching notes based on the Summer Break List Of Things To Do theme. These sketches have been ways to come up with new ideas for the kids to explore while on summer break. Admittedly, I haven’t heard any complaining about being bored. That has to do with the fact that our three kids range in age from 9 months to 4 years old, so everything is exciting. It probably has more to do with the fact that my wife is a super mom and keeps them busy everyday. Nonetheless, I wanted to create notes based on our vacation and the things we might be doing that day.

Build A Sandcastle

​The first day’s sketch was an easy one. Building a sandcastle seemed like the hot topic in the days leading up to the beach. Last year my daughters were more interested in the sand than the waves, so I figured it might be the case this year. Much to my surprise and delight, they wanted to spend more time in the water. Sandcastles were built, just not as big and elaborate as I thought they’d be.

Look for Seashells

Looking for seashells was always one of my favorite things to do when I went to the beach as a kid. Every year I always seemed to get lucky and find at least one really cool item — whether it was a seashell, sand dollar, starfish, etc. This year we were determined to find something cool. And we did!

Catch a Wave

After discovering that the girls were more interested in the water I wanted to shift focus from the sand to the surf. While we didn’t go surfing, we spent plenty of time jumping waves. Eventually, our 3-year old — the same girl who hated the water last year — was running and diving into the waves.

Go Snorkeling

We bought a mask and snorkel for my oldest daughter because we thought it would be fun to let her see under the water as she swam. She really enjoyed the pool and used the mask quite a bit there. Maybe next year we’ll go to a beach that has clear water where she can actually see fish and coral.

Relax

The final note came on the day we were leaving. After our quick getaway, I thought it was important to recognize that we all need to relax. Especially as the vacation winds down. All the time was spent running around on the beach or in the pool, as well as taking care of three small children. So this note might be more geared to the adults, but certainly should be appropriate for the kids as well.

Where have you gone on vacation this year and how did you like? If you took your children, what were some of their favorite activities? Please share your stories in the comments. And don't forget to tag any of your beach sketches on social media using the #LunchNoteSketch hashtag.