The Coates Family

Ben is from California and Vivian is from Boston. They met in college and moved to Winston-Salem in 2012 for Ben to start teaching at Wake! Vivian is a corporate lawyer. Talk about a power couple!

When their out of town family and friends visit, they like to take them to small, unique businesses in town. Their go-to stop is cafe gelato which stands on what my family calls "antique row" in downtown winston (near Winston-Salem Theatre Alliance).

When the weather is nice, they go to Hanes Park with Emma and June to play.

They met me at Hanes Park to begin their photoshoot. As soon as they arrived, it began to drizzle and the temperature began to drop. We decided to roll with it, and use my massive umbrella I got from working on Max. Talk about having awesome clients!

That taco she has in her hand? Dad's artful snack creation. I may steal that snack idea for Arlo.

They set up a little picnic area for reading.

Ben spotted this often overlooked bridge and asked if we could take a photo there. YES!!

For the next photo, Viv stood behind me and made some crazy noise and faces to make the girls laugh. I wish I could've seen what she was doing! They were cracking up.

After we got the photos on our list, we crossed the street to warm up in Cafe Gelato.

Ciska, the owner is so friendly! Before the family arrived, I asked her if we could take photos and she did not hesitate to say yes. She said we can even move around anything we'd like. We got to chatting and realized we had mutual friends in common. She is long time friends with a few people I worked with on the movie Max. There's nothing like walking into a local business and getting to talk with the owner like a friend.

Emma and June were so excited to pick their flavors. They knew what they wanted right away.

"Cheers!" They said as they tapped spoons.