Our Family Vacation

This is our first real family vacation and boy we sure have set the bar high! Everyone said, "Florida, in July? Are you guys nuts?" Yeah, maybe we were but God sure hooked us up because although it was really warm, for the most part it was overcast and not one of us got burnt! I think we'd all agree that our most favorite part was swimming with the dolphins at Discovery Cove. If you ever get the chance to go - do not pass up the opportunity! It was amazing with the hours of snorkeling we did and then the interactions with the dolphins....wow! We have tons of pictures and a video to remember it by and I'll just share with you a few of our favorites!

This is us in the wading area with the manta rays. Tressa was really proud she touched 48 at that point. They are really soft. It was an awesome experience! At one point Cory had one land in his hand under water and just stayed there for a couple minutes!

What a good dad, though I think he would have thought twice about taking both the kids by himself if he knew what he was in for. The Tropical River is an area at Discovery Cove that has a current pushing you through it. For any of you that ever decide to go - a bit of advice... it would be nice to have something to float on while looking at all the gorgeous scenery and going underneath waterfalls or at least know how to swim for long periods of time as most of it is over your head.

This was a little piece of information Cory did not know about as he took Gabe, who can't swim very well and likes to climb over your head as he's trying to get away from the hundreds of gallons of water falling on his head, and Tressa, who can swim pretty well but has to wipe her eyes every time they get wet (which was a lot). Since I had my camera with me I couldn't go in so I waited for them at the place where they should have ended up and wondered if I should go in after them when it seemed like it had been way too long. Finally they emerged from the water "a little worn out". Needless to say the next time we went through we got floating vests and goggles for the kids!

When it is your turn to ride on the dolphin they tell you to grab onto his fin with your right hand and under his belly with your left. Gabe was the last one for a ride. Assuming he watched all the previous rides and knew what they meant when the trainer said "Hop on!" Gabe actually did "hop on" just like he was riding a horse! The trainer laughed so hard and told him that wasn't quite what she meant and that was the first time she'd seen anyone do that!

More pictures to come soon!

Ben

I had a chance to photograph a great kid last week. He was quite a sport walking through God knows what while we were at the grainary and posing even when it started to rain. His favorites were the images that showed off his District Champs shirt.

Here are some of my favs from the day!

Morgana Grier

I absolutely love newborn sessions! They are little miracles, every one of them and to capture something so amazing, so fleeting is an honor and privelage. Little Morgana weighed 8 pounds at birth though I don't know where she kept it. Her whole head fit in my hand, and she was so light compared to my 9 month old! I think my mother hopes doing these newborn sessions will make me want another one. We have 3 great kids so why mess with perfection?

Morgana was not very tired, so her poor mama had to work pretty hard to get her to sleep, but it was so worth it! We got some really great images! See you in 3 months Miss Morgana!

Oh the Places You'll Go!

"OH! THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!

You'll be seeing great sights!

You'll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.

You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.

Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.

Wherever you go, you will top all the rest."

Excerpt from "Oh the places you'll go" by Dr. Seuss

I love this book. If you haven't read it since grade school it's been too long. I sometimes put it in my Seniors slideshow, makes the mom's cry every time.

I was reminded of this book while I was taking pictures of my son Eli outside the other day. It was one of his first experiences touching grass. He was a little unsure if he should even move at first. He sat really still, just moving his eyes, taking in nature as it whirled through the trees and blew the fluffy dandelions into the air. Soon he got brave and as the long blades reached out and tickled his toes, he reached down and pulled a long green strand out of the ground and immediately put it in his mouth. Mmmmm.....yeah maybe not. Here came the drool to flush it out of his mouth and then he was off. Squeeling and screeching he'd yell as he carefully crawled through the grass picking up little sticks and leaves. Leaves from last fall, last fall when he was just brand new. Here it is almost June, nine whole months went by like a week. As he stuck the brown crispy leaf in his mouth I started to cry.

How fast it all went. I hear that so much now. We all have so many things to fill up our time, so many things to keep us busy - busier than yesterday, busier than last week. I couldn't hardly even remember how we'd gotten to where we were. I go through the daily routine so much and every day you prepare things for the next. Always looking to tomorrow when today isn't even finished. I looked at this curious, beautiful boy feeling the grass beneath his little fingers and I felt a change.

I promise I will enjoy you today.

I promise not to spend so much time on my computer that I don't see the wonder of what you see.

I promise I will not think so much about tomorrow that I don't remember today.

I promise to stop and feel the grass with you.

I promise to look for shapes in the clouds with you.

I promise to spend hours blowing bubbles for you.

I promise to laugh with you.

I promise to enjoy your childhood with you.

Todd

Sometimes you just get tired of shooting in the same place so I went and scouted for some new spots before this Seniors shoot and I am so glad I did! I ran into this farmer, who was around seventy I think, and was completely confused on why I was asking to take pictures at his grainary. Love those shots we got there! Todd was a natural and we ran all over town leaving us about 400 images to sort out at the end of the night! There are so many images to choose from, it was so hard to pick, but these are a few of my favs!

Mitchell

Seriously, this has been one of the best shoots yet! Mitchell's dad works at McMorran in Port Huron so he got us ice time and we got some amazing shots! I think this was Mitchell's favorite part of the day, could it have been the fact that he got me completely soaked not once but twice? Mmmm...yeah probably.



His mom Shelly had some great ideas and we drove around Port Huron stopping here and there, going down alleys and climbing up trains. We had a blast! Mitchell was a great sport and humored us through it all - I think because we saved the best for last...golfing! We went to shoot at Port Huron Golf Club and it was like watching a little kid in a candy store. He could hardly handle that he got the place all to himself and even got a little playing time in while he was waiting for me to get my lighting right! I think the funniest part was either his poor mother Shelly hanging on for dear life on the back of the golf cart while Mitchell would forget she was back there and go off-roading or watching Mitchell set up each golf club, in specific order and equally spaced, in a circle for one of the shots!



The whole day was just too much fun, I loved working with you both and we got some awesome shots!

More from Julie & Desmond

Julie is just finding out her dog is missing...

Whew! Watch out Grace don't mess with the bride...or the brides dog! I'm only kidding, if you notice the next picture, little Grace has this natural frown that she was shooting everyone that day and Julie was just playing with her! I don't know though, if Julie's brother was in the room at that point he may have gotten one of those looks for losing her dog!