Beach Trip

Chad and his best friend Dan went to my in-law's beach house together all the time growing up. Since he moved his family back to the east coast recently, we had to get together there. It was a mess trying to get us all there, but we had a lot of fun.

They have 4 girls. Gracie is just a bit older than Chloe. They of course got along great. Then they have twins just a little younger than Everett, Reese and Violet. The twins couldn't be more polar opposite in every way. Reese and Everett got along well... most of the time. (Toward the end, he started having less patience with her. We were all tired by the end.) Anyway, they were SO cute to watch. Poor Everett was the only boy, as usual, but Reese made up for it. She's quite a tomboy. They rolled around in the waves together most of the time.

I love this picture! It was toward the end of the trip where everyone was tired. They were tired enough to just sit for a minute. Everett's just chillin' while Reese has a giddy "he's sitting next to me!" look on her face.
Of course we had to get a picture of them hugging.And then they went right back to splashing.Dan's wife, Becky had two nieces and her mom who happened to be in town. They were enjoyable as well. I was so impressed by these teenagers! They are so responsible and respectful. And they love kids. Chloe of course wanted to be one of them. In an effort to keep her from bugging them I said, "Chloe, sometimes big kids just need some big kid time." She said, "but I am a big kid." So cute and innocent. But they really didn't seem to mind having little shadows. And they love to babysit. I'm so much the opposite that I can't wrap my head around that, but It was nice to not have to worry about my kids with them. I didn't have to worry about their influence on my kid or about Chloe bugging them or being safe with them.

Everett was cute too. I noticed him moping at one point. Turns out he saw the girls jumping waves together and wanted to do it too. I asked if he wanted me to jump with him, but no, he wanted the teenagers. And they graciously obliged. Again, it's nice to have my kids look up to such good kids.

Most of his time though was spent getting beat up by the waves. His favorite was boogie boarding. Chad would push him into the waves, run in to fetch him and do it again.

When Chloe wasn't shadowing the teenagers, she was with Gracie. She loves her.
Dan rented a surf board too. He and Chad surfed a lot together in high school. But with kids, it's a little more difficult. We all took turns on it. Everett wasn't bad but did NOT like the wipeouts. I think Gracie was the best at it.
Chad tried to teach me to surf during our first year of marriage. It's the only time he's heard me cuss. I did not enjoy getting beat up. And I don't have good balance. In those days, if I didn't get something right away, I wasn't interested. But, being older and wiser ;) I had a little more patience with it and with myself. Plus, I'm about 15 lb. sturdier now, so I wasn't getting beat up as much. I actually got up a few times! I don't have the upper body strength though, so Chad pushed me into the waves most of the time. Luckily, because he saw my one really good one. I went so far that a stranger chick surfer cheered for me! I was so proud. It's not pretty, but here's some proof.

We didn't do much other than the beach. But Dan and Becky are great photographers. So they took the teenagers out for a photo shoot. Chloe, Gracie, and I got to tag along. It was a little bit of a dream come true for me. All the years we've been going to this beach, I've wanted to shoot at these spots. I've also always wanted to shoot with Dan and Becky b/c I love their style and wanted to learn some of the effects that they do. It was so much fun! And I learned a lot!

My FAVORITE two shots were the first and last of the day. I'm not confident enough yet to direct a shoot or to direct subjects. This trip made me realize that directing is part of it all and I need to practice that. I also didn't want to get in the way and waste their time. But I'm excited to just get the settings right.

I needed a spotlight on her, but look at that sky!!

Now that I'm looking back, this isn't a favorite. It needs more light, setting sun on her face would be perfect.

Chloe LOVED the photo shoot as well.

She felt special, like one of the big kids.
Of course, like her mother, she loves making beautiful things. And I thoroughly enjoyed being with her. We need mother-daughter dates. This might be my favorite shot of her. It's very "Chloe."Oh, and she got to play with Gracie some more.

Gracie goes on a lot of the shoots I guess with her parents. You can tell. She and Chloe got to take some pics too. It was fun watching 6 year olds direct the teenagers into photos that they thought would be beautiful. It was also fun letting them direct me (as my models.) Chloe did get a little carried away at times though. I had to remind her a lot that this was the teenagers' shoot, not hers. She still tried to sneak into the shot though.I also had to catch her in between the modeling. Otherwise, I'd get "America's Next Top Model" poses. Yeah, I hate her watching that show with me, but I love the art of it. I fast forward the high school drama.

Again, we had a lot of fun. And I now find myself pining after a lens and dreaming about shooting.

On our last night at the beach house (we were only there for 3 days,) the teenagers cleaned up dinner and put the kids to bed for us. The adults went out to a LATE dinner. It was really fun to hang out with them as just adults. But on the way back, we got a ticket. It was so bogus! She caught Chad swerve around some roadwork that was being done really close to the line. The jerkface seemed to think she'd get herself a DUI. She soon realized that wasn't the case, but couldn't be wrong. So she cited him for a "failure to yield." Because Chad turned a little "too" close to a car that was going really slowly and "almost caused a collision." $160. It was so stupid. It didn't ruin all the fun we had though. And now we know that cops there are jerks. So we'll mind our P's and Q's when we're there.