Learning to Jump

I woke up this morning to find that one of my favorite bloggers had posted a whole article on learning to jump out of your safety zone. This really hit a nerve with me both personally and with my budding photography business.

I've never been a real adventure taker. I'm afraid of fish touching me in the ocean. I hyperventilated and had to get back on the boat during my one and only tropical snorkeling trip on our honeymoon. I have no desire to ever bungee jump or any of those crazy risk taking things people do. However, I'm coming to realize as a mother that sometimes you have to suck it up and try things for the sake of your kids. I don't want my boys to end up with the same fears and self doubt that I have. I'm constantly amazed by the new things that Big C is willing to try and that he tackles without doubt or any kind of fears. This past weekend we were back in Ocean City, NJ and he did two things that shocked me. The first was that he and a friend (Mr. N from the previous post) went on all the rides at Wonderland Pier by themselves without ever looking back. Rollercoaster - check, Tilt-a-whirl - check, hot air balloons, big swings - check and check.

The second thing that he did was to jump INTO the bay at my parent's dock. Now let me say for the record that the Bay gives me the Heebie Jeebies. First, you can see the fish swimming when you're standing on the dock (yes, they're minnows, but still..) and second, when the tide goes out and you can see the bottom of the bay, it's gross. Really mucky mud, with lots and lots of icky seaweed. Anyway, my dad's been practicing swimming across the lagoon, so Big C watched him do this one day, and the next day decided that he would get in. I had to hold his hands, and lower him into the water each time, and he'd cling to my dad until he got back to the ladder. The next day, D was there with him, so he was a little bit braver, jumping in and still clinging till he got back to the ladder. By the third day, he was totally going for it. Huge splashing dives, swimming around without holding on to anyone. I decided I needed to get over myself and I got in with them. If I didn't think about it, it wasn't so bad, and I'm so glad I was able to experience the excitement of a new adventure with my son.For those of you who may doubt, here's a video proving that I actually got in the water (that's me at the very end treading water).

The last big adventure that we had this week, is that we tried out a tag-along bike for Big C, and a bike seat for Little C. We'd never tried either of these things before, but they both loved them. We were able to take our first family bike ride on the Boardwalk in Ocean City. Here we are with Pops and Little C.
This has been a big summer in the Nelson house, we're learning to jump, stepping outside our comfort zones and going for it!

S Family

Erin and I go way back - she was our official driver in high school. She lived pretty far away from school, so she got a car right away. I can remember climbing in and out of the back of her 2 door Bronco hundreds of times. I'm not sure why, but I was always the one stuck in the back seat...
Anyway, when she heard I was going to Ocean City last week, she asked if I'd be interested in taking a few pictures of her kids at the beach. I jumped at the chance to take on a new challenge. I'd never really worked in that kind of wide open light during a real photo shoot. Turns out it was a pretty overcast day, and we were able to get some nice shots.

One thing I'm noticing doing these family shoots - I've got a pretty good rapport going with the 5 year old boy set. Mr. N was as chatty as could be with me, telling me all about his friends and asking about my boys. The added excitement of getting up on top of the lifeguard stand was quite a thrill.

On the flip side, Little K was very disappointed that I was the wrong Miss Kelly. Apparently one of their close friends at home is named Kelly, and her daughter is close friends with Little K. She was pretty bummed to find out I was the Kelly they were going to see, so we started off a little rough, but when Mom brought out the princess dress in the end, it was all ok.

With about 5 minutes left to go in the shoot, the sun finally broke through the clouds, and we got some great light.

And here's the slide show. Thanks S family, it was great to see you again. Maybe we can do it again next summer!

G Family

I had a great photo session this weekend with the G family in downtown Leesburg. Mom was my first "Mommy Friend" after we met in a Mommy support group with our first-borns. I was so flattered when she asked if I'd take their pictures. It was a beautiful morning, and I know that Mom was stressing out about the cooperation level from her kiddos. Despite the stress, I think we got some winners. So many in fact, that I'm having a hard time choosing which to post here.

I'll start with my favorite:
Little Miss M. just turned 2, and was absolutely adorable. She's a wild one though, and it was hard to get her to sit still - she wanted to jump off every wall and rock we found. I was still able to catch her in a few quiet moments and got these shots. Don't you love the dress Mom chose for her?
Mr. C was none to happy to be taking pictures on a Saturday, so he was a little grumpy as we started off. In the end though, he came around and was a great sport. Especially when we found a tree to climb and a grassy yard to run around in.

For these last two I was doing a little experimentation with being more creative with my shots. I love how they turned out with the focused foreground and blurry backgrounds. The kids were a little reluctant to be sitting in the grass, so I couldn't get Miss M's feet, but I still like the effect.

And finally, the slide show.

Thanks G family! You were great.

K Family

It's been a very weird summer here weather-wise. The first half of June was so wet, but since late June it hasn't rained here at all. Not one drop - until this past Saturday when I had my second family photoshoot.

It started out as a beautiful sunny day, until around 2pm when it started getting cloudy. At 4:00 it was drizzling a bit, but decided to give it a go as we're both fairly busy for the next few weeks. The rain had stopped, so we started our session under great lighting at the beautifully landscaped front entrance to our neighborhood. The rain got harder and heavier, so we had to cut it a bit short, but we got some great shots. Here are a few of my favorites:

Baby C and her Mommy

Big Brother B loved the waterfalls.

The K family.

Thanks guys for coming out in the foul weather. I had a great time!

Happy Independence Day!

We decided to take the boys to Ocean City, NJ this weekend to celebrate the 4th with my parents. They're in a new house on the Bay, and don't yet have the window treatments in - which means we were all up very early each day. We'd go out on the dock to give my brother a little peace and quiet. Here the boys are testing out their new life jackets, and watering Noni's plants - it's about 7:00 in the morning:



We had a terrific time, and despite the lack of sleep the boys did really well. I didn't get any pictures of Little C at the beach, but we were amazed at how much he liked it. I really thought he'd have issues with sand on his feet, but he jumped right in and filled buckets and stomped castles and played with the ball roll like an old pro. He was so exhausted that he fell asleep on the walk back to the house before we got off the beach.

By far, our favorite part of the new house is the beautiful dock on the bay. We had all of our snacks out there and loved hanging out all day. When we get ready for bed every night we do something called "Favorite Parts", where we all list our favorite parts of the day. It's a great way for us to share as a family and to get a little insight into what the kids are thinking. Each night we were there, each of our favorite parts were kayaking! It's so much fun and great exercise. Big C learned how to paddle this weekend, and was a great help, here he's letting Pops relax a bit: