My Boys at the Beach

So as I said in the previous post, I dressed everyone up one morning and we schlepped down to the beach to take some nice pictures while we were in Corolla last week. It was really, REALLY hot while we were there, and there was no ocean breeze. Everyone was pretty frustrated with me for doing this, but I really wanted some pictures of both boys for our walls, and I was hoping that maybe I could actually get a chance to be IN some pictures too. That didn't really work out like I had hoped... I did get some great ones of the boys, both together and separately, but nothing of me with the boys. I basically gave D my camera and then wrestled with the boys and yelled at D. They were some real winners - I was looking for one to post here as proof, but they are all so bad, I can't.
My boys on the otherhand, were charmers despite how annoyed they were with me. Here are my favorites:

Little C is very much into running these days. He'll stand there and say "Doh!" (Rhymes with Go) over and over again until someone else says it, and then he'll take off running. I love the joy on his face in these two shots.

Big C having a stare down with a seagull.Early in the morning, the beach was covered with holes and tracks from the sand crabs that would scurry in and out. Here's a great example of the wise older brother suckering his curious younger bro into sticking his arm down the crab hole... Big C's no dummy!

My favorites. I think these will be hanging up in our family room soon.

Vacation 2009

We're back from our family vacation in the Outer Banks of NC. We had a great time! It was really hot, but the water was great, and we didn't have a single drop of rain until we were driving out of town to head home. The boys had a great time and were old enough this year to have a lot of fun adventures. I was so busy enjoying myself that I didn't take a whole lot of pictures. It was much more fun to be involved in the activities than to be an observer taking it all in.

We were on an adjusted schedule there, since we were in a condo with adjacent neighbors. We didn't want to let Little C sing and talk in his crib each morning like he does at home, and with the poor coverage of window treatments, we were all up with the sun every morning. D actually took this picture from our balcony one morning while he was doing breakfast duty and letting me rest a little longer. It was a beautiful view!

We started each day with a family bike ride to get coffee for D, and explore the area. We rented bikes this time for all 4 of us, with a tandem for Big C. He and I rode together each time, and D rode with Little C. Our condo unit was at the top of a hill, so I was thankful for the help in pedaling!

We were in a third floor unit, and there was an elevator right outside our door. This was the highlight of the trip for Little C. We didn't think he was strong enough to press any of the buttons, but we let him think he was helping each time. He fooled us though by pressing the alarm button one day. Apparently he decided that this is how you stand in an elevator - because that's what Big C did once:


The only drawback to our trip was that our condo was far enough away from the beach access that we had to take a "trolley" or open air bus to the beach each day. That wouldn't have been so bad, except that it could only carry 15 people, and if you've ever been to the Outer Banks, you know it's common for extended families of 10+ or multiple families to stay together. This lead to a lot of full buses, and stressing about getting to the bus in time. It's hard to be on a schedule on vacation. In order to avoid the stress, (and since we were already up so early), we typically took the first bus of the day to the beach at 9am, were eating lunch at 11am, and were headed home for naptime at noon. This left us with time to have some fun adventures with Big C while Little C napped. One day he and D went mini golfing, another day I took him to see the lighthouse - he climbed all 200+ steps to the top, and then we explored a museum nearby, and other afternoons we went to the pool. Here are a few of the pictures from when he and I went to the lighthouse. Usually, we'd meet up again after Little C's nap and go off on a family adventure. Here are a few pictures from a playground we found at a shopping center near our house. Big C learned to cross the monkey bars while we were there.



We could only kill so much time each afternoon, and were usually ready for dinner at 4:30. We felt a little silly walking into every restaurant at 5 on the dot, but in most cases we weren't the first ones there, and that left us plenty of time to go for ice cream before the boys had to head to bed. One evening we mixed things up and took dinner to the beach. Here are some pictures of how we spent most of our time on the beach. Little C was a little leery of the waves, so he liked to have a hole to sit in with the water, while Big C tackled them head on with his boogie board. He was fearless in the waves this summer!
We had a terrific time last week, and made a lot of memories that we'll cherish. Big C has already started angling for a two week beach vacation next year. We'd all love that...

For those who are curious, I did drag the boys down to the beach for a real photo session. I got a lot of great pictures that I'm looking forward to hanging on my walls. However, we also established that for this kind of thing in the future we'll be working with a photographer other than Mom. I'll save those for a later post.

News

I wanted to let everyone know that I have wrapped up my portfolio building sessions, and am now officially open for business. My rates are listed in the link to the left. As the school year starts, consider booking a fall session for holiday gifts, or for your holiday cards. I plan to offer some mini sessions once we settle into fall, so check back here for details.

No post is complete without a photo, so here's one of my favorites of Little C. This is from earlier this spring after it had just rained. I think he was squatting to pick up his ball, but became distracted by the sparkles in the grass.

T Family

I met the T family this weekend in Old Town Manassas to walk around and take some pictures. They were all great sports despite the heat. I hope everyone enjoyed the ice cream that was promised for doing such great jobs! I know Mom is eagerly awaiting a preview - so here are a few of my favorites.

W was a little nervous being up so high, but Dad assured him that he wasn't going to let him fall. I love it when I can get the shots that show the connections like the trust shown here.
Little Sis J was not so happy to be having her picture taken, but even though she wasn't always grinning, I think we got some cute ones anyway. Don't you love her shoes?
Every time she'd see me snapping candid shots of her, she'd get pouty and turn away. I think that those are actually some of my favorites.

And finally, Baby M. She was adorable and happy as could be.
Look at those blue eyes.
Thanks T family! It was great to see you all again.

Run Buddy, Run!

Several weeks ago, D was browsing the various products at our local large sporting goods store. Since he was bored, Big C decided he was going to sprint around the "testing track" as fast as he could. This "testing track" was just a pretend track that circled some of the shoe displays. After we dragged him out of the store, he agreed that it might be fun to run in a race. We scoured the local racing paper looking for a race that would offer a short "fun run" for children. We settled on the Leesburg 10K/20K with a .25 mile kids' run held this morning in Leesburg. Although neither D, nor I were in fit enough shape to run in the big race, we decided to take the boys out there this morning so that Big C could try his skills at racing.

Here he is getting some water from his new water bottle before the big race kicked off.

As usual, Little C had to watch.
Here he is starting off the race. D ran with him, but isn't in this picture.
The race was set up so that they ran down a big hill, turned around and then ran back up it to the finish line. Kind of a tough route in my opinion. Here they are coming back into view after the turn around.C was feeling pretty good about the fact that he didn't have to get carried like the girl next to him.

Coming down the home stretch - he had a pretty good kick!Crossing the finish line.
So proud of himself and his medal. Everyone got a medal and a T-shirt. Unfortunately, they got all of the shirts in "Adult Small" size - the shirt fits me!
Congratulations Big C. We're so proud of you!

S Family

Yesterday I had the chance to get together with another of our old friends from the Mommy group that I belonged to when I first had Big C. I wish we could see them more, as Big Brother B has a very similar personality to my Big C. We occasionally run into the S family at the library, but it's hard for the boys to really play together when we're shushing them, and during the school year, our schedules totally conflicted with am/pm school. Little N was born right before we moved back up here to Virginia. I can't believe we've already been back long enough for her to be this big and adorable! I met up with them at a local park, and we had a great time looking for ducks and turtles at the pond. I'm finding I'm having a harder and harder time picking my favorite shots to post here. I hope you enjoy them.

I love the expression on Little N's face in this picture. Here's the slideshow, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but it crops some of the pictures sometimes. Sorry for that.

Hey Batter Batter!

Here in our house, we've gone a little baseball crazy lately. (Or "Bat-Ball" if you're asking Little C.) Big C is in his first baseball camp this week, through the parks and rec center, and so far he's loving every minute of it. Little C isn't too happy each day when we drop him off and he doesn't get to stay. In an effort to set him up for success at camp, we've been playing a lot of baseball in our alley. The boys do a great job of taking turns. Every time Big C gets a hit, drops the bat, and runs the bases (usually for a homerun) Little C runs up and grabs the bat, sets his ball up on the tee, knocks it down and gives himself a round of applause. They are both so proud of themselves.

We're hoping that Big C likes camp enough that he wants to sign up for little league this fall. So far he's been really hesitant to try any organized sports because of the aggression, but I think this is going to be the one for him.


Little C doesn't quite get how he's supposed to hold the bat, and no matter how many times we correct him, he picks it up upside down.

My Favorite Team