Adventures of Family Pictures on the Beach

Imagine if you will...3 kids and one dad running up to their lodgings from the pool...soaking wet and sand-speckled. One mother was waiting...pacing with a chubby baby, watching as the sun was quickly setting. Then it was a whirlwind of towels, wet swim suits, new clothes, hair brushes, sprays of hairspray, bathroom breaks, looks at the clock and final touches (including the camera) as they rush out the door...the sun ever-sinking. They run by the pool and hot tub getting comments on their matching state and head to the water's edge. Of course they are a little too early and have to wait around for a few nerve-twisting minutes ever trying to persuade the offspring to keep clean in their white and khakis. (imagine)

Then come those few golden moments of the day for the mom with her camera and the husband jumped in to help with a "smile and I'll get you a candy bar"...."no look at the camera, not the sand", "I don't care if his hands are dirty, hold them..."...."just one more smile, I promise", "okay, hold the baby...no hold still, don't move!"..."please do it for Mom, she's really looked forward to this"...and so forth. Then a quick plea to a stranger for the family shot, which was followed by..."smile at the man in the green shirt".

All of this was done, with quite a few onlookers, passers-by, passers-by in front of the camera, and so forth...this was not a secluded, quiet beach. The whole event, even with the unthinking passers-by and lack of cooperation from some of the little ones, was still relatively fast and in short... a success... in fact it's one of the mother's favorite memories of the trip because she can't believe they pulled it off! Everyone was dressed, they were there on time (early even), all of the shots in mind were captured, and no one got too upset or unruly!

A few of us had to get a picture with the sweet Q.





The Gentlemen...

The ladies...


Two family photos in one year, it's uncanny!


In other news, C grew a lovely mustache for the event and N now needs glasses.
We thought the red balloon would add the perfect touch to the atmosphere, especially with all the fish jumping!
(the kids love it when I do this, especially N, who tells me what to draw on people, so I thought I'd post one!)


The End...a beautiful sunset and holding each other's sandy hands under duress.