October 2009 – When you’re a stay-at-home mom, you can just up and decide to go to Gulf Shores.  And so we did.  (Can you tell I’m loving my new job?  I’m not trying to rub it in.  Really, I’m not.  I just can’t contain myself.)

The pictures above are priceless because this trip just so happened to be Nadia’s first time to the beach.  So we captured on film her first walk across the bridge, the first time her feet touched the sand, and the first time she felt the ocean water on her toes.  She loved, loved, loved it!  And loved it some more.

In fact, Nadia felt so at home at the beach, she decided to go topless.  I told her it was inappropriate, but, kids, they just don’t listen.

Nadia also showed no modesty while doing her best Coppertone baby impression…

And then there was Liam.  This was Liam’s second beach vacation.  The old pro.  He taught Nadia all about picking up seashells and building sand castles.  Only he didn’t build any sand castles.  He doesn’t sit still that long.

               

It’s a bird…

It’s a plane…

It’s…

Liam’s kite!

I always thought flying a kite was nearly impossible, but Liam was all “whatever mom.  flying a kite is easy.”

Don’t believe me?  See for yourself.

When we weren’t flying kites at the beach, we were in the lazy river… being lazy.

Liam had fun showing off his jumping skills, but doesn’t like to go under water.  Notice Nadia in the background falling off the boogie board and going under, but she’s not fazed.  That girl’s a fish.

Nadia wasn’t about to be outdone.  She was all “Watch me jump.”

And, no joke, every time we came back inside, this is the look we got from Nadia…

Let’s take a closer look…

Grumpy girl wants to be back at the beach. 

I know, she’s beautiful, even when she’s sour… but I like it better when she smiles… like this.

Go ahead.  Tell me that’s not the prettiest girl you’ve ever seen.  I dare you.

I wanted to be cool like every other family in the world, and take advantage of the beach scene photo-op.  So I tortured my kids by dressing them up in clothes that weren’t supposed to get wet, and took them near the water.

That was Mistake #1.

Mistake #2 was that I didn’t take into account that my camera lens would fog over due to the change in temperature… so this precious photo turned out like this…

                            

The one on the left is the original, but I could see there was a gem in there, so I worked on it.  The one on the right is the best I could do to enhance it with my limited skills.  The quality is still “blah”, but isn’t… she… fabulous?!

Back to my mistakes, though. 

Mistake #3.  I didn’t bring anything to bribe the kids with while taking their picture.  No cotton candy, No m&m’s, No big giant lollipop.  What kind of a photographer am I?  Kids don’t work for free, ya’ know.

So here are the ONLY two shots I could get with Liam and Nadia sitting side by side.  I should be proud, considering.

 

Don’t worry.  I didn’t just torture the kids.  We rewarded them with their first ever game of miniature golf.  Liam was actually pretty good, no big surprise there.  Nadia lost interest quickly.

              

                           

We ate at Lambert’s Cafe, a tradition.  I didn’t get any pictures of the “Throwed Rolls”, but here’s some excitement from outside the restaurant.

 

Cloudy day.  Nice view…

 

But the view doesn’t get any better than this…