Family Photo Shoot at Gibraltar Gardens

I remember how excited I was after Ryan was born as we went for our first family portrait. I was excited to go to a studio, have someone tell us the best position to be in and to take professional photos we could display around our house and share with friends and families.

But - reality sat in quickly when we arrived at JC Penny's studios and I realized our "professional photographer" was a kid, making close to minimum wage by waving squeaky toys at my kid, trying to get him to smile and using old bedsheets as the backdrop. The pictures were fine - but they weren't what I wanted.

I was determined after Lindsey was born that our next family portrait would be different. It wouldn't be in a cramped studio with bedsheets and squeaky toys, it wouldn't have us in unnatural poses that date back to the early 1700s and it wouldn't be done by a 17 year old whose professional credits were simply taking self-portraits in the mirror with their cell phone.

Enter Dreme Whitehurst. A friend and co-worker of my bestie - Erin. Thanks to Facebook, I've been able to photo-stalk her for quite some time now and have long been awed by both her daughter's inate beauty and Dreme's ability to enhance that beauty through amazing photographic talent. I was so excited she agreed to take on my family.

The event started out a little frazzled. Despite best planning efforts (coordinating outfits, timing bottles and naptimes, and scoping out the perfect setting), kids are still kids and life is still life. Lindsey was a mess the whole way there - crying, breaking out in dramatic LP hives. Rye was Rye - talking to himself, to Lindsey, to us, to the trees, to anything, oblivious to the fact that his sister was hysterical and both his parents were ready to snap at any moment. We tried changing diapers and bribing silence with food and drink, but it didn't work.

We finally got there and got settled and begun the photographic process. No other way to describe it really. There are some poses and direction, but mostly we had fun. We blew bubbles, read stories, walked, played, smelled flowers and spent a ridiculous amount of time watching fish in the reflecting pool (Rye thought they were Elmo's fish - Dorothy - and treated them like the celebrities he thought they were). In the end, Dreme was able to capture us - our love for each other, our personalities, our life as a family. I couldn't be happier.

And to boot - she's an impatient girls dream come true. We weren't even home a few hours before I got a message from her saying some of the photos were available as a sneak peek! So, without further ado, our first family photo shoot at Gibraltar Gardens (which, by the way, is a combo of The Secret Garden and Longwood Gardens all compacted into an acre or so of land in the City of Wilmington...who knew?).

Bachman Beach Break

I wouldn't exactly call our annual 4-day excursion to the beach a "vacation" so to speak, but it's certainly a nice break from reality. This year's trip started off much better than last years. Not only was the sun shining, but we had a new member! This was LPs first trip to the beach - and we were excited to see how our little dare devil would take to the wide open sea.

Unfortunately, it seems that although Lindsey has a much more adventurous side than her older brother, she's also a girl with a diva attitude. She wanted nothing to do with either the ocean or the sand (cried the moment her toes touched either) and was perfectly content either sleeping in the tent Grandma and Grandpa bought for her or sitting on a chair in the shade of her Daddy's shadow.

Rye still hates the ocean. But luckily he loves sand. And the beach is nothing but the worlds biggest sandbox to a 2 year old, so he was in heaven. Daddy was helpful and made a little lagoon of water for him (away from the crashing waves of course) and it was just enough for Rye to get his feet wet without having to brave the roaring waters.

Day three was a bust - rained most of the day, but on our last day there the sun came out and we were able to make it down to the beach one last time long enough to get a decent family shot!