The Beach

What do you think of when you think of Virginia? I think of history. The civil war. President's homes. The first colonies. Richmond, Virginia. The American Revolution. But a beach vacation? Hmmm.... Who would have thought that it would be the perfect place for a beach vacation. Spring is the best time to visit. Warm but not overly crowded yet. While there, I took official photoshoots. They were official because they color coordinated their outfits. *nods* I did Rod and Laura's (The first picture has an R and an L in the sand- you just have to look closely.)

And also Mike, Mindy, and family.

Unfortunately my camera got bumped to a different setting and I was taking pictures super fast. Have you tried taking pictures of a 6 year old diva who likes to be front and center in every picture, a 3 year old drama queen who is just now starting to pose and who seems to have hearing issues, and a 1 1/2 year old whose attention span is shorter than mine and if it's not chocolate or a cookie forget it, all while on a windy, really sunny beach on the last day that you're there??? Yeah- It's hard. And I'm no professional. I'm still trying to figure out unique poses and how to get smiles.

So please forgive my over exposed photos. I had a ton of really cute ones that you had to wear sunglasses to look at. Out of about 400 pictures about 10 were correctly exposed. I got a few of the over exposed ones looking okay......

Wanna know a secret? It literally makes me sick when a photoshoot with 400 pictures has a higher rate of wasted card space than potential wall space.

I'm going to have nightmares now. Anybody know of an ocean-like beach in Colorado? Or does anybody know how to correct pictures that are over exposed in a way that doesn't make them look like they were corrected? To save room on my non-existent hard drive, I haven't been shooting in RAW.... which makes changing the exposure even harder.

I'll try to stop bemoaning myself now.

Nope- It's not working.

One lesson I learned- Never give Lola or mom your camera.... it's kinda scary what they do- especially mom. She likes to mock me and takes lots of photos in succession and gets really- no, I mean REALLY close to your face. I'm never gonna give her my camera once I get a 300mm lens or when I get a macro lens. Now that would be scary.

(This is why I should always be behind the camera- not in front of it. Yes, I'm abused- you see Lola in the act of hitting me. I have proof now.)

Another lesson I learned- Mike only taught me the basics of swimming so that he could try to drown me in good conscience. (My phrase instead of "I only dog paddle" is "I don't even dog paddle." I sink faster than a boulder.)

See this bruise right here? From Mike. With a bat. A long, skinny, plastic bat. Yes, his son and daughter were watching. It's okay. I got him back.

I had a screaming contest with Nathaniel to teach him to scream at higher pitches and then gave him chocolate.

And this pose.... pretty sure I help refine it. We decided that Virginia's motto should be changed from "Virginia is for lovers" to "Virginia is for churches." It's not uncommon to see two different churches side by side. Or even 3 Baptist churches within 3 miles of each other. They're as bad as Starbucks.

I once took it into my head to count the number of churches in one drive. But then I happened to sneeze and we all know that you can't sneeze with your eyes open. In that moment, all hope of counting was gone as we had passed a unknown number of churches.

It's worse than counting Christmas lights on both sides of the street by yourself while going 75 mph.

(If you didn't notice already, I try to keep everything in perspective and don't exaggerate at all. Neither am I inclined toward sarcasm.)

I wanted to visit all the neat brick buildings and have a photoshoot with someone, anyone, in front of the awesome arched windows and huge columns. I love old buildings. Either one that is weathered with peeling paint or a old brick one that looks as if you could walk into it with a hoop skirt and parasol and no one would look at you strangely. These buildings have character. You can look at them and just see a story unfolding.

Unfortunately, we just drove by them. Ten times. It was horrible.

And then, my family went to historic places after I had left. And took pictures. That's even worse... more worse???...... the worst of all??? Whatever. You get the point.

One of these days I'm going to visit Virginia and see some historic stuff..... well I guess last time I did see D.C....... but that doesn't count. I don't know why, but it just doesn't.

An unknown fact- Mindy's actually pretty good at pool. We taught her how to hold it and then she not only got the right balls into the pockets but won a game for us.

I like to pretend that I'm good. I must have seen enough movies with pool in them to know how to fake it..... or maybe my family is too nice to tell me I look ridiculous and it's all in my head....

We stopped at the first house to take a family photo but seemed to have misplaced a key person in our family, so I photoshopped her in. She isn't really cut off at the waist. That shoe is Rod's. She does have legs. At least, the last time I thought to ask her she did.....

Just so you know, 5 days is all together too short to visit Virginia Beach and Rod and Laura. I recommend a month or longer.

With how long the plane flight is, you have to have enough time to forget that it was so long and that you have to do it all over again in 4 days.

Besides- I tend to go crazy in that short time. I need longer to get it out of my system. Please refrain from "smart" comments.

Wishing I was still there,

Ti-Ti

P.S. If you would like to see more photos of VA, I have a few more on Facebook. I tried to show different ones on the blog.