day 9 of family vacation 2008

thursday was our major relaxation day.. we spent most of the day on the beach.. took a break to eat.. and then ended up back on the beach until the sun set.. :)

yeah.. we caught this guy on the way to the beach.. well.. when i say "we" i really mean "stephen and daddy" because i had no part in catching him.. lol

the waves were HUGE.. i'm not sure what it was.. but it was PERFECT boogie-boarding weather..

me teaching stephen how to boogie-board..

like i said.. the waves were huge..

mom says the caption for this should be.. 'no shoes.. no shirt.. no problems' :)

a look at the beach..

yeah.. it was rough out..

emma..

amy..

steve.. who by the end of the day was gettin' pretty brave..

me..

then we shot some portraits.. we weren't exactly planning on doing this.. but we were on the beach for the perfect sunlight and we just kinda did it..

ellen..

ruby..

stephen..

emma..

amy..

the entire family..

haha.. when we were on the beach at this time.. the tide was coming in and so amy and i built this wall to keep out the tide.. it worked marvelously.. until ruby decided to climb all over it.. i think she was directing an orchestra or something here :)

a quick shot of mum and daddy..

the sunset.. as the amazing ending to a very relaxing day..

day 8 of family vacation 2008

thursday was a really nasty day as far as beach weather goes.. it was super cloudy and spitting rain all day long.. so it was perfect that we had scheduled a tour on the four-wheel drive beach to see the wild horses that live there..

it was a 2 hour long tour and the tour-guide we had was amazing.. he said that he had grown up on these beaches and so he was brimming with history and information..

we got to see some horses really close !!

this was my favorite pony to see.. she was so pretty and small !!

one of the stallions..

another.. older.. pony..

this is our tour-guide's favorite horse..

another mother and pony.. so pretty..

so yeah.. see how nasty the sky looks? it looked like this all day long..

after our tour.. we visited the highest sand dune on the eastern coast..

doesn't it look like we're in the middle of a dessert?

ruby climbing back up the dune.. it was approximately 100 ft. high..

another shot that looks like we're in the middle of a dessert :)

and here's amy's play on the whole dessert scene..

after hiking thru the dunes.. we had dinner and did some shopping.. and on the way home we saw this sunset over the sound..

day 7 of family vacation 2008

tuesday morning begun just like monday morning except with more sunshine !!

now.. i am SUPER proud.. my mother took this picture !! she and daddy and a few of my siblings headed out to the beach at sunrise so my dad could fish a little bit.. and she took my camera with her and captured this.. absolutely wonderful !! way to go mom !!

so anyway.. just to give ya'll an idea of how we get to the beach (because it is about a 15 minute walk) .. we walk down to the end of the road our house is on.. turn left and about a block later turn onto the "beach access" path.. which takes us around this little lake.. we come upon it somewhere in the middle and have to walk about half-way around..

the path then takes us down a little path that mostly looks just like this.. very pretty..

we emerge from that path behind the big white house you see on the right.. we then walk down the road until we arrive at the bridge/boardwalk.. not really sure what its called.. but its the wooden walkway that leads up and over the dune and then onto the beach..

and this would be the view from the top of that walkway.. so all in all.. its a very scenic route we take.. and even tho' it is a little bit of a walk.. its very pretty along the way for the most part..

daddy and ruby building castles..

amy & ellen chillin' under our umbrella..

stephen loves the water.. and loves to play in it.. altho' he's not really interested in going out too far.. he loves to run thru the surf and splash around tho'..

emma..

mom and daddy took a super long walk down the beach today.. we weren't sure if they were ever going to come back :)

after lunch.. we headed out to do a CD tour my mom had found.. its just a CD you play that takes you to certain spots and tells you about the history of the area and such.. we found a boardwalk that goes thru some marsh are and then out into the sound.. which is where i took this.. i loved the results of the slower shutter speed.. it was kinda an accident but i really liked how it turned out !!

the boardwalk had these little places you could walk out onto.. and we spent lots of time watching the crabs and the fish..

the sound isn't very deep.. this egret was actually just wading along when something spooked it into flying off..

we then took some time to hike thru an estuary.. there were so many spider-webs that i made it my goal to capture one.. it really is harder than it seems because i found that the light has to hit it just right.. with a dark enough background so you can still see it.. after i got this one tho' i knew i had achieved my goal :)

down at the end of the estuary.. we saw this guy.. and thanks to my amazing 18x zoom.. i got a pretty nice shot of him..