HHI Week: Beach Portraits

One lovely evening during our stay in Hilton Head, we all got spiffed up and headed to the beach to take some group photos.  Last year the weather on the beach was way too windy to have my camera on a tripod out there so we settled for a quick shot out in front of our house.  This year, however, it was so lovely that we spent some time taking our group shots to mark the occasion and then grandparents/grandkids, cousins, Crossons, and even some 6-month milestone shots of Ivy.  The kids were rarely all cooperative about the idea at the same time, but I think we came away with some fun shots (without head swapping—yay!—but also without the beach ball images I’d had in my mind—Pinterest fail.  I will say, however, that the beach balls added to the backdrop in quite a few pics—thanks, fam, for going along with my crazy plans for the night!). 

jack, age 8

ella, age 10

jake, age 12

zane, age 9

drew, age 7

ivy, age 7 months

And, of course, you can’t go to the beach without getting sandy and wet all over again.

And these are a few of the beach ball shots—never seemed to work for us because a ball or hands were always covering someone’s face or my camera was focused on the wrong thing.  :(  But, it was kind of fun trying, right??

HHI Week: Day 7 (4th of July!), Part 2

On the 4th of July, we spent from mid-afternoon straight through until dinnertime out at the beach.  It was such a gorgeous day and by early evening we were just about the only ones on the beach.  It took most of the week but we had finally figured out the secret to staying at the beach for 4 or 5 hours straight—the weather, of course, helped, but this time we brought the ladderball down to the beach and lots and lots of sangria.  Keeps the adults happy for hours on end…the kids should’ve thought of it sooner! :) 

We headed home to get cleaned up, eat dinner, light some glow necklaces and flags, have fun in the driveway with pop-it’s, and then headed back to the beach to watch fireworks and light sparklers.  It was perfection. 

{ella and jake, more than any other day during our week in hilton head, hung out and played so nicely the entire afternoon that day.}

{even sweet little ivy was happy on the beach for hours and hours in her little baby pool, playing with jack’s transformers.}