a little jaunt to the beach

a trip to the beach is a common occurrence for me, whether it be for the weekend, a short overnight trip or the day. so when lynn and david's family invited me to the beach to take pictures--AND offered to host me overnight, how could i refuse?

plus, as soon as i pulled up, i knew i'd feel right at home :)

i don't often spend time on the outer banks this far north. "my beaches" are the southern outer banks, or the crystal coast. we don't face the ocean right on--we're sorta tucked away at an angle. these beaches--well, this is the real ocean. more accurately, the real ocean with a category four hurricane churning away somewhere off shore.
i'd never seen the waves that big before! definitely intimidating--and i assured my mother that i had no plans of going into the ocean this time. didn't even pack my swimsuit.

so after a delicious dinner, we all packed up and headed to coquina beach, just a little ways down the cape hatteras national seashore. this beach attracted surfers, boogie boarders and a wide range of professional and amateur photographers with their subjects. we saw one couple posing in their wedding attire (after which lynn promised me a "trash the dress" session one day--hold her to it!) and many many families. i had a blast with my group--and i think we ended up with some fabulous photos.


lynn has two younger brothers, and they LOVE to pick on her!

we also did several poses with lynn, david and joshua. josh was cooperative most of the time, and we did get some adorable shots of him!

(this is one of my faves. pioneer woman's b&w action--so perfect for this.)
joshua is growing right up--his big trick this weekend was learning he could push up on his feet and have others help him "stand."
both of lynn's younger brothers, matthew and robert, had their lovely wives there, too.
and of course, lynn and david know how to work the camera for me :)

the surf provided a beautiful backdrop and a great conclusion to their week together at the beach...
here's to the end of this summer vacation, and many more to come...

tonight, after we got back from the photos and a must-have stop at dairy queen for blizzards (we worked hard, ya know?) the guys built a fire out on the beach and everyone trickled out of the house to roast marshmallows and look at the stars. with the storm brewing out in the ocean, there was this amazingly cool breeze coming across the sea that was easily 50 or 60 degrees--so different from the humidity and warmth we'd experienced all day.

we had a great time sitting by the fire, watching meteors fall (which lynn and i thought was a flare--we were concerned about possible stranded boaters where we could be their only hope! then lynn's dad told us it was a meteor and that was even cooler) and chatting in the surprisingly chilly evening air. what a perfect way to end the day...

speaking of which, time for bed :) night, y'all!