Zechiel Family Reuion 2011 Roundup

We hired a professional photographer to get some nice portraits of everyone at the beach. I'm so happy we did that! I'm glad I didn't have to do any of the work (besides take photos while Jennifer the Pro took hers, as shown below) and it was nice to see someone who does this for a living in her element. I took tips in case I ever want to try my hand at getting paid to take pictures.

I know I already linked to this picture in another post but it's worth another look. I think I stare at this picture about 84 times a day. Those boys are so stinkin' cute! (giving them seashells to play with: genius) I can't wait to see the real proofs!

While we were waiting for Jennifer the Pro to show up, Jennifer the Sister and I decided to swap family photo taking. Nice capture, Jenny. If only I'd have gotten a better tan... and my hair wasn't so stringy.... Why I didn't bring a hairbrush, I'll never know.

And here's Jenny's fam. Lookin' good.

Silly faces! Normally I don't like the idea of wearing white for portraits but at the beach, it's perfect, don't you think?

Ah, my handsome men. We really worked hard to keep these boys happy. The photographer wanted to take pictures at sunset because A) it' less hot, B) it's less crowded, and C) it's her favorite lighting. That meant we had to keep the boys up late. They didn't end up getting to bed until almost two hours past bedtime. Oy.

And on top of that, they had woken up super early that day and had a very short morning nap. They were just all around tired boys. It seems like that was the theme of the trip- Liam and Dash not sleeping on the days when I really want them to sleep. I'd been thinking about this day for weeks, trying to slowly drift bedtime and such so to minimize their sleep deprivation on this day. And then they go and wake up at 5:45 am. They did the same thing the day we were driving to FL. They had lots of sort naps the whole week. It sort of stressed me out. Like a lot.

But what can you do? Sean helped me chill out a bit. He helped me notice this picture, too. By which I mean he said, "that'd be a good photo," and I agreed by taking the snapshot. Thanks hon.

Hey, there's Jennifer the Pro at work. She had to move fast to get photos of everyone before the sun went down.

One thing that's so great about reunions is seeing all the cousins interact. It's cute to see little friendships born and strengthen.

Sean and I survived sleeping in the same room as the boys. We tried to keep it as dark as possible for them by shutting the hurricane shutters and taping a blanket over the patio door. All the guests in the rentals around us must have wondered why we were trying to block out the light while in sunshiny Florida.

It was so unnerving trying to be as quiet as possible to make sure we never woke the boys. Whenever they woke up early, I'd hope they might fall back asleep and keep myself stock-still so they wouldn't notice we were there. Because once they knew I was a couple feet from them, it was all over. One night, Sean suddenly started talking in his sleep. And not in a little mumble either, it was almost a yell! So I clamped my hand over his mouth but he kept at it. So I shook his head some- it made no difference. I practically had to push him off the bed to get him to stop! Thankfully, the boys only stirred a little.

Niki lived in Pensacola for much of her childhood so I think she had a really good time being back in a place she considers home.

Brian: Suave and Debonair

Brian: Silly and Goofy (and freshly sun-burnt)

Chris came partway through the week since she had to work the first half. I sure need a few more days with her around!

It really was a fun week. It certainly wasn't carefree, having a couple kids in tow, but it was way more fun to have children with whom to share the fun. I had hoped to take way more beach photos whenever we went to play but I was, firstly, scared of getting sand in the camera (we've ruined a camera that way already) and, secondly, I have clingy babies to watch! It's more fun to make the memories than take pictures of them, though, isn't it? And we sure made lots and lots of good memories.

WoooOOO, now that's a kiss! Mom and Dad did so much to make that fun week possible. Thank you so much! Did I mention that they flew down to Houston and then drove with us to Florida. I guess it was cheaper to fly here than to Florida, plus they had Rhuelin's baptism in Texas to attend the day after the Reunion. We decided to drive through the night to return home and somehow dad ended up driving the whole second half himself. I don't know how he did that. I think he took about eight naps the next day! I'll tell you one thing though, my children were d.o.n.e. with the car after all these trips. Except for a trip to and from church on Sunday, we gave them a week break from the car seat. I'm happy to say that they now seem cured of their car travel woes!

"Me? Eat sand? Oh no, I wouldn't do a thing like that! Why do you ask?"

"Oh yeah, I definitely ate that sand! It was great! I love this Destin place!"