Just trying to catch up and post a few of the shots I got from the Naples Zoo and the beach this past Saturday while here in Florida. I have ones of Brent with the kids as well that still need uploaded too. More too follow. I can't believe I'm like 2 days - maybe three - behind in editing and posting the shots. I guess I've really been enjoying the R&R a bit too much while here this time, eh? :) Just nick name me the "The Slacker!"
Sibling love...
Just hanging out at the zoo...
Our stud man, Brennen, at the zoo this past Saturday. He's just getting way too big, too quick. And below, Brennen with my "Razzi" again - putting her to good use while shooting the alligators at the zoo.
Brennen on the beach above...
And a few funky shots of Kenidi below...
And one reflecting the feel of a little sand in the mouth. She's not happy about it either. Can't say that I blame her...
For now, we are off to dinner. Enjoy your Tuesday evening. Big New Years Eve tomorrow night. Fun ahead...Naples 5th avenue puts on a heck of a "get down" for New Years. We went last year and loved it. We plan to attend again this year. Pictures to come, I'm sure.
We had a fun, fun, day today. We hit the Naples Zoo, the Naples Art Fair downtown on 5th Avenue, and then followed it all up with a family visit to Vanderbilt Beach to watch the sunset. (and for Mommy to attempt a better sunset shoot) In turn, God gave me my money shot. Ha ha! (shown above) I plan to enlarge this one and place it in our home somewhere once back in Indy. Here is another one, shown below, that I "grunged" up a bit for ya. It was my attempt at making it postcard-esque. :)
And to top it all off, I got approached by a very large family (actual a grouping of multiple related families) on my way back to the car about doing a family photo shoot for them while I'm in town. I guess they saw me with "Big Papa" and my tripod while capturing images of the sunset and of Brent with the kids on the beach and thought I might know what I was doing. Ha ha! They want me to do a shoot for them this coming week. The irony to it all is that there was another photographer on the beach shooting an entire family while we were all there. I told Brent that I was surprised that she didn't approach him instead. When this gal pulled me aside, she said she had noticed that particular gentleman and the shoot he was doing but that she was looking for someone creative. She told me that "I looked creative" to her. HA! I don't know if that is a good compliment or a bad one in disguise. Creative. That one word could be used to describe many different things and many different individuals in many different ways. Hee hee! The only thing I had going for me that could be physically described as "creative" was the way in which I kept attempting to hide my heiney as I bent over and continued to feel "air" on my backside when leaning and laying down to shoot the kids and Brent. Yes, my jeans were driving me crazy and I was bent over like a crazy person all over that beach. Who knows what all of those innocent bystanders had to endure seeing during my un-intentional escapade there tonight. As Brent always says..."Just say NO to crack." ;)
Stay tuned for more images from our day today (zoo, art fair, beach, etc.) tomorrow. Brent and I are off to watch "Castaway" together for now. It's one of our favorite shows. Great way to end a great day. Hugs, Angie
Just wanted to share a few moments on the beach with Brent and the kids the other night. Yes, this was the evening that Kenidi had the "melt down" on the beach. However, these were taken before that all took place. (thank goodness) I put my 70-300mm telephoto lens on big papa and then went to work. I was so far away that Kenidi had no quams with me snapping shots. She never even realized I was taking them. It's always amazing to me how much that lens can capture without people even realizing I'm there. Because of its power, I was able to catch these snippets of "real life" fun between Kenidi, her Daddy, and her big brother. These are those memories I love the most.
Hope you are all having a "fantabulous" Sunday. The high today here in sunny Florida is supposed to be another 82 degrees. It's killing us, but we are making the best of it. HA HA! Wink Wink! ;)
Just jumping on to say hello. We are headed out the door and I wanted to post a couple of quick pictures of Brennen at the beach - "jumping the waves." This is why I love a camera with a fast shutter and why I detest point and shoot cameras which have delays when trying to capture moments like these. Thank goodness for "Big Papa!"
We are having a fabulous time. Christmas dinner at the Dolce Vita restaurant was incredible - as always. Brent loves tradition and he was adamant that we keep that tradition going this year by having Christmas surf and turf on Sanibel Island at the Dolce Vita restaurant again. So we did. I missed my parents and my in laws tremendously on Christmas day but it was also great to be here in this 80 degree weather for the holiday too. There is nothing like trading snowy, rainy, 18 degree Indiana weather, for Florida's palm trees with Christmas lights adorned around them, sun, and sand. I have to admit that my Dad called me yesterday though and told me that we are never allowed to be away on Christmas day ever again. HA HA! He informed me that Christmas has been horrible without us there in Indiana the past two years and that this year was the worst. He told one of his best friends that it just hasn't been the same since we have begun vacationing over the holiday. He informed me to tell Brent that we wouldn't be booking any vacations next year until at least the day after Christmas. :) When I told Brent that, he said..."Well, it looks like your Dad better be buying a plane ticket and joining us here beach side come next year then." Keep in mind that my Dad and Brent get along very well so when you hear the two of them giving one another a hard time, it's hysterical.
So, it looks like we might have a small family feud on our hands come December next year. Hee hee! I feel bad for my Dad. They even tried to kill time and go see a movie on Christmas day only to be cut in line by a woman who then tried to offer up a coupon of $3.50 in return for her cutting in line and then they got into the show only to have their tickets canceled once they were inside the theater due to a malfunction with the movie itself. Needless to say, he called me and let me know that it was not a good day. Ha ha! I'm his only child and thus, my kids are his only grand kids. I feel bad that he and my Step-Mom and well as my own Mom aren't able to be with us in person on Christmas day because we are gone. Brent loves being away for these 2.5 weeks at this time of the year though because it is the one vacation each year when he can be gone and truly not have to worry about what is going on back at the office. He can get away right now and not really have to work much from afar while he is here. This time of the year is more relaxing for him. Therefore, it ought to get comical next year when we try to narrow down our Christmas plans. Hopefully, you'll all still be around to see what ends up playing out. :)
Lastly, Brennen has begun a collection of these little conch shells that now stink to high heaven outside. Thank goodness they are outside and not inside. They have the live animals still inside them and they decided to rear their ugly heads last night. YUCK! They look like snails. How people eat the mollusk inside these conch shells is beyond me. Brennen wanted me to share what one of them looked like - while inside their shell. This was the best I could do.
For now, we are off. Maybe to the Naples Zoo, maybe back to beach, maybe to the everglade boat tours, we don't know for sure just yet. Therefore, we are off to decide. I'll be back to post more soon. Thanks to each of you who posted a comment about Kenidi's melt down yesterday and to those of you who emailed me personally about it. I loved all of your notes and your kind, kind, words. I put them all into a folder on my computer to save for Kenidi so she can read them someday. Your support means more to us than we can ever begin to describe. And a big thanks to those of you who don't normally post but did yesterday and to those couple of you who were lurkers that came out of the closest to post. I love that and truly appreciate each of you.
Much love, Angie
PS...Still adding one new photo a day over on my photography web site blog. Click HERE to view them if interested.
I'm dedicating this post to Kenidi's life skills teacher back home. Mrs. Alison (who does read this here ol' blog which makes me so thankful to have her as a visitor). If there is any other person on the face of this earth that knows what these looks and these step by step movements look like with Kenidi, it's her. So Alison, we thought of you when on the beach the other day. Let me explain...
The first photo above is the look on Kenidi's face when Daddy told her it was time to leave the beach and go home. The image below is of her "Yeah, whatever...I'm 5.5 years old and way bigger than you - so you be my guest and just try to get me out of here" look.
The next step is when Kenidi decides that she isn't leaving somewhere, we eventually have to walk over and get her, attempting to pick her up and carry her out of said location. Daddy does so below. Notice her way of placing one leg over the other as though she is just going to sit down in a pretend chair and wait it out. May the best man/girl win, right Kenidi...?
Once Daddy grabs her arms and tries to lift her up and out of said place, she does what we call the stop, drop, and roll. Exhibit A shown below. Arms go limp and straight up, then she shifts her body all to the lower half and her weight drops her entire body to the ground. Thus resulting in no way for us to pick her up. Nice try Daddy...
Daddy eventually lets go - as does Mommy when this happens to her - and we let her have her moment on the floor for a few seconds. Exhibit B shown below...
This is where it begins to get tough because others in the area (onlookers, strangers, passer by's) start to stare, start to comment, make claims about how out of control our child is, etc. With a typical and healthy 5 year old who was acting like this, you might be at the point here where you'd like to hang them by their toe nails. However, with Kenidi and her inability to speak or voice her frustrations (i.e., "Forgot you guys, I ain't leavin' this beach. Go home without me."), we are always more patient with her than a normal situation because of what she must go through during ordeals such as this when she is trying to get her point across but can't. Well she can - but in order to do it, she resorts to the melt downs and uses visual word pictures such as all of these I've captured for you.
At some point, you realize...it's all a game. She is way smarter than most people give her credit for. Including us at times. Although Kenidi has severe developmental delays due to her hypotonia condition, she is no dummy. This child is actually extremely smart. She cognitively, understands basically everything you and I say given her actual age. (5.5 years) Although she can't communicate sentences to us, she has one word statements that help alert us to what she wants or needs. Or in this case...is demanding at that particular moment.
Now, as her parents...sometimes you can get through these episodes and laugh it all off. Other times though...it is way more trying on your patience. After the tornado event of trying to secretly get out of a restaurant or wherever we are as she is conveniently flailing around, kicking you, smacking you, screaming, etc. (unfortunately she has recently begun picking up some pinching and smacking techniques from another special needs child in her class) just as though you are trying to kidnap her or something, in the end you are just glad to reach the car without being hauled off to jail. Either because of the child herself and her actions that were wearing on your patience or because of the family at the table beside you that you almost had to deck in the nose and knock flat out for making very loud and unfair comments about how your child behaves due to your lack of parenting skills. Note to each of you out there who ever experience a situation where a toddler/child is totally out of control...zip your mouth and make sure you keep your opinions and comments to yourself. It's so unfair and so hurtful to judge. You never know what that child or that family is going thru. For example Kenidi...who cannot talk. Comments toward special needs parents make the parents life that much harder and even more trying. And trust me...if you run across a parent with an attitude like the one I carry in defense of my child (special needs or not), you might not make it out of that restaurant or store alive once you get all puffy and elect to voice your opinion out loud. Therefore, if you value the rest of your days on earth...you must learn to stay quiet and parent your own children...not others. I say that with the most gentle of tones. HA!
Thankfully, on this beach afternoon, we were one of only a few people out there and we were able to laugh it off on the way back to the car as Kenidi was screaming at the top of her lungs - clearly pretending that we had kidnapped her again so that she could stay back at the beach.
As everyday with Kenidi ends, no matter how many melt downs we have experienced on that given day, you look at her and know without a shadow of a doubt that she cannot help it. Yes, it is partially a game. However, these are the cards that God dealt her. These are also the same cards that God dealt us. We are thankful for both hands. Although trying, they make all of us who we are. Those hands of cards have blessed us with more patience, more understanding, more love than we ever thought humanly possible, more care and concern for others, and so forth.
The melt downs, kicks, bites, screams, and all...are "our" life. And we are extremely proud of that life and so very grateful that God chose us to parent that world for Kenidi. We are also very glad that he chose Brennen to be the big brother that he is for Kenidi as well. We couldn't play this hand of cards or do it without him.
The hands on the ears, shown above, are Kenidi's reaction to being told..."OK...we are leaving without ya." We begin to walk away and she does the above. However, she never gets up and comes running to us as planned. If she does, she eventually sits back down and does it again once she sees that we see her finally cooperating.
So Alison, I knew you were one of only a few people on the face of this earth that can appreciate these photographs - our life in frames - and also your life with Kenidi as well, beings that you are her teacher. As I went back thru some of the images from the beach the other night, I thought..."Alison must see these!" Ha Ha!
Imagine friends...Alison and other special education teachers and aides across the country do this for a living on a daily basis. And they CHOSE that job. Well, really we know that God chooses them - to chose that career. HA HA! When all is said and done though, they do this for my child and thousands of others everyday. I'm telling you...you need to go thank your schools special education staff - whether you have a special needs child in their class or not. They are special, special, individuals and deserve affirmation, appreciation, and support - from everyone.
Anyway, now that I'm done with my soapbox, I just thought all of you would enjoy seeing Kenidi at her finest. If you are close friends with us, you've most likely witnessed it first hand out in public somewhere along side us. We thank you for still being our friends and for still venturing out with us time after time - even once you've escaped a restaurant or store with this child and her parents - without being thrown in jail for a knock down drag out fight amongst adults (outspoken by standers) or for alleged attempted kidnapping charges. We thank you for braving those waters each time we are out and about with each of you. Hee hee! That is what friends are for right? If we do down, you go down (to jail) with us. HA!
We love you Kenidi Grace. Swats, smacks, and all. We wouldn't have it any other way sweetheart. You are our gift from God and we are so very thankful for you and all that you've taught us baby girl.
Love you to the moon and back (1000 times),
Daddy, Mommy, and Bubbies
PS...You can't be mad at her for not wanting to leave the beach. She inherited that love for the ocean and the sand honestly. It's in her genes. Literally thru and thru. Like Mommy, like daughter.
Jack-ers (ELF ON THE SHELF) sends his love on this Christmas day as well.
He has been sunning it up on the beach with the rest of us, as you can clearly see. He even did some digging in the sand with Brennen yesterday. I think people on the beach thought we were nuts. We are. Remember?...we are "down" with being all crazy. Ha ha!
Needless to say, Jack-ers is making the best of his vacation with us to sunny Naples, Florida. The high here in Bonita Springs today is supposed to be a gorgeous and blaring 84 degrees again today. We couldn't ask for better Christmas weather. I think we've sold Jack-ers that the sun on a beach is better than snow on the North Pole. Santa may be short an Elf in the workshop come next year. :)
What an awesome & beautiful morning it has been thus far. I pray all of you are experiencing joy beyond belief right now. It's now almost 9am and I'm relishing in the moment. I got the honor of being woken up by my 9 year old son at 6am this Christmas morning. No, not to open Christmas gifts. That wasn't the reason for his early morning springing from the bed. He had a special Christmas request. That request was..."Mom, get up. Let's go shoot the sun coming up on the beach."
And so we did.
Brennen has taken a real interest in photography lately and I'm all about it. He asked me if he could use "Razzi" to shoot with while I shot images with "Big Papa." At first I was a bit apprehensive. The thought of him with Razzi, in the sand, near the ocean water, made me a nervous wreck. However, he was asking to learn. He was like a sponge, begging to be taught so he could soak it all in. Therefore, I couldn't say no. I have been in his shoes and still am. So...I threw on some clothes, ran a brush thru my hair, put some lip liner and lip gloss on, took one last look at myself in the mirror and prayed to God and the wholly heavens above that no one would see this train wreck (a.k.a. ME) of a mess when I stepped out the door this morning. I was one scary sight. No joke!
Just as we were tip toeing out the front door, I heard a grumble from the master bedroom. Kenidi had been in there sleeping along side Daddy & I up until that moment. She began to wake just as I opened the front door. Brent always jokes that she's like clock work. When she feels me not beside her, or doesn't feel my skin on hers at some point, she wakes up and comes looking for me. I couldn't bare the thought of making Brent get out of bed and sit with her this early in the morning while Brennen and I went out shooting. So...guess who came with us? Yeap. Kenidi Grace and her bag of funyons. The breakfast of champions.
Kenidi sat on the wave runner while Brennen and I snapped shots for an hour or so. I looked at Brennen at one point with that camera around his neck and just felt this sense of motherly pride come over me. Especially beings that he had the camera that has my zebra camera strap on it. Ha ha! Call me crazy but it gave me warm fuzzies inside to see that he and I have found something we can be excited about together. Our little hobby made for a great Christmas morning memory on the beach together. At one point, I was shooting him and he was shooting me - shooting him. At that same time, a bird (yeah, one of our beach B/F/F's) flew right in between our two cameras. It was hysterical. I swear those birds crave attention. Well, they are really craving food - Kenidi'sfunyons no doubt. However, it made for a really funny - kind of "jacked up by accident" shot. See below...
Again the memories...
Life in "frames." The reason why I'm so passionate about photography. The camera is like my third eye. It's truly like an appendage of me. This mornings time on the beach with my two gifts from God was no different.
Thanks buddy...I couldn't have asked for a better wake up call this morning. I love you. Mommy had so much fun sharing this Christmas sunrise with you while our toes were being sugared in the sand. I can't wait to do it again. Your images that you took this morning really ROCKED. Awesome, awesome job!
Hi friends. Just wanted to pop on and wish each of you a Merry Christmas. It's Christmas Eve so I'm enjoying my family here in Naples tonight. I pray each of you have a beautiful holiday and feel God's love all around you - making this year the best Christmas ever.
In the meantime, I did take 140 something new pictures today with "Big Papa." However, I'm so worn out and so tired from the sun that I just don't feel like going in and messing with all of the images we captured tonight. I'll be back tomorrow with a few shots from our trip to the beach today. For now, I'll leave you with one of my favorites of our little Kenidi Grace. Although she was a "hot mess" by the time this was taken, she looks as beautiful as ever. Daddy said he wants this image framed for his office. Enjoy!
PS...I managed to grab a couple of shots today of Brennen too. I just need to get all of the images uploaded here on my laptop. Stay tuned!
Hi all. I missed the sunset at the beach. We got stuck in traffic and ran out of time. However, we made it to a spot off the causeway bridge as we came down into Sanibel Island this evening. I managed to capture the sun coming down but not in the location I would have preferred. Either way, I made the best of it and snapped what I could from where I was standing. I was hurried, rushed, and felt pressured to capture the shot before I lost the sun period. Therefore, my goal is to attempt this again before we leave. I also have a goal of getting up and capturing the sunrise one morning before the trip is over as well.
Notice the birds in this one above? Look closely, you'll see the little black specks as they fly through the sky.
There is a lot of "noise" in these and I can't tell if it is from me over sharpening them, (which I'm notorious for) or if it is from this daggone blog provider again. Either way, I'm not happy with them. AT ALL!
Again...I will be attempting the sunset shots once more. Maybe a few times actually. Ha ha! I'm bound and determined to walk away with something of worth before vacations end. Either way, just thought these shots could help "warm up" my Indiana sista's for now.
Until the next update, sleep tight... Much love, Angie
