McKenzie's Beach Trip

Last weekend, my husband and I got to go back to our beautiful hometown, Clearwater, Florida. We had a fabulous time visiting family and friends, and spent lots, lots, and lots of time with my younger sister, McKenzie.

She’s quite the character, and I wanted to capture her and her wonderful personality (not to mention, get some experience photographing children) while I was down there.

Our first stop was heading to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. There we saw many marine animals that they help to rehabilitate and release back into the wild. It’s an amazing place, and the nostalgia of being there was surreal and sweet when I remembered going there at the same age as Kenzie. They even have a celebrity there, Winter, a dolphin that lost its tale fin and has learned to swim with a prosthetic replacement. She’s even going to be in a movie =scheduled to debut in 2011!

Unless you’re already from here, you must admit, you’re kinda jealous.  It’s soooo beautiful and there’s nothing like walking barefoot in the sand!

Now, the next series of pictures is a testimony to why I think photographing weddings is much easier than photographing children.  Since McKenzie decided that she didn’t really feel like taking these pictures, it made this shoot much more difficult.  Mike, my husband, tried really, really hard to help me still get some really cute shots of her and I really appreciated all he did just to make her smile.

Here’s the initial talk…

…. which didn’t work. And then the piggy-back ride to make her laugh and smile. 🙂

(Followed by a brief intermission of me waiting painfully for Mike to get me tweezers from the car, and then pathetically removing a sand spur I got stuck in my foot. I know this sounds pitiful, but it really, really hurt!)

To end our exhausting day and experience, we headed to the Gulf (thankfully, oil free) and played some more (that is, before the “I-want-to-go-to-the-slide-tantrum” took place).  Next time, we’re definitely getting a nap in before our shoot! 😉