Oahu based family and wedding photographer providing family photographer for all Hawaiian Islands.

Oh, its not church night

06.25.09

I probably say this over and over again in my blogs but I have 5 nieces…all from one sister. The middle child, Lauren, is 2 1/2 years old and so adorable with tons of black silky hair and big, dark eyes. She’s become a little out-of-sorts since the arrival of her younger twin sisters having now lost the limelight. So, Scott and I have been making a big effort to take her to church with us every Friday night.

When she was much younger, she hated leaving home. She was such a mommy’s girl. She stayed with us for three days while my sister was at the hospital delivering twins and she cried every night. For a few months, whenever she saw me or especially Scott at her house, she assumed we were coming to take her away from mom and she would start crying. Don’t believe me? Hah, see Scott’s video below.

Can you believe that was a year ago?

Now she wants to be anywhere but home. She’s such an explorer. She just wants to be out out out!!! She now gets so excited and when we arrive to pick her up, she’s walking around the house with her slippers, hat and backpack on ready to go. She tells everyone “I go church.” Granted, church to her is the big nursery filled with toys with playful butterflies on the walls, but boy does she love the idea of going to church. This past Friday, we forgot to bring her backpack, hat and slippers with us when we dropped her off. Yesterday, we had a wedding at Ko Olina so we dropped by to drop off the backpack, hat and slippers.

Oh, she got so excited when she saw us. But she really lit up when she saw her backpack. She sailed across the living room and grabbed it. She then proceed to put on her backpack…then her slippers….then her hat. We were sitting down chatting with my oldest niece, Ashley and my sister. Lauren climbed into my lap and was all giggly and excited. Halfway through our stay, I looked at my sister and asked “Does she think she’s going with us?” Uh-oh. I tried to tell Lauren that we were going to go home, go sleep…and we would come back for her tomorrow to go church. Of course, she’s two…her grasp of English seems to be very selective. It didn’t really kick in until Scott stood up and wished her good-bye that I think it sunk in. Her face just fell and her body just slumped as she folded her arms and stared at her feet. She started crying as we walked out….oh, it was so heartbreaking. Tomorrow is Friday and church night so hopefully I can atone for it. My, how things have changed.

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Portrait: Robert, Amy, and their little "M" and "M"’s

06.22.09

Who: Robert, Amy, Manly “M” and Sweet “M”
Where: Waimanalo Beach Park
When: Monday afternoon in June

This is a “Joy and Light Production” as I was joined by my lovely second shooter Joy Pishcura. The Stanleys contacted me after seeing our mutual and dear friend Bow’s maternity session followed by a newborn session with her adorable daughter. The Stanleys have been in our islands for years but are now moving to Nebraska. Wow!!! I couldn’t think of two more radically different places. They wanted some family photographs on the beach that would always serve as a reminder of their days living in paradise.

I’ll be honest, I was a little nervous because I knew they were a military family. Although I know tons of military families and they are just all sweethearts, I still always have this niggling fear that the dad will be a drill seargant barking out commands to start running in place and do one-arm pushups. As soon as the family tumbled out of their van and greeted us warmly with these ear-to-ear smiles, I knew this was going to be fun. And boy, was it fun. Not only did the dad, Robert, not put us through drills on the sand, he was more of a kid himself as he chased his son through the sand and surf. The kids were so photogenic, I did get a little carried away with them. They both have these striking blue eyes (I’m so jealous, I always wanted blue eyes). Both their names start with “M,” as apparently, four or so more cousins do as well. So I’ll call them Manly “M” and Sweet “M.” Sweet “M” had just recently lost some of her front teeth, oh I remember those days. They both turned out to be avid tree climbers and adventuresome. I think they wanted to do the whole session up in the trees. You could see how much love this family have. They were always hugging each other or laughing at someone’s jokes.

This was at the tail-end of my sprained ankle week. But this family were so fun and creative, the adrenaline took over and I was running around the beach…totally forgetting about my ankle. All I felt was excitement. They were such a sweet family, which I shouldn’t be surprised at since they’re friends with Bow (completely made of sugar and spice). I can’t help but be a little sad that they’re moving away and Hawaii loses an awesome ‘ohana.

(I overheard Sweet “M” asking “Why is she taking pictures of our feet?” I had to giggle)