Such a funny term! In June, to celebrate the end of the school year, I took the kids on a one night surprise getaway adventure to the Sanctuary Beach Resort in Marina. You can read my blog post about our mini trip there in June HERE where you can also see pictures of the resort. We had, hands down, the most lovely escape with the kids I have ever had to date. THE.BEST.TIME.EVER. We had such an amazing time there that we decided we would spend our annual family vacation there in October. Because of our opposing work schedules (when I work, the hubby is off, when he works, I am off) family TOGETHER time is a rare commodity and family vacations are even more scarce. So, even though this was just an hour's drive away and for the duration of just three days away, we wanted to really have a the sense of "getting away." I intentionally left the laptop at home (full disclosure: I still had my iphone) and only brought one camera/lens set up (my old 5d and even older 24-105mm F4 lens). I vowed to try to not take too many pictures and ended up with a final tally of 250 images for three full days away, which for me, is pretty good actually!
As a small side note, the kids were talking up the three pools at the resort up BIG TIME the entire drive down and were ready to jump into their swimsuits the minute we checked in. Sadly, we didn't find out the entire pool area was under construction until AFTER we had checked in. To say we were disappointed is a major understatement. BUT, I have to give major props to the manager, Brian Rios, who not only apologized for not letting us know in advance and went out of his way to rectify the situation as best he could. Not having access to the pool/hot tub area was a total let down but Brian handled it all really well and made it so that we would definitely come back in a heartbeat. I seriously cannot recommend The Sanctuary Beach Resort in Marina enough. We look forward to coming back again and again over the years. The place is super kid friendly (kiddie pool, regular pool, huge hot tub, steps away from the beach, playground area.....) and the staff are all awesome. The rooms are WONDERFUL. Just love.
Ok, onto the trip. We spent the first full day down in Monterey visiting the Aquarium for most of the day and Dennis the Menace park in the late afternoon. Since it was super cold/windy and I had "hoodie" dress from Courtney Courtney Designs that needed a commercial shoot, I decided to kill two birds with one stone! Ellie wore that outfit all day and I got to photograph it all day. So, as everyone else was admiring the surroundings and sea life, I was finding perfect little pockets of light. :) Truth is, I now do that even when I don't have my camera with me. It's become an obsessive little habit of mine. Always seeking that perfect light. BTW, because I have so many pictures I am going to break this up into two posts. This first one will cover day 1 and the second one will be for days 2 + 3 combined since I took less shots those next two days.
Before heading out to the aquarium for the day, I took Ellie outside our room and grabbed a few shots of her modeling the outfit. She LOVES these hoodie dresses and wants to wear the hoodie on even indoors.
She totally does her own poses. Some rock and some leave me scratching my head, but I photograph them all so that I don't discourage her "creativity"..... Exhibit A below is the "what?!" example.
The private path down to the beach from the bungalows. It was CRAZY windy for 2 of the 3 days we were there. So we just spent 5 minutes down there before leaving for the Aquarium.
They love the Aquarium. I do too.
No matter where we ate, they had coloring mats for the kids. I love that this is not "industry standard" so to speak.
This is his "mother, really? MUST YOU?" look.
I love shooting through glass.
This walkway heading down to the Seahorse exhibit has always been the BEST light in the entire aquarium but usually the aquarium is WAY too packed for me to ever attempt to take any pictures here. But, since we were OFF season and mid week and it was practically empty I was able to do a full on THREE minutes here without any foot traffic. UNBELIEVABLE. One day I will build a natural light studio and it will have floor to ceiling windows like this spot and I will be OH SO HAPPY.
After the Aquarium we walked around downtown on our way to Dennis the Menace park. Jason and Gavin went into a store and Ellie and I hung out on the staircase just outside (the light was perfect there) and goofed around some more.
This is her "oh dear, oh my, southern belle" pose. She cracks herself up.
I look at this next picture and it's my sister Seraphine THROUGH AND THROUGH.
LOVE this next shot.
Then she got grumpy and gave me the "look."
but she is a total phony and couln't maintain it.
so she looked away from me and kept peaking back to see if my camera was still up.
Then we made it to Dennis the Menace Park and played until dinnertime. Ellie is pretending to be a "baby chick in the egg sleeping." Don't ask.
I swear this boy is just entirely too good looking. When he smiles, my heart lights up.
I told her this was the LAST time she'd be able to swing in the "baby" swing. She made the most of it.
ECHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Ok, days 2 and 3 (combined) will be posted later tonight. Off to Ellie's 5th birthday party! :)
