J Cooper Photography

We are home.  And despite the mounds of laundry and sand everywhere…it feels great!

I took hundreds of pictures during our week at the beach…and have even more images etched into my mind.  I am not gonna lie.  Vacation with 4 little people is a whole lot of work.  Throw in a sick child (or two) during the travel and it was just about enough to send me over the edge.  But we were determined to make these memories for our kids.  And although we are exhausted, we are SO grateful for the opportunity to spend time with them as a family!

I promise to be back soon with many more pictures as I have time to sit down to look at them!  THANK YOU for all the prayers as we were heading out!  Super Sam came down with a stomach bug 48 hours before we left.  He lost 2 lbs. in 24 hours and had me pretty scared.  He wasn’t keeping anything down and was fading FAST!  I took him to the doctor to rule out any serious concerns…grabbed some Pedialite at the pharmacy…and we threw him in the car anyways.  I fed him Pedialite through a syringe every 5 minutes the entire drive to Nebraska.  We threw the kids in bed and had them up and dressed by 4am to meet our outgoing flight.  Sam was touch and go as we traveled.  Lots and LOTS of whining.  He was BEGGING for pizza, or mac and cheese, or anything greasy!  But he still wasn’t keeping down solids so instead the whole airport got to hear him whine   We had a scare on our first flight when Danny Boy threw up his ENTIRE bottle on my lap!!  I was sure his brother had “lovingly” passed on his little bug.  But after that incident, things calmed down and I’m now quite certain he just had a case of air sickness.  Once we actually arrived at the beach…things were really looking up!!

I can’t wait to share about our adventures.  But just one image for tonight.  Last year my Dad took an amazing silhouette of our family on Kill Devil Hills.  I LOVED that image with my whole heart but never printed it.  We were SO close to receiving our referral and I just felt like a piece of our little family was missing.  This year I was bound and determined to GET THAT SAME SHOT!   We were losing light FAST and there were a hundred people in the way…I handed my camera off to my Mom who just looked at me like I had lost my mind.  She may have been nervous…but did she ROCK IT OR WHAT???  Can’t wait to print this out!

So much to do!  The girls start camp in the morning so I better get their clothes washed quick!  AHHH….feels good to be home!