He rocked my camera from the first shot.  I had so much fun with this senior who loves the outdoors and nature.  

He took me on an adventure through Guana River State Park in Ponte Vedre, Fl.  I loved the atmosphere.  This little old lady kept riding by us on the trails dinging the bell on her bike!  She cracked me up!

Sarah, his girlfriend was just as kind and sweet as he was.  They shared how they met and I told them my crazy story about meeting my husband.  I can't wait to go back.

Next time he's bringing his bike and I'm bringing a horn for it!  

It's not often I get the chance to photograph my sweet sister and daughter together.  We lives states apart.  It makes this shot from our beach trip even more special.

She's a ham in front of my camera.  I love her dearly.  "Hi sis!"

My dad and my brother-in-law chatting it up on the deck (pre-hurricane).

Me and mini-me!

My sweet brother and sister-in-law!  I love my brother.  He's the biggest ham.  Having him and his family there made missing mom a little less painful this first beach vacation!

My hand-held moon shot the night of the new moon and the night of the "broken toe".  I love the way you can see the rest of the moon in shadow but only a slice in light.  That is the pier you see in the rest of the photo and beach houses.

Have a great Thursday!  It's almost Friday!

This year marked the first year in my 49 years of visiting Atlantic Beach, NC in which we were there on the Fourth of July.  Since mom died only six months ago this was an especially important trip for our family.  My brother and his family were able to come for the first time in eight years.  It was wonderful to have everyone together again.  Mom would have liked that.  We watched beautiful fireworks from the deck of the house.  I honestly don't know who those people are on the beach.  Nope, never seen them before!!

Our family takes a sunset cruise each year and this year was no different.  We got a nice night's sail in before Hurricane Arthur came barreling down on us.  (photo credit - some nice lady on the cruise)  "Thank you!"

Chloe, the dog, always comes with the captain.  If you ever get a chance to travel to Beaufort, NC Lookout Cruises does life on a sailboat right!

The Worthy Boys!

As we shrugged off what we thought was going to be a blow by from a Category One hurricane we watched as the ocean grew angrier each hour of the day.  Here's a couple shots during the day of the night it made landfall...

Sand at 40mph...

The hurricane slowly turned into a Category One hurricane as night approached.  We soaked up water coming in from all sides of the house and wondered if we would lose power (most importantly air conditioning) during the night.  The windows shook.  The glass doors waved as if saying hello.  Things were a little hairy!  

The eye finally made landfall around 3am.  Of course my husband and boys were there to watch it happen.  

We survived an exciting night and the next day dawned a beautiful sunny day with waves built for boys!

As always, I did not want to leave.  Dot's Spot (as the family calls the beach house) is a place filled with many, many memories.  God was so gracious this year to give us a vacation we would never forget!  Did I mention the broken toe?  That happened day one!  Be blessed......

Julie