I realize winter has not "officially" started yet but since most of the country has already experienced below freezing temperatures and some places have even had snow.... Well, I am calling it winter ;) As I was pondering what to do for our Christmas pictures this year, I was a bit stumped. You see, in South Texas we don't have the usual winters most of the country is accustomed to. Today, for example, as I was driving to and from the grocery store, the thermometer in the car was reading 77 F before noon. I am not complaining though, I LOVE this weather! Although we do get the occasional cold front and rainy winter days, our temperatures rarely get lower than the 40's. In fact, it hasn't snowed in this area since christmas day 2005 and last known occurrence was 100 years before that (or so I am told)!! Anyway, snowy landscapes where out of the question for this year. So, I came to the conclusion that we had better embrace the nice weather and go take pictures at the beach. South Padre Island here we go!!
I consider it a true privilege and blessing to live 30 minutes away from this place. We took these pictures on a breezy November day when the temperatures were cool enough for the long sleeves but nice enough to enjoy getting our feet in the water.
We took pictures at two different spots, our favorite one being at the dunes all the way on the North end of the island.
On that day there were big tractors clearing the sand away from the main road and they were making these giant sand mounds along the beach near us. The kids were super excited about the tractors but more so about the mountains of sand they could climb.
The beach toys are always a crowd favorite too...
We also brought some snacks and had a picnic...
If there is one thing I leaned about taking pictures of my kiddos is that posing is just about the worst thing I can do. The easiest though, is just to let them do their thing and snap away while they are at it. Over the last few months, I have come to love and embrace these candid shots a lot more. I think I can capture a lot of their little personalities this way too.
Z1 has been as active as ever. The boy can hardly sit still for a couple of minutes! He is very social and LOVES to talk. He likes to make up stories and teach his sister how to do things. Lately, he has been asking how you say different words in Spanish like tree and fence. Luckily, we have a lot of people around us who can help answer those questions. I think he has now realized that there is more than Portuguese and English out there... Last week he told me that, when he grows up, he is going to speak Japanese too. I guess language is his thing. He has also gotten very good at spelling out the words he sees around.
Z2 is little miss independent. Although she enjoys playing with her brother, she seems just as happy finding something to do by herself. She likes to look at books, color, and play with her dolls and her brother's trucks. Like her brother, she is also a little talker. She is usually shy around people at first but once she gets going... She loves to climb everything in sight and can be very persistent when it comes to getting things her way =D
I would have loved to have gotten a picture of the four of us but, as I mentioned before, posing with kids this age is very close to impossible. Maybe next time.
Merry Christmas!!!!
