It's a small world after all...

Do you ever stop and think about how small the world really is? I did last week, and not just because I visited Disneyland. And for the record, it's not the happiest place on earth but I will reserve that for another post.

I took my daughters to Southern California to visit my BFF. While visiting So Cal, I had the opportunity to photograph the Ekizian family, who is lovely beyond words. We were "set up" by a mutual friend, the ever fabulous Valli Vida Gideons. I went to school with Valli's brother, JT, who still lives up in No Cal with his amazing wife, Mel, and their son, Gage (who is consequently married to my daughter). Confused yet? Well, don't be. Because the gist of my story is that it truly is a small world.

Our session took place at Pine Park in Dana Point... what a gorgeous place. A grassy hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean near sunset. Ahhhh, heaven! There is also a super cool park where we let the kids run amok for a while, just to get their wiggles out.

First, I would like you to meet Aidan... a fine young man! At first I had a tough time following him around with my camera. Ever the gentleman, he would stop and smile for me, as if he knew that him mom wanted a picture of him.

All I had to do was say "hey Aidan!" and he would stop whatever he was doing and give me a smile... what'd I tell ya? A gentleman!

And then there is his sister, Kate. Who is, shall we say, spirited. I won't lie, this girl is a fireball! But I just so happen to love fireballs so we got along splendidly. It was even harder to get a shot of Miss Kate, but on the rare occasion, she would stop and give me a smile.

Oh, this is a girl after my own heart... look at those eyes, for goodness sakes!

Dad and Aidan broke out their gloves to throw around the baseball for a while... there is something so endearing about watching father and son play catch.

I watched from a distance, because this kid has one heck of an arm! Aidan, you keep this up and I'm sure we'll be seeing you at the Giants games in a few years.

Meanwhile, Kate was blowing some bubbles with her friends Harper and Battle (and their new friend Chloe - thanks for sharing with my little girl!).

And have I mentioned yet how much I love this girl's laugh?

Love it!

We started to make our way over to the cliff to try and get some sunset-over-the-ocean shots. We were a little distracted by this really cool tree..

Mom giving Kate a hand

Aidan giving me a hand

Finally, we got around to some shots of the family together. As the sun began to set, so did our littlest model. Miss Kate did not take a nap that day and she was beginning to lose her patience with me and my camera. The entire family did such an amazing job getting her to smile and laugh...

Of all the family photos, I love this one the most because I think it captures them just as they are:

Here are some more shots of the family in different arrangements:

We didn't manage to get any of daddy and Kate... I think she was "game over" by this point... So that left Karen and Doug for a few shots. After nearly 2 hours of chasing kids, they took a few moments to spend some quiet time together.

I realize this looks like an ad for eHarmony, but I love this shot. And this shot, where Karen and Doug were watching their kids run off with Valli after being excused from the photo session:

But most of all, I looooooove this shot!

Karen, you are such an amazing mom... you take such wonderful care of your kids (who obviously adore you). It was so nice to see you relax and enjoy a few precious minutes with your husband, who so beautifully illustrated in this photo how much he loves you.

Karen, Doug, Aidan and Kate, thank you so much for spending the afternoon with me and my crazy kids. Valli, thank you for setting us up. And JT, thanks for introducing me to Valli. Now everyone sing with me... "it's a small world after all!".