Collin M. Smith Portrait Photography

Castaway Cay

February 7, 2010 on 9:45 pm | In Lifestyle, Our Family | 1 Comment

Friday we woke up and Mak was feeling much better.  And he was ready to get OUT of the room!  So he and Collin grabbed their cameras and went to photograph the ship and watch the sun come up.  I LOVE that Mak loves taking pictures and can share this with his Daddy!  He says he’s going to work with Collin when he grows up.  I would love that.  :)

Ummm, yeah, my Baby Boy took this next one.  Collin handed him the camera, told him to look for the red light for his focus point and when he had it where he wanted it, take the picture.  This is what he got.  I LOVE it.  I’m gonna go ahead and brag on him a little.  My Baby boy’s got skills.  Momma was proud.  Daddy was over the top EXCITED!!

While Daddy and Bubbo were running around the ship, I was sipping coffee and waiting on the little princess to wake up.  And when she did, she joined me for her morning water.  We sat outside and watched the boat dock at Castaway Cay.  It was GORGEOUS!!!

Mak and Collin came back and we headed out for breakfast and then onto the island.  And we met Chip and Dale hunting for their breakfast!  Mak and CB were thrilled to be the first ones to find them that day!

Mak has never seen any of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies but he knows Jack Sparrow from Disney.  He was Jack for Halloween last year and was pretty excited to see the Black Pearl docked at Castaway.

And then he met Jack!!!

The weather was perfect for the trip.  Sunny and in the 80’s all three days.  The water was COLD, though!  It didn’t bother the kids, and Mak even talked Collin into getting in the water.  I wasn’t so into getting in the water.  :)

This child has been able to entertain herself for hours and hours with nothing but a bucket and shovel since she was about 16 months old.  She never gets tired of building castles, digging tunnels, decorating with shells…and she never ventures farther than her ankles into the water.  She’s the perfect beach baby.

Mak, on the other hand stays in the water, the deeper the better as long as his head can stay above water.  He pushes the limits and comes close to giving me a heart attack every single time.  I always claim CB as my kid to watch at the beach.  ;)  I do love his sense of adventure, though.

This is her third year in this bathing suit and I will be so sad when she outgrows it!  I love that ruffly toosh on the beach!

Collin calls this his James Bond look.  ;)

Sportin’ the Mickey underoos!

They had a great water playset thing for kids out in the ocean.

After a few hours, Amy and Sara wandered over from the adults only beach to play for awhile.  We were so glad they did!

Our kids really fell in love with them on this trip!

We ate lunch on the island and while we were eating poor Clara Beth got really sleepy and began shivering like crazy.  I wrapped her up in towels but she was miserable.  We decided to head back to the ship, and when we got to the room I checked her temperature and it was 101.7.  Yikes!  Baby girl got some motrin and a nap while Mak, Collin and I sat out on the veranda watching people on Castaway Cay.  We saw much more of our room on this trip than I ever imagined we would.  We didn’t make it back out onto the island, but I would say that this day was our favorite by far.  Castaway Cay was GORGEOUS!!  We could have stayed there for days.  And the fever was gone when CB woke up!

That night at dinner we celebrated Mak’s birthday since he missed the night before…

He’d been waiting to devour that chocolate ship ever since he saw it on the top of Amy and Sara’s cake that first night.  He ate the entire thing before we finished singing Happy Birthday!

And then they made him a pirate hat since he missed the Pirate night…

After dinner we saw an AMAZING show.  CB was entranced and we had so much fun watching her watch it.  Then we met Daisy Duck before going to bed.  This has been a lifelong dream of Miss Priss!  We didn’t have our camera, but Amy took some great pictures of that so I will get those from her and add them to this post later.  Thank you, Amy!

The next day we were up bright and early and off the ship by 8:00.  We made it about three hours before the stomach bug hit Clara Beth.  I felt awful for her.  Nothing worse than being strapped into a carseat riding down the interstate with a stomach bug.  She handled it really well, though.

This was such a great trip.  Despite the illness we still all had a great time and I think it was the perfect place to celebrate Mak’s 6th birthday!

Kailey

February 4, 2010 on 10:05 pm | In Children | 4 Comments

LOVE HER!!!!  Seriously, how cool is this chick?  Lately we have had some Fabulous little models on our hands.  We see mostly babies at the studio, as you probably know if you are a regular follower of the blog, but we just love it when some of our older kids come in.  They are FUN!!  We haven’t seen Kailey in years.  She was a teeny little toddler the last time Collin photographed her.  Girlie has grown up into quite the pre-teen!  She’s beautiful and full of spunk and sass…but in a really good way.  I could talk to Kailey for hours.  And I think Mak could, too.  My baby boy was TOTALLY flirting with her in the studio yesterday!  Can you blame him?

It was nearly impossible for me to narrow it down to images for the blog post, but here are some from the session.  The whole album will be on facebook soon!

Oh, Miss Hallie…

February 4, 2010 on 1:21 pm | In Children | 8 Comments

I love ya, Baby Girl!  This session was done THIS WEEK.  Yes, it’s been quite chilly outside.  Yes, her dress is sleeveless and she is barefoot.  We talked to Hallie’s mom before the session to see if they were still up for it in the cold and Barbi responded with “Yeah, she’s a tough girl.”  Momma was SO RIGHT.  Hallie, You ROCK!!!  You are absolutely GORGEOUS and have the BEST personality to match.  And I think it shines through in this session.  Barbi and WK, I think you have model material in your girl!  She is perfect!

Oh, and by the way…I love Miss Hallie’s Momma, too.  She is Barbi, the miracle worker at The Salon here in Florence.  You should definitely go see her!  She is THE BEST around!  In fact, I saw her this morning.  :)

Still More Pop of Color…

February 4, 2010 on 7:26 am | In Babies, Children, Limited Editions | 2 Comments

I just LOVE these sessions SO MUCH!!  And I love that we did a model search to find models for our promo pieces.  Everyone who came out to help us did such a great job…we REALLY appreciate it, Y’all!  And we will definitely do model searches again so be sure to keep up with us on the blog and become a FAN of Collin M. Smith Portrait Photography on facebook.  That’s where model searches will be announced. The ad came out in She Magazine yesterday…check it out to see if you are in it!  Here are a few more images from our  model sessions.  Remember, Pop of Color is being held here at the studio on February 20th.  The session fee is reduced to only $45 and portrait prices are up to 40% off of normal prices.  Call or email to set your appointment up!  843-665-4646 or collin@cmsmithportraits.com

Owen and Layla…Love ‘em!!!

Mark’s Senior Session

February 2, 2010 on 10:26 pm | In Seniors | 2 Comments

You know those moments when you’re like “WOW, I’m THAT old?!?!”  I can truthfully say that I don’t have them often.  I generally feel pretty young.  The “laugh lines” that are beginning to appear on my face may suggest otherwise, but most of the time, I feel young.  And then one day Collin told me he was doing Mark’s SENIOR session.  HUH?!?!  No Way.  I seriously thought Collin must be mistaken.  Middle School portrait, maybe…but SENIOR??  No Way!  And then I thought about it for a second and realized that, yes, it was definitely time for Mark’s senior session.  It had been awhile since I saw him last.  And then Collin came home from the session and showed me the images.  This guy has definitely grown up from the little boy I used to see running around church!  I love senior sessions because they are so personal and all about the senior.  Mark plays the trumpet and is into aviation.  So that’s what his session was centered around.  And I just LOVE it!  Mark, thanks for making me feel old.  ;)  And thanks for letting Collin do your senior session.  It was FUN!