This crazy winter weather and taking my turn battling covid has me reminiscing about our fall family beach trip. We spent a week in October camping at Fort Pickens, Florida just past Pensacola Beach. This was the second time we camped there, but the first time we've been there with our three kiddos. Our original plan when we booked this trip was to spend the week in our first camper trailer, but those plans got derailed when we were sold a leaking camper and spent two months trying to exchange it only to ultimately return it and end up with no camper at all...that's another long story for another time! All that to say, we were suddenly tent camping for 7 days as a family of 5 😬 Needless to say I was a little worried about how this trip was going to go, but the beach is my happy place so we packed our car til we were bursting at the seams and just went for it! Minus some major carsickness and a little heat exhaustion from our middle kiddo, it was actually a great trip! I had grown up going to Panama City Beach every summer when I was a kid, but I had never been to the beach in the fall...I had no idea what I was missing!!! The weather was FANTASTIC and the water was still warm enough to enjoy. It did mess with my head a little going from pumpkins to beach back to fall colors and thanksgiving 🤪 but I LOVED the beach in the fall!
First Family Beach Trip -- Fort Pickens, Florida
This was the first time the kids had ever been to the beach. They were so excited to see palm trees in real life. Their minds were blown at the HUGE "sandbox"...white sand as far as you could see! They couldn't get over all the shells we found every day and they all loved playing in the water. Digging holes and building sandcastles was a favorite every day. Our campground had access to walk to the beach, but it was quite a walk with all our beach stuff every day so we definitely got our workouts in! 😅 The kids' favorite nighttime activity was crab hunting. Judah was all about seeing how many he could catch. Oliver was fascinated with looking at them up close after he caught one and Eden was shockingly good at catching them!
We celebrated Judah's 8th birthday while we were there and I still can't believe he's 8! How is that possible?! He requested pizza for dinner so we ate a large pizza on the beach with the most beautiful sunset and perfect temperatures. Then we followed it up with his first round of mini golf and he LOVED it! He asked to play again every day after that. We finished the night with ice cream and all day he kept saying, "This is the best birthday ever! Thank you! Thank you!" which was just so much fun to hear and watch him enjoy!
Happy 8th Birthday to my oldest baby!
I, of course, had to get sunset beach photos of my family while we were there and my awesome hubs helped make it happen. I'm SO glad we did because they are some of my photos of our family!! Whenever I'm getting ready to take pictures of our family in the throws of getting everyone dressed and everything setup and coordinated, I always second guess myself whether it's really worth all the hassle...YES! Yes it is! Every time!! I'm never sorry I made the effort to get nice pictures with my "big camera" of my own family! Thank you, Jacob, for being such a good sport about it all and helping everyone have fun even when the kids were hungry and poor Oliver wasn't feeling the best. I had these photos printed on mounted on foam board (all available in the print shop of your client gallery) in our living room so I can see them every day and they always put a smile on my face!
Even with the bumps along the way, our first family beach trip was a success and I can't wait to make more beach memories together as a family. Check out some of my favorite "big camera" images and a few favorite cell phone images of our fun trip!
Favorite pics from my phone:
Here is a little behind the scenes of how I get photos of my own family. It can be a little tricky to do these yourself and every time I try, I'm reminded of the value of hiring someone else to take your family photos!😅 But on vacation, it's worth it for me to go through the trouble of setting things up myself to grab some nice ones of my own family to remember our trip and the beautiful scenery we enjoyed!
For these photos I set up my tripod, plugged in the settings, and used the interval timer on my Canon r6 camera. I have my hubs stand in the right spot to get the right composition and focus. I make sure to angle my camera so that the sun was at 45 degree angle to my family for good light with the ocean in the background. You can see a shot of my set up. I've trained my kids well with a "laughy" smile. It's definitely worth it to practice with your own kids so they know how to take good pictures quickly and use familiar words so they know exactly what to do...and I always pay them with cookies at the end which helps 😆
Favorite photos from my "big camera"
Such a fun trip! Can't wait to go back next year!
I was actually able to coordinate a beach photo session with another family from Nashville who just happen to be at Pensacola the same week and it was a blast!! You can see more of their session here. Fall break beach sessions are definitely here to stay! Spots are super limited and scheduled first come first served via email, so if you are interested let me know now and we will plan ahead! I will be offering limited beach sessions in Panama City this year!
I'M JANET!
Photographer
I'm a wife, mama, former preschool teacher, and family & newborn photographer based out of Nashville, Tennessee. I have a passion for serving mamas and helping them capture beautiful snapshots of life with their littles to treasure for a lifetime.
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