Sweet Cheeks Claire| Virginia Beach Family Photographer

Happy Monday Friends! I can not believe how fast summer is flying by! Maybe it’s because my kiddo is getting older and I’ve entered the uber driver stage of life, but I mean WOAH! I feel like I blinked my eyes and summer is half way over for us here in Hampton Roads! Where does the time go?

We all know that saying time is a thief and boy do I feel that something fierce right now. I feel like summer is that time when I actually take a moment to stop and really SEE my kid (maybe it’s all that free time they get to spend at home). Summer is the time when you pause and realize “wow, when did they get so tall? When did they get so into this or that?! When did they get too old to do this?!”

Summer is the time I always remember OH GOSH… I only have x number of summers left before college! I know, I know scary thought! But it’s the season for me when I really realize time is precious and I need to soak it up, I need to soak in as many memories as I can while I can and just enjoy my kiddo in this moment in this stage right now!

That’s why I think I love shooting summer sessions so much. It’s that time and space where we as parents take a little more notice of how quick time is while also having the freedom to be a little more wild and have those “yes” opportunities! You know the ones I’m talking about it! That freedom to finally say YES we can stay up a little later. YES we can totally have ice cream for dinner! YES let’s absolutely go down to the beach and stay long into the sunset hours!

Summer really means freedom for everybody if you think about it and I’m not totally ready to let it go!

This session was absolutely one of those types of sweet summer time sessions! Linc and I met Claire and her mama Charlotte a few years back when we all chose to do surf camp! Claire and Linc hit it off immediately; probably because they are both free spirited, wide open, only children! They are two peas in a very extraverted pod!

Charlotte wanted to capture some portraits of Claire before they cut her hair real short and also while her smile was as adorable as it is right now (perfectly perfect for 8 years old!). So we met at one of my favorite beach locations and we had ourselves a silly, fun and wild time!

That’s the best part about summer sessions: we can be wild! We can play (and boy did we play!). We can go in the water with our clothes on. You’ll come to find if you’re new here that going in the water on sessions is a theme with me! I live for it! I plan for it and not only do I want YOU to pack a change of clothes for your kiddos, but I also come packing a change of clothes as well!

And as always… there’s a ton of laughter which is Claire’s speciality!

Claire is one amazingly cheeky, funny young lady! She had me rolling the entire session! It’s hard not to laugh and be in a joyful mood when you are around her. She IS pure joy! If you had to describe her in 3 words, I think I would say SUNSHINE, JOY and FULL HEART! She is a bright shining light and when you leave her and her mama, you just feel uplifted and light and full of all the good things! You just want to be around them because they are wonderful people!

Claire I can’t wait to watch you continue to grow and girlfriend…. let’s go out and catch some waves next time alright?!