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The Clary Family

This past week was AMAZING! I was super busy and loving every moment of it! A few blog posts ago I wrote about creating a video for Jon Casey, well, his mom (my teacher from 4th grade) wanted some family portraits taken.  They had scheduled a family vacation planned for a week in Duck, NC and asked me to come and stay with them for a few days. This is the first time I have been asked to stay with a family, so I was excited because they are a huge family made up of mostly BOYS! It WAS an overload of Batman, Spiderman, leaper games, and of course, Star Wars.

The breakdown: There is Kate who was my teacher and simply put, an amazing woman with a huge heart. She has two biological sons Jared & Jon and then three adopted children Adam, Alex & Eric who are super sweet! Now, Jon is a super talented artist and lives in San Fran and does his artist thing! Jared is her youngest son and was pretty quite most of the time. He is a cool guy and even helped me with some filming while I was there! Jared is married to a lovely woman named Lisa and the 2 of us clicked instantly. Her smile and laughter are contagious! Together they have two boys Jude and Kai, who, by the way, could really be models. They are super photogenic! So, if you lost count… That’s Kate, Lisa, Me, Jon, Jared, Adam, Alex, Eric, Jude and Kai! 3 women out numbered by 7 boys! It was a busy house!

I drove down on Monday and got there about 3:00pm and we decided to go for the group family portraits on the beach! Well, they turned out beautifully! After that, they cooked up some scallops and shrimp. I love seafood and rarely get to eat it so that was a real treat! Kate is an amazing cook and I even had conversations with her about her gluten free style of cooking. Unfortunately, being part Italian, I could never really give up bread, but I will say some of the gluten free cookies she made had me second-guessing!

After a good nights rest it was day 2! It was overcast and at some points of the day, rainy. However it didn’t stop us from going to the beach and capturing some candid shots of the kids playing! Then we went in for lunch and everyone took a nap, because what’s better than a rainy day and a nice nap?  As for me, I was up editing photos and checking out locations for the next days shoot. Kate and I agreed that we needed to get some individual shots of the children and decided to hit up Jennette’s Pier the next day.

The shots I took at the pier were by far my favorites! The boys were so much fun and Jared, Lisa, Jude & Kai got some great family shots too. After the photo session Jon and I got ice cream at Fat Boyz! Of course, I had chocolate and in a waffle cone! We then headed back to the house where I jumped in the pool and took a moment to relax.

While in the pool Kate joined me and we talked about her boys and she told me why she decided to adopt. Two of her boys are from Guatemala and just listening to the story about how they came to be and the system for adoption there was really sad. By the end of the story I was smiling because I was so thankful there are people in this world like Kate. She is a wonderful mother, not only to her two biological sons, but also her three adopted as well.  Watching her over the 3 days I was there I saw how caring, loving, and compassionate she is with them. Also, I will note with all those boys under one roof she has a great deal of patience!

I wish I could have stayed longer, but drove home feeling so blessed and happy to have been part of their family vacation. Here are some of my favorite images from my time spent with the Clary’s. Thank you all for your wonderful hospitality and friendship.

xo Meghan

Jon and Jared

 

Jon loves to instagram! 

A quick photo of Jon and Me

LOVE THIS PHOTO! Sooo sweet! 

 

Family photos with funny faces are alway a must! hehehe

Ok lets try this photo with a jump!

Orrr Maybe not 🙂

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Took a walk to a near by pier 

Time for fun in the sand!

Walking to the beach with all the beach gear!

Wait a min mom I just got to get my feet wet first! 🙂

I told you not to stomp my sand castle!!!

So sweet!

This appears to be a trap of some sort 🙂

Off to Jennette’s Pier!

Love this shoe photo!

Mommy and Daddy’s shoes!

 The love of a family is life’s greatest blessing