castro ohana in la jolla california

swim with dolphins at Sea World. eat a burger at in-n-out. catch a Padres baseball game at Petco Park. cheer for the Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium. stare in amazement for hours at all the animals in the world famous san diego zoo. surf in la jolla. bet it all on brightly colored jockeys and their horses where the surf meets the turf at old del mar. have a margarita (or three) in tijuana. take a day long safari at the san diego wild animal park.
these are all things you might find on a to-do list for a lot of people visiting our fair city. one more thing that has been growing in popularity here in san diego... taking family portraits with ohana photographers. jaymie, his beautiful wife audrey, and precious daughter addison added a visit with us to their list when they came all the way out to san diego from the frozen tundra of new york. we spent an afternoon at the beach getting fresh new photos of their lovely ohana. jaymie's brother marc followed along and did an awesome job of standing stroller watch.
right off the bat we could tell that the castro's were very reserved and super serious. they were not about to make silly faces or act like goofballs in a public place just so we could get some "fun" shots, so...
we started off slow. :)

i kiid. i kiid. it only took jaymie about 2.5 seconds to have kim l-ing o l.
fact: jaymie and audrey have the most infectious smiles this side of the mississipp. addison however, wasn't buying our cheap parlor tricks behind the camera (ie. jingling keys and dorky sounds). for her, we needed to break out the big guns.

not even the crazy arm dance could get her to crack. notice her "i don't know those people" gaze.
what to do?
ah ha! suddenly it came to me. what's the one thing that always makes kids laugh? april's face? well, yes, but we employed something different this time...

tickle, tickle. 60 percent of the time, it works every time.

if you don't think this is one of the cutest things you've ever seen then my question to you is, who stole your soul? robot.

we get to capture a lot of cool moments in people's lives, but this has to be one of the coolest. during their trip to san diego addison learned how to stand on her own. this image documents one of the last times addison needed help to stand. it's one of those amazing moments in a child's life that we as parents are blessed to witness and be a part of.

happy parents. happy baby. happy ohana.

by a show of hands, or baby, who loves san diego?

rain said, watch the birdie.

addison found zero humor in the fact that that last wave nearly got her wet.

there's the smile we love. babies rule!

thank you so so much jaymie, addison, marc, and audrey. the fact that you chose us out of the 1.2 billion photographers in san diego to do your family portraits is pretty awesome, but what makes it more special to us is the fact that you are an amazing photographer. it's really humbling when other photographers ask you to take their picture. we feel extremely blessed for being given the opportunity to do this for you. mahalo plenty. God Bless you all.
try to stay warm this winter with thoughts of san diego in your heads. we hope to see you all again VERY soon. hint hint. who's up for shave ice and a 2nd round of portraits... on oahu?

p.s. happy belated birthday jaymie!