An epic morning of music and monk seals | Aulani family photographer

When Tracy contacted me, pure enthusiasm and glee exuded from her email. Over email. Now that’s a feat. They weren’t just excited about their prospective photography session, but about their vacation, and really you get that sense that they are just excited about life in general.

And no surprise, so is their little guy. He started our session as a horse with blinders at the Kansas State Fair. He reminded me so much of Micah, fully absorbed in his imaginative world. It was adorable, but horses with blinders are a bit tricky to photograph, so we gently, peacefully transitioned him back to human through music.

Mason is a music lover so they asked if I could bring a guitar along. I happen to have a guitar that I can’t play and an ukulele that I also cannot play, so I was happy to oblige. I got to hear them rock out to some incredibly catchy tunes that I still find myself humming a week later. Some I believe are family creations and I cannot share their joy with you, but one song you can find online. It’s from the show Mickey Mouse clubhouse, which you probably know of if you’re avid Disney fan. If you don’t want to click the link, i’ll sing it for you. It goes a little something like this …  hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity doggggggg. Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog! Hmm … I don’t think that does it justice. Let’s just say it’s so great that it caused Mason to bust out the air microphone and sing his little heart out. Love this kid.

A mystery creature

We were standing on the shore jamming and Mason started laughing and pointing to something behind me. “A whale!” He exclaimed. I turned around not expecting to see anything more than a whale-shaped rock and there, not 3 feet away, is a Hawaiian monk seal cruising by. The highly endangered, super special to see, monk seal. Adding to the magic of the morning, four sea turtles visited the lagoon.

The sand wizard.

Looking for your own magical morning?

Mornings like this make it worth getting up early. All that beauty to ourselves. I would love to take your family on a morning photo adventure! You can find out more about my fun family photography sessions here.