Las Dunas de Bilbao

Yesterday we drove out to Las Dunas de Bilbao. It's about a 40 minute drive or an hour and a half if you take a wrong turn. My bad.

Anyway, we have visited the sand dunes before and had a horrible time. I guess this is why we hadn't returned in the last 3 years. Dana, Eva and I went in July 2006. It's kind of weird looking at photos from that event and seeing Eva as a 1.5 year old and Micah in the womb. Weird. When we went in July it was 40 plus degrees and was absolutely no fun. Eva cried the whole time. But the kids are older now and it's winter here in Torreon which means it's only 27, so we thought we'd give it another go. IT WAS AWESOME!

We had originally thought it would be nice to get a family photo out there. But after Micah and Eva face planted on the first dune we thought better of it.

First things first, we have to get to the top of the dune.


Micah chose to slide down.


Eva chose to jump down. We tried to give her direction on leaning back but I guess it just didn't register with her. Good thing the sand was super soft.



Normally Eva cries in these embarrassing situations but not this time. She came up laughing hard.



Micah was trying to see how dirty he could get.


Now Eva is getting it. Cool.


Back to getting dirty.



Eva was having so much fun going down.


...not so much fun walking back up.


And Micah dirty again.


Eva climbing the dune.




Josh was beaching it.


Kicking it back with Mom.


Okay, so the pants Micah wore were a touch too big. So he decided to strip down to his undies. I love this shot. Micah walking out in the desert in just his undies. Awesome.


So then I asked Micah if he had to go pee and he said no. However, judging from the sand stuck to the front of his underwear I'd say he'd already taken care of business.
This was supposed to be just a shot of me but it's far better with Micah in it. Too funny.


The dunes looked amazing at the end of the day.


Time to hustle back to the van before the sun sets.


What a great outing!

Parkage...

We went down to the park after our run to Starbucks. Oddly enough none of us ordered coffee. The kids rode the rides and I fumbled around with my camera.

The kids were very proud of themselves for standing up on these pillars.
I shot this with my Canon 10-22 lens. I really dig this lens a lot and would recommend it to anyone who owns a aps-c size sensor camera. It's a lot of fun.


A shot of Josh and Dana. (Bobbi was holding my flash off camera left) Dana looks amazing people. Day 12 and wearing preprego clothing.


Interesting that they have this little booth that supposedly sells tickets. However, everyone just pays with change and a guy comes over and basically hot wires the ride to get it going.


I love the translation. 1th Battalion...


The kids enjoyed this little airplane ride. There were 10 different planes but Micah wanted to ride behind Eva and not fly his own plane. He's awesome, he just loves his big sister.


Not very sharp but liked the perspective and Micah's reaction.


Eva and Micah are best friends. I love their faces in this image. You have to look for Eva's through the yellow window.


Very excite. I like this image. Didn't think this would be a good one when I took it but it worked out nicely.


Micah has bitter beer face in this pic.


I managed to stray away from the family for a 5 minutes to ask 2 guys to take their portraits. I'm getting more bold with the asking and don't care if they say no. It's worth it to get a good shot.

These two images were shot with my 85mm lens.
This was the ticket guy. I shot this in colour and processed it in Nik silver efex pro which I highly recommend. Not a cheap program but does AWESOME B&W conversion.
I like this guy's gold tooth showing.


I saw this man light up his cigarette from about 20 yards away and thought I'd missed a great shot. So instead of walking away I asked the man if I could take his photo with his dagger in his mouth. He had no problem accommodating me. When I shot this photo I was a bit nervous but after my first shot I saw a pole behind his head that looked funny. (Thanks Louise for the tip on your blog about foreign objects coming out of heads) So I quickly moved to my left a bit and shot him from a different angle. Making this adjustment is a big win for me and tells me I'm starting to see better.

Party of 5 - Park Time

Joshua got his first taste of life at the park with his siblings. Even though he slept through most of it, it was neat to be hanging out all together. I couldn't help imagine what it will be like in 2 or 3 years when all 3 of them are chasing each other.

Doesn't Dana look awesome! Her new wrap looks cool too.



Micah and Eva were pretending they were Lions coming to eat me. The next few shots were taken with me running away shooting back at them. I had camera in one hand and my flash in my other hand. Nerd Alert. (Eva is already embarrassed when I do silly things...just wait a couple of years kid)




It has been raining like crazy here. So now it's not only hot but super humid. This means that playing chase = copious amounts of sweat. Micah comes to me now and feels his arm pits and says, "Look Daddy I'm just like you, I have sweaty arm pits"


I like this pic because the whole family is in it!


I couldn't get away from Eva...




Tire swing time. (and a little off camera flash)




I really love how happy both Eva and Micah are together. They've become best friends.




Mom watching over the kids.

Photo Birth Story

I wanted to document the process the best I could while still supporting Dana. Thanks to Dana's determination and preparedness I was able to shoot a lot!

It was so great to witness the birth of our son and see Dana execute her birth plan to perfection. Here are a few photos documenting the progression.

Dr. Lopez checking Joshua's heart rate.



Lucia checking the baby and doing a wonderful job supporting Dana.


One of my favorites of the day. Dana was so strong and so in control.

Eva and Micah with looks of anticipation. They so badly wanted to hold little Joshua.


Mom's first hug.


On the weigh station...Not too happy about that.

Joshua Willms and my amazing wife.

Here are a few photogs of the birth! Stay tuned for WAY more photos.

Baby Joshua coming up for his first breath!








AWESOME!


Thanks to God we have a beautiful healthy baby boy!