On our last day at the beach in Aruba…
…I asked Skylar if she wanted to get her hair braided and she, of course, said, “YES!”
Enjoy the pictures. There are tons!
I had fun taking them and watching her enthusiasm!
But most of all, the sheer joy on Skylar’s face during the whole hair-braiding experience was wonderful to watch.
I may have shed a few tears watching my “baby”, now 4.33 years old, have her waist-length hair braided.
When did she go from bald newborn to having waist-length hair?
Did the last 4 years just fly by? Yes, they did!
Scott took these before the hair braiding session.
The highlight of her braiding experience was selecting which beads from the Braid Lady’s Bag of Tricks she was going to put on the end of each braid.
Each braid has two little beads on the end.
Digging for just the right beads was a big job.
And she felt so proud when she picked out those beads.
This was the end of our trip.
A very wonderful, amazing, and memory-filled trip.
Thank you for everyone who’s been reading with me the past 18 days that we’ve been here in Aruba.
I am sorry to have bored anyone with my beach pictures ad nauseum.
Or my local island pictures.
And I even have a highlight reel post coming soon. Lucky you. And me. We get to re-live the whole trip, one more time, probably over the weekend when that post goes up.
From my last post, Efficiency and New Technology, thanks for filling me in on what kind of computer you have and what kind you’d like to have.
For those of you who already use and love Windows Live Writer, I know. I knew it already. When I get back to San Diego, I plan to do my final research and then pony up for a screaming fast new machine.
Thanks to suggestions that I move photos and other data to external drives and try to clean up my existing machine, but after 4+ years, I just need a fresh start.
This definitely isn’t a fresh recipe, but it’s a good one. And it may be new to some of my new readers. Thanks for finding me and saying hi!
No-Bake Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls (with a High Protein Option)
And they take about 5 minutes to whip up, no food proc or Vita required.
Questions:
1. Have you ever had your hair braided?
My mother never let me when I was a kid on vacation. She always said the braid ladies have dirty combs.
But Skylar’s Braid Lady’s comb looked just fine to me.
Skylar said it looked like Barbie’s comb.
Edited to add, I submitted this photo for judging
The Braid Lady could braid hair faster than anyone I’ve ever seen.
The entire “event” was over and done with in about 10 minutes.
She could braid from root to tip after the hair was parted and sectioned, in not kidding, about 8 seconds. Unreal speed.
The only time I ever had my hair braided was in Cancun when I was 19 on Spring Break. Oh, I wish I had those pictures!
2. Any vacation stories or memories from your childhood, or adulthood, that you want to share?
I’m all ears!
3. If you made it this far, thank you!
You may be wondering why I have so many of these pictures?
Two reasons: first, I never know what pictures are truly going to look like until I hit publish. So that’s one reason.
The second, is I am very serious about pursuing my career dreams and aspirations and I am going to use some of these in my portfolio. Yes, my photography portfolio. More on that another time.
Do you have any favorite pictures from this post?
Why or what spoke to you in the image. What story was told? What did you feel?
Those are questions I ask myself when I am making pictures to use a Penny term.
P.S. Thanks for everyone who continues to comment on the Healthifying Desserts & Beans in Dessert post. I had a feeling it would be somewhat popular when I posted it, but had no idea it would be that popular. Thanks for your comments, stories, and thoughts.
Stay tuned for Blogging 103 and maybe some airport and airplane blogging…
I love the photos! Amazing shots of Skylar. She is so cute :)
Love those photos! This is an awesome thing that you’re pursuing–power to you!
I love that very last one of Skylar, and I love the ones where you can see the braid lady’s face.
One thing I have to ask: is there a problem with publishing the photos on your blog and then using them later? I ask because I’m very reticent about publishing poems on my blog because if I submit them for publication later, many publishers consider blog-publishing to be ‘already published.’ I don’t know if there’s the same issue with photos but just wanted to throw it out there.
Safe Journey!
love
Ela
Averie I love your pictures! And your little girl is growing up for sure but she looks so happy and beautiful getting her braids! I remember being a kid and always wanting to do that :)
I am so glad you had fun on your trip! Jealous that your going to come back nice and tan!!
Gorgeous photos! You have the cutest little girl! :)
My mom wouldn’t let me get my hair braided – said it was a waste of money. I think she just didn’t want to have to take OUT the braids!
My friend and I would go get our hair in cornrows when we would go to hip hop concerts. I would get a slight headache because of how tight she did them. I have done my full head and half. I have a little bit of a complexion from being half italian and the ladys friend said I looked Mulatto so I guess I could pull it off, they would not keep in my hair to long, I think its due to my hair being to soft.
Love the pics of your daughter, good that she can sit still having that done some kids can’t lol!
that lady’s comb looks just like mine; it’s fine… haha I think mama needs some braids!
(she’ll remember getting her hair done for forever; I still remember mine!)
The black-and-white portraits of Skylar at the end, and before the beach photo with the big chain are my favorites.
This just makes me smile. What awesome memories she’s going to have. So incredibly special. And I think you know I will never tire of beach pictures.
oh she will remember this forever! she looks adorable!! you’ve also got a great tan going on! i got cornrows in mexico while on my senior trip in high school. my friend also got hers done.
xo ~ kristina
https://beancakes.wordpress.com/
The last photo of Skylar is beautiful! You’ve got a looker on your hands!!
I was always jealous of the kds at school who got to have their hair braided. I never have.
I have never had my hair braided, nor ever been anywhere where that was an option. But it is amazing that they can do it so quickly!
I have loved reading your posts and seeing the beautiful pictures of the beach. And I’ve noticed how you can truly capture the beauty, I especially love it when you post flower pictures. They are always pops of color!
I love the sepia-toned pictures, at least the ones that look like sepia, I don’t even know if I’m using the right word!
it was fun following along on your trip – don’t be sorry for sharing the awesomeness! what a fun treat for the last beach day – she looks giddy happy! :)
one more suggestion on the computer thing – if you are transitioning to a whole new “system” anyway, I’d encourage you to look into “cloud” storage (I use dropbox and LOVE it!) instead of more externals – even with my limited knowledge of the tech industry, I see things are heading this direction and soon everything will be “in the clouds” instead of stored locally… at Jason’s work you can log in to your “desktop” at home, log out and get to work and log in to the same desktop… similar to vpn but all cloud :)
okay, Kris’ Nerd Time over! :D safe travels!
i’m so behind on your blog posts with the craziness of my vacations/graduation lately but can’t wait t catch up on all your aruba pics! skylar is precious
Aw, all the pictures are beautiful. Not a boring post at all :D I especially like number 57 and 60. I also like the black and white one that’s the same as number 60. Usually I don’t like b+w and sepia and that kind of stuff except on very very select pictures, but I like that one. The ones above those, I think would be better if the person doing the braid wasn’t cut off. Although in the one picture I really like the line that the braid makes between Skylars head and the person braiding.
I never had my hair braided, but they really are amazing. When I was younger I really wanted to get my hair done when we went to Mexico. They were incredibly fast.
We’re on vacation now too…not AS tropical, just South Carolina, but I am enjoying getting back to my beach bum roots! I should have our adventures up on my blog soon!
Brooke Annessa
http://www.theannessafamily.blogspot.com
I used to live in Wrightsville Bch, NC and then N Myrtle Bch, SC
HAVE FUN!
Beautiful photos A. I actually love the very last one – the B & W of Skylar looking down, away from the camera. Also really digging the colorful buses. Such a fun one!
Now you can see what you 1. can do with lightroom or photo editing and 2. all of the “regular ones”, i.e. still in color, were all adjusted, too. They went from a flat image with less vibrance and depth to more va-va voom after some editing. And cropping. Must crop!