A Family Ferry Session to Port Townsend | Whidbey Island Family Photographer

Y'all - this family is one-of-a-kind awesome-sauce. When Nikki contacted me about taking family pictures, she told me that they'd only ever had them taken in their backyard. Which I understand because they have five (amazing) kids and it's kind of just a big deal to get them all in the frame together. 

But I asked anyway, because I'd had an idea for a fun family session I'd been dying to shoot - on the ferry. After telling me that they'd actually never taken all the kids on the ferry before (because again, there are five of them), she and Brad jumped in and said sure. Because it sounded fun. If you are lucky enough to know the Tesch family, you know that they have fun together in everything they do. They even have a tradition known as Tesch Thursdays where they go do something fun every Thursday night. So bringing fun to family pictures - yep, they were on board. 

I knew this was going to be a one-of-kind session and that we'd all have fun, but I was pretty surprised at how much fun we all had. We embraced the wind and climbed to the top deck of the boat, where the kids played tag and came together for a snuggle to stay warm. Baby Cobie showed off her new walking skills as the boat rolled back and forth - impressive considering she'd just taken her first steps the day before. 

When the ferry pulled into Port Townsend, we walked downtown, headed to the piers, and then to the Nifty Fifties Diner where we all enjoyed ice cream and milkshakes. With a little more sugar in our system, the kids spent most of the ride back to Coupeville exploring all the perfect places for hide and seek, and seeing how quickly they could run across the benches on the top deck. 

Shooting this lifestyle session was sort of a dream come true for me. Collaborating with an awesome family, shooting a fun afternoon where smiles came naturally and adventure was the main goal, and topping it off with ice cream - yup. I'm hooked.