[Guest Blogger Series] Making Time For More Family Time by Kerem Hanci

This month Mommy Hiker is pleased, honored and proud to welcome my very own husband, Kerem Hanci to the Guest Blogger Series! Pro Photographer, Husband, Daddy, Blogger extraordinaire, he has been writing his own very popular Friday Photo Blog for just over 5 years now and if you've been with us from the beginning, you may remember waaaay back almost a year ago to his first Mommy Hiker Guest Post (Wow! A year!). Let's give him a warm welcome back!

I am so happy to reconnect with all the readers of Mommy Hiker again.

As a professional photographer who shoots primarily weddings, summer is extremely busy for me. 

Although this can create certain challenges in getting my much-needed family time, I never let it become an excuse to take those precious fleeting moments away from me.

We were able to schedule a fantastic camping trip (my blog post on that trip and I am sure you already have read Jen’s blog post) last month and this past week was extremely busy for us in a very good, outdoorsy way!

First we spent an entire afternoon at the park.  We were supposed to meet with friends and something came up on their end and we ended up having a family day at the park.

 

Following that wonderful day, right before the weekend, I went along to my first official Mommy Hiker Los Angeles hike! The Mommy Hiker regulars and their children who joined, the energy of the group and the joyful couple of hours that followed were one of the absolute highlights of my summer!

The camaraderie of the children, with the older ones taking responsability for the younger ones was adorable to witness.  I kind of stayed away from the socializing moms (which is another perk for the members of the Mommy Hiker community) and focused on the children.  Their laughter, their fascination with the nature and their endless imagination uplifted me to a whole different level on Friday morning.

The lunch time was a carnival of carefully packed delicious, healthy snacks and it was followed by a festival of children taking turns blowing bubbles and get lost in their excitement of chasing soapy water filled with air. The joy of life really is just that simple!

Over the weekend we drove down to Long Beach for a baby shower, than we drove up to Oxnard for a wild-life cruise, which Jennifer is dedicating an entire blog post to later this month.

I am certain I am preaching to the choir here, but I would like to finish this photography-heavy blog with this: don’t say you would go out and explore the outdoors and let your child(ren)’s imagination run wild “when you can”.  Make time for it, create it and give your undivided attention to how your little one is expanding his/her horizons.  Expand yours with theirs.  We are blessed in California, with year-round lovely weather, kid and wallet-friendly outdoor attractions.  Come join the Mommy Hiker group when they are hiking on Friday mornings and make a serious effort to go every week.  It is a fantastic opportunity to stay in shape, to challenge the little ones and yourself to achieve new heights in personal development.

This was the first time I joined them hiking, you can be sure it was not the last time!  See you all soon on a hiking trail with the little ones!

Finding Beach Bliss in Oxnard, California!

I must admit that although Oxnard, California is just under an hour north of Los Angeles, in the 17 plus years of SoCal living, we have only been once (about a year and a half ago, we drove up for a 3 day camping excursion at McGrath State Beach). Boy, have we been missing out!

Our visit was very spontaneous, extremely short (about 20 hours), but oh so sweet. Vivi and I had decided to tag along with a friend who had to drive up for a business meeting. As luck would have it, that meeting was a block away from the coast, so we made a beeline for the beach; its sand a pure, fine, white blanket and its waves gentle and lapping, perfect for toddlers! 

Hollywood Beach, Oxnard, California

There wasn't a single tourist in sight (except for us, I guess!), just the occasional friendly local walking their dog or enjoying a midday jog by the shore, so we felt as if we were on our own private beach! For hours we laughed, played in the water, built castles, threw sand at each other, rolled around and laughed some more! We were in heaven! 

Hollywood Beach, Oxnard, California

V even made a friend, who's dad was sweet enough to lend us a towel being that we had no intention of ever ending up on a beach covered head-to-toe with sand!!

Hollywood Beach, Oxnard, California

After a quick shower down, we met back up with our friend and walked into the first restaurant we saw Sea Fresh Market, which just happened to be snugly perched on the Channel Islands Harbor with a plethora of ducks to chase, a gorgeous view of the boats and an even better happy hour (did someone say oysters?!)

Oysters! YUM!

So, short story even shorter: I had no idea that 24 hours in Oxnard, California would be written down in my memory as one of the best days ever, but it has been.