The little ham known as Yasmin...

It is an understatement if I were to say that my daughter, Yasmin, is entertaining. I have to say that a little part of me rejoices every time she asks me to take her photo because I know I am guaranteed to have fun doing it. Even after a long day of shooting for business, I still found the inspiration to photograph her. She's such a little ham, don't you just want to eat her up?

More Ometepe

The last day on the island of Ometepe consisted of visiting Ojo de Agua, which is a quaint location where one can bath in natural spring mineral water (got that?). Anyway, it's a beautiful location and as you can see, the water is crystal clear!

Ometepe, Nicaragua Part 1

Do you want to see the Garden of Eden? Well, I officially have located it on the island of Ometepe located in the large fresh water lake of Lake Nicaragua. I don't think I have ever seen so much vegetation and natural beauty in my life. Technically, Ometepe is composed of two volcanoes, Concepción and Madera, which feels like two islands but really it's just one. I discovered petroglyphs and went to Ojo de Agua (which I will show in Part 2). Anyway, I will let the photos show you the beauty...

The view from the shore of Rivas

The dock on the island

The ferry we rode on

The busses to take you around the island (we had a truck we brought on the ferry).

My Tio David hold a parrot at the restaurant we ate at.

My Tio Daniel and my Dad holding parrots.

One of the many small churches located on the island.

Concepción

The room we stayed in that night.

Yasmin

On the shore...this lake has small waves.

Concepción again.

Maderas hiding behind a cloud

Running!

Yasmin and my niece Anita running!

Concepción once more

Sunset

My uncles and fathers watching some boys play soccer on the beach.

Yes, I am the nerd that did that...

See what I mean? Wouldn't you agree that  Ometepe is the Garden of Eden?

The Love of my Life

I am in love with the most amazing human being on this planet. I am enthralled by all of her inner beauty and outer beauty. Every moment with her is filled with laughter and when she is away, her absence hangs heavily in the air. Despite all this love, sometimes I wonder how it is that I came to love her like this...I suppose a part of me can't really help it, I mean after all, we do share twenty-three chromosomes. But maybe what I find truly amazing is her sweet disposition and her fun personality. All I really know though is if there is one person in the world I cannot live without, it would certainly have to be her--hands down.
Yeah, I know what you're thinking, "Of course you love her! You're her mother!"
But is that one hundred percent true? Is there some kind of rule booking stating that is so? Because if there is please hand those books out to the countless of abusive and useless parents in this world. But back to my point, I do love her because she is my offspring but I feel like I love her more because of all the beautiful things she has taught me and her strategies with coping with "troubles". Yasmin truly lives the live of the uncarved block (please refer to Taoism for this reference) and she is simply one of the sweetest people you'll ever know. One morning I remember I looked in the mirror and I felt the reflection looking back was quite frieghtening when Yasmin walks in to use the potty and turns to me saying, "Mimi (her nickname for me), you look so beautiful. Your heart is like an angel." I turned to her smiling and I said, "Yasi, you are an angel." I know, it's a sappy love story but I can't help it, she is my angel. Yasmin has saved my life in so many ways and continues to do so daily.
With all this said, she is the main subject of my personal photographs. I have probably taken thousands of pictures of her and I am never tired of it. She is theatrical, goofy, and fun in front of the camera. Sometimes she even grabs my camera and asks me if I plan on photographing her soon but today I grabbed my camera and as I played with her toes, I wanted to capture all the joy she brings into my life. This is my visual ode to Yasmin.