What a magnificent day. From the early-morning shoot, to a day at the beach, then over to Assateague for a brilliant sunset, then back to the Boardwalk for a late-night walk, we could not have asked for a more complete and memory-filled day. Sunday served as our climactic “event” day of our vacation; now we wind down with a day at the beach, and them home on Tuesday. We will never be too grateful for the opportunity to be here, and for all of the wonderful times we have shared this past week.

I have a lot of pictures to post from Sunday, so I’m going to jump right in. Because there are so many, I am going to move many of them to a new page, which you can go to by following the link after the photos of the Assateague horses.

After my morning shoot, I came back to the condo, and we were on the beach by noon. The waves weren’t nearly as intense as they were on Saturday, and high tide was still over 5 hours away. We set up close to the water, and the kids immediately began building sand castles and digging for shells that the low tide provided them…

Braeden, obviously hard at work, measures his sand grain by precious grain.

Madelyn took the bold approach of digging and diving for her shells.

Madelyn gathers sand for a new castle, as the incoming tide gathers her reflection.

We then moved back to the condo, showered and re-dressed, and headed out for an early dinner at Hall’s Pizza, Soup, Salad, and Dessert Buffet, all for around $40 for the five of us. Not too bad at all. 🙂

It was then off to Assateague Island, where I was eager to capture the sun setting over the marshes of Sinepuxent Bay. First, of course, were the horses and the beach.

The wild Assateague ponies are not shy in letting you know that you are on THEIR beaches, just in case there was any doubt.

Probably my favorite of the wild ponies. Love the brown/white coat!

Every time we come to Assateague, I am left breathless by their beauty.

Ok. Please follow the link here to the rest of the day’s photos, including those of the sunset that left us all a little more breathless!

We parked and headed out to the beach for a walk, as it was still a little early to catch the sun setting over Sinepuxent Bay. For the kids (and for us as well), there’s something magical about the beach at Assateague Island. We don’t talk about it much, but it just seems more….reverent, I think, is a good way to describe it.

The tall grasses are natural resting spots for red-winged blackbirds. We heard their chatty song the entire time we were at Assateague; unfortunately, I was never able to capture a photo of one.

A beach fence to control erosion. Looks like the old fence has done an admirable job, as it begins to erode itself from years of harsh conditions.

The ponies are not the only wild creatures on Assateague; the silka deer have a healthy population, too. This little guy, like so many of the others, has been tagged for tracking purposes.

The time finally came to head to the beach. As you can see, Braeden was thrilled to discover that the ocean waters touched other places beyond the magnificent Ocean City!

Madelyn and Braeden comb the beach, looking for undiscovered treasure.

Holland, coming back from beachcombing. It’s moments like this that make it hard to convince anybody that she just turned 13.

While we were still on the beach, the sun suddenly made its last call that it would be setting very soon. In this picture, the dunes are in the foreground. We immediately packed it up and headed back to the Jeep, in search of the Marsh Trail. Many years ago, I had walked this trail and was overwhelmed by the stunning beauty of the marshes from Sinepuxent Bay. I envisioned the observation deck to be the perfect place for some sunset photos. Unfortunately, the clock was ticking extremely fast, and we just couldn’t find the trail. We gave up looking for it, and decided it best to just get as close to the bay as we could for a few sunset pictures. On our way there, however, we stumbled on the Marsh Trail, and we nearly ran to the observation deck (we did the trail backwards to get there more quickly). On our way, though, we still had to stop and take a few pictures.

Our entrance to the trail, via the exit. 🙂

Amy took this amazing photo with her Blackberry Tour. It gives you a stronger feel for the meandering pier leading us to the observation deck.

Just another stunning picture from Amy using her Blackberry.

This was the shot that I had been hoping for all week. Holland was very cooperative and patient as I fought against time to get the settings just exactly right for this picture. Unfortunately, Madelyn and Braeden discovered a spider’s web right where Holland was standing, and they refused to pose for the shot. 😦

Believe me, I will check for, and clear out, all spider webs from photo sites the next time I find myself in such a situation! 🙂

From the Observation Deck. I never noticed the people in the boat until I uploaded the image.

Also from the Observation Deck.

Just an amazing day. We left Assateague and headed back to the OC Boardwalk for a late-night walk and ice cream, then back to the condo to rest up and get ready to do it all again….one final day.