Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The Great "Steamboat" Race


Every year, for as long as I can remember, as part of the Kentucky Derby Festival, they have held a Steamboat race between the Belle of Louisville and the Delta Queen. Last year, the Delta Queen was retired for good and is no longer taking part in this long tradition. This year, Michael and I decided to take the kids to the river to see the racing "steamboats" come back from their trip up river. Last year, for the 4th of July the entire Goodman family had tickets for a cruise on the Belle and we had a really good time. The boys and Eden really enjoyed watching the river go by from the top deck of the boat. Tyler and Jacob couldn't stop telling us about how we all went on this boat last year.
Here is another picture of the two boats, the replacement for the Delta Queen was the Belle of Cincinnati, not a steam driven boat, but it does have a paddle wheel like the Belle of Louisville does. It was clearly no contest. I don't know if the race was closer going up the river than it was coming back but the Belle of Louisville was way ahead of the Belle of Cinci. as it passed under the bridges in Jeffersonville. To be fair, I have to mention that because the Cinci Belle has a diesel engine, it had to start behind the Belle of Lou. as a "handicap". Maybe next year the "handicap" won't be such a wide gap between the two.
Jeffersonville has a really nice lawn set up at the riverfront that isn't really a park per say, but it is a nice looking area to enjoy the comings and goings on the river. The kids really enjoyed being able to run in the grass and watch the ducks and geese float along on the river and the driftwood that Tyler was convinced was a fish. Here are a few shots of the kiddos having a good time.
We tried really hard to keep them all three, especially Jacob, behind this little fence. The river is right on the other side of this fence and Jacob would be the one to "fall" in and I'm just not up for a swim in the mighty Ohio.

Michael asked Eden if she wanted to take some pictures. She forgot to bring along her own camera so daddy let her use his. Just let me say, Honey, I'm so proud that you are the father of my children, you are a wonderful dad and I couldn't have picked a better man for the job. Also, I'm so proud of Eden. I remember Glenda offering to let Michael and I use her Nikon before we got our own camera and both of us were so intimidated by it. Eden took this camera from her daddy, put the strap around her neck and figured out how to find her subject in the viewfinder and click away! How smart is this little girl!?! And fearless to boot!






And one of my favorite shots from our visit to the river. Is there anything sweeter than a picture of a child's hand protected by a man? Another good reason for this to be my favorite shot is that thigh!!!!!! That awesome thigh reaches right up his leg and turns itself into a really great butt! :o)


Tuesday, April 28, 2009

So much for a light work week.

So, at this point everyone knows that I work as a legal secretary for a wonderful attorney in Jeffersonville. This week is "Derby Week" in Kentuckiana, so we have a pretty light schedule according to Mickey's calendar, and the truth is, as I'm the one who schedules the appointments, I kind of designed it to be a light week for several reasons.

1. We have a new attorney moving into the building with us this week and we need to rearrange furniture and file away all of the files that we aren't using and the documents that go into the files. (This is a huge job and it will take several hours.)

2. It's Derby Week, and while the Derby does not excite me, it does excite a large group of people in this area and scheduled appointments tend to become missed appointments.

3. I was hoping to get to the bottom of my "to do" pile this week.

As I'm sure you have deduced on your own, the first two days of this week were not the nice, laid back, get a ton of work done days that I intended for them to be. So please, cross your fingers, say a little prayer, do what ever luck bringing thing you do, and hope along with me that the next three days, that only have three scheduled appointments total, stay slow days and we manage to get the office in order and ready for the new tenants and that I can clear my desk, because my new desk is half the size! If I had smileys I could add to this post it would be a smiley with great big, wide open, surprised eyes and a tongue hanging out. Or one that is yanking it's hair out! LOL

Monday, April 27, 2009

Random Pictures of Weekend Activities




First is the honey bee that was playing in the dandelions in the front yard on Saturday morning. Let me remind everyone again that I am allergic to all bees. I actually sat down on the ground so that I could get these shots. It's totally silly of me to be so fascinated by these little poisonous beasts but click on this picture to make it bigger and you will see that this little guy is completely covered in pollen.





Also, I never really took a close up picture of a dandelion before. When you take a close up look... they are actually pretty interesting flowers. Look how the leaves protect the pollen holders. That little bee had to bury it's head in the center of the flower to get the pollen he needed. It was pretty cool to watch him work. I'm pretty sure that I won't have a shortage of these weeds in my yard this summer. All three of my kids are completely fascinated with the little white ones that you blow and the little seeds go everywhere. As a matter of fact. Eden loves to pull several of them up at a time and then she holds them in the palm of her hand and likes to watch
them blow in the breeze.
  1. This picture was taken at Sounds of Water. They are a lawn pond specialty place just outside of New Albany as you head towards Sellersburg. This fountain is actually made out of stone pillars. Tyler and Jacob loved this thing because the water comes out of it so fast and so hard that it was splashing their legs. Big time fun for little guys. The also loved this place because the path ways are covered in small gravel. The fun kind that is so dusty that it makes your shoes white. They love to put their hands in it and scoop it up and let the dust fly and then proceed to walk over and put those dusty little hands on your dark colored pants. Doesn't that sound like fun? :o)


This is a picture of one of the Koi fish in one of the ponds at the sounds of water place. This fish is probably everybit of a foot long, and obviously, the picture just doesn't do the vibrant colors justice. It's taken through water and there is a glare but he was so pretty I had to try. Mom used to have a garden pond in her front yard. Seeing these fish made her want to put another one in.






Next are the pictures of Erin in her prom dress. Two years in a row she picked out really pretty prom dresses and two years in a row she picked out dresses that had some kind of bead work or embellishment that was sure to irritate that delicate skin that is between the underarm and the elbow on the underside of your arm. The dress was beautiful but she had a rash before she ever pulled out of the drive way. Michael and I were both taking pictures so Erin is looking at me and mom is looking at Michael. Go figure!

This is my favorite picture. I love the look on her face in this one. She is imitating Jacob and doing a really excellent job of it I might add! I think Mom and Steve were both ready to be done with all the picture taking but I would like to say... you know how we are. Give us a camera and something pretty to take pictures of and we become part Japanese. (Like Amy, I know that is not very PC to say, but, I feel like it's fairly true. Any trip I've ever taken and seen someone of Asian decent, they have a really great camera taking pictures of everything!) It's not like they don't already know this.

Last but not least. Sunday morning we went to the Wal-Mart in Clarksville and drove past the Clarksville Town hall again. There were baby ducks there this time and I couldn't resist the urge to try to capture a picture of these adorable little creatures. It amazes me that something so tiny can swim around on top of the water just like the big ducks do. It seems totally effortless.

I tried my best to give this momma all the room that she needed. I know how I am about strangers and my babies but I had to get just a little bit closer so that I could see the babies. As you can see, she noticed me and is in the process of turning around to stand over her babies and honk at me to get the he!! out of her personal space. I didn't get any closer because I didn't want her to leave their side and I left right after I took this shot so that she could go right back to protecting them. There are several other ducks and some really big geese that hang out in this pond and I didn't want to leave them vulnerable. If you click on the picture you can see at least three tiny little heads.




Sunday, April 26, 2009

Yard work SUCKS!!!!

I know that I am a big ol' sissy when it comes to being outside and how hot it is and working in the yard. I'm a air conditioning lovin' fool!


The funny thing is that I actually like to mow the grass. I like the way grass smells and I like the way the yard looks once the grass is mowed. I also think I'm pretty good at it. The truth is I'm GREAT at it because I'm anal about how it looks. You won't often find a long patch of tall pieces of grass that got missed because the mower tires were just a little to far over from the last pass. I always go back and get those stragglers because I can't stand to see them. They are like my own personal arch nemesis. I must cut them down! Isn't that totally ridiculous? Why should it matter so long as the grass is getting mowed and we aren't the only a$$holes on the block who hasn't mowed bringing the whole neighborhood down?


We worked outside most of the afternoon. Eden had a birthday party to go to out at Community Park so we took her and the boys out there and man, was it windy. Almost to windy if that's really possible. I say that because one of my favorite things to do on a sunny and breezy day is stand in the middle of a field with my face turned up to the sun, close my eyes and just let the wind blow through my hair. It used to make me feel like a princess, now I just wonder which one of my kids is trying to figure out the most dangerous thing to do while I have my eyes closed.


When we got home from the park we started on the yard. Michael worked on the new weed eater. (It had to be adjusted so that it would run while it idles and continue to run while you're shredding the weeds, and then stay running once you let go of the throttle and return to an idle.) We won't discuss the colorful language that chores like this seem to elicit even from those of us who try really hard not to use those potty words. I love you honey and you did an awesome job! I wouldn't know where to begin with a weed eater so Michael did that part while I mowed the grass. After those chores were done we pulled out several bushes in the front landscaping. They are simply evergreen bushes and they were overgrown and not very attractive to the overall look of the house. The first few bushes weren't to awful hard to get out but the last two like to killed us. Those roots were huge and they were deep but we are persistent and they are officially out of here! They are the bushes that in between the yellow looking ones. This picture is from the yard sale from last spring. I still have tons of baby and toddler clothes! I will post pictures of the way it is right now, and then after we get the flowers in. We are still deciding what all to put in the landscaping. I know I want more flowers, it's just hard to find pretty perennials. Tulips are my favorite and we will put some in somewhere, possibly under the Japanese Maple, and I really like the different shades of lily's so I might get some more of those to put in but we'll see. I just know I want more color!

Friday, April 24, 2009

The "little" sister.

I can still remember finding out my mom was pregnant with Erin. I was so excited! I am 15 years older than she is, and it was so cool to have a baby around the house when I was actually old enough to help my mom with her. At least I hope that I was a big help with her. I do know that I used to pretend that she was mine and I loved snuggling with her from the time that mom brought her home from the hospital until the time that I figured out that Michael was the love of my life and I started spending more time with him, and less at home and Erin decided she was too big to be cuddled anymore. I can still remember how sweet she smelled and I laying with her just so I could smell her blankets. Who doesn't love the way babies smell?



When I had Eden, Erin was 11. I remember watching her play with Eden and knowing that she was going to be such a great aunt. All three of my kids just adore her and they love to have her mess with them. Just so you know Erin, I know they can be a pain in the butt, but they love you and I'm pretty sure you love them too!


At this point you're probably asking yourself, "Why is this blog title The "little" sister?" Well, the little part is in quotes because I think Erin was officially taller than me around the time this picture was taken and she's only 10 or 11 here. Of course, being 5'2" myself, it's not a big surprise. Yup, I'm the oldest and the shortest. The reason for this post is that I am amazed at the beautiful, talented young woman that she is becoming. It's hard for me to believe that she is getting ready to graduate from high school. Tomorrow is her Senior Prom and I will be going to mom's to take pictures, so I will add them to this post or start a new one about our day tomorrow. It's going to be jam packed with activity! In anticipation of tomorrows dress, here is a picture from last year's prom.
I know I'm just your boring older sister, but I do love you, and I'm proud of you and remember this... I took you to your first concert and we loved it!
One last thing! Thanks for reminding me I'm getting OLD!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

As the weather warms up, lets reflect.

ILOVE the spring and fall. They are my favorite seasons because of the few precious weeks of what I consider a decent temperature range. That range being between 65 and 85 degrees. The closer you get to that 85, the more I like a nice breeze.







The past year in the Ohio valley has been an interesting weather year. Mild temperatures into November, and Septembers wind storm. In September, we had a "hurricane force" wind storm in a large part of Southern Indiana and Northern Kentucky. This is a picture of my in-laws back yard. They lost several small trees and had countless branches ripped from the larger trees. I don't know how far reaching the wind storm was but it was definitely an interesting experience. We were one of the lucky few who were only without power for a few hours. I think it was maybe 18 hours. Not to bad. But alot of areas were out for almost two weeks. The clean up was several months worth of long shifts for Duke Energy workers getting power restored and tree removal crews working long hours.



Then, at the end of January, we had a winter storm. First, the sky dumped anywhere from 3 inches to 6 inches depending on your location and to top off all of that beautiful snow, we got a layer of ice to go on top of it. It was beautiful to see on the trees. Dangerous, and damaging, but absolutely beautiful. Let me say, if it is going to be cold, I want something to show for it and let me tell you. This storm didn't disappoint. The boys and Eden loved playing in the snow. This is in our front yard. The boys figured out that if they stomped on the ice, they could get to the snow and thought it was great fun to throw snow at mommy. Notice daddy is behind the camera and away from the snow throwing fun. ;o) This was another one of those storms where the weather knocked out power all over town and we out in some areas for two weeks and we never lost power, not even for a minute. We were without power at the office though so I made it to work late the first morning, and I called Mickey at home to tell him that we didn't have power at the office but I would hang around and do some filing and see if it would come back on after a few hours. I was there for about three hours and the power didn't come back on and the office got progressively colder. When I got in it was about 70 degrees and when I left the thermostat said 64 degrees. That's pretty cold in an office that size! Mom lost power as well. Her power was out from for almost a full week. So, Mom, Erin, Dana, Keith, Wyatt, Dalton and Mady all came in to our house and stayed with us for the duration. I think maybe, we might have gotten a feel for what it must be like to live in the Ferree house when all of the kids were still at home. Thirteen people were in this house with

three bedrooms and on a blow up mattress in the living room. It was an experience! We did play alot of SkipBo. Me, Mom, Erin and Dana did anyway.


Here is a picture of the Japanese Maple in the front yard with the blue LED Christmas lights still on it. It was so pretty. It lit up the whole front yard with the ice on it. Not that it didn't when there was no snow or ice. The picture below was taken out at the in-laws again. The kids absolutely love to go to Grandma and Grandpa's. There are so many fun things to do. Not to mention, 4 wheelers, tractor, and a golf cart to ride on. They love it all and I love it because it's safe for them to run all over the country side and wear themselves out!
Look at the ice on these trees. When the sun hits them they just light up and it's so breathtakingly beautiful! With all of that reflection. It's time to get back to the Spring weather at hand and say that I welcome spring and love to see the flowers blooming and the trees starting to sprout leaves.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

For Louise

I love to talk about the twins and the experience of being pregnant with them. This picture was taken on February 27, 2005. Almost exactly 13 weeks into my pregnancy with the twins. I look like I'm 6 months instead of three!
We had been trying to get pregnant for a long time so we knew almost immediately when I got pregnant and Eden heard us talking about having another baby. At this point, she had just turned 4. She started telling anyone who would listen, "My mommy's having two babies." I told her every time she said it. "Eden, honey, don't tell people that. Mommy is only having one baby." At which point we would go into the battle (Yes, I actually stood and argued with this child.) This picture was taken about two weeks after we found out that Eden was right. When I went to visit the doctor for the 11th week visit, I told her that I knew I would show earlier with the second pregnancy but I was already wearing maternity pants. She informed me that she was having a hard time keeping track of the baby's heartbeat and asked if I would let her do an ultrasound. She moved me over to the room where they do the ultrasounds (I forgot to mention that Michael and Eden were waiting in the waiting area so that after the doctor found the heartbeat she could bring them back so that they could hear it too.) and they helped me up on the table and I pulled my shirt up to my bra to expose this belly and the second that paddle hit my belly, there they were! Two heads! So the doctor went to get Michael and Eden and she didn't warn either of them that they were going to see an ultrasound. I remember the look on Michael's face. I swear I thought we were going to have to pick him up off the floor. He was so surprised. He left shortly after that to go back to work and he called his dad on the way home from the doctors office. I was still finishing up the check up. By the time I made it out of the Dr's office they had called Uncle Randy and I was getting a call about how excited he was that I was having twins. From that point on it was a free for all inside my belly. I'm one of the lucky few who didn't have to be put on bed rest and I carried the twins to 37 1/2 weeks. 38 is considered full term with twins.


Just look at the size of this thing!!! I was in the Payless shoes about 2 months before I had them, and I had my back turned to the clerk and she came up behind me and asked if she could help me find anything. When I turned to the side and she saw my belly, her jaw dropped. "Oh honey, please tell me that you are not here walking the mall so that you will go into labor. I would just die if you had that baby right here in the store." I had to explain to her that I still had a good two months left and that I would not be having my twins in her store. As you can probably tell by the beautiful hospital bracelet on my wrist, this was taken seconds before I went into the door you see behind me and changed into a hospital gown to be wheeled upstairs and deliver my precious bundles of joy.

In the picture, Jacob on the left, Tyler on the right. I thought they were easy to tell apart. So, no Amy, I never worried that I had them mixed up. I did however, worry all the time that I would love one more than I did the other, or think that one was cuter than the other and would have moments of guilt over it and then I would hold the other twin and feel the same way all over again and I finally discovered that they all three hold a special place in my heart and I truly do not think that one of my children is more beautiful and precious to me than the other, which I'm sure is a feeling that we all relate too.

My room was a zoo! I had my OB/GYN, an intern that was following her for the day, Michael, Mom, Dana, my nurse, Baby A nurse x2, Baby B nurse x2, the epidural guy, (in case you lost count that's 11 already) and by the time I started pushing, I had every nurse on the ward in my room. I think that at last count there were 23 people in my room. None of the nurses, (and the one with the most seniority had been there for 8 years) had ever seen both twins born without one being delivered by c-section.


Tyler was baby A, I pushed him out at 1:15 p.m., that's right, I'll say it again, I pushed him out. No c-section! I remember Michael saying "Oh my God! Look how big he is." He was so cute, he just kept saying it and I finally looked at him and said "I know how big he is, I just pushed him out of me!" The whole room burst out laughing!
Jacob spent the last month and a half of my pregnancy in the breech position, so after delivering Tyler, the Dr. told me I could take a small break and they were going to use the ultrasound to check on baby B. Yup! Still in the breech position. So, while using the ultrasound, they used all that extra belly that was Tyler, and they pushed Jacob around to the head down position. Not to bad, didn't hurt at all because I had the epidural and then.......Jacob decided that his arm should come first. Since this cannot happen because it would break his arm or collar bone,or worse, or break something in me, they had to put the arm back in. I'M POSITIVE THAT NO AMOUNT OF EPIDURAL MEDICATION CAN MASK THE PAIN OF A BABY ARM AND A DOCTORS ARM GOING INTO SOMETHING THAT IS THE SIZE OF LEMON! Jacob was born at 1:33 p.m. 18 min. after his brother. Tyler weighed in at 7lbs 11oz and Jacob was 7lbs 2 oz. 15 lbs of baby in that belly. I still have horizontal stretch marks! Oh yeah. Did I mention I PUSHED THEM BOTH OUT!

We were the talk of the hospital until we went home.

In this picture, Eden, Jacob and Tyler, and mommy of course!
At this point I have to say that I totally agree with Louise, the first year was hell! I love them and they were worth every second of lost sleep but it's not an exaggeration when I say that for the first 6 or 8 weeks we slept in 15 min. intervals. I nursed them, and we tried everything, including nursing them both at the same time and it didn't matter. One would get up and nurse and the other would wake up and cry until the first one was done nursing and then I would put the first one down because he was back to sleep and then nurse baby no. 2 and by the time I got baby 2 nursed and back to sleep I would get 15 min. of sleep and then baby 1 was up again wanting to be nursed. It was a nightmare! I never even considered NOT nursing them because just the thought of the cost of formula for two babies scared the hell out of me. I'll say again. It was worth it, but there for a while I felt like a diaper changing cow! No, I am not pretending to be asleep in this picture. I am passed out in this chair. God bless my father-in-law who bought me a comfortable chair to pass out in. Not to worry. Michael came to the rescue after he took this picture and put them in their crib.

They are just a few weeks old in this picture (Jacob left Tyler right) and they slept like this for about 6 months. I finally separated them when they started waking each other up by the one that woke up first crawling over the other one and waking him in the process.

I have to say that twins is definitely a lesson patience, whether you want it or not. And I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes, I really miss this stage.
Well, I feel like I've just written the Great American Novel, so I'll wrap it up with these pictures.
Louise, I think that in the picture of us it is, you, Jacob, Natalie, Regan, me and Tyler and in the picture of just the twins it's Natalie, Jacob, Regan and Tyler. How did I do with getting the girls right?

In the top picture is Michael, (who I haven't mentioned is a ROCK STAR daddy! He was a HUGE help to me when the boys were so little and still does a terrific job with all three of our kids! He was always right there to help me, he would bring me the baby that wasn't currently nursing and take the one that was finished so that I wouldn't have to get up and he was always asking if he could get me anything. I am not a water drinker but when I was nursing them I would drink two HUGE plastic cups of water and chomp on the ice. I couldn't get enough!) with Jake on the left and Tyler on the right. The next picture is of Jacob, I sat him up on the couch next to Eden and went to get the camera off the table and before I could take his picture he fell asleep like this. I love this picture of him. He looks like a toy doll instead of a real live infant! Following that is Tyler. I gave him a bath and greased him up with lotion and put a diaper on him and sat him in the corner of the crib, I went to help Michael get Jacob out of the tub and when I came back in the room Tyler had fallen asleep in the corner. Isn't he precious?! In the last picture, the boys are about 18 months old. This was right before I did the unthinkable, not to mention regrettable, and got them their first "big boy" hair cuts. Look at those curls. :o(

While I have so much more to say, because I could go on for days, I feel like at this point, I should say "And that's all I have to say about thaaaT."

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Comment Crazed!

I'm getting a little bit of a late start on today's blog. It's been one of those days. It started out like every other morning. "Michael, hit the button" or "Babe, hit the botton" which translates to "Crap... it's early, I'm tired, hit the snooze I need my 9 more min." We got up at 7:10 and I got Eden's clothes together, "Here Eden, put this on." Then I proceed to get myself ready, which basically means digging through numerous baskets to throw together a pair of pants and a decent top. I then head to the bathroom to fix my hair and apply what passes for my makeup. Simply put, foundation, eyeshadow, and mascarea. I come out of the bathroom, dressed and ready to go then proceed to have the morning fight with Eden about where her shoes are. I call it the morning fight because, well, we fight about it every morning. Every morning it is an all out search from her bedroom at the end of the hallway to the living room all the way at the front of the house, to the basement and back again until the case of the mysterious disappearing shoes is solved and we can finally get her shoes on. I know that this picture has nothing to do with school, or shoes for that matter, but it's one of my favorites of her. Wow, that was a side trip, getting back to the story, we go over the spelling words because the "practice test" is tomorrow and then I tell her to pack up her backpack and lets go. Here's where things get a little strange. I haven't made it out of this house before 8:10 in the last three months, we're constantly running late, (I drive Eden to school) however, this morning, we are in the car, that had to be started before hand because it was frigid this morning, and the clock in the car is just turning over to 8:00 a.m. WTF? I think to myself. So I drop Eden off and tell her to have a good day and head to work. I stop at the Hardees for breakfast and actually make it to work early for the first time in at least a month. (Mickey, if you're reading this, I'm sorry, I really am trying to do better.) The day starts like every other, I eat my cinnamon raisin biscuit and check my email, and fire up the calendar so that I will know what is coming my way for the day.







So I'm working my way through the duties of a legal secretary and I think to myself, man it seems like the day is going so fast, so I look up and check the wall clock only to find that it is merely 10:20 a.m. when I was thinking to myself, it must be at least 11:30. So imagine my surprise to find it so early still. At this point I call my best friend and here is our conversation.

Billie: Hey Girl!!!

Linn: Is it really only 10:20 (normally my answer would be "Hey girl! How's it goin'?!?

Billie: (laughs a little) Yeah. Why you askin' me that?

Linn: I'm just feel like someone is playing an aweful joke on me. It can't really be this early still can it?
Billie: It really is just 10:20 but I know what you're saying. It's been a crazy slow morning.

Linn: OK. My phone is ringing so I'll let you go. I just thought I'd make sure I haven't lost my mind.

Now, I know she's too nice to say so but I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm about half nuts at this point. I'm telling you, today almost seems like an out of body experience where I kinda hovered above myself watching the days activities. Not to mention it was a busy calendar day with several snags to be ironed out.
Doesn't she look like she's so much fun? That's cuz she is!
With all of this said, now I can get to the title of my blog. I have become obsessed with checking to see if I have comments on my blog. I find myself checking it all of the time. At the last check Louise still hasn't commented on last nights blog. Why is this a big deal? It's not. I just know that she hasn't because, I just keep checking it. It's like the early days of being on MySpace when I had to check as soon as I walked in from work (I didn't have access to a computer at the job I was working when I joined MySpace) and before I left to go to work, and when I got up in the morning and before bed at night. At this point I have discovered, as if I didn't know it before, that I have a slight case of OCD and possibly AADD. (Adult Attention Deficit Disorder) Or is it just that I really love blogging and I want to know that someone cares what I have to say?

Side note to Louise, I am well aware that you are a very busy mom and want you to know that I do not expect you to post a comment on every blog I post. It's just been one of those days. I really can't wait for everyone to get here so that we can spend some face to face time together.

Monday, April 20, 2009

The Macro lens

To Louise and Amy, I'm really sorry to keep posting about the camera and lenses but I have to put these pictures on here! I say I'm sorry because I know that once you decide that you have to have one of these cameras it becomes an urgency that you just have to have it right now. So I guess I should be apologizing to Tim and Chad. Anyway, Michael has been jonesing for a new lens and he knows how much I LOVE macro shots so when he went to Murphy's today, he discussed the lenses that we currently have and asked the sales clerk which one she would recommend. She said hands down, you need to have this lens. It is L series quality and we can't figure out why they don't just put the L on it.



So, we went to test it out. The Clarksville Town Hall has these really nice ponds out in front and several ducks and swans have made it their home. I love ducks, especially the mallards with the curly tail feathers. I just think they are so cute. I tried to get a good picture and this one is the best I could come up with. These ducks aren't like the ones in Myrtle Beach that are used to all the attention and will just set still and let you take their picture all day long. This one is actually in the process of cussing me out because I have disturbed his peace. But see his cute little curly tail feathers?!? I also love the shiny emerald color of their heads and the beautiful shade of blue on (or is it under) the wing.

We also made another trip to the Lowe's for more macro pictures of the flowers. By the way, here is the other shot of the orange bloom in the yellow lily's. I don't know if it was a potted orange lily that was just sitting in the middle of all the yellow or if it was a yellow lily that had a orange lily sharing it's pot but I thought that it was wonderful to see that shot of color in all of that sunny yellow.







Here is another picture with the macro lens. It is amazing the shots that you can get with this thing. These are the lollipop gerbera that I took some shots of when we were up there on Saturday. In the two days that have passed these blooms that were white (take a look at my post about the yard) have started turning this awesome variegated pink. It looks like a gradual saturation of color. Flowers are amazing!




Another one of my favorite things to take photos of is clouds. Michael actually took this picture for me because I was driving and we were sitting in the Sonic drive-thru getting a cherry coke. I love these particular clouds. They are just my kind of "dreamy" clouds. I like to dream that I am lounging in these clouds. They look so nice and fluffy and solid. I could lay on the ground all day and gaze up at these clouds, imagining myself laying in one where it is nice and peaceful with no kids talking incessantly about nothing in particular, just talking because they like the sound of their own voice. Speaking of the little devils, here is a picture that we took of them. I would have to say that this is probably the all time, best picture that we have taken of them so far, and by some miracle of God, they are actually being nice to each other, both are looking at the camera and Jacob isn't squeezing Tyler so tight that his eyes are popping out of his head. (Did I mention he's my mischief maker? ;o), cuz he's totally the one who gets it started.)






Is this not totally adorable?? I know it seems that Eden hasn't been getting much face time. Part of that is because she has spent the entire weekend with family members. She got to spend the night with Grandma Ruth on Friday and then spent the night with her Aunt Glenda (Mike's sister) both Saturday night and last night. I will have to dedicate a whole post to her in the very near future so that she doesn't feel neglected. Or should I say, so that I don't feel like I have neglected her. The poor thing. She's so self sufficient, I don't have to worry about her and her brothers truly are the "parent hogs". I try to make sure that I do something special just with her, but sometimes, the time just slips away from us.

Here are a few more pictures from today's trip to the Lowe's. Enjoy, and I will blog again tomorrow.

Michael felt sorry for this little guy and said that I should take it's picture to show the depth of field. He was right. He has a good eye for amazing shots! I love you honey. Thank you for finding something that we love to do together!






This picture is of the light fixture in our dining room. I was standing under it and probably 3 feet from it with camera pointing up at the ceiling. Does it not look like I am resting the camera on the light bulb? Like I said, AMAZING shots with this lens. Amy, don't zoom in on this one. I can already see the dust from here. In my defense, when you dust this particular light fixture, it zaps you. It's an old house, and old wiring, I'm positive that has something to do with it.




Holy Crow

I just got my adsense on my blog like an hour ago and I have already earned .94. Thank you "Smith" girls. :o)

Also, since you are both having an issue looking at the yellow lilly's I'll try to remember (this post will help me to do just that) to post another picture I took of the orange bloom in the middle of all that yellow.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Kentucky Derby Festival

Let me start this post by saying that this is just a small portion of the view from my boss' living room. He invited Mike and I, along with several of his other friends to come up to his apartment on the riverfront to view the "opening ceremonies" of the Kentucky Derby Festival that is called Thunder over Louisville. Just let me say, if I lived here, I would do nothing but sit and watch the river roll on by all the time!
They start the day at 3 p.m. with an airshow, which over the years has gotten a bit sparse due to military deployment and financial reasons. However, every year they have the B-1B's and F-somethings, which are my favorites. Very fast and very loud!!! If anyone knows how I can get a ride in one of these planes, let me know. I love these planes because you not only hear them, albeit after they have passed you, but you also feel them, right down to the soles of your feet.



Amy, check out this picture below, if you click on it and zoom in you can actually see the pilot's head in the cockpit!!! These guys are awesome and I am an IDIOT!!!. Why are you an idiot Linn??? Oh, because, my husband wanted to go into the air force and I whined and cried because I couldn't imagine staying behind without him so that he could go learn to fly some of the coolest air craft in the WORLD! I'm literally kicking myself right now! ;o)







Below is a picture of Michael's newest desire of a lens. Remember that post about DSLR cameras and what an addiction they are??? Well, this is exactly what I was talking about and this lens costs more than the camera!
We didn't actually get any pictures of the fireworks display that is "Thunder over Louisville". Fireworks pictures are pretty hard to capture and near impossible when you forget to take along the tripod. I can't possibly describe the spectacle of this fireworks display, but I'll at least give it a try.
Think of your all time favorite fireworks show. Now, take that memory and pull out the "finale". Take that finale and imagine that it is LITERALLY 20 minutes long. Then once that is over, there is a small break in the action and then they put on their version of a finale. It lasts approximately 10 min. and the whole time the fireworks explode with so much percussion bouncing off of the Louisville skyline that you can feel it in your chest and it actually takes your breath away.
I have seen almost every year of this display by going to the riverfront and watching it. Several years were from the top of a building at Colgate Palmolive in Jeffersonville, IN. It is an awesome experience. You are up as high as the fireworks and it looks like you can reach out and hold them in your hand.
I would have to say that the best place to watch, before they built up the riverfront with restaurants, was on the lawn between the second street bridge (I forgot to mention that they shoot canons off that bridge during the day and turn the entire length of the bridge into a waterfall of fireworks) and the Kennedy Bridge, aka I-65. That is where you get the most impact and the breathless feeling. If you want to get a seat there these days you have to "win" them in a contest or pay a pretty penny for them at one of the tree restaurants that now occupy that space.
This is the one time of year that I tolerate the big crowd and go see what there is to see. I know that if there are strangers reading this post they will say I can't possibly be a Southern Indiana/Northern Kentucky native with the next sentence, but I'm OK with that because I know the truth. I don't really care about the Kentucky Derby. I love the horses. I think they are beautiful creatures, but I have seen to many years where a horse gets wounded on the track and the poor thing has to be put down. I know that it doesn't happen that often in the actual derby race, but it has happened, and one time is to many.