Swamp Tour

The other adventure we decided to go on this weekend was a swamp tour. I have been living here for 4 years now and still have not done one.

This time of year is PERFECT! The water is warming up so the animals are moving around more, it wasn't hot but it was nice and sunny, and it wasn't humid at all and there were no bugs! I got some really great shots that I put on my flickr site.

My two favorite photos from the day:

The homes on the water are real residences! The people that live here are mostly commercial fisherman and can only access their home via boat. I can't imagine that kind of life, but then again, I bet they can't imagine living like I do, either! lol Have I mentioned that I LOVE nature and landscape photography?! I think I like it so much because it is unpredictable; you don't know what you are going to get when you go on shoots like this. Plus, I hardly do any editing. Most of the time I like to simply show the beauty of the world that God created without any changes. Don't get me wrong, editing is a lot of fun and I like to do it on select photos, but for the most part, a little cropping and light editing is all you need. How lucky were we to see that gator sun bathing on the log?! I get all giddy when great photo-ops happen like that! lol

The tour was awesome and I recommend anyone take one if they are in the area!

My mom and dad on the boat:

Turtle:

Our tour guide showing us a crawdad cage:

Alligator! Oop... actually, that's a log... It fooled even the guide! lol:

A real gator!:

Trying to feed the gator:

The boat:

Global Wildlife

This weekend, while my parents were in town, we decided to do some more "touristy" things around town. I've been to Global Wildlife about 3-4 times now, but it is so much fun every time! This time we decided to get a private jeep tour and it was so worth it!! Avery was only a few months old last time we went so she slept most of the time. This time, she wasn't too sure about it at first but warmed up and really enjoyed it. The driver took us to any animal we wanted to see and stayed as long as we wanted at each. It was a great chance for me to get some giraffe pictures since I didn't get any last time. Here are a few silly snapshots of the trip:

Side note: I have set up a Flickr account to put all of my photography on. You can see the link on the left side bar of my blog. This is much easier for me to upload to and Blogger does not always cooperate with they layout I want for them, so I will let you know when I upload some to Flickr.

I have uploaded a few shots from Global Wildlife under the "Animals" folder

Coolest Thing I Have Ever Seen!

My friend, Stori, moved to Russia recently. It's a long story, but you can follow her and her family's adventure here, if you want. Anyways, she posted this link on her Facebook the other day and I have to say, I WANT ONE!! Who wouldn't want a lap sized giraffe?! Ya, that's right, I said lap sized giraffe!!! Giraffes are my all time favorite animal so what would be better than being able to have one walk around my house??

Stori is so lucky that she lives so close to go see them! The only problem is that there is a waiting list and I am #587,458 (or something close to that), and that the current baby that is due this year is reserved for a prince... which means they probably cost an arm and a leg to buy :(. Go here to check them out for yourself: http://www.petitelapgiraffe.com/index.php

Fountainebleau Park

I have been wanting to make some rounds to scenic places around the area lately. Mainly, just to take advantage of living somewhere new, I might as well try to see as much as possible. We went to Fairview Park to take Avery's 1 year pictures and I had heard that Fountainebleau Park was huge and even more pretty. After Jeff went out there for a beer festival, he said we should really take the time to go over there; he knew I would love all of the photo-ops. Since it is about 45 minutes away, I had been putting it off but since my mom is spending some time here we thought we would go take a look. I am SO glad we did! It has an old sugar mill plantation on it but it's all rubble now. I love taking pictures of old stuff! I was just wishing the whole time I had a micro lens... maybe one day. It was beautiful! There are campgrounds, LOTS of picnic tables, even cabins over the lake that you can rent out! Even more, there's a beach; sand and all! What a great place to take the kids for a summer day! There's multiple playground areas but we didnt bother going over to those since Avery is still too little to appreciate it. We mainly drove around and admired the views. My sister is getting married next year so I would LOVE to bring her to do some portraits! Here's some pics:

Norah Update

We had our follow up appointment at the specialist today; it went great. He reviewed all of the basic measurement and checked the heart (since he couldn't get a good angle last time); everything looked as it should, so he was able to release us. The cyst on the brain even resolved its self. What a relief! It doesnt guarantee anything but he feels confident enough that there is nothing wrong that he does not need to see us anymore.

She is measuring in at 1 lb already! That seemed so big to me. I think that's partly because I forget how fast they grow and that means she doubled her weight in just 4 weeks! As for me, I am feeling great and getting bigger. I am up between 6-10lbs, depending on the day and who's scale I am using. My scale is normally the nicest, so I say I am up 8 lbs. lol Here's a few glamour shots of the little one:

Determined Little Thing

Since she wont let me feed her with a spoon or fork, I have tried to get brave here and there and let her try it out. It gets pretty messy, but fruit bits are great to practice with. She is one determined little girl, that's for sure! She can stab and scoop the food, but she gets excited about that and then doesnt actually eat it. lol That's the first step, I guess.

Wood Church

My father-in-law, the same one that made this cabinet for me, made a bunch of wood churches recently. I was a lucky recipient of one of them :). So, today I got out some paint and finished it and gave it a rustic look. I LOVE it! Do you?

Feeding Our Baby Dolls