My Grandma is Awesome!

A couple of weeks ago I went up to Port Huron in Michigan to visit my "Aunt" and "Uncle" (we couldn't figure out how exactly the relation works so we agreed on aunt and uncle). lol. I thought I was just going up to visit some distant relatives and celebrate my Uncle Paul's 90th birthday. What I didn't know is that my Grandma loves surprises and she flew in from California and arranged with my mom to keep it a secret from me. When Derrick, the dogs and I arrived at Aunt Nancy and Uncle Mike's house, we were given the tour of the house. When we reached the top of the stairs, my Grandma was sitting there with a huge smile on her face! I was so happy I cried. I'm very impressed with my Mom who kept it a secret from me for the past couple of months.

I had a total blast at my Aunt and Uncle's house! They took us out on their boat and I swam in Lake Huron for the first time ever. It was as the locals say, "Refreshing." I actually wasn't planning on touching the water at all because I remembered my cousin Tiffiny telling me about the time she visited Michigan when she was younger and Uncle Mike told her to jump in the water without warning her that the water is freezing. Seasickness got the best of me and I ended up spending a large amount of time in the water since it was the only way to keep from throwing up.


Port Huron is a really cute town so if you're ever in Michigan you should check it out!

Jenn & Geoff's Wedding Pictures!

Last night I finished editing the photographs I took at Jenn & Geoff's wedding this past Saturday. It was pouring rain in the morning but the weather cleared up just in time for the outdoor ceremony. By the time the ceremony was over, the clouds had completely gone away. It was a really beautiful wedding and I was extremely impressed with the decor which the bride made herself. One of the highlights of the wedding for me was when my man caught the garter (the groom is his cousin). Here's a few of my favorite pictures and an extra one at the end of my future in-laws.

Getting Ready for Jenn & Geoff's Wedding!

This Saturday I will be photographing Jenn & Geoff's wedding at Tom's Country Place in Avon, Ohio. I picked up the cards I designed for the guests, so they can access the photo gallery online, from the printer today and they turned out great! I'll be sure to post a few photos after the wedding is over. Pray for great weather!

I Saw a Mink!

Today I went to Lake Erie with Derrick and Stitch to practice some new camera techniques and watch the sunset. We were walking along the little pier in Avon Lake when all of a sudden Stitch started freaking out. We looked in the rocks and there was a mink looking back at us! I have never seen a mink before. They are really cute! I think the fishermen must feed them because he wasn't afraid of us at all. I didn't even have a chance to check my exposure, I just pointed my camera at him and took a picture. It must be my lucky day because it totally came out. I think minks are my new favorite animal. He doesn't even look real.

The Bat Farm

Derrick and I are always looking for random things to do and this weekend we went to The Bat Farm in Auburn Township for a fundraiser for a new Bat Condo. We were able to see the mother bats and their babies sleeping in a shed. I didn't want to blind them with the flash on my camera so I don't have any close-up pictures of the bats but if you want you can google "Little Brown Bats" and see what I saw.

I learned the female bats mate on their way down to the caves to hibernate for the Winter but don't actually become fertilized until they wake up in the Spring. Then they fly to this barn to give birth and raise their babies. Totally interesting. We arrived at the barn a little before 7:00pm, saw the sleeping bats, roasted marshmallows and watched the birds until sunset. The bats flew out from all sides of the barn a few at a time and flew right over our heads. We were really entertained watching them eat the fireflies. The most exciting part of the night was when I woke up the next morning and realized I didn't have a single mosquito bite!

Duct Tape Festival

After over a year of waiting I finally went to the Duct Tape Festival! It really is amazing what you can do with duct tape. On my way to the parade in the morning the police had blocked off the street you need to drive down to access the park where you park your car for the festival. I wasn't sure what I should do so I went up to one of the officers and asked him where should I park since the parking lot was blocked off. He looked at me like the answer was obvious, just drive around the police barricade and drive into the park. Duh. Apparently I take police barricades too seriously. The Duck Brand Duct Tape employees did a great job with the duct tape part of the festival. There was a craft tent with different colors of duct tape and Duck employees teaching kids how to make wallets and roses. They had photos of duct tape prom outfits (go to www.stuckatprom.com to vote for your favorite) and a guy that makes duct tape art. They had a guy demonstrating Frog Tape, duct tape for painters which was pretty cool stuff. Throughout the festival there were duct tape art pieces that were part of a scavenger hunt. Everything was covered in duct tape! I feel like I've typed "duct" and "duck" way too many times for one blog entry so I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking.

New Bird Feeder

I bought a new bird feeder a week ago that is especially made for finches. It's one of those weird looking sock ones that is supposed to be easy for finches to cling on to. It took less than 24 hours for the goldfinches to figure it out. Today I sat at the living room window for an hour and photographed Señor Gato (our regular goldfinch who thinks he owns the whole tree), and one of our 2 doves that do a great job at picking up the mess the other birds leave behind. All I need now is a birdbath and some more plants and my little bird sanctuary will be complete!

Magee Marsh

It wouldn't make sense to blog about Magee Marsh without posting pictures of birds. So here is a follow-up post to my previous one. What was really cool about Magee Marsh is they have a wooden observation tower you can climb and watch for birds on the tops of the trees. I was told May is the peak of migratory season when the marsh is full of tropical birds flying to Canada to breed for the summer. In Fall, they fly back down to South America but they're not as vibrant as they are when they come up in the Spring. Even though I missed the migration by one month there are still lots of cool birds in the area. Next time I go I'll have to wear bug repellent because I was so busy trying to keep the bugs out of my face I couldn't really enjoy watching the birds.

Why Did the Snapping Turtle Cross the Road?

Derrick and I had Sunday off together so we took a drive along Lake Erie towards Toledo. On the way we stopped at Magee Marsh which is one of the top 10 birding sites in North America. It was awesome! While we were driving through the marsh this snapping turtle started to cross the road. I jumped out of the car to take a picture while Derrick warned me to stay away from it. Apparently they can be pretty aggressive and can easily remove fingers and toes. It looked so prehistoric to me. I felt like I was watching The Land Before Time in real life!

Rib Cook Off!

Last weekend I went to my first Rib Cook Off. It was a total blast! We went with our friends Brandon & Rachel and spent most of the time stuffing our faces with tasty food. I had no idea what a big deal Rib Cook Offs are. Each group had a huge booth showing off all of it's awards. There were even trophies on display and people walking around giving out stickers with their BBQ brand on it for people to wear. Rachel was laughing because I kept taking pictures of everything. It felt like summer had arrived early and it made me really excited for all the festivals that are coming up.