1st Birthday

Birthday parties are always lots of fun with friends, family, food and gifts.  This little guy was celebrating his 3rd, FIRST BIRTHDAY.

 This is the cool Birthday Shirt they got me to wear.  Pretty stylish for  a little dude

 This is my Dad, he's filling me in on all of the important details for the day.  Everybody says I look like him, and I guess that's a good thing, since Mom picked him, he must be really handsome!

 They gave me a lollipop to keep me busy while people were coming and things were getting started, these suckers are serious business!

 This is Mom, she is responsible for all of the cool Mickey Mouse decorations, she did a really good job.  Mickey is such a cool dude, I can't get enough of that mouse.

 This is Grandma, she's great, she carries me around and lets me drink out of those really big grownup cups, even though I'm probably not supposed to.  Grandma's are pretty good about letting little kids get away with stuff.

See, it's a Grandma thing!

 This is one of my buddies, I was trying to share my sucker with him, but he didn't really get what I was trying to do.

 This is one of my Uncles, he is really cool, he plays with me a lot.  I really like the facial hair, can't wait until I'm old enough to do something cool like that!

 Sharing my sucker with Dad, he loves when I share.  

 This is Uncle Travis.  He is always carrying me around, doing fun stuff.  We do this "raise the roof thing"  "Who's ONE!!"  We always look cool.

 Uncle Travis is strong, here he is with me and my friend, we hang out and play most days.  Mom takes care of both of us during the day while Dad goes to work.

 Here is my friend showing off his cool style, with the glasses from our birthday gift bag.  I call him "The Professor" in this picture.

 This is another friend at the party, for a girl, she is pretty cool. She is pretty tough and doesn't let me get away with anything.  She goes along with everything.  Pretty cool tattoo on her cheek!

More friends

Can you tell who my big brother is?  Pretty cool Mom, matching outfits!

 So now we get down to business.  Since I am 1 year old.  I get a whole cake to myself.  Once again, Mom did great with the Mickey thing!! MICKEY ROCKS!

 At first I was trying to be careful, taking my time and trying to not make tooooo much of a mess.

But I love me some Birthday cake, and after all, it is my day!

 Dad got into the action too.

 Hey everybody, look at me, I'm the birthday boy!!

 Uncle Travis...."WHO's ONE!!!"

 Here, have some of my cake.

Dad, this is AMAZING, you usually don't let me play with my food!

And look, at the end of the day, no evidence!!! It's amazing what a quick shower will do.

If this is what Birthday's are like, I think I'm going to love this "being a kid" thing.  Thanks, Mom and Dad and everyone else who made by first Birthday Sooooo Special.

How cool is this shot, black and white and color, this photographer has some cool moves.


Until next time, 
Happy Photography!

Historic Tempe

As a Trainer, before graduation, I take each class out of the office to find some places to take pictures that will then be used for a Graduation Powerpoint presentation.  It is a nice way to finish off a training class, and lots of fun for the folks in class.  With my last class, we walked to Tempe Town Lake, and went by a few of the historical buildings in Tempe.  Here are some of the shots.  

Hayden Flour Mill

 I had some fun with the editing, hope you like them, 

Happy Photography!

Alaska Cruise June 2012

We have always wanted to visit Alaska, to take pictures and see the Northern Lights (The Aurora Borealis) and even though this is not the right time of year to see the Northern Lights, we had an opportunity to take advantage of some time off between classes to take a vacation.  So we took our first cruise!!! It was amazing, the people were wonderful, there are tons of things to do, the food is fantastic, and we got some great pictures, hope you like them.

We flew into Seattle, and stayed at the Waterfront Marriott, which is right across the street from Pier 66 where we were leaving from the next day.

I went up to the top deck to take the pictures of the Seattle skyline and Alvin was taking pictures of me while he chilled by the pool.  Our Stateroom attendant made these cute towel animals and left them for us almost every day, so I took pictures of them and kept them together in the room.  The Staterooms are small very efficient hotel rooms, with all of the amenities you would get at a hotel.  We had an ocean view.

After a day at sea, the first port of call was Juneau, Alaska.  We took a land and sea photography excursion.  For the land part, we hiked about 3-4 miles through trails to the Mendenhall glacier.  It was cold and raining, but incredibly beautiful. This tree above was cut down by beavers, you can see how efficient they are.

There were 3 markers with dates of where the glacier ice came to.  It has receded a lot over the years.  In the picture above you can see how the glacier has carved its way.

Chunks of the glacier break off forming icebergs of different sizes and shapes.

We saw several whales and learned a lot about them.  One young whale breached right in front of the boat very unexpectedly and scared the heck out of everyone who saw it.  Even our guide was startled, and it happened so fast, no one got a shot of it!!

We also saw seals, hanging out at this buoy, they would fight and kick each other off!

I  know where the pictures for each days activities start by the towel animal, go figure.
The next day, the port of call was Skagway.  We took the White Pass train and Yukon expedition. We took a tour bus in Skagway, Alaska up to the Yukon and into Canada, had lunch at Caribou Crossing and then came back to the White Pass train station for the return trip back to Skagway.

These are some of the spectacular views, the picture above is of Cairns.  They are piles of rocks left by visitors, basically saying there were "Here", they were all over the place in different configurations.

Here we are in the Yukon

and this is the smallest desert!  It was left by the glacier in Caribou Crossing.

At Caribou Crossing (Carcross), where we had lunch, they raise and race sled dogs, the dogs are very excited to run and they give visitors rides as a way to train the dogs.  The puppies were adorable.

and oh yeah!!!!, we saw bears, many bears, up close and personal!!! The first ones crossed right in front of the bus  and the others were just at the side of the road eating.  They are all brown bears, they can be brown, black, cinnamon or light tan to white and still be brown bears.  It was AWESOME!!  The bus driver kept asking if we wanted to get out to have our pictures taken with them and we all said YES, but he didn't let us.

This is emerald lake, the driver took us here, about 10 miles farther than usual to show us this lake.  The color variations are the different depths and the color comes from the silt and minerals and vegetation that the glacier brought through.

On the train ride back to Skagway, we saw waterfalls, deep gorges, and beautiful scenery.

When we got off the train, we had some time to roam around downtown Skagway.  The  picture above is the original snowplowing engine.  They have restored it and used it recently on an anniversary of the railway.

Pretty amazing to see the size of the ship, and with the snow capped mountains in the background it was beautiful.

The next day, we sailed through Glacier bay and saw several other glaciers.  We even got to see the glacier calving.  You hear the ice cracking and it sounds like thunder and if you are lucky enough, you can see the chunk of glacier break off and fall into the water.  I am not sure how clear the splash is on the last photograph, but we did get to see it.

Next day the port of call was Ketchikan, Alaska.  We did not have an excursion planned so I just walked around taking pictures and shopping.  They are known for their totem poles.

The last port of call before returning to Seattle, was Victoria, BC in Canada. It was rainy, so I took the shuttle to downtown and took a few pictures, then returned to the ship to have dinner and we went to a show.

All in all, it was a fabulous cruise, with so much to do and see.  I would recommend it to everyone.  We are already thinking about where we can cruise next!!!

Hope you liked the photos and as always,  Happy Photography.