We don’t really get to go out on a lake very often. Actually, I think the last time we spent some serious time on a lake was about 6 years ago. My wife and I were recently married and some very good friends of ours had just had their first child. Before we even knew it 3 years had passed, then 5 years, now 6 years. I found out about a boat owned by a coworker, who coincidentally rents his boat out from time to time. I talked to him about getting the boat for the July 4th weekend. I was pleasantly surprised when he said that he didn’t have anyone that needed the boat. Who owns a boat and doesn’t use it on a weekend like that? I really can’t complain about it though. The 4th came along and we packed up the Prius and headed to the campground where our friends were staying just minutes from the lake. We met up with them and headed up the road, four adults and now 3 little ones. The little one that was born just before our last boat trip is now 7, along with his little sister at 5, and our baby girl at 3, there is also an absolutely adorable addition who was to young to come out with us. Hopefully she will up on the blog soon. This was one of the best weekends I’ve had in quite some time. If you would have asked me where I would be now, 10 years ago. I don’t honestly think I would have predicted this. I love my life. Thanks to the Gerbers for making that weekend great.

This Easter sunday has been one of the best of recent memory, the whole weekend was great for that matter.  We got to go Easter egg hunting and spend time with a lot of family that we don’t always get to see as much as we would like to. It was a huge lift to my spirits.  There was a great moment when we were saying goodbye to my in-laws that my daughter grabbed my my wifes hand.  There is just something about the bond between a mother and her child that makes me smile.  I am so glad that I caught this moment.  I can really feel the love just from that little grasp of a finger.

I kind of enjoy digging through my hard drive every once in a while, cleaning things up because I tend to find things that I had forgotten about.  This image is one that I forgot.  I went out on a foggy morning just to get some landscape images and there was an amish gentleman letting his cows out into a field.  I stopped and asked if he minded if I took a couple of photos and he didn’t have a problem with it.  When I was finished he came over and I showed him some of the images on the back of the camera.   I talked with him for a couple of minutes and then I was on my way.  I came home and unloaded my memory card and played with the photos, I posted them to flickr, and I may have even put them on my old blog. Then they just got filed away, not to be seen again.  Until last week when I downloaded the updated beta version of my editing program.  I went through my archives to play with some photos in the program and I fell in love with this image all over again.  :)

If there is one thing that you learn to live with if you live in Ohio is how crazy the weather can be.  In the last couple of weeks we’ve gotten about 2 feet of snow and its now raining outside. Yesterday after we finished cleaning our driveway and sidewalk we took a little time to play around in the snow.  This is my daughter throwing a snowball…well, throwing snow at least.  It’s great to get out and play, it makes you feel like a kid again, and that’s something I think everyone needs.

Last week my Jen and I traded in our old worn out “Razr” phones for nice shiny iPhone 3GS’.  Thankfully for me the iPhone comes with a decent camera and some wonderfully amazing apps for processing those images.  I love having this thing in my pocket at all times, waiting for some photo opportunity to come along.  There are times when it isn’t really feasible to carry around a large DSLR and at those times this phone is amazing. Chase Jarvis is a world renowned photographer who recently wrote a book titled  The Best Camera is the one that’s with you. All of his photos in the book are shot with an iPhone.  Now granted, you aren’t going to blow these photos up and hang them up on a wall, but having a camera with you and capturing that moment is simply priceless.  I have to say though that the quality isn’t all that bad if the light is good.  Then there is the app [itunes link] that coincides with the book that allows you to edit the photos and share them online in seconds. Wow, just wow.  I love this thing, Phone, App, Camera…Amazing. So, that being said I’m going to start an iPhone photo of the week.  Ah heck, I might even do photos of the week.  Since obviously there are going to be plenty.  Here is the first batch of said images, all were shot on an iPhone 3GS and edited with “Best Camera”.  I hope you enjoy.

Now that Christmas is behind us we have the lovely task of trying to find places to put all of the new toys that were acquired.  Unfortunately that means we will probably have to part with some of the toys that have been around for the last couple of years.  Its really amazing how much you can gather in just a few years.  I must say, this has been the most enjoyable Christmas’ I’ve had in years.  Kids bring so much joy into the holidays, and with Sophie’s excitement this year…wow. It’s been a blast.  I’m already looking forward to next year.

I just finished cleaning up the hard drive, trying to free up some much needed space.  I found some photos that I kind of forgot about and that’s always nice to do.  This is from earlier this year, late summer to be precise.  Now that we have snow on the ground it’s nice to look back a couple of months and feel that bit of warmth again.  I do really hope that the snow sticks around until Christmas though.  We’ve had to many “green” christmas’ lately.

I am so looking forward to Christmas this year.  Our little girl is starting to grasp the concept of presents under the tree and Santa Claus.  Plus, she gets excited about every little thing so christmas morning is going to be quite the treat.  Sure there is the seemingly non-stop running around to visit all sides of the family, but that is part of the fun right?  Who doesn’t love spending time with your family? Ok, I’m sure there are some people that don’t enjoy the holidays with family and “Bah Humbug” to you. I’m grateful for the wonderful family that I have. This is going to be a great year.  Happy Holidays.

We’ve been in our house for about 6 years now and have never had a problem with ladybugs.  Really for that matter I haven’t seen many around at all.  This year however has been a little different.  I’ve seen them a lot worse in other areas so I wouldn’t consider ours a real “problem” per se`.  We’ve just had a handful of them make it into the house.  I guess its just more annoying than anything.  So I figure, since they’re here already I’ll go ahead and grab a shot of one of the little buggers.