Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Minnesota Zoo!

I talked about our first attempt at attending the zoo here... but luckily we DID make it back on Sunday afternoon. We started off going through the aquarium area.
aquarium

This is a crazy looking sea horse!
sea horse

aneome

fish

starfish

Then we sat and watched the bears for a bit.
bear

This bear was so funny, he just kept swimming back and forth before this crowd of people.
bear swimming

A few animals later we came upon the Praire Dogs. They were so funny!
prairie dog

There were SOOOO many of them, and even little babies!
baby prairie dog

close up prairie dog

We saw camels and tigers
camel
tiger

And a little swan family. Not sure which is the mother and the father. But one was resting on the nest while the other was with the first baby.
swan family

baby and daddy swan

The zoo people said this little guy hatched yesterday and there were a total of 6 eggs so there should be more coming soon.
baby swan

We saw lots and lots of birds. Here is the bald eagle:
bald eagle

Kyle even got to compare his own wingspan :-P
kyle's wing span

Lastly we went through this indoor exhibit. These otters were all sleeping, one was digging around for something on this other one's back, I think a few times he dug a little deep because he would show his teeth every once in a while.
otters

reef sunbeams

Week FORTY

I did some blog catching up yesterday, and I must have been so busy processing photos because I FORGOT to GET a PICTURE for the DAY! Oh NO! that was day two I have missed!!! :-(  boo hoo.
Besides that saddening news... here is week 40!
Week 40 blogsize

#274: Iowa Windmills: I just love passing through these fields of windmills on the north land of Iowa. Something about the repetitive spinning is relaxing.

#275: being goofy: Another one of those "it's 10:00pm and I haven't taken a picture yet, crap!" So I grabbed my camera phone and starting shooting things around me. The lighting was horrible because of our night lights reflecting off the cherry wood bed frame. I just had to use this one because Kyle makes me laugh. I told him not to make a funny face, then I get the phone back and look at this, we both start cracking up, LOL.

#276: Mallard: We walked along Lake Harriet this afternoon, lots of ducks out! This guy was hanging out with his girl in some mucky water.

#277: Newborn Shoot: This is my good friend and co-worker, Jolene's baby. He was a week old this day and just TOO adorable for words. I had been looking forward to this session for a while and feel so blessed that I have friends who support my passion and have faith in me to hire me as their newborn photographer :-) we had a blast getting some cute pictures of him!

#278: Velodrome bike track: We met this super nice couple through our church's newly married group. This is the husband of the couple, Craig. He's really into biking so we meet up with Jennie at the Velodrome to cheer him on! Of course it was a fun photo op for me too!

#279: Pedometer: A co-worker and I are leaders for our work site group in the Hennepin County's Step to It Challenge. The challenge is 4 weeks long and you record your steps each day to try and win prizes the county and cities award. When I was home a week or so ago, I remembered to grab this old McDonald's pedometer I had in a junk box. Remember back with McDonald's FIRST came out with salad's and was trying to market a healthy lifestyle? Well they also gave away pedometers with those expensive salads, lol. I got a new battery and this thing is as good as new! Of course I had just logged and reset this before I remembered I needed to get a picture for the day, haha.

#280: Puffy Dandelion: I really don't like dandelions growing in my yard, but when I saw these guys glistening in the sun, I knew i had to get some macro pictures before I yanked them out.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Wag, Walk, & Run 2010

harpo
This is the 3rd year I've participated in the Helping Paws: Wag, Walk, & Run 5K. Last year I wrote about it here. This year Kyle didn't run, but he went with me :-) And took pictures for me.
my team

These pictures just remind me how much I HATE having my picture taken... I think that's a common thread with photographers :-P we love taking pictures, but hate being the one in the photo. Oh well, I'll get over my dreaded feeling of seeing these and share them with you anyway. I just look like such a dork... like in this one:
i'm a dork

I've been keeping track of my running over on my workout blog. I actually wrote out my HRM stats here. But running a 5K is an every other day occurrence for me. But for this run I set a personal goal of wanting to run it in 30 minutes or less. Actually it was kind of ridiculous to set that goal, because my friend, Sally, and I usually run it in about 35 minutes, Saturday morning was our best time of 33:40. Last week when I was in Missouri I ran it in about 32 minutes... so I was still hopeful.  But I'm sad to say I didn't hit my goal. I think it all went wrong when I started off with an 8:30 minute first mile! What was I thinking? I think I wasn't, I was just running and it was exciting at the start. This caused me to be tired throughout the whole next two miles. But I kept pushing myself.
here we come

And I pushed myself right through the finish line, finishing with a time of 31:06, which is my best so far this year... just not what I was hoping for.
finish line

Besides being a super humid day, Harpo had a lot of fun!
post run Harpo

He also got to meet some of our friends and their new furbaby, Gilligan
sarah jer gil

We didn't stick around as long as we did the year before, we waited to hear the awards (the guy who won last year won again this year... surprise. With a finishing time of 18 minutes or something crazy like that!!!)

When we pulled up to our house, we arrived to see two ducks resting in our front yard!
ducks in our yard

It was pretty funny, they stayed there as I walked to our front door. Then Kyle let Harpo out of the jeep and Harpo chased them away, hee hee.

Happy Spring!

Hypocrit

As much as I hate these things growing in my yard... they sure are fun to photograph!
280 dandelion

Happy Spring!

Velodrome {Bike Track}

Last Thursday, Kyle and I went up to Blaine to watch a friend of ours race. I have never been to anything like this before and neither had Kyle. It was pretty fun, and a nice way to spend a Thursday evening :-)
velodrome

bike race

They were fast!
fast

I had fun practicing my panning skills :-P
craig6
go craig1

We sat in the stands with our friend, Jennie, her husband Craig was the one in the races. They had a lot of different races throughout the evening. I think Craig was in 3 or 4.
go craig

craig in the lead

Ducks & Lake walking

mpls skyline lake
Last Tuesday, Kyle got out of work early for a dentist appointment. Okay wait, let me start sooner.

Tuesday afternoon I went to the library to pick up some items I had on hold. I always have to glance at the 'ticket' island that holds various passes to museums and attractions around the Twin Cities. There are about 10 things to choose from: MN History Center, Art Museums, etc.  Well the one I have had my eye on since we moved here has been the MN Zoo.  Admission is btwn $13 and $16 per person depending on the year. And if you can catch it available at the library you can check out the pass which is good for two admissions. This pass is ALWAYS checked out. But this day, when I looked, it was there! So I immediately grabbed it and checked it out. These passes have to be used within a week or they are no good, which got me thinking... "what was I thinking, we are packed with stuff going on this weekend!" But it was there and I couldn't pass up that opportunity.

Well since Kyle was at a dentist appointment we had a chance to go that evening. He gets out of his appt and I pick him up and we head the 45min (+, traffic was a nightmare) to Apple Valley where the zoo is located. (We have been to the Como Zoo before which is a different zoo, and free. But not he MN Zoo) We weren't sure where it was at so Kyle looked up directions and hours on his phone, luckily they were open til 6:00 or so we thought. It was about 3:30 when we left our neighborhood. The dentist is just right down the road. We get there to find that Sat & Sun they are open til 6, but M-F they are open til 4. Well crap!

So we head back home, but stop at Lake Harriet to walk around and enjoy some ice cream. Might as well make use of the beautiful day!
mallard

girl duck

Happy Spring!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

"Fields of Opportunity"

Is the slogan on the sign as you enter Iowa.  Opportunity... I'm not quite so sure, but field, definitely YES!  When it comes to driving straight through a state, I have had my fair share of driving through Iowa, I think it's a little better than Kansas, and MUCH better than Nebraska, but still it's a flat, boring drive.

Except one area....

The wind mills!!
iowa windmills web

I just love these fields of windmills for some reason. They are so fun to watch.
iowa windmills2 web

iowa windmills1 web

Happy Spring!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Seeing my Nieces

Last weekend I went back to Missouri to visit family. My nieces are growing up so fast! And boy are they beautiful!!
DSC_0006  DSC_0069

We had lots of fun together!!
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Boy could Alyson eat!!
DSC_0082
Notice she liked to hook her toes on the edge of the high chair too cute! I couldn't even walk through the kitchen without her noticing me in there and running in to demand food, she is too funny!

Alyson also loved to poke fingers together:
DSC_0137

Harpo had a good time too, although he's becoming an old fart and didn't play like he used to.
DSC_0204
Funny how roles change, he used to be the playful puppy bothering Barkley. But now that Sadie is in the picture, she is the annoying puppy bothering Harpo!!

Brad got an espresso maker
DSC_0244

So one morning we made some cappuccinos, boy were they strong!!  Aliyah got some too:
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Don't worry it wasn't the espresso part, just the milk and froth :-P

The girls also got a new Barbie Jeep for the summer and Brad had fun putting it together.
272 building a jeep
With the 'help' of Aliyah of course.

Aliyah LOVED sitting in it and playing
DSC_0220 70s
But when it came to driving it for the first time she was a little scared. She'll get used to it. :-)

They grow up so fast!!!
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