Early Summer Fun at Chena Lake

May was a glorious month.  It was a warm and sunny month.  The snow melted quickly and we were itching for some summer fun.  I am not much of a beach bum but the girls love to play in the water and sand so we decided to hit Chena Lake.  During the summer, it is a great rec area with a playground, piers for fishing, nice size lake for boating and swimming.  We are at the lake at least 3-4 times a month fishing and beaching bumming.  This year, i think we may try out a boat rental, hit the biking trails (Morgan got a bike for her 5th birthday), and kiting (a gift from her preschool teacher, Ms. Bouschard).  

While the days may have been warm, the water was still quite chilly.  Morgan and Riley enjoyed wading through the water and building sand castles with moats.  I enjoyed reading a book, taking photos, and just watching them have fun.  A couple of the days, we were joined by friends. Below are some of my favorite photos from a few outings to the lake.  Morgan is such a fun and photogenic kid.  I love taking photos of her.

Play dates with friends are even better when it is at the lake.  I loved how Lillie's little hind end was covered in sand.

 Riley sporting her beach body and a smile.

The girls first fishing trip over Memorial Day weekend, which happened to also be my birthday weekend.  Happy 38th Birthday to me.  I wanted to do something fun with the family so we went fishing with the girls.  Wouldn't you know it...once the poles were in the water, it started to rain.  We stayed less than an hour as we did not see a single fish in the water.  No one was catching fish that day.  

The Ice Breakers

Morgan played soccer last year as an arctic kicker.  The age group (U5) was broken up into two four-week sessions.  They were in need of coaches so i volunteered with the stipulation that i would need a co-coach or assistant coach to help out as i did not know anything about soccer.

Morgan and her friend, Caiden, hydrating
between plays.

I had a great first session with 8 wonderful kids and my co-coach Jennifer.  We both had girls on the team and we both knew nothing about soccer.  Funny, we were so worried about it that we watched videos on soccer and met weekly to figure out what we would cover in our weekly practices.  Jennifer and i were a great team which made coaching fun and easy.

And the kids....Logan was the youngest on the team.  He would always make these sour puss faces whenever someone had the ball. It did not matter if it was another team or fellow teammate.  My favorite memory of him was when he stopped in the middle of a game to look at a flower.  It reminded me of the book Ferdinand.  Avalon who was very shy.  Keira, Jennifer's daughter, was a great soccer player with those long legs.  I remember her running up to me and hugging me so very tight like we had known each other forever instead of just a few short weeks.  Anna, with her long, dark pig tails, would look for fellow girl teammates so she could hold their hands and play rather than score goals.  I had to separate her and Morgan many times because all they would do is hold hands and skip.  Levi was probably our best player.  I had him work on his team skills by having him try to pass the ball at least once before scoring a goal.  

The Ice Breakers: Taylor or Tatar Tot, Jett, Caiden, Morgan, Lilly,
Quinton, and Madison.

The second session was not as easy.  The parents were not as helpful and i did not have the same connection to the kids this time around as i did in the first session.  I also missed my co-coach.  Jennifer's daughter decided she did not want to play soccer second session so there was no need for her to coach.  After second session, i was ready to be done with coaching for the season and future seasons.

Riley and Jeff watching the
Ice Breakers.

Summer 2012.  Morgan decided to give soccer another shot.  I also signed her up for soccer camp, in hopes that it would give her a stronger start this season, and that she might fall in love with it.  I was also hoping a parent would step up and coach  the team.  I waited and waited.  I almost relented a few times when i read the FYSA emails about coach shortages and how my daughter's team still did not have a coach.  I was too busy to coach and i did my duty last year.  Surely another parent with more time and, possibly, soccer knowledge would step up.  The day before Morgan's first game, i signed up as coach and picked up gear.  I should have just signed up weeks ago rather than fight it.  Now i was struggling to contact parents, issue gear, find a practice field, come up with a practice schedule, figure out snacks,  and other coach craziness.  

Our first game was Wednesday, May 30th.  This was the first time the kids, coach, and parents had met.  That first game was magical.  The kids ran around that field like they had known each other and played like all-stars.  I don't know if the Refs keep score but i am sure if they had, we would have won the game.  I hope the first game is a sign of good a season ahead for the Ice Breakers and my coaching them.  

What have i learned so far this season.....We have met Caiden previously at swimming and he will be attending school with Morgan at Barnett in the fall.  Yeah!!  He is super lovable and gives the best hugs.  Unlike the rest of the kids that played last year on U5, this is Taylor's first year playing soccer.  You would never know it with the way she handles the soccer ball and scores.  Jett is our all star who is dying to head butt the soccer ball during the game.  He asks to do this at least once a game.  I think he feels i am holding him back from this...he is right.  Lilly is a sweetheart and great helper.  Quinton is great dancer and easily distracted but watch out when he gets that ball, he can run it the length of the field and score.  Madi is another sweetheart and also a top scorer on the team.  As for my sweet Morgan, she runs after the ball but does not always connect with it.  She also has great hair as she is always adjusting that headband of hers.  I also have a co-coach and one that knows how to play soccer.  It is Madi's Aunt Britney.

Coaching is hard and very time consuming.  I am also thinking it just might be worth it.

North Star Ballet Camp 2012

I took Morgan to the North Star Ballet 2011 Spring Gala of Snow White.  Morgan loved the performance so much that i signed her up for their 2011 ballet camp on Snow White.  At 4, this was Morgan's first formal dance lesson and her first camp.  The camp was only three hours a day for five days.  She loved learning her new ballet steps and the choreography, creating her costumes, and playing with other young girls her age.  At the end of the week, the campers put on a small play for their family and friends.

Morgan as, one of many, Snow White.

Morgan, donning the hat she decorated, with one of the ballet instructors.

The following fall, i enrolled Morgan in the North Star Ballet School's Creative Movements Class for 4-5 year old kids.  Morgan has been taking ballet for a year now.  I, once again, took her to the North Star Ballet Spring Gala and signed her up for their camp.  This years gala was on Alice in Wonderland, a phenomenal performance considering it was just a local production.  Due to the dark story line of Alice in Wonderland, they decided to go with Sleeping Beauty for the ballet camp theme this year.

Morgan, as Sleeping Beauty, on the cover of their souvenir book.

Morgan and fellow campers are fairies at the christening of Sleeping Beauty.

Morgan as Sleeping Beauty after she awakens from her deep sleep.

Morgan as a blue bird partying it up at the wedding of the prince and princess.

The best year yet.  Each of the girls got to be play multiple characters in the story of Sleeping Beauty from the fairies that bless the princess with special gifts, to the princess, to the animals that dance through the story.  Luckily, the week Morgan attend three boys also attended.  The boys played the role of prince battling the evil fairy and, eventually, awakening and marrying the princess.  It was decided that a kiss was unnecessary as the battle itself was enough to awaken the princess.  Love it!

5x7 Folded Card

White Border 5x7 folded card

Put your photos on your Christmas cards this holiday.

View the entire collection of cards.

Photography - Motion

Photography class is just a memory these days but i am still going to post my pictures from the class....eventually and definitely not in order.  I am putting a rush on this as my friend Sarah is taking the same class this semester.  Her assignment this week is Motion.  While i don't think these will be of much help to you, it gave me the kick in the pants i needed to finish some of my posts that are sitting in limbo.

Motion -

We had turn in a total of six pictures, two each:  Blur, Stop Motion, and Pan.

1. Blur is when the motion is blurred and the background is static.  These pictures are best achieved with shutter speeds 1/30th or slower.  You will need low light conditions for these types of photos and a camera stand.  
2. Stop Motion is pretty self explanatory.  Your shutter speed has to be fast enough for the action you are trying to stop in a image, at least 1/60th.  You will need good lighting and obvious motion.
3. Pan is a bit of a bugger.  In a proper pan, your subject (for the most part) will be in focus while the background will be blurred.  To do this, you want to move your camera parallel to the motion and at the same relative speed as the action, a very difficult task to be sure.  Your shutter speed should be between 1/10th and 1/30th of a second.  Again, best in dimly lit environments.

Thank goodness for rainy days which by the way we had a lot of this summer.  My little play group and i decided to hit the Glow Putt Alaska for the day and lucky me i had my camera on me as any good photographer would, right.  I had never taken photos like this before.  I had so much fun, i surpassed the cap my instructor put on the number photos we were allowed to take for this assignment. :)

My first three photos are for blur.  I used a chair as a stand for my camera.  The exposures were at least 1.8 or longer.  Notice how the background of each pictures is clear and sharp while the animation is blurred.  In some the pictures, the exposure was long enough that the movement almost appeared ghost like.

For stop motion, i photographed my daughters tball team during their practice and a random photo of water from my gutter filling a rain barrel.

A fellow tballer playing catch with a teammate.

As i said, pan can be very difficult.  I got lucky with the shots below.  In the first photo, I was at a strange angle so the ball and bat were not exactly parallel with my movement.  In the last two photos, Morgan was not moving too fast for me to keep up with my camera.  If you look close, you can see that the background is slightly out of focus while my subject is in focus while running.

Morgan at batting practice.

Morgan running to home plate during a game.

Morgan running to home plate during a game.
She reminds me of Dark Helmet  (Rick Moranis) in Spaceballs.

Oldies but Goodies - Morgan's Dancing Videos on YouTube

You have to watch out for grandmas.  There is no telling what they are up to when mom and dad are away.  In this case, my mom, a great dancer in her own right, taught Morgan a few moves and then recorded it on video.  My wonderful niece, Lauren, upload the videos on Youtube.  Woo hoo, thanks ladies.

Morgan dancing to Jailhouse Rock by Elvis.  Gotta love those facial expressions.  She definitely gets those moves from Grandma. 

More Elvis - Don't Be Cruel

A little bit of Morgan dancing to Mambo No. 5 by Lou Bega.

Morgan dancing to some jazz music.

Early video of her dancing to Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett

Busting a move in her Hawaiian skirt.

Annual Sandhill Crane Festival

This is my first year attending the Annual Sandhill Crane Festival which is held at Creamer's Field.  Every August, thousands of Sandhill Cranes begin their migration southward from Alaska and Siberia.  Creamer's Field is a migratory waterfowl refuge and one of the largest refuges for viewing such birds.  The three day festival offers a diverse selection of activities from children to adults.

This year, i was hoping to make a few of the workshops and tours such as the Nature Photography Workshop with Ronn Murray, a local photographer, bird banding, a few of the nature walks, kid specific activities, and the tex-mex dinner with latin music (a fund raiser for Camp Habitat).  Unfortunately, i was only able to make the fundraiser and went on my own nature walk with the girls.  

 Morgan loved being back at Creamer's as she had spent five days in Camp Habitat there.  She loved walking along the pathways and thru the fields as my personal guide.  We did not go to far along the trails as i was preoccupied with taking pictures of my youngest lovely lady, Riley.  After sorting pictures, i have realized that i don't have nearly as many photos of her as i do of Morgan.  Of course, Riley does not make it easy to take pictures with her quick movements, not wanting to look at the camera or me when i call her, and of course her ever present scowl.  I like to refer to the scowl as her "short straw look". Its the one that says i am forced to be apart of this family, i had no choice as i drew the short straw. 



Crane heads were bobbing in and out of this field.



We were also preoccupied with the many geese and cranes that surrounded us in the fields and flying above us.  It was truly wonderful to see. In the photo on the right, it was like the cranes were playing peek-a-boo once i decided i would try for a negative space photo.  With some patience, i was able to finally get a photo of just one crane head above the field while Riley was kicking my back (she was riding in a carrier) and making sure Morgan did not wander too far ahead on the trails nor scaring the poor birds.

 It seems there are some similarities between the photo of Riley and the peek-a-boo crane :).

Morgan's yelling finally broke thru my negative space concentration.  She was further down the trail and had found an entire open area of both geese and cranes.  They were tucked in between two tall fields of grass so i was unable to see them until i reached the opening.  It was wonderful to see the excitement n her face and the squeals behind me as we watched the large group of birds.  A vehicle started in the distance which startled many of the birds causing them to take flight.  A marvelous site that i, unfortunately, did not photograph as i had turned off my camera and capped to start heading back to the van. 

In these photos, i played with my depth of field a little to focus first on the cranes and then the geese.  I could not get any closer to my subjects so i zoomed in as much as i could with my 18-270mm lens. I wish i would have thought to change my settings so i had a deeper depth of field so all the birds would have been in focus.  If i get another shot next week, i will try these shots again.  

A telephoto lens would have been nice, too.  I saw many a photographer cradling a camera with a humongous lens.  My neck ached just looking at them.  I still want one. 

I am ending this post with a picture of Morgan.  She enjoyed just hanging on to the split rail fence to watch the cranes and geese.  I kept pestering her to look at me so i could get a photo of her.  I ended up with a scrunched up face and growl.  Oh, how i love this little girl.

Read more on the festival:

Something for everyone at annual Sandhill Crane Festival: FAIRBANKS - Not much has changed when it comes to the annual Sandhill Crane Festival. But that doesn’t mean that the festival isn’t any less interesting, or inspiring, when it comes to celebrating ...