Long Time No See...

Well, first off, sorry for the long absence!  I didn't realize it had been over 6 months since my last post until now.  I blame it on my lack of spontaneous photography road trips lately... or at all.  I can't even remember the last time we went on a weekend-photography-trip, which is sad because I really do miss all the photo opps I used to find.  I feel like life has just been hitting us too hard as of late.  We've had some major setbacks within this past month alone and it's been difficult to find the extra time (& money).

Anyway... we did get the opportunity to travel out to Little Rock, Arkansas at the end of March, where I was able to satisfy at least a few of my photographic urges.  We ended up taking a totally spontaneous road trip to Memphis, TN while we were there as well, but we weren't able to spend as much time as we'd hoped.  Though the main purpose of the whole trip was to be there for my Granny's 90th birthday party, and to visit with my family, especially my sweet nephew Aidan, who has gotten so big in such a short amount of time, btw!

Jacques by the wall outside of Elvis's house.

I loved looking through and finding little messages from tourists...

Beale Street scene... we ended up eating lunch over at Flynn's on the other side of the road.

The Love & Happiness bus!  It was stopped over by the Orpheum theatre.

Crate Troubles

So Dozer's huge crate arrived yesterday afternoon and we put it together last night.  It was... interesting, to say the least.  All while the both of us had migraines, which I still have this morning, and no amount of coffee or acetaminophen seems to help whatsoever.  Anyway... today I'm trying to get Dozer comfortable with his new "home."  And it's more tiring than I thought, especially with the effects of the pain in my head.

Here's a view of the hugeness of the crate, for reference:

Obviously, it's not like he doesn't have any room at all inside it... I just can't seem to get him to stay in there unless I'm actually in with him, or unless there's a treat in the back corner that's just outside the crate and he can smell it and goes crazy trying to dig it out.  (Which did happen, and I eventually had to get some tweezers to coax it out)

Though I did get him to actually sit and lay down inside, but that was only after bribing him with the notion of food by rattling his bowl.  He keeps laying down right in front of the opening though, so at least it's good that he's not totally rejecting the idea.  He tends to freak out a bit when we actually close the door and latch it, and I really hope we can break him of that before next Wednesday, because I'm going to be in OK for 5 days, which means he'll be having to spend some quality time in there, since I won't be around for him to roam free.

I think part of the problem right now is that we don't have proper bedding in there to make it completely comfortable for him, but we plan on building a "cot" this weekend for him to use, and hopefully that will make him feel more at home in there.

Flash + Bang = Beauty

Around two weeks ago, Jacques and I attended an Oakland A's game, along with his brother who had received discounted tickets through his job for the three of us.  I hadn't realized that the last baseball game I went to was the Yankees vs. Rangers at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas.  That was around 5 years ago, or maybe more, but the thing that stood out for me with that game was that there was a tornado on the ground and everyone spent 2 hours down underneath the field in the basement.  We also were compensated with free tickets to two later games because of the cancellation of that game.

Anyway, the point is that it was my first time at a California baseball game as well.  We just happened to be there on "Star Wars" night, celebrating its 35th anniversary.  After the A's crushed the Twins, the ballpark put on an awesome fireworks show, set to the music from Star Wars.  It was beautiful!  I spontaneously decided to capture the whole show on my phone.  I didn't remember that I could capture still photos at the same time until the show was already about a third of the way through.  But here are some of my favorites shots that I caught that night:

The Joys of a Newborn

It's so amazing to see how incredibly a newborn baby can change within just a day.  I hung out with Aidan almost every day for the first week and a half of his life and he was always changing and growing into his look.  This was the very first time I'd ever been around a newborn so often... and I can definitely see how it's an incredibly challenging, yet rewarding experience.  I can only imagine what his new parents are going through, but they are learning each day and helping each other,  as I knew they would, instead of being driven apart.  That little boy is going to be loved beyond words, by so many people, and I'm just happy that I'm lucky enough to be one of them.  I'm a little sad at the same time though, because I know I'm going to miss out on so much of his life and those special growing up moments.  But at least I was able to be there for him on his first days and although I know he's not going to remember it when he's older, I hope it will be enough for him to remember his only aunt.

Anyway... here are some of my favorite photos from the rest of my trip with Mr. Aidan Wesley!

This is one of my absolute favorites from the whole trip!  It was my last day to see him and he kept making that face when I did the same (as you can slightly see in the photo).  It was way too cute!!

Three generations captured in one single picture.

Aidan Wesley's Debut

So let me just say first off, it's been a crazy couple of days here in OKC for the Bridges family.

At around 6:30pm, I started out my visit back home by rushing off to my brother's house, literally from the airport, because my sister-in-law started having some contractions.  They were keeping track of them and using the 5-1-1 rule for when to take her to the hospital.  So since I hadn't eaten yet, and Jenn really didn't feel like eating anyway, my mom, my dad and I went out to dinner, all the while, ready to rush to the hospital at the first text or phone call from my brother.  We finally get the call, and arrive at the hospital around 9:00pm, thinking that the baby would be born before the end of the night... were we ever wrong!  Aidan was being one stubborn little boy, refusing to budge from his safe haven of the past 9 months.  But he finally made his appearance at 1:01pm on July 27th.

I like to think that he was just waiting for me to arrive in town. =)

Anyway, here are a few photos of my sweet little nephew from the past couple of days:

His very first photo shoot, with my proud brother by his side!

Dad, Aidan and I on his first day into the world.

Falling in love with my sweet nephew!

Me with Aidan, after a rough first night, with some very nervous parents!

Aidan with his very proud CeCe!

Just more posing with Aidan!  He gets cuter by the minute!

Embracing the Snow...

So I have to say that the photos from this post are my absolute FAVORITES from the whole Pennsylvania trip!  Simply because I'm in love with snow and that's just about ALL that you're going to see in these photos.  Our very last full day in Sharpsville, we woke up to a beautiful blanket of snow... everything was covered!  I was the happiest girl in the world that day.  Who knew something as simple as snow could make someone so incredibly happy?!

Anyway, on with the photos.  I'm starting out with our trip up to Lake Erie and the amazing scenery we found there:

The lake shore, covered in pockets of snow, even out on those boulders!

Had to get creative for this one, taken right next to one of the "cliffs" and I even caught the sun up there in the corner as well!

Trying to capture the "eerie" of Lake Erie, with a little help from Erin.

Just the Two Of Us...

Okay, so where was I?

I'm going to skip over to the day after we drove back across the state to Sharpsville.  It was Saturday and we didn't really have any set plans, so my dad decided to take us on pretty much the same route he'd taken me on when I was there two years earlier.  Only this time, the oil well museum was open, so we were able to peek inside and take a look at where the first oil well was drilled and some other fun facts.  Meanwhile, Erin found the kids station and made some purple plastic (think silly putty).

Anyway... Jacques and I started the day out with a walk down to the lake behind the house, with a light dusting of snow on the ground (which I was really excited about, though I had no idea what I was in for just two days later).

It was great to have that morning together before embarking on our day trip.  There's nothing I love more than just the simple act of being outside and capturing the world around me!  Yeah, I'm a cheap date. ;)  (Though it wasn't even really classified as a date, but you get the picture...)

More to come!  .... Later.