Snowed In

We were originally going to head over to Schweinfurt Germany this weekend for a Ball - a reunion of sorts with the unit I deployed to Iraq with. We only had two problems:

First - I had written down the wrong date! They had it on a Thursday night, not the Friday night I had written down. That really stinks!

Second - we've been having a ton of snow and even if the Ball had been on Friday we wouldn't have been able to get there.

So, by popular demand, I thought I'd include a photo of the kids standing next to our couch so you all can see how tall they are (compared to our couch).

I hope all is well out there!

Marc

Having Fun With My Flash

Like I said in the last post - I've been reading up on flash photography and have slowly been buying some of the necessities. This evening while the kids were playing on the Wii (learning how to drive, and poorly I might add!) I broke out the flash and started snapping away.

Ian is a tough one to distract when he's on a subject that he is really in to - in this case his game.

Leah on the other hand, just ask for a smile . . .

And of course the obligatory "group" photo.

I hope all is well with everyone out there!

Marc

Leah's 4th Birthday Party

Happy Birthday Leah!

She turned 4 years old a couple of weeks ago. Due to our late vacation after my deployment, we decided to have Leah's birthday party this weekend to give her friends (parents really) a little advance warning/time to prepare.

Catherine as always keeps the kids in interesting clothes appropriate to the time and season. Here Leah is showing off her birthday girl shirt with a cute skirt complete with sparkle-y (just ask her) buttons and ribbons. The shirt doesn't lie!

I'm a big fan of this photo - probably my favorite of the bunch. We took a bunch with her blowing on her noisemaker, but this one really captured her enthusiasm and joy for the moment. In my mind at least.

I hope all is well out there with everyone!

Cheers,

Marc

Learning to Light

Hey everybody - this post is just kind of a heads up of what to expect in the future. I've been reading a lot about flash photography, mostly since most of my photos are basically portraits. I've been limited by natural light, which is fantastic, but as things get dark here early in the winter it gives me a narrow window of opportunity with the kids.

So I'm teaching myself off-camera flash. It's a lot to learn, but I've got nothing but time really. Expect quite a few not so good photos as I learn to control the light (technically speaking not quite so good anyways - the subjects are always good to look at, in my humble opinion!)

I hope everything is well with everyone out there!

Cheers!

Marc

Drei Schonheiten

I was getting a bit stir crazy during this long weekend. And virtually exploring the area around here on Google Earth was pretty fun, but I wanted to get out and see some of the highlights.

I found these three trees, and thanks to the magic of the GPS, we all climbed in the car and made our way there. It wasn't an optimal time, photographically, but it was a useful scouting trip.

We also drove to another area even further out from Baumholder, but none of the photos turned out well. However, it was a beautiful area that I am looking forward to exploring in more depth this spring, once things brighten up a little.

We had a nice Christmas and New Years. Very quiet, and a nice time spent with our little family. I wish everyone a blessed New Year - may it be one filled with health, happiness, and prosperity. Cheers!

Marc

Luxembourg (that's the city, in the tiny country)

Ahhhh, the Weihnachtsmarkt. You really need to experience one to truly know it. It is part festival, part market, all Christmas cheer. They are held almost exclusively outdoors (the only indoor one we have seen was in Andorra, and even then it was an unheated tent) in the month leading up to Christmas. The weather is cold, but the Gluhwein is hot!

This past weekend we loaded up the kids and braved the snow for the drive to Luxembourg. As it was after Christmas, the Weihnachtsmarkt was smaller than usual, but still going strong. We arrived just in time for lunch, and a glass of Gluhwein for me. This was the first place I've had it from a boot, but that didn't detract from the flavor at all.

Ian and Leah got to ride the merry-go-round for being so good on the trip over, and for the walking around. Ian chose the motorcycle for his time around.

And Leah chose the princess carriage. She refused to ride inside the thing, prefering the ride from the driver's seat.

On the way to the car, we passed through this open area, and the kids enjoyed playing in the snow.

I hope all is well out there with everybody. Cheers!

Marc

Leah's Dance Recital Dec. 2009

This is the recital that we just made it to after our trip to Spain/France. I know Marc has already posted some pics from it, but I wanted to post what I had as well.





Here is her class with their teacher, Miss Simone after the recital was done:


Here is a bit of video I was able to get before I had battery issues (yes, again):









I hope everyone enjoys seeing it & we have already purchased extra batteries for my camera that I'm going to make sure to charge before the next performances.

Catherine