Banff: Dog Sledding

The last time I posted about our anniversary trip to Banff was way back in early January, and the trip actually took place in December, so I think it's safe to say that I'm a bit behind on this thread!  In an attempt to catch up on these long belated posts (will I ever get to Christmas?), here's the next installment on Banff: Dog Sledding!

When we went to Lake Louise for our honeymoon, we hiked canyons and around the lake, we watched ice climbers on a frozen waterfall, we rode on a gondola up a mountain, and more.  But dog sledding was the thing we thought was the most fun.  It's a unique experience for Texans.  Plus, the dogs are just so darn cool. 

Ten years later, dog sledding was just as cool.  Or, more accurately, it was frigid.  I think the temperature was around -5F that morning, but the air is so dry in Banff that it really is not uncomfortable if you wear enough layers.  Well, okay, my fingers and toes got pretty darn cold after a while, but they warmed back up nicely.  It was worth being a little cold to enjoy such a fun excursion.  Nathan and I picked up these mufflers before our trip, and we were really thankful for them on a couple of occasions--I have to tell you, when you get into that sled behind the dogs and start moving at 15mph on a day when it's -5F and there's snow being kicked up in your face, well, although you may not be terribly uncomfortable, you do start to be grateful that the only part of your face that's exposed is your eyes.

The dogs are wonderfully sweet and full of personality.  Some of them are shy, some are wild and goofy, and all of them are eager to get on their way.

Definitely, part of the pleasure of dog sledding is getting to hang out with the dogs a little.

The dogs that run the sleds are bred and trained for it, and it is their life's love.  While they're waiting, they yip and pull and cry, and when they're being harnessed, the din escalates with their excitement.

Even though they can't go anywhere, they pull and strain, yip and holler.

And then, when the brake is loosed:

silence.

It's so interesting to see them run.  They dip their mouths and take bitefuls of snow to stay hydrated and cool off without missing a step.  Each member of the team has a clear job, based on their personalities, age & experience, etc.  They clearly love to run and are good at it.  They're the elite athletes of the dog world, bred for their sport rather than for looks.  This particular team of dogs runs long Alaskan races in winter when they're not tugging little tourists back and forth across the Continental Divide. 

Speaking of which...

We got out at the Great Divide and wandered a bit, taking some photos.  My face looks so cold in this one!  Like it was a strain to smile!  Ha!

On the way back, we were each allowed to drive alongside the owner for a while.  We'd stand on one runner while she stood on the other, agreeing to stomp on the brake if she fell off, and she'd do the same for us.  :) 

Check out the eyes on that puppy.

It was super fun, y'all, and Nathan and I would recommend it if you ever get the chance!

P52: Photo 8

I love this sweet image.  This is Janey and her best friend, holding hands at a princess party.

They love each other a whole lot and are always ecstatic to get to see one another.  It's a good thing Elizabeth is moving in down the street; there'll be lots of happy days ahead for these girls!

As far as photography goes, this was an easy shot.  There was plenty of natural light, the girls set up a lovely shot naturally, and I exposed it properly without any trouble.  So, well, yay for that.  But the purpose of this 52-week project is to get better, and nobody's going to get any better without challenging themselves.  So, now that I'm fairly comfortable getting a shot properly exposed, I'm going to work on some other technical aspects of photography in the weeks to come.

P52: Photo 7

Yeah, yeah, so I'm a week late.  I did actually take these photos last weekend, so in my book, it counts. :)

This is actually a series of detail photos that I took at a lunch out that I attended for my Aunt Patti's birthday.  I still just about totally stink at low indoor light photos, but some of them turned out well.  (And, of course, I'm only showing you the good ones!)

Terrible Photo, Beautiful Girl

Today

1. I realized this morning (or, rather, reminded myself) that it really does require my getting up at 6:00 in order to get us all to our destination by 9:00.  All the dressing, breakfasting, distracting, comforting (there's teething in the house), etc., just takes a long time when you have three kids under the age of seven.  Although the strange thing is that on school days, we do rush it a bit and leave very early.  I don't know why it takes so much longer on other days.  The only things that would alleviate this necessary-for-me early wake-up time would be if I took my shower and made lunches the night before, but I'm usually so busy doing other things (like trying to give some attention to one of the too many hobbies I have)--not to mention that at that time of day, I'm running out of energy--that lunches fall low on ye olde priority list.
2. That was a whole lot of punctuation right there.
3. It's kind of nice that Noah thinks that the best snack in the world is a big piece of homemade bread with "lots and LOTS of butter on top!"  Sometimes simple is best.
4. I explained to Noah that butter is not exactly good for you, and that lots of it (as I continued slathering it on) is not healthy.  He replied by telling me that butter makes you really fat, and that if you eat enough of it--say, one stick in a single day--that you will make a huge splash when you jump into the swimming pool.
5. On his own, Noah figured out how to count by fives to 100 today and how to count from 101 to 200.  He was pretty darn proud of himself.  He also used some triangle blocks to make a "new shape" with five sides.  I told him it was called a pentagon, and he was amazed and very impressed with himself.
6. We followed that with doing tally marks and learning to count by 5's.  I felt pretty brilliant when, for our tally mark assignment, we counted all of the stuffed animals which the kids had spread out all over the play room floor by putting them away.  I just do not have the gift of making my kids think working is fun, so to get Noah to clean up and think it was great was a victory!  Every time he tossed one into the toy box, he said, "Toss!" and I'd draw a tally mark.  At the end, we counted them--FIFTY-ONE stuffed animals.  WHAT IN THE WORLD??!?!  Time to give some stuff away!
7. Clara is teething.  The last time she was teething (was that only two weeks ago? yes, it was!), she got two molars and two smaller teeth.  Right now, she is cutting two more molars, and y'all, it is rough.  She is usually so easygoing and sweet, and she is actually pretty unkind when she's hurting and not medicated right now.  Give her some Ibuprofen (and some times even that just takes the edge off), and she is her regular old self.  But when it wears off, watch out.  She is a screaming, drooling, tantrumming mess.  I actually went back to 2009 on the blog today to look something up and discovered that Noah was the same way, only worse.  Between all three kids, he definitely had the worst time with teeth.
8. I've updated the Asian Dumpling Soup recipe here on the blog to be more specific about the type of broth and dumplings I use, which should make the recipe more user-friendly overall, since it's actually not always easy to find those items.  You can always make do with whatever you find at a HEB or Stop and Shop or whatnot, but this is what I've been making lately, so I thought I'd update it.  Also, the scallion pancakes at Trader Joe's are fantastic with the soup.
9. The end!  Good night!

A Family Session

Last weekend, I went to the park with some friends and took their family pictures.  I loved it.  And, as it turned out, they loved their pictures.  They'd never had a family photo done before, and when they asked me to do it, I said something to the effect of, "Well, I'm a very new photographer, and I can't guarantee they'll be awesome, but I'd love to do it."  And I think it's safe to say that we were all thrilled by how they turned out.  I sent them over 20 shots, and here are a couple of my favorites:

I was so happy that I was able to capture this family's joy and closeness.  And (bonus!) they are pretty awesome and treated us to dinner and a game night at their house.

 -----

Before I showed up at the shoot, I made a list of poses to have them try, and most of them worked very well.  Here's a list, for my own future reference:

• Parents standing, touching, holding child
• Mom and Dad hug, child by legs
• Three pairs of feet
• Mom-child-Dad holding hands, crop Mom and Dad's upper body, shoot at child's level
• Each parent alone with child (snuggle, nuzzle, tickle, have Dad lie down and child piles on top)
•  All together, tickling (I believe that's what was happening in that first photo)
• Whisper to one another
• Reading together
• Child alone--"Do you see the butterfly in my camera?" (tried to elicit meaningful eye contact with viewer), look down (try to get lashes--this little lady was too quick!)
• Feed the ducks (particular to this location)

Although I didn't try for every single one of those poses, we did get 90% of them, and they were great.  I have been reading a lot about family photography and got lots of ideas from the Clickin' Moms blog (a great resource), among other places.

P52: Photo 6

This is my little boy, putting on his lab coat and safety glasses for his science lab.

So serious!

His favorite activity of the week is definitely science lab.  And the teacher told me this week that he is far more serious than the other kids his age--that he tries very hard to do well on his lab reports (which include writing, something at which he is new, of course).

In this photo, he's facing some large windows, which is what accounts for the very nice natural light.  And I like his serious face, because it's not an expression I see very often.  Ha!