Cable Bridge

Last week we went up to Ritzville, WA to meet our wonderful friend Lynn.  We have known Lynn since our college days at the University of Idaho.  She now lives across the big pond in Cornwall England.  We feel so lucky to have gotten to have a bit of her vacation time back here in the States spent with us.  It was so fun to reminisce about our college days with her, talk about our current lives and look ahead to what the future may hold for all of us.  She leaves tomorrow on a jet plane back across the big pond to her new life in England. I miss her already! But, thanks to facebook we keep can keep tabs on each other on a regular basis. Ah, the marvels of technology.  

The above photo is what we captured on our way home from Ritzville. We have heard about the Cable Bridge since we arrived in the Tri Cities in August.  We had never really taken the time to stop and check out the bridge.  Of course since we pulling into the Tri Cities right as the sun was setting it seemed like a great time to go check it out! It was a might bit chilly and the wind was blowing just enough to make the late autumn air even more cold.  We searched for a place to park as we raced against the sun.  There is a lovely paved trail that you can walk along the Columbia River and take in all of the beauty that the river has to offer.  I got this shot from that walk way just as the sun was sinking behind the mountains.  I did not realize how immense the Cable Bridge is.  I was actually having a hard time getting the whole span of the bridge in frame. I always knew that the Columbia River was mighty but being that close to the river and seeing how large that bridge was,  made the Columbia even more impressive.  

It really was a spectacular sight. If you are ever in the Tri Cities area I highly recommend you check out the Cable Bridge.  If you can check it out at sunset that would even be better.  The sunsets around here are indeed beautiful!

Let It Snow

Lately I have been working on getting all of my images organized and backed up.  While looking through some of the images I came across this one of Thomas, my son, taken almost two years ago when we went to Idaho to visit his grandparents for Christmas. It was a fantastic vacation spent with our extended family.  The icing on the cake was when it snowed the second day we were there. All of the kids were so excited!  I loved this image of Thomas trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue.  It represents to me all of the carefree fun we had that day.  Do you remember the last time you stopped and tried to catch a snowflake on your tongue? You really ought to try it. There is nothing better than letting out our inner child once in awhile.  Just think of all the fun you can have!

COJ Waterfall

This is a little waterfall that I found on the grounds of our church. It is tucked away in a beautiful little prayer garden.  The water runs from up above the little falls from a coy pond and then makes its way down under a foot bridge then ultimately falling down to this area.  I had noticed about a week ago that the trees were really starting to drop their leaves and at the time, this little area had just a leaf or two floating in the water.  Yesterday, between breaks in the rain, I decided to venture over and see how things were progressing.  I was so excited to see all of the fall color that had accumulated during the week.  

My next goal was to experiment with leaving my shutter open for different lengths of time to see what worked the best for achieving the silky water look.  I have experimented with this technique a few times  but it is really a work in progress for me.  I plan on visiting this little water fall again as the seasons change to keep playing with getting that silky water look.  The image above was one of my favorites from yesterday. 

Just Golden

I couldn't resist posting this leaf image.  This is another shot from our walk to the local park. The light that afternoon was so beautiful. I must admit, that is one of  things that I have loved about the new area we live in...the sweet golden light that I have been seeing on these late autumn afternoons. It just bathes everything it touches giving it a wonderful glow.  This day was no exception.  I found myself looking up into the canopies of the trees which seemed to cover me like an umbrella.  I was mesmerized by all the of different shades of gold and orange.  The tree limbs and branches really stood out against the blaze of color.  It was an awesome sight that is for sure.  Fall is truly one of my favorite seasons!

An Afternoon Walk

We took a late afternoon walk with the kids this past Sunday. It was a gorgeous afternoon here in Richland.  The air was crisp and cold...invigorating really.   Kailtyn had found this little street (above) with a park nearby on a recent bike ride she had taken and she was anxious for us to see it.  She really wanted me to see all the trees that were there and see them in all of their seasonal glory.  Of course she encouraged me to bring my camera along. I feel like the most lucky mom in the whole entire world.  My kids are always telling me about something they saw that they thought I would like, usually followed up with the phrase "Mom it would have made a great picture, I wish you could have been there!"  I truly value the times that we can spend together and I am so blessed that they understand my craving to take pictures and capture the beauty that I see around me.  I hope that I can teach them to value the beauty that is around us all the time.  I just want them to learn to take the time to slow down sometimes and enjoy the world and everything that surrounds them.  

Windy Day at the Park

Okay, so I had heard about how windy the Tri Cities can be sometimes. I  have to admit, I thought "Oh, it can't be that bad! ". What is a little bit of wind?  I mean really,  I just moved here from a very rainy, sometimes blustery location not too long ago.  I thought I could handle a little bit of wind. 

On Monday we decided to do a little bit of exploring around here to see if we could find a nice park to take the kids to, maybe do a little bit of leaf peeping, skip some rocks, you know, do all those fun things that you remember doing as a child.  Those things that you would like your children to experience. 

When we first got to the Two Rivers Park that afternoon it was a beautiful Fall day.  It was a bit breezy but it helped to create a nice atmosphere.  The leaves were falling ever so gently from the trees and drifting on the breeze.  The kids were running and laughing just having a great time.  One of those Hallmark moments. 

We found a place to the skip some rocks and watch some ducks and geese on the water.  I started to notice that the wind was picking up a bit.  All of sudden it was blowing so hard that I thought I was going to blow right over.  It was one of those winds where, if you have long  hair you will know what I mean, it was a face wrapper wind! My hair was being blown so hard it was wrapping around my face so I couldn't see.  You could see the wind as it blew across the water, literally. There were huge ripples across the water as far as you could see. Not to mention the leaves were coming down from the trees in droves. They were actually pelting us as they came down.  It really was quite the experience! 

Of course, we couldn't leave until we had taken a picture of the kids enjoying themselves at the park.  After some obligatory moaning they settled themselves onto a makeshift bench and started posing.  After shooting off about 15 shots this was the best one of the bunch!  Does it look like to you that they were holding onto each other for dear life? Afraid they might blow away at any moment?  I love the expression on Kaitlyn's face, it screams "If I just smile she'll quit bugging us and we can get in the car where we will be safe."  I was also cracking up secretly to myself when I opened this image because it looks like she has her brother in a slight head lock. If you look at the girls' hair you can see it was pretty windy, thank goodness Kaitlyn had her hair back in a pony tail, otherwise there would have been no way to keep it off the top of Thomas' head!  Overall, I was pretty amused by this image.  I also have to share that there were geese sneaking up behind them as we were shooting the pictures.  I think they were secretly afraid that they were going to get their bums pinched at any second! Oh, the fun of a Kaiser family outing. 

A Sea of Daisies

I took this shot while I was waiting one afternoon for a bride and her bridesmaids to get ready for their photo time with me.  I had seen these flowers while I was scouting out the location the day before the wedding shoot.  I thought that I might take advantage of the few minutes of "down time" that I had that day.  

When I look at this shot I see a fun and playful image.  It almost seems as if they are saying "Over here, look at me....look at me!" that is, if flowers could speak. Next time you are walking by a bed of flowers try to stop and take a look at the beauty that is waiting for you there.