Crazy Ideas & Helicopters

I have a lot of crazy ideas. Crazy ideas followed by more crazy ideas. They breed like rabbits. My latest idea or goal rather is to become a helicopter pilot. Yeah, sounds random and I guess it kind of is. Last summer (2010) my friend Kristan and I went on a helicopter ride in New Zealand. We flew over glaciers and even landed on one. It was pretty awesome, especially as Kristan landed (oh so gracefully) on her bum while exiting the aircraft. Who knew the snow was so powdery and soft! There was definite skill because she was stepping out facing forward and she landed on her butt... a wonderful twisty move to save her dear camera :) Rabbit trail! The point is, the helicopter ride was pretty freaking awesome, and for whatever strange reason both Kristan and I have started seriously considering becoming helicopter pilots. Something about letting that experience fester for a year worked the same way on both of us. Problem is... becoming a pilot is EXPENSIVE. I took an intro flight where I was allowed to fly the plane (only under direct supervision of course) and it was, as I'd imagined, AWESOME. The shot below is directly after our flight in NZ when the helicopter left us on the side of the road for our bus to pick us up... I don't think there is a happier picture of us anywhere.



The school here in Hawaii is $90,000... it's painful to even think about that amount of money especially when we are still paying off our oh so painful student loans. No way I am taking out more loans, and really, how hard could it be to make $90k? I had a new idea almost daily for about 3 weeks. Some days I had more than one idea, but let's be realistic... there were a lot of bad ideas. No need to worry though, I bounce all ideas off Brian before attempting them. As of now I am going to attempt to make enough money with photography to at least get my private license. After that point, I am hoping to win the lottery. Actually, winning the lottery may be a little more difficult, all I really want to do is go on the Amazing Race and win that. Everyone's got goals they are working on, these are mine: Goal #1 is to pay down as much as possible on our student loans by the end of the year (I have a specific goal to reach each month and we JUST might make it!). Goal #2 Somehow muster enough photography business to at least get a small start on my helicopter plan by January. Goal #3 Apply to be on the Amazing Race with Kristan (and possibly my dad too) hoping that I can make it on with one of them. Goal #4 Enjoy getting there.

Number four is proving to be the hardest one this week. Life passes by too quickly. Don't sweat the small stuff.

Road Trip - Reno, Nevada

Road trip of the year. I didn't exactly go on any other road trips in 2011 and now that I am in Hawaii “road trip” is not something really in their vocabulary. Or if it is, we did it yesterday because we took a “road trip” to the north island (a whopping hour drive). Which brings me back to my initial point that Florida to Indiana to California was and is the road trip of the year.

Brian's parents live in Reno, NV and they were our last stop before hitting my parents in California. We stayed the weekend there and enjoyed a visit to Lake Tahoe, a hike, and some good time with the family :) The flowers below are all snaps from our hike. I like the image below and I am not sure there is anything to say other than throw your arms in the air and sing... aaaahhhhhhhh! I don't know how to spell a tune. Sorry. It was light at the end of the tunnel. I enjoyed the road trip and time visiting all my family thoroughly, but I was SO ready to get to Hawaii, reunite with Brian, and get settled into my own space. It wasn't a bad tunnel. It was an exciting tunnel, but I was finally beginning to see light at the end of it :)

 

 

 

Hicks Family – Huntington, Indiana

My brother and his family have just moved from Massachusetts to Huntington, Indiana. He is a new professor at the university in town and the timing was just right for me to visit just days after their arrival and days before the school year starts. The last time Jonathan and I saw each other was in May 2008 when I drove with him across the country to help him move all their stuff from California to Massachusetts. Adrienne was very pregnant with Camille at the time and sitting in the car for days on end at that time was not going to happen. So here we are in August, three years later. Camille is turning three in a few days and we all have really enjoyed the week together :) Her little curls are my absolute favorite!

Ethan is a wild boy. Loves to be loud and all over the place. Typical boy. Below is the reaction I received when I told him his parents were not coming home and I would be taking their place. They went out to shop for some birthday stuff for Camille and we had some good bonding time with the camera.

Camille is really difficult to make look at the camera. She unfortunately got over me pointing it at her rather quickly. I only got the shot below because I told her to watch for the camera to blink at her :) It worked! Then Ethan also wanted to see the camera blink at him.

 

I LOVE both the shots below. Awesome :)

I love grumpy kid pics too...

Looks like he's up to something, definitely my brother's boy.

Ethan's got that look again... JUST like my brother! Sneaky sneaky ;)

Cute little country girl!

Pray For Japan

Japan has really been on my mind a lot lately, and I am sure many of yours as well. I know there have been a few huge earthquakes in other countries in the last couple of years, and not to sound heartless, but I didn't seem to care as much when the other ones occurred. It's hard for me to attach myself emotionally to something when I am so far away in my safe comfortable America. It's not that I didn't care about the other countries who have been hit by earthquakes, it's devastating but since I have no connection to them in any way I was not as interested in following the details as much as I am with Japan. I lived in Japan for almost two years and it was an amazing experience. I grew to love the country and it's people. I was not excited about moving to Japan initially. I was excited to go somewhere new and be in another country, but Japan was not exactly the top of my list on countries to visit. Yet I fell in love with the country and it became my home for two years.

It is amazing watching the footage and reading about the effects of the earthquake. I still have many friends there with the military and a few Japanese friends as well. Everyone is safe. The area that I lived in felt the earthquake, but thankfully they were not affected in the way that the Sendai area has been. I am in awe of natural disasters. Makes me remember that we are so small. We tend to think we can do and accomplish anything, but we are not as powerful as we tend to think we are. The people of Japan are not more special than the people in Haiti or Chili or any other country that has been hit by a big earthquake lately, but I have a personal connection with Japan and they have been in my prayers and on my mind a lot lately. Please keep praying for Japan as there are so many without homes and they are still trying to control problems that have arose due to the earthquake.



Both of these pictures were taken by Brian as he was heading out to sea. I know I put my name on them, but I could not find this shot ANYWHERE! I know it's on our hard drive, but Brian keeps his stuff in his own folders and I could not find it for the life of me. I just happened to have created a copy for something a while back and put my name on it so it couldn't be snagged. They are probably my all time favorite shots taken during our time in Japan. Enjoy!

My Travels

Ok, Here are some more fantastic photos from my trip. Starting off with some great shots by my good friend Kristan :) I can't remember the name of this place, but it was where they did the ceremony/funeral walk for the deceased emperors. Pretty cool. Mainly cause we went just as the sun was going down and there was no one there :) Yay for good pictures! I really liked this lion :)

There was a lot of corn in the village near the Great Wall. We had some corn bread with our lunch and it was great!

The Great Wall was absolutely amazing. My favorite part of our time in Beijing. This is me and my friend Kristan below. My husband Brian was not able to get time off to go with us. Bummer for him...



Temple of Heaven

Hong Kong: This was actually the first part of our trip. I uploaded the pics out of order. The reason for the trip was to meet Brian in Hong Kong cause his ship was in port there for a few days. We had a great time and it was the first time I have met my husband in port and I definitely need to do that more! Below is the view from Victoria's Peak.

This is us pre-hike up Ma On Shan, one of the tallest peaks in Hong Kong. It was a tough hike, but awesome! Beautiful views! It was midday when we were at the top and though the view was amazing, I knew with the light pictures would not do it justice and I settled for taking a few shots with Brian's camera rather than getting mine out. He is still gone though so I have nothing to post from the top of the mountain :(

Lots of interesting things to eat. I have no idea what that was, but it looks like my dogs chew bones...
Brian took a nap anytime we got in a bus or train :)
Buddha: he looked pretty lame just sitting there so I put the sun in his hand :)

China Bound!

So I am off to China! My husband's ship is pulling into Hong Kong for a bit and I am going to meet him there :) A friend from college is flying out from Texas (at this very moment) and will be going with me on this lovely adventure. We leave the house at 4:30am on Thanksgiving Day and are first going to Hong Kong for a few days to visit Brian. After Hong Kong, Kristan and I will be moving on to Beijing to see the many sites! I am excited for everything, but I must say the Great Wall has got me the most excited.

For all you in Japan, I know this isn't the best timing as so many still need family portraits done (especially now that so many ships are back!). I will be back in town on December 6th though so if you want to do family portraits still just let me know and we'll schedule it.

I will be taking millions of pictures on this trip so look forward to some awesome pictures coming your way!