Operation shutterbug challenge #1

So, as most of you know I have become a shutterbug. My favorite shots are of scenery and animals outdoor but I want to learn how to take good photos indoors and close up as well so when my good friend Conni started a shutterbug challenge through her blog at The Foodie Army Wife(www.thefoodiearmywife.com), I had to jump on it.
The first week's challenge was to take a photograph about you. I could take this literal or take a photo of something that represented me. I chose the first option so that I could work on my indoor photographing. What I chose to focus on was my white balance experimenting. I don't have a professional camera, it's somewhere between the dummy point and shoot and the "you actually know why you are doing" camera. So I can't set the white balance by numbers but it had multiple settings. It has an auto setting, fluorescent, tangent, shades are open and outdoor setting. By looking at the photos below you can see that each setting changes the photo a bit. It was a very eye opening experiment.
The other thing I tried was defusing the flash of my camera by placing a card in front of it and it too brought about a major change to the photograph. I have learned quite a bit this week and look forward to next week's challenge "still life"!

March aurora

So the end of our spring break gave me an opportunity to once again get out and photograph the northern lights. This time was amazing as I was able to see multiple colors with the naked eye and captured some pretty cool photographs as well. I hope u enjoy them as much as I do.

Earthquake Park

One of our explorations led us to Earthquake park. This little park lies on the edge of Turnagain Arm and is quite beautiful. The purpose of the park is to show how this area was changed by a massive earthquake that struck the area in 1964. It was largest enough to slide a good portion of the shore, that at the time had homes and other buildings on it. The hike down to the park is a small but beautiful jaunt. Of course we had to do a family picture while we were there and couldn't keep it too serious. 

And of course after doing a family one each of the kiddos had to give their interpretation. What goof balls!

Anchorage Museum

Another stop we made in Anchorage was the Anchorage Museum in the downtown area. We were a little skeptical going in as the kids are older and most hands on stuff is made for the younger crowd but we were really impressed. To be honest it was the only area we went in, there was more museum that we never touched. It is really worth the price of it's admission.

So we started off in the bubble room, the kids had a blast making massive bubbles out of all kinds of items.
















We then headed into the enviornment room which taught about earthquakes, tsunamis, wind, heat and water and all the enviornmental elements.  Here is Sassy learning how the wind can change the enviornment!

The ids were even able to pet some baby alligators(who would have thunk in Alaska they would pet alligator, penguins maybe but alligators?!) We then headed off to the kinetic energy room where the kids learned about magnets, infrared, air power and much much more! We capped off our visit with a stop in their planetarium for a show about the Aurora(Northern Lights). It was interesting but after seeing them in person it just wasn't the same. All in all, I would highly recommend going to this museum if you visit the Anchorage area, especially in the winter time!

Springbreak Alaska style

Well it's that time of year again, Spring Break!!! And, unlike you lower 48ers, ours is a wee bit different. We still have cold weather, snow and all the trappings of winter but we rarely let this keep us down. This year we decided to head south, just a little, and check out what Anchorage and Homer had to offer. Our trip to Anchorage took about 6 hours but it was a beautiful six hours. Most everything is still frozen which makes the landscape a beautiful clean white. And the rivers, waterfalls and creeks seem to be frozen in time(no pun intended). This created some amazing scenary. Add in a visit from a moose and the trip was complete.

Homer, AK

After a couple days in Anchorage we headed down to the Kenai pennisula. Remembering that we are visiting when everything is still frozen, I have to say this was BEAUTIFUL!! You drive right through the middle of the Kenai pennisula following the Kenai river and even with it being winter it was a gorgeous drive. We lucked out on the way down with clear skies and roads and finally stopped at the end of the road in Homer, AK. Now let me describe Homer to you. It is a smaller town, around 3000 people. It's definitely a fishing down, we boats constantly going in and out of the harbor. We loved it. We stayed out on the Land's End Resort and rented one of their condos. This place was amazing, the one we rented was a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom house that was literally on the beach. It had all the amentities you could possibly need; fireplace, full kitchen, steam shower, laundry. And it was beautiful and well maintained to boot! For our family it was perfect, the kids could go out and play on the beach and I could sit in a chair in front of the fire and keep an eye on them or sit out on the deck and soak up sun while my manchild tried his hand at fishing(he even caught a couple halibut!) It was quiet, peaceful and very relaxing. While we were there we made a couple tourist stops. My favorite was stopping by my favorite winery Bear Creek Wines. The manchild and I stopped by and did a wine tasting and the staff there was amazing. The lady that did our tasting gave us a history of the winery and descriptions of each of the wines and added humor in as well(She did such a good job I ended up with a box of wine when I left, hmm). The manchild and I also had to stop by a historical landmark The Salty Dawg Saloon. This place was crazy! There were dollar bills hanging everywhere and it gave almost a seaweed type feel. The bartender was very funny and informative about the saloon and made the experience so much fun! The other stop we made was The Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center. This was a free visitor center that was set up similiar to a museum and was pretty small with not much for the younger crowd to do but was FULL of information and a good resource about the area. During the winter not much will be open as far as the tourist crowds go but there is a ton available during the summer. From helicopter and boat wildlife tours, fishing and hiking, I would say Homer is one of my must dos if you are coming to Alaska.

Pintrest bacon trick

Alright, I will be honest I am a pintrest junky but I have to say that I try all of the pins that I get a chance to and tonight I was able to try a trick when making bacon burgers. In the past when I have made these I have always just made an x with my bacon strips or laid them side by side and they have always fallen out but this technique allowed the bacon to stay together and for me to have a bit of bacon with every bite. So here is how I did it:
Supplies-
1 pkg of bacon, cut in half
Directions;
Take four half strips of bacon, lay the first two side by side, next place the top two(going in the opposite direction) on top of the first two. Next weave the top two strips into the bottom two( see picture). Place this on skillet and all to cook until bacon is nice and brown. Then carefully flip( TIP if you don't weave the bacon tightly it can fall apart when flipping) and allow to cook until desired doneness. These worked perfectly for our burgers and would be great for breakfast sandwiches as well! Enjoy the bacon!