December Adventures

The beginning of December always starts off with my Murphy Dog's Birthday! He turned 9 this year and still runs around like a crazy little dog.

I took some photos with my phone this month and didn't get around to posting them all to Instagram. I thought I would share a few of those.

The boyfriend got me flowers!

He also brewed his first batch of home brew. It tasted great!

We try to do the St. Lucie County Toy Run every year. We missed the past couple of years but we were able to make it this year.

Starting off I got a picture with the Grinch!

This is the line up of some of the bikes. There were plenty still coming in!

This thing was so weird looking. It is called the Slingshot by Polaris.

St. Lucie's finest escorting the line!

Taking off!!!

The power plant from across the river.

There were bikes already on the bridge!

The power plant from the other side.

Final destination the Police Athletic League.

The start of the pile of toys coming in. I went back to see if I could get a picture of the pile after they were done but they had started piling them up in the truck.

I love doing these toy runs. Seeing all the people get together for the kids is such a wonderful feeling. As we were driving by the houses and condos along the river and beaches, everybody came out waving at us.

For my company Christmas luncheon, we went to this really great restaurant and sat under this huge chandelier all decorated for Christmas.

For the Christmas holiday the boyfriend and I went to St. Augustine. I took a bunch of photos and will be sharing those as soon as I can.

I hope everybody had a wonderful holiday and look forward to a great new year!

Holiday Greetings!

Wishing everybody a wonderful holiday season!!!

Navy Seal Museum Adventures

A few months ago the boyfriend and I talked about trying to explore the area more. I have lived here since 2000 and really still do not know much about it. I am going to make it a point to try and go exploring at least once a month. This month we picked the Navy Seal Museum. I pass this museum on my way to work every day. Also it is right next to the beach we like to go to. After hearing in the news that they obtained a Black Hawk Helicopter we decided we wanted to go check it out. Here are some of the photos from that trip.

When you first go inside the building and go to the left there is a whole area of the history of the Navy Seals. There are lots of guns, uniforms, and old scuba gear. They were all behind glass and most of the photos had weird reflections in them.

I loved this little frogman statue!

This is a custom built motorcycle that was built by a SEAL Teammate as tribute to the SEALs who lost their lives as part of Operation REDWINGS in Afghanistan. This bike is beautifully built.

Here is the Black Hawk Helicopter that just arrived. This helicopter was involved in freeing hostages from Somali Pirates in 2012. This think is pretty massive.

Also on display is the lifeboat from the Maersk Alabama. This is the story that the movie Captain Phillips is based on. The movie was so intense, it was definitely eerie to see the actual lifeboat.

There were quite few different vehicles in this room.

Sometimes I really don't pay attention to what is right in front of me. I didn't notice the steel beam from The World Trade Center until I looked at the pictures. Reading up on the story, a small group of FDNY rode bicycles all the way from Ground Zero down to Florida to present this piece of the beam to the Navy Seal Museum.

Heading back outside of the museum, another new exhibit is the obstacle course.

This boat was huge. Inside it was showing a movie about the Navy SEALs. We didn't stay inside it to long because it was really hot in there.

The SEALs were also involved with helping astronauts out of the capsules, and then recovering the capsules themselves.

This is a Seawolf Helicopter that was used back in the Vietnam War.

Some of the WWII Era Beach Obstacles. There were more I just liked this picture best.

Here is the memorial dedicated to all the Navy SEALs and Frogmen who sacrificed for their country.

I have watched this museum grow in the past couple of years by passing by on my way to work in the mornings. It is a very interesting museum to check out, especially if you appreciate our military.

Photography Adventures - First Family Photo Shoot

Shortly after I bought my camera, I was showing it to my cousin and she mentioned I should do a photo shoot for their family christmas card. I wasn't sure about it when she first said it, because I am still learning how to use the camera. Then after some consideration and discussing with her the fact that I am still learning we decided to go for it. I thought it would be a great learning experience. Here are some of my favorite shots from the day.

In the end I learned so much from doing this shoot, and I have so much more to learn. I don't think you really see what you might of done wrong until you pull the photos up on the computer. It was a cloudy day so the lighting wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I would like to get out there again and do some portrait shots during that golden hour and see how they come out.