Mickey's world...

My sister and I decided (as Charger fans who could not decide who we wanted to lose more) that if the Charger's did not make it to the Super Bowl we would head to Disneyland for the weekend. My job required me to stay home on Saturday to photograph a winter formal so she took Cassi, Mac and Brendon up to Disneyland on Saturday and my niece Amanda and I would follow on Sunday morning.

Early Sunday morning (Super Bowl Sunday) we woke up to pouring rain...it was raining harder than I can remember in along time and we questioned whether we were making a mistake driving to LA and getting dumped on all day.

We decided to take a chance and made the drive (100 miles almost exactly from my doorstep) in the pouring rain. I loaded my backpack with 5 umbrellas, the trunk with tons of winter coats and brought along all the gloves, scarves and hats I had. While we were driving up there she told me a story of her friends who had the same thing happen to them but when they got to Disneyland...the clouds cleared and they had sun...only over Disneyland. We joked that we were going to have the same thing happen to us. And it did...



This is what it looked like in Los Angeles for most of the afternoon. (It poured ALL DAY long in San Diego that day!!!)



Amanda's dad had told her there was no way we were going to Los Angeles because of the rain so this is her proof to him that we had sun.



This is the only time we had out the umbrellas and I think everyone just pitied me carrying them so they each grabbed one for about two seconds and within half an hour they were put in a locker with all the jackets, gloves, scarves, etc...)



Cassi and Mac have been to Disneyland with me many many times and they know that there are a couple areas of Disneyland I always photograph to document the trip and I did not even have to ask them to stop for this shot! I think I probably have 20 trips with them in this spot and I love to see how much they change!



Tom Sawyer's Island got a makeover...


My absolute favorite ride at Disneyland is Splash Mountain because it is such a great mix of all things I love about a ride...water, big hills, Disney characters and that "Zip-A Dee Doo feeling" you get after the big drop and the music starts and you are soaking wet...if you have been there...you know what I am talking about!!!

We have a few traditions at Disneyland besides taking pictures at certain spots...we ALWAYS have the popcorn at least twice, we stop in Pooh Corner for chocolate covered marshmallow sticks, we always buy rock candy and cherry sours, (YES...we eat our way through Disneyland!), we most times buy hats and they usually end up being a theme of some sort (See below!) and almost all the time we stop at In N Out on the way home.







The pictures above are the hats that each of the girls got throughout the day at Disneyland...all the same style and they all pulled their hair in to two pony tails too!

This last picture below is what I LOVE about Disneyland...you can be anyone you want to be there...


These were all taken with my point and shoot camera because the "Big One" usually is not allowed to go with me...I am lucky I get to take the pics I do while I am there!!!

On a side note...(If you are still with me!) I love all the comments I have received
from David Baxter's fans...you guys are awesome! He really has surrounded his self with a great group of people and I can not wait to meet some of you! I went and visited your blogs and found myself getting so excited about what the future holds!! Thanks again David! You're the best!

Enjoy!

teddy bears and moustaches...

I was looking back at old images of Cassi wondering if I had the retouching knowledge "back then" that I do now...would there be images I would have retouched and cropped differently.

So I came across this adorable shot of her from preschool (2003-When I had just bought my first digital camera) and didn't know a thing about photoshop. As much as this is a memory of the day she got to take her bear to school for the "teddy bear parade". The first thing I would do now had I taken this picture today is to bring this image into photoshop and retouch any imperfections....

had I done this....

I would have erased away something that reminds me far more about her childhood than the parade...

her chocolate milk moustache!

She LOVED her chocolate milk and her face was always a mess when she drank it...

so...

even though I thank god on a daily basis for photoshop and the double chins it can remove off my face...

I think I will think twice before using some of the tools I learned in photoshop and leave those imperfections to remind me of the reality of her childhood-not some fixed gaussian blurred representation of it...

God I love that face!!!!!
Enjoy!

Random thoughts

The top two images are "Hurley" which is Amanda's dog. The two below this are Shane which is MacKenzie's puppy!

This is going to be a discombobulated post with just some random musings...bear with me!

1. Are these the cutest puppies ever? My sister Diane and her family recently added on these two (Yes...there are two different puppies shown) absolutely stinking adorable Brown Labrador Retrievers to their family. Their names are Shane and Hurley and these two puppies have already found their place in the Cain family household and hearts! Can't wait to see how big their gonna get!! My sister brought them to my Mom's for Easter and since my whole family is tired of the camera being pointed toward them (although they love to see them afterward!), these poor dogs were harassed all day long! I have oodles of pictures of these willing subjects but barely any of the family-Go figure!

2. Easter was fabulous at my Mom's this year. As always, my Mom cooked a delicious meal, the guys hung out downstairs watching sports (Go Padres!!!!), the kids played baseball with wiffle balls in the backyard, and my sisters and I had some good conversations. We also celebrated Debbie and MacKenzie's birthday with a homemade cake Cassi and MacKenzie baked. It was delicious too! Thank you Mom for making our holidays so memorable!

3. If you haven't watched "The Holiday"-Go rent it. It's a good chick flick and Jude Law is eye candy in it.

4. I got a wonderful thank you email from the couple Geri and I photographed a couple of weeks ago (You can see some of their images on an earlier post). She was super gracious, thankful and excited to view her images. I love positive feedback and it validates what I do. I need to pass this on and send a random thank you note to someone thanking them for the extra effort they make on my behalf! If you can think of someone off the top of your head that deserves that"extra" pat on the back...Go for it! It'll make not just them...but you...feel great and want to "pay it forward!"

5. Tonight I was reading "InStyle" Magazine and came across the new Coach perfume. After trying the sample I mentioned to Cassi that I'd love to get this perfume. She told me that she was going to buy it for me with her savings account...(and by the way she asks...How much does that cost?")

Next thing I know...she has taken the ad, gone online, found the website, found the product, signed up to be on their mailing list (password and all!), put the product in the shopping cart and it's too darn bad she doesn't have a debit card in her name linked to her savings account or my perfume would be on it's way here Federal Express. I don't know whether to be touched, horrified, honored, impressed or just plain scared of how much this child of eight years old can do!!!

Is this post random enough yet?

Instead of continuing to babble...I am going to end this post, go to bed and finish reading the absolutely trashy, hilarious novel I'm reading right now. It has kept me up until at least 1:30 the last couple of nights. I love when I can get into a good book like that! It's called "Breathing Room" by Susan Elizabeth Phillips and the first person to respond that they want to read it...I'll ship it to you for free when I'm done. (Probably tomorrow night.)

Enjoy!!