Fresno Discovery Center

Our next exciting find of the week was the Fresno Discovery Center!  

 This is how the first hour or so went when we got there.  The kids were so exhausted from going to the zoo the day before that they slept all the way there and for a long time after.  But when they finally woke up they were very excited to see all the fun stuff!

 As soon as Preston saw this spaceship he headed straight for it.  He was so excited to climb inside and push all the buttons.  We even pretended to take off, countdown and all!

 Next was Evelyn's pick and of course she picked the worm bed.  That's my girl!  She's not afraid to touch anything.  Worms included!  Preston on the other hand will look but definitely NOT touch.

 

 They even had tepees!  It's safe to say they had a pretty good mash up of all kinds of science and nature things to play with.

 Including a giant iron dinosaur.  Preston was a big fan of this one.  

There were also big dessert tortoises in this area too.

 They had a pond with fish for the kids to "catch".  We never even got close to catching one with the little nets they gave us but the kids had fun watching the tadpoles.

 And last, there was a maze for the kids to go through.  Both the kids did pretty good with it.  I stood at the lookout point and helped direct them to the end.

And after completing a long day at work we took this guy out for a birthday dinner!

Fresno Chaffee Zoo

 One week while Andrew was working a job in Fresno the kids and I decided to tag along and explore what the city had to offer.  The first of our discoveries was the Fresno Chaffee Zoo!

 The elephants were a favorite!

 As well as the monkeys!

We learned that a giraffe's tongue is 18 to 20 inches long, blue-black and helps them pluck tasty morsels from branches or in this case Preston's hand!

  This picture is priceless...  

Totally worth the couple bucks I paid for the kids to feed the giraffe.

 Digging for dinosaurs was one of Preston's favorite things.  He could have stayed here for hours.  The excitement on that boys face every time he made a new discovery was priceless!

The petting zoo was fun too.  We spent a good amount of time feeding and grooming the goats.

Logan Park in Fresno

Insect Lore's Buzzerks Eyewear

Insect Lore's Butterfly Garden - a Quick Look

Insect Lore

 Our fun with Insect Lore all started when Andrew was hired to do some promotional work for their company.  Their corporate office is so close so one day the kids and I went on a little field trip to the "Bugseum".  Inside their store they have an insect collection with all kinds of creepy crawly things and an Entomologist to teach the kids about each one.  The kids even got to touch some of them!

Not long after that Andrew was sent home with boxes of products to test out and make promotional products for.  Our kids got their share of the loot to test out...

 First was the butterflies!  The kids LOVED those.  We received them as tiny caterpillars and they grew and eventually formed chrysalis and made their final transformation to butterflies.  It was very interested to watch the entire process from start to finish.

 When they were grown we got to release them.

 Next came the ladybugs!  They start out as ugly little larva and they eventually turn into cute little ladybugs.  Insect Lore even makes PINK-spotted ladybugs which is kind of different.

 And last were the ants!

 The kids even got to be in some of the promotional videos!
  They did alright but they may have a little too much of me in them to become really great actors ;)
Stay tuned for the kids' acting debuts...

Andrew and his team did a GREAT job on the videos and Insect Lore was really happy with them.  They've already asked him to promote their new upcoming line!

St. Louis, Missouri 2010

At the beginning of this year we were commission to film a wedding in St. Louis, Missouri to take place in 2011.  In the meantime we were flown out to St. Louis alongside Artisan Photography for a couple days to film their engagement shoot.  Upon arriving I immediately fell in LOVE with St. Louis!  It was so beautiful and fun.  We stayed at the Hyatt which was right across from the Arch.  We mostly scouted for locations to shoot at which gave us some great opportunities to sight see.  The last day was a free day and we really got to kick back and explore.

 The view from the plane on our way to St. Louis.  I got to sit right over the wing.

 That's Busch Stadium!  

For the engagement shoot we actually filmed from the top of a nearby parking garage overlooking the stadium DURING a game.  The couple were HUGE baseball fans.  Too bad St. Louis lost otherwise we would have had fireworks :(

 And St. Louis Union Station!  

This place is BEAUTIFUL inside.  It reminded me of the cathedrals in Europe.  This for sure is on our list of places to film next year when we come back for the wedding.

 And of course the Gateway Arch!

The arch is amazing!  This is just outside the Old Cathedral where the couple is getting married.

An incredible view of the Arch down an old alleyway. 

 One day we traveled across the bridge to East St. Louis, Illinois.  It was my first time being in the U.S on the other side of the Missouri River.  We discovered a gorgeous view of the arch from across the river.

 Andrew and the Artisan team planning out their shots.  We filmed the couple later that night when the sun went down.  It was so beautiful!

 Another first for me was eating at Hardee's/ Red Burrito!  For all of us west coast people this is the Easts version of Carl's Jr. and Green Burrito.  It was strange, almost like being in an alternate reality.  It's the same restaurant with a different name and a few slight variations~ biscuits and gravy ;)

One of the biggest highlights of the trip was taking the tour to the top of the Gateway Arch at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial!  For just a couple bucks you can actually ride up the inside of the Arch in a washing machine looking little cylinder.  It's not the most comfortable ride but the view from the top is phenomenal!  The building in the center is the Old Courthouse and our hotel, the Hyatt, is the first building on the right.

 Here's a view of downtown St. Louis including the Old Courthouse and Busch Stadium.

 Looking straight down.  

You can see the steps up to the Arch and the Missouri River.

 A Bit of History: 

The Gateway Arch reflects St. Louis' role in the Westward Expansion of the United States during the nineteenth century.  The park is a memorial to Thomas Jefferson's role in opening the West, to the pioneers who helped shape its history, and to Dred Scott who sued for his freedom in the Old Courthouse.  -http://www.nps.gov/jeff/

Andrew and I at the top of the Gateway Arch!

 Jen and Tim at the top of the Arch.

 Another must see in St. Louis is the City Museum.  It is SO awesome!  I'm not sure if I can even explain it's awesomeness, it's just that awesome. 

  This giant wheel was fun.  While Tim kept it spinning Andrew held on and managed a couple full rotations.

 Tim sliding down one of several of the big "adult" size slides.  The largest slide was the best, being several stories high!

 On the roof is an amazing 360 degree view of St. Louis, along with a slide, a Ferris wheel and a school bus looming over the edge of the building!

 Andrew and I waiting in line for the Ferris wheel with a stunning view of St. Louis in the background.

And last but not least we went to Forest Park where everything is FREE and there's everything you can think of there!  We happened to check out the St. Louis Zoo which was awesome.  If I could I would happily spend days exploring everything the park had to offer.  :I took this picture for Evelyn, elephants are her favorite :) 

I can't wait to return next year for the wedding!  To see the results of the engagement shoot please visit our website located at www.hdmweb.com.

Back to Blogging

The last time I blogged was back in June and I evidently didn't even have time to add the final photo and publish it.  That is so sad.  Well, here it is October and I think I'm going to give it another try!  I'm not making any promises but I'll give it my best shot.  Grandma requested pictures of the kids so there will definitely be lots of those soon to come.


Wow, so I just made a list of all the things I want to write about and the count is 26!  I may need to narrow those down.  I apologize for things being so backdated but you'll just have to deal with it ;)  We've had quite a lot going on these past several months and I'm excited to share our accomplishments and experiences with all of you (my friends and family).  If you will, I'm going to jump in my time machine now and attempt to remember what happened between June and now and fill the huge gaping hole in my blog.

New Posts!

You guys will be proud!  Today I sat down and wrote several new posts.  I  backdated them to fit into the time line so here's a list:

Future Cinematographer
Beale Park and my First House
Summer Days
Rick's Wedding
Cousin Visit
St. Louis 2010

Insect Lore

Insect Lore's Butterfly Garden - A Quick Look

Insect Lore's Buzzerks Eyewear

Catching Up

Wow, so much to write about and so little time.  Things have been crazy busy around here in a good way.  Our business has been doing better than ever, giving us plenty of new portfolio work and some fun opportunities to travel.  Apart from that we start shooting our movie in less than 2 weeks!  I'll talk more about that soon but today I want to catch up on several past blogs that I don't want to put off any longer for fear I might forget them.  Here's a short list of what's in store for you.  And in case you're one of the few people like myself that still doesn't use Google Reader you can click on these titles to get to the posts.


Yosemite Wedding Highlights
Day trip to Disneyland Denny's!
Beale Park and my First House
Swimming
Rick's wedding
Cousin Visit
St. louis
Insectlore/ Butterflies
Fresno

In the mean time, check out this photo!  See if you can tell what's wrong with this picture...