Among the Realm

My Top Fives of 2011

Andrew — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 08:44:04 +0000

With 2011 coming to a close I thought it would be a good time to list my top five favorite movies, video games and TV series. What were some of your favorites? Leave a comment!

Top Five Movies

X Men First Class
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two
The Hangover Part II
Moneyball
Contagion

Top Five TV Series

Breaking Bad
Sons of Anarchy
The Walking Dead
Fringe
Dexter

I Remember the Christmas When…

Andrew — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:36:37 +0000

I remember the Christmas when I got this from Santa.

I remember the Christmas when I would wake up early and sneak downstairs to see what Santa brought.

I remember the first Christmas I got to play Santa.

I remember the first Christmas I spent without my Dad.

What do you remember about your Christmas. Leave it in the comments.

Tracy and Adam Photo Shoot

Andrew — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 09:26:30 +0000

Occasionally friends ask me to snap some photos of them and for a small fee I oblige them. This is not my business and I am not a professional photographer. Photography is a hobby of mine and a passion. I think I am good it but this is the one passion that I want to keep as a hobby and not turn it into a business. If you are looking for a professional photographer I would recommend Kelly from Daphne Photo Studio. She takes excellent photos and she is a source of inspiration for me when I am behind the lens of a camera.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the day. Enjoy!

Kids are crazy and therefore pose “crazy” sometimes when you take pictures of them!

These are my favorite kind of pictures. Catching people in true moments of happiness.

Another moment of happiness.

Love is in the air…

Building the Perfect Thanksgiving Fire

Andrew — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 22:57:00 +0000

Gather your materials. A trick my Dad taught me is to use rolled up newspaper to build your base.

Roll it up just like this…

Build your base with the newspaper and then put some kindling on top.

Thanks to my neighbor Bill for donating some of his firewood for our yearly tradition.

An axe… every man needs one.

Strike anywhere matches… light them off your zipper but be careful not to catch your pants on fire.

Stack the wood in a criss-cross pattern to allow enough air to circulate through to keep the flames going.

The last required step… is a beer… Yuengling to be exact.

Happy fire making and enjoy your Thanksgiving!

Climbing in The Red

Andrew — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 01:02:39 +0000

This past Labor Day I headed to Red River Gorge on what has now become an annual rock climbing trip. I love climbing. There is something about climbing a wall that takes away all the stress. Its like the wall takes it from you and when your done your free from all the crap that was clouding your spirit and your mind. This happens because when you are climbing a wall your focus is solely on that wall and nothing else… you can’t afford to be thinking about anything else. The wall demands your attention and you give it. Its not always about making to the top either… its more about the journey to the top and what you did to get there. Similar to life… I want to live a journey led life… I don’t want to focus on the end result… I want to share life with people and continue the journey with the people I meet.

We stayed at Cabins of Quite Waters nestled in the hills of Slade, Ky. Natural Bridge State Park is their next door neighbor and Red River Gorge is close by as well. It is always a treat to stay at the cabins. Jeremy and Sonya always make us feel welcome and offer a relaxing environment. I will be doing some promo work for them to help with their presence on the interwebs…stay tuned for more info regarding that.

Enjoy the pics!

Baby D ready to climb with helmet and all…

Krista on the wall

At this rate Baby D will be climbing alongside us…

Meet Neal. This was his first time climbing in the outdoors.

Neal had incredible endurance on the wall… which are good qualities to have as a climber.

Neal nearing the top of his climb…

Neal was on cloud nine all day long… getting out to climb was something he had wanted to cross off his bucket list and he did it during this weekend. It is motivating to be there when this happens… you feel their energy and it inspires you to achieve and work harder.

Part of what Jeremy does is taking people who are staying in his cabins out climbing and teaching them ropes (no pun intended). If this sounds like an adventure you’ve been wanting to cross off your bucket list… go ahead… book your stay with Cabins of Quite Waters… you will not regret it.

War Retreat Photos

Andrew — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 00:14:35 +0000

This past weekend men from Vineyard Westside went to Red River Gorge for a war retreat. What is a war retreat, you ask? It’s a retreat where men get together and do manly stuff. For example, there probably will be drinking of beer, the smoking of cigars, chopping wood with an ax (every man should at least do this once in his lifetime), fire building challenges, physical labor, camaraderie and figuring out what it means to be a “real man” for God and those around you.

The object in this challenge was to lower the tent pole to the ground and your two fingers must stay in contact with the pole.

Tug O War… War Retreat style on logs.

The riddle we could not figure out… and as a result we had to roll the dice to see what we had to eat…. octopus, seaweed or a Habanero pepper.

We rolled and we had to eat the Habanero… it was so hot my eyeballs were sweating!!

Resorting to chugging a beer to cool off your mouth was apparently the right choice!

For our work project we built a balance beam team building challenge.

“Big Bad” Bob Turner aka my Irish brother.

“Big Bad” Bob Turner on the balance beam.

The Treehouse

The Artistic Side of Las Mangas

Andrew — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 21:50:38 +0000

I explored with my camera in hand around the property of where were staying. I got some great artistic shots of different stuff that was scattered about. Enjoy…

Trip to the Mountains

Andrew — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 18:31:05 +0000

Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Honduras is more like spring break in Panama City. Everyone from different parts of Honduras visits La Ceiba for this special week. I have yet to figure out what exactly is holy about this week, but it was cool to experience spring break Honduran style. Our host family invited us to go to Las Mangas, which is in the mountains to visit family. At his point in this trip I was looking forward to getting away from the city and enjoy some much-needed rest and relaxation.

A typical house in the mountains.

Motorcycles are a way of life in Honduras and they are great for weaving in and out of traffic!

I remember those days, when it was socially acceptable to run around in underwear…

Maria and I decided to do some exploring and getting this picture was a challenge. Once I set the timer I had ten seconds to traverse ten feet of large rocks to get the perfect pose! I made it just in time…

Maria

The main house on the property

My bed for the duration of our mini vacation…

Laura and Maria’s bed for the trip…

Fisheye view of our room.

Outside view of our room.

Laundry in Las Mangas…

My favorite towel ever… I’ve had it for years and I hope to have it for many more!!

Swimming hole… even though we were in the mountains and it was cooler… it was still hot and a dip in the river was the highlight of the day.

These two shots are directly upstream from our swimming hole.

Maria and I attempted to make our way upstream… needless to say we were unsuccessful.

The other half of the swimming hole. Notice that large flat rock in the background leading into the river. Some local kids were using that as a natural slip ‘n’ slide. They would sit on empty milk jugs and slide down the rock into the river!

I feel at home in the mountains… and with views like these how can anyone feel any different!

I apply Pioneer Woman’s Photoshop Actions to every picture before I post them on my blog. I use the same for almost every photo. My favorites are boost and lovely and ethereal.

Sometimes, its fun to get creative and use actions like this… It brings a whole other side to a photo. I used the Old West Action to enhance this photo.

Maria snapped this great photo!! This was her first time using a fish eye lens!

Keep those eyes peeled for round two of the post. I will be posting photos showing you the artistic side of Las Mangas!!

Lending A Helping Hand Part Two

Andrew — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 18:03:13 +0000

In the previous post I mentioned how an old hobby of mine was recently brought back to life. When I was ten years old, I learned my first magic trick. Magic has always been a hobby of mine, but I’ve gone through phases where I would not touch it for a long time, and then the interest would return. Prior to this Honduras trip was one of those phases. I took tricks with me to perform for the kids but also ended up showing tricks to people from the spanish school. Needless to say my love of magic was rekindled on this trip and hopefully I will keep it going and use it in the kids ministry at church.

Showing the kids magic tricks… they could not get enough of it!

There were times where I could barely move because the kids kept moving closer and closer to get a better view.

I showed them the same tricks over and over… and they were just as amused as if seeing it for the first time.

A view of the front section of the school.

I do not think Laura and I are that hard to pick out…

Laura, Maria and I with the kids!

One of the teachers at the school.

The kids were singing us a song in this picture, which you will see in the video below.

Lending A Helping Hand

Andrew — Wed, 25 May 2011 23:57:38 +0000

Our host family in Honduras connected us with a school that needed money for construction materials to build an add-on to an existing class room. After our first visit, we realized just how much they needed this room. There were three small classrooms and multiple grades met in each one. The teacher also taught multiple grades at once. The kids were adorable and we immediately fell in love with the kids and wanted to help the school out.

This is the sign outside of the school.

This is the classroom that will be made into a bigger room to hold more kids.

This is the first out of three classrooms at the school.

This is the middle classroom.

The desks that the kids use…

This is the place we originally had a great deal worked out to get cement bricks. But the owner was shot and that deal fell through.

This is where we ended up getting our brick from… we went to three places before we worked out a good deal.

This is the area where the room addition will be.

The kids were fascinated with us… we felt like rock stars when we went there.

The kids loved to have their picture taken.

It is nice to know that “bunny ears” is cross cultural.

The emotions I captured of these kids was heart wrenching and beautiful at the same time. Heart wrenching because on some of the kids faces you can see their raw emotion written all over their face. Beautiful cause we were there spending time together and sharing our love with them.

This is one my favorite kids I met at the school. She is so cute… I wish I could have taken her home with me.

When I see the emotion on her face I wish I knew what she feeling…

He had the fanciest hair of the bunch… he was so worried about his hair being messed up. If a hair was out-of-place he would definitely know…

Stay tuned for round two of this post. I will post a video of the kids singing us a song and write about how an old hobby of mine was rekindled while I was spending time with the kids!