My Trip Wrap-up

I was going through pictures today....and I couldn't resist posting one more "wrap-up" of my trip pictures. It was just a *really* good trip. I found I was having hard time picking out pictures.. so it's another long post. Hopefully y'all don't mind.

Sunday was probably the worst day - we had to bring my siblings to the airport. They had to go home early because of school... which meant I was the only Kossan left in the Bahamas. Pretty depressing, I know.

We stopped a few places on the way to the airport.

 {A really cool chair made of shells at the caves that we stopped at}

 {These little chairs needed photos...}

Later while the sun was starting to go down us girls went on a "photo walk" down to the shore. Fun pictures along the way....

 {If I had a lot of money I would buy this house}

 {Or this one.... this house was seriously from a fairytale or something... I wanted to see inside! But it wasn't directly on the ocean [lol] and it was kinda pink.... }

{gorgeous light}

 {More gorgeous light and a boat, and some palm trees. mmmmmhhhm}

 {Tayah}

 {Our personal photog } 

The next day we went to Aquaventure at Atlantis... fun times! Rapids, Lifeguards ;),  *amazing* slides  that went straight down into the dark, lots of stairs, oh and guys in speedos {ewwww, so disturbing!}  Susan was telling us about how when she goes she spends pretty much the whole day in the "lazy  river" and we secretly thought.... that sounds pretty boring. Well there wasn't much about that river that was lazy :) lol

 {Derek watching sports, Kara watching the coffee pot to melt the ice, and me reading the welcome book. [oh and Susan who wasn't there, but was] hahah}

 {Susan hitchhiking her way home while we stayed a second day}

{The Suite at Atlantis.... Justin Bieber's playground. "Where they get the $25,000 a night to stay there I don't know" ~ our infamous tour guide from Saturday. photo credit: Derek}

{Heading up the tower to where the Abyss was [the slide that went straight down into darkness] Ange, Derek and I ran up those 6 times in a row.. 10 flights.... tired legs.... nice adrenaline rushes ["that woulda been the lamest thing *I* ever did] }

 {The exit for the Abyss [two of the walls were fish tanks] btw, I am not *that* much shorter... I'm just not standing up straight....}

 {Waiting to get picked up.... and trying to ignore the taxis.. I started fiddling with the camera}

 {Except for the lifeguards, Atlantis wasn't so good to Ange... she put a nice concrete rash on her knee and stepped on a piece of glass, leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind [although that was an *excuse* to go ask for a band-aid] hehe}

 {The huge avocado and the tiny Tabasco sauce bottle}

Our last full day in the Bahamas we just did some hanging out. Went to the Cloisters, which was really gorgeous, and then played at the Ocean Club Beach, which ended up being some of the most fun times we had swimming in the waves}

 {This picture does the waves *no* justice. They were just *huge* and soooo much fun! It was *almost the best part of the trip. I ended up with the beach in my hair [literally, I had to bring it home to MN] and some bystander was about to save Derek. Ange and I were standing just getting our feet wet at first... when the wave just took us.. and whoop! flat on our back.. rolling around on the sand, while Derek and Kara are laughing}

 {Potcake says..... }

And all good things must come to the end... and we headed home. To the snow and cold of the North Pole.

But we did have some adventures on the way home... and met some pretty funny people... and rode the trains in Atlanta and ate good [American] food. And came back to the snow! =))

{Camping out at the ATL airport}

And this is *truly* the end of the Bahamas post.... I think I've kinda of exhausted the pictures. Hope ya'll enjoyed!

Girls Basketball

I shot my first girls basketball game in a while. I covered wrestling last year, and did a few boys games, but not many girls, so it was different being there again. This year I'm doing the photos for all the winters sports that the paper covers, and only writing for wrestling [I have to say, it's a lot more fun to be at an event that you don't have to worry about remember the game to write about later]

So I've decided that I need a little more excitement at these games, so I'm going to do what I did for a baseball game earlier this year. I'm going to start shooting stories, instead of paper shots. =) I like those, there's always lots of different stories at sporting events.... so look for some on the blog coming up. Boys basketball this week... wrestling next week....

Saturday Sharing: Depraved Indifference

A friend of mine shared this on facebook, and it really hit home. I think as a culture [especially with all the media that is involved in our life] we have become so bombarded with messages, and stories that we have become immune to them. As Gregory Spencer puts it in his book, "Awakening the Quieter Virtues", we've become "viewers who brag they can watch anything and not be adversely influenced." But we have been influenced, and in a very detrimental way. We think there might be consequences to watching sex and drugs on the internet, but hey, we'll learn to not let it affect us. So instead we've learned to not care about other's stories.

Everyday we watch the news on TV, we read the newspaper, we watch horror films, we read forwards, and we've slowly learned to just "not worry about it". We as Christians haven't even *begun* to break through that indifference. We've become self-focused, thinking that *someone* else will take care of the poor, the needy, the starving, the unsaved. We ignore the stories of others, because we've heard and seen them all a million times, and have *chosen* again and again to pass them by, like the men in the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10.

Spencer shared a story about a Belize that chose not to watch the news, because, he said that he "didn't have time to grieve". We in America think that choosing to do that is "burying your head in the sand", but yet, if we have no intention of doing anything about the stories that we see and hear, what is the purpose of watching them?

Yes, not everyone is called to the orphans in Liberia, but I'd like to encourage you to allow this to move you so much that you seek the Lord to hear where He wants you. Let things break your heart, because that's what He's feeling.

Saturday

This was probably one of the best days down there [and this is also the last Bahamas post, hope you're not sick of it :) ]

Saturday we did so much stuff but it was also a really relaxing day. After getting back from Rose Island, and then going shopping at the Straw Market and to youth group at the Davis' church we got some *good* sleep in a BED and were ready for a full day.

We started at Fort Fincastle, a fort from the "Pirate Days", used to defend Nassau. We got a super amazing tour guide that we couldn't understand. hehe =)

 { Kara *attempting* to push the cannon}

We then went to the Queens Staircase, which was built for the queen to escape to the sea if she had to. It took 16 years to build, chiseled out by hand, and had 65 steps. It was pretty amazing. The picture just don't really show how huge it is.

 { Our pretty cool brothers}

 {Susan on the Queens Staircase}

{Susan took this cool shot}

 {Thanks to Derek's amazing photography skills we have this picture}

{The perfect tourist - minus the big belly}

These next pictures of the fort and the staircase are from Susan.....

 {Don't you just love this one?}

 {Susan is amazing. If you're planning on getting married in the Bahamas you should check out her website :) }

 {Aren't we such a cute family? ;) ]

{One of my favorites. I was drooling over Susan's lens the whole time we were there... 105mm f/2.8. mmmm yeah.}

We then went to Arwak Cay (pronounced Key) and got some daiquiris [yummy!]

 {Rocking out to some "Rake 'n Scrape" - "I just don't think it would be the same listening to this in MN.." ~Kara}

 {Arwak Cay's Bathrooms.... yeah they're pink :) ]

 {We also got to try Conch Salad.... It was interesting. Good, but I could only handle a little bit. It consists of raw conch, tomatoes, onions, green peppers and lots of lime, lemon and sour orange juice. Picture courtesy of Susan}

 {This was a "fake face", she actually didn't really mind it... but Susan told her to make a face, and she's an obedient little girl....}

{Twin Brothers!}

 {Mark and I at the beach}

 {The wind was even stronger than the day before when we got stuck out on the island, and the waves were crazy!}

 {The waves were incredible! We ended up with one in our car.... hahah "AHHHHH, here. it COMES!" Love you Susan!}

{Another cute family picture}

We then went and got all pretty to go out to eat at Atlantis. 

 {A bunch of pretty girls}

{The whole family... and Shiloh!}

{The buffet was amazing... especially the deserts... oh boy. It was a good thing we all wore our "buffet dresses" haha]

 {The boys... notice all Derek's drink glasses. He got really into trying a bunch of juices}

 {Best picture of the trip ;) btw, the bowl is actually beets, not dessert...}

 {Beautiful Susan... with her sprinkles}

 {Kara!}

{Posing around Atlantis... trying to walk off all that food}

We wandered around Atlantis in the dark, looking at all the aquariums and the buildings. They were all really amazing, especially in the dark. I'd have to say my favorite was either the shark tank or the starfish... 

 {I stuck my hand in the ray tank to get a cooler shot... but it didn't end up any cooler than the one from above. haha, oh well so much for being brave ;) ]