More pictures

I went with my mom, dad, sister, and a couple of my dad's bank customers to a Lipizzaner show yesterday afternoon. Since it was with the bank, we got to go and be in a suite! My dad's bank has a permanent suite at the arena this was in, so we got to go for free- as long as he takes along at least one customer! It was really cool... :-) And the pictures I got were amazing- they said that flash photography was fine, and the horses didn't mind (good thing- mine would probably freak out!), and they had spotlights on the horses, and no other lights on- it was incredible! And since I would love to know which picture(s) are your favorites, I'm going to number each one below the picture- let me know what you think! :-)

Pic. #1- I love the lighting- it just looks cool... ;-)

Pic. #2

Pic. #3

Pic. #4

Pic. #5- enter "Elvis"! This horse's nickname is Elvis, and is a Friesian. One of the ladies in the booth with us had just been commenting on how cool it would be to have a big black Friesian out there amidst all the white Lipizzaners, and out came this horse! :-) All the music to go with the Lipizzaners was Classical music, but they had jazzier-type for Elvis- it was pretty cool. :-)

Pic. #6

Pic. #7

Pic. # 8- I love his bow!

Pic. #9- learning about the brands on a Lipizzaner- it was really cool- you should look it up! Just by looking at the brands, you can tell who their parents were, where they were born, etc.- anything that a registration paper would tell you. :-)

Pic. #10- Our "storyteller" :-) He had a cool way of remembering how to spell "Lipizzaner"- think "Li-pizza-ner". Pretty cool!

Pic. #11- learning about the Lipizzaners journey from Austria during World War II, and how General Patton helped to save the horses from extinction. Also another thing you should look up. ;-) They have a website- http://www.lipizzaner.com/home.asp.

Pic. #12

Pic. #13- there were 8 total riders & horses doing this part.

Pic. #14- love this one, too...

Pic. #15

Pic. #16

Pic. #17

Pic. #18

Pictures

Well, I haven't posted in forever, and I have a ton of pictures to post! But, since I just took these today, and want to know what you guys think of them, I'll post them first, rather than going in chronological order. ;-)

Icicles on the icicles!

Our lovely driveway :-)

This tree looked like someone had been throwing snowballs at it- but no one had- the snow just ended up like that...

One of my favorites ;-)

I love this one!

We have so much snow it was coming up so far on my legs that it was getting in my boots! Nice wet jeans and socks... :-)

Part of a windchime

The squirrel feeder

In case you hadn't noticed- I was rather obsessed with deer tracks when I went out this morning... :-)

Let me know what you think- I'd love to hear what you think of my pictures- I know what I think, but it's always better to get someone else's opinion! :-)

Protect Parental Rights!

In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that the “primary role of the parents in the upbringing of their children is now established beyond debate as an enduring American tradition.” Yet, since that clear declaration, the right of responsible parents to raise their children had been increasingly threatened. The UN Convention for the Rights of the Child, already used as customary international law by the U.S. Supreme Court and requiring only 67 senatorial votes to be legally equivalent to the U.S. Constitution, is the primary threat. If adopted, the treaty would devastate American families in the following ways:

1. The government would have authority to override every parental decision concerning the child.

2. The child would be allowed to seek governmental review of every parental decision with which the child disagreed.

3. Children would acquire a legally enforceable right to leisure.

Although those three aspects of the treaty are alarming, they barely scratch the surface of the UN treaty’s substance. If the UN Convention for the Rights of the Child is adopted by the U.S. or the Supreme Court continues to reference it, the American family will be destroyed. The only solution to permanently protect children by empowering parents is the Parental Rights Amendment. To learn more, to sign the petition, or to get involved go to www.parentalrights.org. Please pass the word and post on your blog!