Lighthouse Explorations: January 2012

January 27, 2012

we're famous!!!

How cool is this? Our fun little blog was noticed and praised by a big time lighthouse website!

Lighthouse Tours wrote an article about our family's explorations and featured it on their home page! Now that is some serious press! Sorry, I'm abusing the exclamation points, but this is the bomb! Thanks so much, Lighthouse Tours, we are truly flattered!

Lighthouse Tours article

In case you're wondering, the photos in their article are from our Grand Haven Lighthouse visit. We've been there quite a few times, but it's from this post. They even included our map. The map is on our home page. If you click on it, you can see all the lighthouses we've visited. Each one links back to the post about the visit. Check it out. It's pretty fun!

January 25, 2012

Skedaddle America

So, back in December, Skedaddle America had a holiday photo contest. We entered our photo from Aspen, CO. It was featured in our Diane Keaton-lighthouse lover post. And guess what? WE WON!! WE WON!!! Can you tell we were a little excited?

This is our awesome prize. It was a gourmet holiday snack-pack from Cherry Moon Farms. What a yummy treat! Thanks, Skedaddle!

Just a few weeks earlier, we found out that our photo of the Charleviox Lighthouse made it into the Skedaddle America 2012 calendar. Check out that post here. We love doing our blog anyway, but stuff like this makes it extra fun!

January 11, 2012

Diane Keaton-lighthouse lover

Right before Christmas, John and I got to have a last minute get away in Aspen, CO. Well, it was last minute for me. John was scheduled to go there for work and I was able to join him. There was some work for him, but lots of down time. That means this mommy got a much needed break! woo hoo

Obviously, there aren't any lighthouses in the mountains, so I won't go into details about the trip. But, while I ~~waiting~~ relaxing at the airport, I had the chance to catch up on my magazines that I am usually two to three months behind on. I was reading through the December issue of Elle Decor (actually read this one the same month it was issued) and I came across the "12 things she can't live without" page. I love that page. Every month it features a designer or a celebrity and they tell you about their top 12 favorite things. This month Diane Keaton was featured. Check out Diane's number 9 -- historic lighthouses! How cool. Way to go Diane. If you ever restore one, we will be sure to visit!! If it's open to the public, of course. Or by personal invitation. Can you imagine?

January 1, 2012

Happy 2012!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

To start off this new year we thought we'd share with you our latest accomplishment. Skedaddle America has come out with a 2012 calendar and two photos from our lighthouse explorations were featured in it!

On the May page, the bottom left photo, is one that I took while we were on a family vacation last summer in Petoskey, MI. It was with my parents and my sister and brother-in-law. (You can check them out on our players page.) Since there were so many adults, John and I actually had the chance to go on a very rare date night. We made it over to the Charlevoix South Peirhead Light right at sunset and got a few nice shots. (I will post the details of that vacay soon...lots to share.) I submitted this one to the Skeddadle America photo contest and made the calendar!

My mom submitted a photo and made the cover! Hers is the flag photo on the right. That was also taken on a lighthouse exploration. My mom and dad were planning on taking a Traverse City vacation in July. They thought it would just be the two of them and the dogs, but that would be boring right? Well, lucky for them John ended up having to go out of town for work most of that week. So, at the last minute the kids and I decided to crash their vacay and liven it up. (John did get to join us for the last couple days.) They really didn't have any plans while they were up there, so I quickly made some. I found out the tall ship, "Lynx" was going to be in Frankfort, MI while we were there. Frankfort is also the home to two lighthouses. (I will share those details soon, too!) She took this picture on board the ship. Nice shot, Mom!

Lucky, our Chihuahua, found out I was doing this post and wanted me to share his calendar debut, also. How could I refuse his cute little face? A few years ago, my sister submitted a picture of Lucky and his cousin, Rolo (Kristen's dog) swimming in Torch Lake. They made the cover and the June page! They are June 3 and 4, to be precise. Way to go Lucky & Rolo!