It's cold!

I've spent too much time behind my computer lately and was getting so bored of it! So I was really happy when hubby invited me to a little trip to Riga (Latvia) on Friday. It was a quick business trip and we decided to spend the rest of the weekend with my mom in the country. Actually it's a pretty little town but it feels like being in the country.
I'll start from the beginning. This is what the weather looked like when we were driving to Riga.

I couldn't tell the difference between the ground and the sky.

Luckily the clouds cleared and we got to enjoy a sunny weekend. It has gotten really cold though, about -15C on Saturday and Sunday, -19C on Monday. Normally I hate going out in really cold temperatures like -20 or more but this time I finally realised that it's not cold when you have the right clothes! Took me long enough to understand it! LOL Nice long and thick pantyhose under the jeans did the trick ;)

Now, some of you might remember this cute dog.

She is my mom's dog Scrappy. REALLY playful and cute doggy! :D It doesn't matter what the temperature is outside, she still wants to go out and play in the snow!

Actually I think out of all the seasons she loves winter the most. She is originally from Spain so I guess this is exotic for her ;)

There's a river that runs next to my mom's house and because of the cold it was almost completely frozen.

Cute little bunny tracks everywhere! :)

Since Scrappy loves catching snow and ice so much I decided to do a photoshoot about her and try to capture her cheerful nature. Can you tell how much she loves this? :D

 

Look at the claws in this pic! :D

  

Cute paws!!

She really can go on and on and probably would NEVER get tired! :D Us humans are the ones that get bored easily. Maybe we should learn to be more childlike? :)

The light was great for catching the snow that was flying around her.

Cute tale in this one :P

Solid ice in the mouth! :D

Rub it in! Haha

Every once and awhile you have to strike a pose! ;)

After the play we headed back home to fill our bellies. My mom's hubby is a GREAT cook and here are pics of the wonderful meals we had at their place. :P

Can you see the heart shape in the smoke? :P

We had been driving around in the countryside during the weekend and had seen many foxes and roe deer but never really got an opportunity to get close. Why you ask? Well, I guess I somewhat explained it earlier that I've always thought that going out to photograph wildlife in winter would be too cold. So I haven't invested in clothes that would camouflage me in winter time and I had a bright red ski jacket on!! :D Laugh all you want, I'm laughing at myself too ;) Nature photographer! LOL

However I know that roe deer can let you come close even if you are in red :) The key is to walk quickly but quietly to get closer and stop whenever they lift their head and look around. When they see you walking it's all over. I didn't get really close but just decent enough to snap some pics.

This one was standing on a hay ball, trying to brake it with it's front feet.

Wheee! :D

Okay, so we still have LOTS of snow.

But look what hubby got me for Valentine's Day - Spring!! :D

Until next time :)

Mariann

Hubby's 40th Birthday party!

So my hubby is turning 40 on the 1st of September but we already decided to have a party on the 20th of August. It's a national holiday too so we were hoping that a lot of people can come. And they did!! About 50 people showed up! :D Now let me show you the place where we had the party - it's simply AMAZING! But bare with me, this is a long blog post with lots of pretty pics ;)

We found this place on the internet in the beginning of summer and booked it immediately. It's located in the centre of Estonia right beside a big lake and was built a few years ago.

Birthday boy admiring the bright colours of the pool :)

There are also 2 other houses besides the main house where people can sleep and every house has a sauna :P

The guests are arriving, time to open up the champagne :P

That trampoline was great! I had fun on it the next day with my sisters :D

We were SO lucky with the weather because it had been raining before and it did the next day but not on THE day :)) Of course I paid the weather guy a lot too LOL



We had rented two boats for the evening, one was a quiet and slow boat and the other one was going tooo fast for me :S I didn't go on it but seeing it speed away with the people I love on it was a bit hmmm....





Meanwhile the ones that stayed behind were enjoying life to the fullest too :) This swing was an amazing place to be, I didn't want to leave! Imagine a quiet summers evening, a million dollar view, good company and a swing where you could lie down, ahhhhh!

Balloons, balloons, where are you heading?

They seemed to be organized LOL probably having a meeting of some sort :)

And then the evening came and they turned on the pool lights!!! I have to say amazing for the third time already :D

Still pretty the very next morning, maybe even prettier if that's even possible :)

My little sister coming to say good morning straight from bed :)

She is cute anyway but she was tooo cute that morning, still sleepy and warm :)

We found an interesting rock by the lake.

When everyone left I had a look at the suite, we didn't use it but I wanted to see it and I loved the bathroom.




I seriously don't remember the last time when I was this happy and had such a good time!!! :)))