This time of year is always the busiest for most photographers. Events and photo shoots seems to take place during the warmer months and weddings book us every weekend. Dave and I took a look at our overflowing Spring/Summer calendar and to our surprise found…a free weekend! This was just what we needed to rejuvenate and re-energize to keep on top of our busy schedule. We immediately booked ourselves a four day spot. I already had the perfect place in mind…and we made our way to the beautiful cabin in the woods my family has frequented for the last 20 years. The cabin is located on gorgeous Lake Kamaniskeg in the Madawaska Valley and has everything to offer in a nice, relaxing holiday.

With no T.V., radio, internet, newspapers or phone this beautiful little rustic cottage is a great place to unwind and leave the noise of the hectic city behind you. Some might think that four days without all of these little luxuries would be the furthest thing from a holiday but it’s so much fun and such an amazing time! Our entertainment mainly consisted of watching the sunsets, The Continuing Adventures of Fritzi and Greta , our little tin motor boat and of course Scrabble and "Acronym Scrabble" (An illegal form of Scrabble that Dave and I invented to accumulate higher scores!)

The weather was perfect and the sun was shining on us all four days. We were even lucky enough to have a lightening show over the lake one evening, so we watched over glass of wine on our little front porch. The beauty of Canadian Cottage Country is so mesmerizing it’s truly a photographers dream.

All good things must eventually come to an end. On our last day we decided to leave a bit early and take the long way home through Ontario’s largest and best-known Provincial Park, Algonquin Park. We had asked some of the local residents what our chances were like if we wanted to do some moose-watching and they assured us that our chances were good…Especially good for some reason at approximately 4:00 in the afternoon. Heeding the advice of the local residents we made our way to moose country. We stopped many times along the way in shear excitement to view broken tree branches in the lake forming the shape of moose antlers and the rustling wind in the trees that was no doubt a Black Bear readying to launch from the bushes. We did, however spot this real life creature on our journey.

A massive snapping turtle nesting on the side of the road. We kept our distance so we would not disturb her. Dave grabbed this shot with the telephoto lens, she was enormous…and, she actually looks like she might be smiling at us.

We’re back to work now with wedding season full steam ahead. We have many more wedding posts on the way so stay tuned for our latest couple John and Jung.

Fritzi doesn’t exactly love going to the vet. Whenever we hit the front doors he yanks me in the other direction and tries to make a run for it! I guess he associates vet visits with scary needles and he doesn’t like the cold stainless steel table under his toes. I’m sure his experience would be a lot worse if he didn’t have the BEST vet in the world, Dr. “Oats”. He always seems to take a little of the sting out of the visit with his kind voice and cheery nature as well as lots of treats.

Today was Greta’s big day. She was going on her first trip to meet Dr. “Oats”. I sat in the waiting room with little Greta as she peeked around at the other dogs from her new baby blue doggie bag.  

I worried what the little pup might be in for since she is so tiny and is only half the size of what she should be for a puppy her age. She sat there gazing at me with her sparkling little eyes. As any caring Daddy would be, I just wanted her to be healthy and ok.

When Dr. “Oats” met Greta, it was love at first sight. He must have spent the first 10 minutes just gushing over her. He’s that way with Fritzi too, and you can tell he just loves all animals. Greta got her check up, a quick little needle and was given a clean bill of health!! I called Charlotte right away to give her the big news, she was completely thrilled that Greta was healthy as a horse. 

Dr. “Oats” said Greta was just the runt of the litter, which means she’ll stay quite small but that doesn’t mean that she’s not healthy. When I got back to the car Greta curled up right away for a snooze. But just in case I got any ideas about taking her in for another needle she slept with one eye open!

This afternoon we went to a local dachshund breeder to pick out a new playmate for Fritty - we both had our hearts set on a little girl because we’ve already got a wonderful, but boisterous little boy! We really thought it was important to find a good breeder, and after making a several calls we found Cheryl, who’s been breeding dachshunds for 46 years - and has won all sorts of prizes and awards. 

When we arrived for our consultation, we were greeted with about 14 adorable puppies, wagging their tails with sheer joy at our presence! We made our way to where the newest arrives were kept and met three beautiful little girls. There was a gorgeous 5 month old, an adorable 10 week old, then off in one corner of the room, lying ona soft bed was THE tiniest puppy we’d ever seen! Bright brown, inquisitive eyes looked up at us, and we asked Cheryl if she minded us holding this little beauty.

“Sure. Meet Tiny or Tid Bit.” She called her, the runt of the litter. “When she was born, we feared she wouldn’t survive her first day”… she’s had a survival story that you have to hear….  she was born very tiny, with an underdeveloped liver. Although this has meant her body has grown more slowly than it should have, her heart is strong and her mind is sharp! She’s a battler, that’s for sure. She’s 4 months old and only weighs 2 lbs compared to the 11 lb. average for Miniature Dachshunds, but she loves to run and play with the other dogs. Within minutes, we knew she would be the perfect puppy for us - we could provide her the extra love she needed and be close at hand to care for her. We’ll have the time and attention to help this little girl one day grow up big and strong. Please help us welcome Little Baby Greta!!!

Ahhh the life of a dog, wake up, scratch, eat, go for a walk, play fetch, go for a walk, sleep, repeat…Yes it’s true even dogs need a vacation sometime. And when our dog Fritty does it he does it right, he hits the beaches of Southampton! With wedding photography season well on the way we thought it might be nice to take a little get away before it all begins. There are so many awesome places in Canada to take a vacation, but we always seem to be drawn back to my parents place by the beach…gotta love it When we get there we usually adopt Fritty’s daily routine as well and eat twice as much as we usually do. Fritty and I try to keep all the eating under control with our morning runs on the beach. His legs may only be 3 inches high, but this wiener dog can book it something fierce!! He is always leaving me in the dust but that’s ok, we love enjoying the sound of the waves hitting the shore, the sun on our backs and the feeling of the sand under our feet.

Dave loves the beach just as much as Fritzi and I do so we decided to all head out for an afternoon stroll together. Dave has this game he plays with Fritty, through the stick and… hide…No…no it’s waaay less complicated then it sounds but they both love it. So on one of these many adventures they have together Fritzi decided to out smart Dave and give him a taste of his own medicine… he ran for it with his new found stick. We later found Fritty in a “cave” not too far away with his stick in tow and he wasn’t willing to let go of it any time soon! Check out little Fritty… he has a serious addiction to fetching sticks…I think we may need an intervention.

We started our morning off right with a highly nutritious Breakfast of Bacon & Eggs at a local greasy spoon. We meet up with some photographers Tif, Alex and Jaymz to chat about whats happening in the world of photography, catch up and bounce ideas of each other. It’s great hearing what everyone’s up to these days and finding an excuse to eat Bacon!!! I know this isn’t the best shot of us, but hey… Sorry guys! haha.

After Breakfast we headed out to the live taping of “daytime”…I was running around (while Dave sat in the audience…supervising lol) shooting the show, guests, crew and the rockin’ audience. We met some awesome people on the show like the Hosts of daytime Kim McCleary and Gurdeep Ahluwalia and Producer Marissa Corrigan. Oh, and we can’t forget Michael Craig of Barefoot Wines had a pretty awesome set up too…(In case you’re wondering Michael, yes, we will shoot for wine. haha)

Since we started our day at the ungodly hour of 7am we ran to Starbucks and downed 2 Grande Lattes, picked up Fritzi the weiner dog and headed out to Sutton, Ontario. We were on the way to meet Jen and Brent our super sweet couple that we’re shooting this Summer. On the way we took a detour and nature hike with little Fritty (as Dave calls him) He’s sooo happy that Winter is over, his little legs are so short he can’t do much in the snow. We got so many shots of all of the beautiful budding plants and flowers, but my faves by far were the gorgeous sprouting Fiddle Heads.

While hiking in the forest Fritzi discovered a little pond and dove straight in. He learned how to swim last Summer he’s really become a little water rat!! We had to bribe him with Hagen Daas to get him out of the water.

We met Jen and Brent at their beautiful little stone chapel by the lake. I was blown away by it’s charm and the location on the water is so amazing. Needless to say we were totally stoked!! We caught this little “church mouse” peaking at us so I had to snap a shot! We headed down the little winding road led us to “The Briars” a gorgeous country club with tons of old world charm and lots of beautiful shooting ops for the big day!!! Look at these two… Jen and Brent are so cute together, we can’t wait to capture their love for each other on June 28th. 

We finally rolled into Toronto/home at 10pm. This is an interpretation of how it looked to us after our crazy day!!!

Today we took the day off and decided to head out for lunch and a walk through Toronto’s beautiful High Park with Fritzi!! Fritzi’s Charlotte’s two year old Dachshund (Wiener Dog). He had an awesome time playing fetch as well as exploring the walking trails of virtually the whole park. Charlotte had some fun taking photos of him for the grandparents

Fritzi’s such a little social butterfly constantly running up to other dogs (both giant and pint sized) and is always ready to make new friends. Since he has such little legs it’s hilarious watching him try to navigate through the long grass! We try to make it easier on him and mainly stay on the open ground.

Even with such short legs, this little guy can move! I think Charlotte is considering him for the Wiener Dog Races in Buda, Texas next year. Oh yes Wiener Dog Races exist…and here’s a video to prove it…but first a word from our sponser

Here are some more cute shots Charlotte took for Fritzi…

At the end of our walk, Charlotte and I grabbed icecream… Needless to say, Fritzi knew that good things would come to those who waited, so sure enough he did finish off mine at the end!