Time to take a look back at my five favorite photos from 2019! Notable this year is that a lot of my pictures were taken (or cropped) in “square” mode, since I’m using Instagram more than ever.
First, a picture from early in the year, when we enjoyed a snowy day in the Japanese Garden at the Missouri Botanical Garden:
Another winter picture, this time of two snow leopards at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago:
A spring photo featuring cherry blossoms in the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Japanese Garden:
The Red Arrows in flight!
Fall at Forest Park’s Pagoda Circle:
And an honorable mention…a photo taken at the holiday flower and train show at the Missouri Botanical Garden just a few days ago!
Obviously, I have my favorite places to take pictures, but I like that I’m constantly finding new ways to highlight them!
This weekend is the Spirit of St. Louis Airshow in Chesterfield. We used to go to various airshows (including the one in Chesterfield many years ago), quite frequently, but ever since Scott Air Force Base stopped hosting their annual event, we really haven’t had a chance to attend one. So, it’s basically been since Chickadee was a baby that we last went to an airshow. But this is a special year. Great Britain’s Red Arrows are currently on a tour of the US and Canada, and I’ve been excited ever since they announced that St. Louis was going to be one of the stops on their tour. And today was an amazing day, because we got to go to the airshow with a dear family friend.
I don’t even know where to start. We got to see the colorful smoke, which was awesome. And we also got to see the Red Arrows fly with a D-Day Spitfire, which was beyond moving. Yes, there were big feelings today. I cried, I clapped, I grinned from ear to ear, I jumped up and down…and I felt no shame.
Did I mention the smoke? It looked just like it does in pictures of the flypast the Red Arrows always make on Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s official birthday!
I loved the cool formations, including the Concorde and the Apollo:
Everything the Red Arrows did looked so cool!
So much love for the Red Arrows, and we even ran into a few of them on the way out…Bunny said they looked like they were from a Superhero movie, and she’s not wrong!
I have wanted to see the Red Arrows for YEARS. Literally, years. This was a dream come true. I’m so glad we got to experience this once-in-a-lifetime thrill…I know we’ll never forget it!
Today was one of my favorite days on the British royal calendar: Trooping the Colour. This is both a military ceremony, as well as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s official birthday. I love the pomp and ceremony of this event, from the carriage procession, to the soldiers on parade and the Queen reviewing them, to the family balcony gathering (including the debut of Prince George of Cambridge in the same outfit his father wore at his Trooping the Colour debut in 1984), and the flypast, especially the magnificent Red Arrows. Such a fitting way to celebrate the birthday of the Sovereign!
LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 13: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh arrive at Horseguards Parade during the annual Trooping The Colour ceremony at Horse Guards Parade on June 13, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 13: (L-R) Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Prince George of Cambridge, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Harry and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh during the annual Trooping The Colour ceremony at Horse Guards Parade on June 13, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Danny Martindale/WireImage)
LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 13: The Red Arrows fly over Buckingham Palace as the Royal Family look out from the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Trooping the Colour on June 13, 2015 in London, England. The ceremony is Queen Elizabeth II’s annual birthday parade and dates back to the time of Charles II in the 17th Century when the Colours of a regiment were used as a rallying point in battle. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 13: Troops advance down the Mall during the Trooping the Colour on June 13, 2015 in London, England. The ceremony is Queen Elizabeth II’s annual birthday parade and dates back to the time of Charles II in the 17th Century, when the Colours of a regiment were used as a rallying point in battle. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 13: The Queen’s Guards display The Colour during the annual Trooping The Colour ceremony at Horse Guards Parade on June 13, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)
