A Morning Meeting with Maxxx and Madi...

If you're squeamish about snakes, this probably won't be the blog for you...

Friday morning had me jumping in the Hummer and trekking West of Gilman to photograph Matt and Julie Kopsa Offspring Version 3.0

Four years ago, then eighth grader, Madison Marie, was witness to the session that I may be most infamous for.... her brother, Brooks.

If you don't know exactly what I'm talking about, ask around... it's pretty legendary... and full-disclosure (ahem), I still love to do my best lil' Madi Kopsa impersonation as she cried out in the horror she was forced to witness. :)

But this day was about righting those wrongs.... or was it?

Miss Madi has a vice of her own as, unlike most young ladies... (or humans in general), she LOVES snakes! While most get the heebie-geebies at the thought of the slithery things (present company included), our Friday morning senior has NO FEAR.

I was warned that I was gonna get the chance to meet Max (or Maxx, or Maxxx... the owner likes to toss in a couple extra X's on occasion). I'm not gonna lie... I didn't touch Mr. Maxxx... I left that up to the owner! ;-)

To be fair... Maxxx was well behaved (i think?) and I'm not sure if he was smiling or what... but he basically went were we needed him to go, despite the EXTREMELY crisp morning air.

After we got the maximum outta Maxxx, I found out that Mama Julie (who incidentally was celebrating her, ummm... 39th birthday?) had just RECENTLY found out that Madi (along with friends like Paige p-jag Weidner) liked to make a habit of getting up on top of the Kopsa family grain bin that sits just adjacent to their home. Evidently they have been doing this for years unbeknownst to Julie. Well... now that she's a senior... no biggie! So Madi shimmied up there and we got an image of that before making a roadie back to the studio for more.

Luckily for me, Madison wasn't suffering from any post-traumatic Brooks' session trauma and we nailed a tribute to her brother who's worked his tail off in Coach Brands' wrestling room at the University of Iowa for the past four years. In addition... Madi is quite the artist, and I was graced by some of her finest work there, as well as her love for county league softball.

So, after JUST seeing three families the week prior that each brought the third of three children to me... we had another in the books on this Friday. It makes me wonder why Mykel ('08) was so relatively tame? I suppose that's what happens to the middle child when you're surrounded by such crazies? I think, since I am an innocent and nearly flawless middle child myself... I'll go with that theory. ;-)

Thanks Team Kopsa... you guys rock!