Total 'Lunar Eclipse' of the Heart

It wasn't until yesterday afternoon that I even got wind of this celestial event.  I himmed and hawwed about whether or not to wake up for it and in the end I decided this could make for a SaWeet picture. 

When I tucked Camdyn in last night I explained what happens during a Lunar Eclipse and told her that I would wake her up in the middle of the night to see the moon. 

I then took out my camera, emailed photo-genius Ashley Sisk for pointers, put on my 75mm-300mm lens and tested a few moon shots, set my cell phone alarm and went to sleep.

I awoke to a groggy voice at the foot of my bed, "Momma you forgot to wake me up for the moon...."  Huh?  What time is it?  Did I blow this?  Oh, wait, it's 2:50....20 more minutes Cam, jump in bed with us.  Twenty minutes later two cell phones screamed, we got out of bed, put on sweat shirts and shoes and headed outside.  Cam was in awe of the glowing orange moon.  I tried desperately for a photo but was unable to meter/focus on the dark, barely glowing moon.  Bummer.  I didn't have the equipment or the skill to figure out how to take a nighttime shot like this....maybe a telescope would have helped.  It was still awesome.  The sky last night was clear, the stars were out-shining the moon, and the moon looked like a pumpkin in the sky.

As we headed back inside 10 minutes later I told Camdyn that this was a special event because Lunar Eclipses only happen "Like once every ten years."  Come to find out this morning, it's more like once every 300 years.  Now, I'm doubly glad that we all crawled out of bed to witness it with our own eyeballs, although, I still wish my camera could have captured it.