Our Halloween!

These pictures are straight out of the camera,

no picnik.com,

no cropping,

no nuttin.

I couldn't resist getting this little ghost's picture.

Daniela went trick-or-treating with the same two little girls as last year.

Daniela made a very cute little lion.

She even did a "roar" for a few people.

The moms and the girls making their way around the neighborhood.

Happy with her loot!

Fi Fi the fairy with her candy from us.

Happy Halloween!

Stay tuned for more pictures tomorrow.

autumn

I love Fall

Learning her colors

Daniela may not know the names of each color but,

she can match them as this video clearly shows.

It also show just how darn cute she is, but I won't mention that.

Wordless Wednesday

Floating Uh Oh!

Daniela is learning how to float in the bath tub.

She's very proud of the fact that her hands and feet stay up

on the surface of the water.

We know her bum is resting on the bottom of the tub,

but still she's getting the concept of floating as her limbs really are.

So the other night after dinner I gave Daniela a tubby,

(mama was at college and I thought it would

be nice for her to come home to Daniela all

clean and in her pajamas.)

She was floating and all smiles and I was

day dreaming about how cute she was smiling

with her hair all swirling around in the water around her head...

when I realized something else was swirling around

her head.

I reached for the bumble-bee bath tub toy, but not

soon enough.  It was to late....

it had become entangled in her hair.

You pull the bottom end of the bee which is on a string

and then put it in the tub and the wings paddle around

in the water and makes it swim until the string retracts to the end and

then you have to pull it again.

So I sat Daniela up and the bee is about two inches away

from her skull.  I tried to work it free, but it was still

trying to swim.

Although, it is a favorite tub toy I desperately tried to

break the stupid wing off, so I could free her hair.

Daniela was starting to get upset about the situation

and I was starting to panic.  If we had to cut

it out of her hair, it would be super short.

Ashley would have a fit, she's suppose to get

Daniela's two year old pictures taken soon.

I yelled for Grandpe to come help us.

He tried to break the wing off and couldn't, so

he left to go get some tool.

I took a deep breath and tried for the third time

to manipulate the hair around the wing and get

it out of her hair.  It loosened a bit and I wound it this

way and that and little by little it came loose.

Wow! That was close.



Same Pictures Picnik Style

Incredible picture ... just love the focal burst of color.

Evidence that fairies do exist.

It's fun to play with the idea and imagine that they do.

This fence is near the archery field and looks so neat postersized.

A curved line leading to the colorful leaves makes this

photo very appealing.

I'd like to work more with reflections.
The problem is I have a huge list of themes I'd like
to explore.

Stay tuned for the rest of the pictures to be enhanced via

my favorite website.

Or give it a try yourself,

you'll soon be as addicted to this site as I am

Photo Shoot #1

I told myself to pick the top ten of my original 100 pictures, but you know me...

I have trouble making up my mind and ended up with more than ten.

Before we drove out to the Nature Center I remembered
 this old tree on the Nature Center grounds, which I had seen many years ago.

Back then, a bunch of the employees decided to take 

a walk around the property and we tried

to see how many people we could fit inside the hollow tree.

(We fit five adults for you inquisitive adults)

(23 Keebler elves for you inquiring children

Anna posed for me and I had the better end of the deal, she's

much more photogenic than I am.

I love the way this picture turned out, with the layers of

colors.  First the burnt orange at the bottom, then the green/blue, topped

with the yellow leaves.

How lucky I was to catch their bobcat yawning.

Flowers abound around the nature center.  I'd like to take some

pictures of wild flowers, but that will have to wait for spring.

This is the brave sheep that came back down to see us after we spooked the flock away.

I thought they were calmer than say a deer and they'd let us approach

and just lay there.  Not so.

A fairy lodge. Isn't it quaint.  I'm not sure if they make

reservations year around or not, it's best to call ahead.

My true passion is photographing kids, so I'm sure you're not surprised

I slipped this one in.

Thanks for coming along with me Anna, it was a very enjoyable time.

I promise next time we won't walk as far.

This is another favorite of mine.  I'm anxious to try a few

things with it on Picnik.com, but wanted to keep things fair

with Anna posting her pictures too.

Not that we are having a contest or anything, but you

know what I mean.... comparing apples to apples.

I didn't notice the reflection until I downloaded the picture or

I would have taken more like this.

Do you have favorites?

Constructive criticism?

Ideas for another trip out to use our cameras?

I'd love to hear from you.

Today was my Day

Today I did something for me.  Something I haven't done in a long time.  I've been wanting to go on a photo shoot for months, but since Amanda is the only daughter that has an expensive camera and enjoys going out just to take pics...I haven't been since I went to Maine in October of 2010, here's the link to our cemetery photos.

But then I found out Laura's daughter Anna won a photo contest and I had a thought....maybe she'd like to come along.  This is her photo that won the contest.  My intentions for today were to use my new (as in I haven't practiced with it yet) reflector, but the sun never came out.  We had three hours, but travel time took an hour, so really just two hours.  We went to the Nature Center, but stopped to take photo's of the sheep on the corner of Sexton and Pinckney.  We were able to get pictures of turtles, ground hog, bobcat and a few other small animals, as well as a huge hollow tree, the lake and some geese, flowers and other neat things.  We walked over 3 miles, so I'm not sure Anna will be so eager to come along again, but we'll see.

So keep posted.  Anna & I are going to work on downloading, cropping etc. and then we are both going to post our favorite photos of the day.

Anna was great company and although she's not quite 11 years old; she's very knowledgeable about photography and I wouldn't be surprise if I end up learning a few tricks from her.  It was nice of Laura to let me take her out for a few hours on a day they already had plans.  Thanks Laura!

Here's a sheep photo....just to keep you interested and coming back to see what Anna & I come up with.

More Chambers Pumpkin Patch Pics

The original goat picture is in my last post.

I played around with the picnik website and added a few details

to make it more Halloweenish.

I emailed pictures to Rosie's mom, but for some

reason her computer refuses them, so I

thought I'd post a few more, so she can see them.

My friend was trying to show the girls that the props weren't

real, so therefore they didn't have to be afraid of them.

I just love Rosie's dimples.

This is the picture I used to make the crystal ball photo

I posted yesterday.

A great time was had by the girls and the Mom & Gramie.

These are just a few of the pictures I took that day.



Ava loved chickens when she was this age,

Daniela is pretty smitten with them too.

The Pumpkin Patch

Thursday night we were looking for something to do while

Daniela's mom was studying.

A friend suggested we go to the Pumpkin Patch.

Can you guess who we went with?

Here's a peak into my crystal ball.

If you guessed our friend, Rosie you'd be right.

There were animals galore on the farm:
horses, cows, pigs, goats, chickens, ducks,
turkeys, miniature chickens, peacocks, and bunnies.

Although it wasn't crowded like Spicer's Orchard, we

weren't the only ones there.  A group of girls

were chasing each other on top of these hay bales.

They were the big ones, rolled like shredded wheat, so

our little girls had to be content with playing on

the slides that were fixed to a few of the bales.

Daniela & Rosie took turns on the tire horse swing.



After the ponies we ventured into Daniela's very
first corn maze.
Rosie and her Mom ran ahead on the trail and
we had to find them hidden in the corn stalks.
After a couple times, Rosie hid by herself and
we had to find her.



Daniela was behind me on the trail....
and then she wasn't.
Good Grief!
How was I going to explain that one to her Mommy?
I lost the kid in the corn maze.
I frantically ran back & forth on the trail hoping
she hadn't gone to far that I couldn't find her easily.

And then....

out she popped, with a shit-eating grin on her face.

She wanted to play hide & seek too, but just

didn't bother to let me in on it.

I laughed myself silly....what a stinker.

We hope to go back to the Pumpkin Patch a couple

more times this fall. 

We bought three little gourds for $1.00,

but will get a real pumpkin closer to Halloween.

Wordless Wednesday

Random Thoughts about New Mexico

It was a beautiful day here in Michigan......

the sun was shining and it was

warm and the trees are turning colors.

The mountains are a different sort of beautiful.

They are always there no mater what the weather is like,

even if it's not sunny, even when the night sky falls.

I miss the mountains.

It never got old, but always amazed me that they were

there every morning, noon & night.

I'm missing this little doll baby.

While I was there Rowyn & I bonded a bit closer.

I taught her how to say "tickle, tickle".

She loved being squeezed and other

little games we played.

She just never knew what this crazy Gramie

was going to do to get a good picture.

What you can't see in this photo

is that I'm seated directly in front of

her and actually tickling her with my feet.

Rowyn wants to be picked up the minute

Daddy gets home for work and

Rick always obliged her.  I love watching them interacting.

I miss my daughter Audra.
You can tell that she loves being a Mom and genuinely
enjoys being with Rowyn and teaching her new skills.
She's proud of her accomplishments and glows
when showing her off.
I love that Audra is a lot like me in that area.
Not everyone is, it's a gift.

Rowyn loves to push this little cart everywhere.

She doesn't just run into things and cry for you to

rescue her, she knows how to maneuver it around

corners and out of any tight spot.

There's no, I repeat; no way she'll ask for help,

she can do it herself, Thank you!

She's running, and running quite fast...

I was on her heels when I stopped to shoot the picture.

Rowyn turned a year old two weeks ago and today

is Henry's Birthday.  I sure wish free plane

tickets grew on trees, if they did you know where I'd be.

Right Here.