Farm at Kensington

A visit to Kensington's farm last week was a fun excursion

for my daughter, granddaughter & I.

I loved the photo opportunities and couldn't

resist taking pictures of the cute little pigs,

baby goats,

ducks,

and this cute little Munchkin.

Too Hot for Slides

What do you do at the park when it's too hot to slide?

Daniela took a few twirls on the mini merry-go-round.

She practiced her climbing skills.

She must always pet the mouse that sleeps in the bark of

the old hollow log.

She even paused for a picture for Mi Mi.

Isn't this sun glass bedazzled darling cute!

Daniela rode her bike around the bike path.

Well a little ways down it..... until she saw some
grade school cheerleaders that were practicing
their cheers and she had to stop to watch them.

She would hang out in the hollow log.

And climb across the monkey bars

and dangle at the end.

We had a great time at the park on Sunday.

Yes, that was me behind the camera, and I just

noticed I'm in the reflection on her sunglasses.

Did you notice it in any of the other pictures or

not until I mentioned it?

Reading Some Photography Books

  This month I'll be reading some photography books, getting ready for vacation.  Hubby and I plan on going on a lighthouse tour by boat and since my main area of photography is usually portraits of children, I thought this book would be a great one to read.  Kodak's Guide to Shooting Great Travel Pictures really covers it all: from cities, formal gardens, architecture, landmarks and monuments, houses of worship, parades, sports, people at work, landscapes, panoramas, mountains, tropical beaches, canyons, sunsets, weather, rivers and waterfalls, and on and on....... and it even has instructions for creating a photo travel journal.

I tried reading Understanding Exposure, but it was so far over my head that I didn't get much out of it at all.  I have about ten books on photography on my book shelves at the moment here area a couple of the titles:  Digital Photography for Dummies, Reader's Digest Complete Photography Manual, Exploring Color Photography, and A Short Course in Photography.  If there are any books that you would recommend that I read, please leave a comment.

He said "Have a nice Holiday Weekend"

Leaving work on Friday I heard these words, "Have a nice Holiday Weekend" and I got all choked up and didn't know what to say.  I'm a Mother's Helper for a National Guardsman's wife and he's recently been deployed.  If not for men & woman like him Memorial Day wouldn't be a holiday, yet so many of us celebrate for all the wrong reasons and forget to thank those who serve our country.  Lord I'm guilty of not being grateful enough, forgive me.  Help me in the future to speak up when I should and show my appreciation.

For their Sacrifice.  Please check out a friend's blog, she did an awesome post for Memorial Day.

Hitting the Reset Button

For the last month I've been trying to keep up with an insanely busy schedule and have paid the price of gaining back a few pounds.  Not having time to shop and have the right foods in the house has led me to snacking on the wrong things and cooking old stand-bys instead of lighter, lower in calorie foods.  All the rain we've had and being extra tired led me to miss out on walking.

Last night I stayed after the Weight Watchers class for special instruction.  (My hubby made a joke about summer school.)  It's not punishment for doing bad, it's hitting the reset button, so I can finish the job I started.

In a year I lost 30 lbs.  Daniela weighs 30 lbs. Wow!  That really puts things into perspective for me.  I will NOT go back there.  I want to lose an additional 15 pounds.  I'm off to a good start, this week I lost 1.4 pounds of what I'd gained back.
What's the plan?
1.  Keep caffiene consumption low - night time wakefulness = day time tiredness.
2.  Track what I eat - I did it in the begginning, I can do it again.
3.  I bought WW shake mixes for a treat instead of popcorn - less points and less salt.
4.  Eat all that aspargus growing in my garden.  I love it, why give half of it away.  It's high in fiber and a diuretic.
5.  Try to avoid: getting too hungry/boredom/stress.  All triggers to eat the wrong foods.
6.  When I eat out, look at the online menu before hand and pick something low in points before I get to the resturaunt.  Stick to what I picked.

Just for you Michael

My new car....

well mine and Ford Motor's.

This is my new Ford Fusion I'm leasing

for the next two years.

It has many new features I've never had on

a car before like:

Key pad entry on the door

heated seats

a spoiler

leather seats

Sync

and a moon roof

just to name a few.

Well Mr. Michael, what do you think?

Did Gramie LaLa get a good one?

For an eight year old, he knows

his stuff when it comes to cars.

Laugh More

We've all heard the old adage "Laughter is the best medicine",

but clearly us adults aren't getting enough.

I recently heard it on a talk show (Dr. Oz or The Doctors)

that adults only laugh an average of four times a day,

while children laugh 30+ times.

Two recent laughs of mine were:

Watching a mommy duck and her ducklings

cross the road.

They were in a continuous line with the first

duckling half under the momma duck and each

consecutive duckling touching the previous one.

I imagined the momma telling them "stay close now".

Daniela is always good for a few laughs.

She asked me (pointing at a mole on my neck)

"What's that on your lower chin, MiMi?''

Share a laugh or two of your own and help the rest

of us get ours.....cuz we need more.