Beach Vacation Out-take #1

Or otherwise titled:  How many photos am I going to have to take to get ONE suitable for a Christmas Card?

Yes, there are at least 20 more shots in this spot alone where at least one of these little hooligans has his/her tongue sticking out, eyes crossed, fingers rabbit-ear-style behind someone else’s head, or is otherwise annoying the daylights out of a sibling.

I’d like to think they’ll grow out of it, but somehow, I don’t think so.

Until next time…
C.

Perspective

I love downloading photos.

Well, let me rephrase that.  I love looking at the photos I’ve downloaded.  The actual downloading process is, frankly, less than exciting.  And because of that, I don’t do it as often as I should.  Coupled with the fact that I most often use 4gig cards, it may be several weeks before I fill up a card enough to bother with the download process, and often makes the subject matter a bit of a surprise.   Which in a rather circular manner brings me back to my original thought:

I love downloading photos.  🙂

Today’s long-overdue downloads are brought to you today by my oldest child, who inhereted my old G3.   Nearly nine, he loves snapping photos almost as much as I do, and I love looking at the world through his eyes.  In this case, his eyes were taking in this summer’s Disney vacation.

There were a few shots remarkably similar to ones I had taken

and some that were close, but taken from kid-height:

There were some that were better than the ones I took with my DSLR:

and some that captured moments I missed:

Of course, there were multitudes of photos of his favorite subject:

himself.

He took 216 photos over the week we were there.  Yes, several were blurry (he’s an impatient boy and it’s a slow camera), and some are unflattering, to say the least.   But he had some great shots and, most importantly, a record of our vacation through his eyes.  From his perspective.

Until next time…
c.

Random Photo Share Wednesday

Here are a few more photos from the memory cards I downloaded a couple days ago.  Technically, they’re not perfect, but I love them anyway.

Here’s another from the race.  The headsets with the microphones were a big hit.  That’s my mom wearing the other ultra-fashionable head accessory.

Yes, this is a photo from last year’s family beach vacation.  Yes, I just downloaded it.  No, I have no excuse.   The boys still let me dress them alike, and this was just post-hair-donation.

And the last just cracks me up.  Covered with sand, running full-tilt, giant grin on his face.  That’s my boy!

That’s all for today, I’m swamped!

Until next time…
C.

Hey, where’d she go?

Away!  Far away!

Without the kids!

Fun..sun…sandy beaches…our 10th anniversary trip to St. Thomas was fantastic.  After we got there, that is.   I wasn’t notified beforehand that we’d have to fly in on this little gem

to get to the island.    I’m not very fond of heights, and frankly, this plane is a bit too small for my comfort.    Large planes are no problem, but in this tiny 10-seater (including the pilot!), I could feel every roll, bump and dip the plane made.  My palms were sweaty.    We landed in the dark, on a runway that started about 6ft. from the ocean.    Nothing like starting your vacation with a panic attack!

As usual, we got lost in the dark on our way from the airport to the hotel.  Happens everytime!

Overall, though, we had a wonderful time.    We stayed at a Marriott resort on the south side of the island.    I’m always a sucker for the flowers.

We spent most of our time driving the insane roads that wind around the mountains at crazy angles in our cute little yellow jeep, and doing a whole lot of nothing at places like this:

at our hotel, or this (Magens’ Bay):

and came face to face with one of these guys:

a few too many times.    One spent a full 30 minutes under my pool lounge chair before I could finally flee the area.    I managed to keep my cool fairly well, considering the loud internal scream that was happening in my head.    Turned out to be a good time for lunch.    On the opposite end of the deck.

No photos of the scuba trip, though, I forgot to pack my waterproof camera housing.  We did two dives that were purely recreational and fun reef trips, which when combined with the flight home,  I’m still paying for in the form of a massive Chiari headache 10 days later.   I guess I know now what diving will do to me.    Totally worth it, though.   I don’t get to dive enough.

Here’s a shot of us landing in Puerto Rico on the way home in that dinky little plane.

EEK!    I’m much more comfortable underwater than in the sky.

It was a great trip, a wonderful way to relax and recharge.    How long until Ohio weather catches up with the islands?

Until next time…
C.