Duck...Duck...Goooooose

In July of 2007 we visited the Bay Beach Wildlife Preserve in Green Bay, WI.  It was so much more than I had expected.  I envisioned a few small paths to see some animals but I figured we would be looking through some glass windows or something.  It's actually a huge wildlife refuge where you can see almost everything right outdoors.  There is a building where you can walk through and learn more about the animals but I was much more fun walking outside.  Another area outdoors had some wild birds that were caged but it was so cool.  There was even a Bald Eagle.  Yes, it was behind bars but we were within 20 feet of this huge amazing bird.  I wish I was able to get better pictures of that but there is always next time. 

The highlight of this stop was feeding the ducks and the geese.  We can do that around our home but none of the birds are as tame as these were.  These were not afraid to walk right up to us.  I'll bet they would almost eat right out of our hands.  Our girls were only 3 and 4 at the time so we tried to stay a pretty safe distance but as you will see in some of these pictures, most were really close to us.  Anyway, these geese and the ducks were all around this really pretty pond.  It was perfect for these scenic shots. 

I have lots of pictures so if you have a slow connect please be patient while these load.

 
 
 

I plan on having a print made that has a number of these pictures.  It's 12X18.

Changing Directions

So the was originally designed for me to use with my project 365.  I sort of lost interest in the project 365 so I am going to find a new use for this blog.  This blog will now be simply a place for me to post photos that I have taken and edited. They won't be daily and probably won't include scrapbook pages but I will try to post more regularly.

Most editing is simply to crop and enhance colors.  This is just a place for me to come and enjoy and sometimes document what I may have done to these photos.  I am working on enhancing my photo skills and I would like to be able to remember what settings worked best for me.  I don't have a fancy camera but I do have my photo editing skills that I hope will help me get some great shots.

I started going through many of my old photos to find pictures of nature and other things that I may not necessarily use in my digital scrapbooking but I was inspired to photograph. 

These are the first photos that I started with.  I have many photos of sunsets but these are some of the oldest that I have on my hard drive.  Most of my sunset pictures don't turn out well but with PioneerWoman's actions I was easily able to salvage a few of them.

Mommy on camera

A little glimpse of the opposite side of the camera.

It's so rare to find a picture of me.  I had to remedy that today.  I grabbed the camera (and a little make-up) and snapped some photos of myself.  So, there I am for all the world to see.

A real smile!

How can it be so difficult to get a real smile on camera?

I loved this picture because it really show Jazmine's smile. I mean a real smile. Not one of those fake camera pose smiles. She loves to get her picture taken, I just don't know how to get her to lose the on camera smile. Maybe it will do her good someday like when she gets into acting. We all know she would make a great actress because she is such a drama queen anyhow. LOL!

Brusha, brusha, brusha

Who says brushing your teeth can't be fun?

I think one of the girls favorite parts of the day is brushing their teeth. It's supposed to be a time to settle down but they get all revved up. Their toothbrushes are fun because they light up and blink for a minute so they know how long they have to brush. We do have a hard time getting them to stop staring in mirror when they are rinsing but we could have it worse. At least they like brushing their teeth.

The never ending battle

Beware! What you are about to see is not for the faint of heart.

This is a constant battle for us. This was after the girls played in their bedroom for about 5 whole minutes. LOL! When they are asked to clean up their room, the mess that took them 5 minutes to make takes them over an hour to put away. Why, oh why, do we have to fight this same battle 10 times a day?

Sweet innocence

That is what today's subject portraits.

She is pretty sweet most of the time but innocent she is NOT. She really knows how to suck up and make you think she is the sweetest little thing. She can be a trouble maker and you really have to keep an eye on her. She gets into everything. She likes to sneak out of her room at bed time and go play around the house. She was caught today at rest time playing with the microwave. Was that resting? I think NOT! But, with all that aside, she is sweet a lot of the time. She cries every morning if she doesn't get to tell me how beautiful I am before I leave for work. She has to have cuddle time with Daddy everyday. When her and Daddy go shopping, if Daddy buys her a treat, she always makes sure that there is something for Jazmine. Who could you not love our sweet innocent little Ali?