Photo A Day June Wrap-up

This will be a very photo heavy post.  I'm proud to say that I managed to take all but one of June's photo prompts.  That one was the one for "imperfect", so that seems appropriate to me.  Anyhow, I know I've posted most of these before, but here are as many of the 30 shots I have on my computer.  There are a few I took on my phone that I posted to G+ and I'm too lazy to download right now.

June 2: Empty.  Empty container from making cupcakes for Boo's birthday party(ies).

June 3: On my plate.  The calendar got a lot more full by the end of the month....

June 4: Close Up.  The Koosh ball on my desk at work.  Love them.

June 5: Sign.  A bad picture of the gas station sign.  It's dropped a good bit since then, thankfully.

June 6: Hat.  The most important hats Boo and I wear, our bicycle helmets.

June 7: Drink.  Action shot of my morning tea, raspberry black tea by Adagio on this morning.

June 8 6:00.  Boo and I were playing at the playground at 6:00 that evening.  Isn't he cute?

June 9: View.  Just one of the many views I saw at Rock the Mall.  What a day!

June 10: Best bit of my weekend.  All the SWAPs I traded for at Rock the Mall.  That was definitely the best pat of my weekend.

June 12: From a low angle.  Shooting up the stairwell in our building.  Not creative, but a blech kind of day anyhow.

June 13: Art.  Boo's recent art, maps... to "places" or "everywhere".

June 15: Yellow.  I was trying to take pictures of the yellow fire hydrant in the park... Boo wanted to investigate.

June 17: In my bag.  A bit of a stretch, but Boo in one of the gift bags from Billy's birthday.

June 18: Something you don't know about me.  I spent an entire summer (at least every other weekend that is...) watching grass grow.  Marsh grass, not dune grass, but we didn't go over to the marshes on this trip.

June 21: Where I slept.  Yep, my messy bed... with bears...

June 22: From a high angle.  Looking almost straight down from the balcony.

June 23: Movement.  Turned off the flash while capturing Boo dancing.  He's always dancing.

June 24: On my mind.  Appropriate since Mom and I were looking at the possibilities of grave sites... yeah...

June 25: Something Cute.  How could you not call my boy-o cute in this picture?

June 26: Where I shop.  Well, this is where I picked up parts for Randy to work on the truck... let's not go there right now, shall we?

June 27: Bathroom.  Yep, books in the bathroom.

June 28: On the shelf.  My ugly mustard yellow bookcase at work.  No, not just books...

June 29: Soft.  Soft focus (tricked the camera on this one) of a soft fuzzie on my desk at work.

June 30: Friend.  My boy-o, having a "picnic" with some of his friends.  Cute, no?

So, here are most of the 29 pictures I took for this project this week.  I had a good bit of fun with it.  I'm going to attempt July's list as well.  Hopefully, not only will I take all the pictures, but I should also be able to get most of them posted here within a day or two of taking them.  Wish me luck!

Anyhow, I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Peace to all and may you find a positive challenge and something fun every day.

Photo A Day Update

Well, here's the next installment of Photo a Day photos.  I'm going to keep this short and sweet and mostly let the photos talk for themselves.

Day 7 was drink.  This is how I start my day most days.  With some tea.  This is the teapot that my brother and Becca got me for my birthday, and Gak got me another one of for mother's day.  I love the way it works.  (I'm also impressed I caught this mid-pour with my point-n-shoot and the lovely steam on the mug.  For anyone who cares, this was the raspberry black tea.  Good by itself, better with some of the raspberry patch herbal tea mixed in and even better iced.

Day 8 was 6:00.  I missed 6:00 in the morning.  At 6:00 in the evening, Boo and I were playing at the playground.  We had a good time, as usual.  We really do love the playground at the park.

Day 9 was to be my view today.  This isn't the one I posted on G+, but it works just as well.  This is a view of part of the crowd at Rock the Mall.  I told you all about our adventures there the other day.

Day 10 was supposed to be the best bit of my weekend.  Well, Sunday we went down to visit Amma and PopPop and had some minor adventures.  So, I thought I'd share a picture of the SWAPS I got at Rock the mall, because without a doubt, my DC trip was the best part of my weekend.  I think the one I have from the furthest away is the little blue pocket looking one, it's from North Carolina.  The closest one is the pin with beads in the front, that troop is from the next town up the road from where I work.  Yep, went all the way to DC to meet people from down the road.

Day 11 was door.  I've shot this little shed in across the stream form the park before, but I had to again.  Most of the doors around me on a daily basis are pretty boring.  I have some other great door shots, but I decided I had to take a new photo.  Of course, I left the house without my camera, so I had to use my phone.  Admittedly, my phone has a half decent camera on it.

Yesterday, day 12, was shoot from down low.  I wanted to get an awesome picture of one of the trees out front, but it was raining and I wasn't feeling very inspired but I knew I had to get some shot.  I took this one lying on the floor of the foyer of our apartment building.  Yep, that's my bike, Lady, there in the stairwell.  I kinda like the effect, but not one of my best shots.  I have much better shots taken from down low looking up.

Today, day 13, was art.  Yeah, that's helpful.  So, today I took a picture of some of Boo's art.  The latest batch he told me to take into work.  They're maps if you're wondering.  Maps to where?  Well, according to him, they're to "places".  Thanks kid; you're a help.

Overall I'm having fun with this.  Part of me wishes I had the time and energy (and equipment) to really "do" this from a photographer point of view, create some "real" art.  Part of me thinks I should just do this totally as "snapshots" and let art go to and pound sand.  Both methods have merit.  If I'm just trying to record a glimpse of the day with a single image with a theme, than snapshots are almost implied.  But, if I approach it as a way to push myself and and work on my skills as a photographer, than I should be approaching these assignments with more thought and care.  But, since I like both approaches, I'll probably try and push myself when and where I can, but revel in the snapshot nature of shooting with either my phone or my point-n-shoot.  I miss my SLR, and have been drooling over DSLRs lately.  I think part of me really wants to get back to "being" a photographer. 

 I miss it. 

 I just don't have time.  I don't have the time or the energy to really focus on it.  I don't have the equipment to shoot digitally the way I want to.  I still have my film SLRs, but my FG has a wonky back I just can't trust and my auto-focus one, I just get lazy with and don't actually take the time to play with the f-stop and shutter speed like I do with the FG.  I want to have ultimate control.  I want to play with the settings.  But... as much as I love working in the darkroom and developing and printing my own B&W film and photos I have fallen in love with the instant gratification of seeing what I shoot digitally.  (I also really miss the sound of the shutter, the real sound that is, and the feel of the mechanics of advancing the film... the tactile part of photography.)

Anyhow, I'm just rambling at this point.  I will gladly live with my little Cannon and hope that some day soon I'll be able to afford a DSLR and have some time to enjoy it.

Peace to all and may you stretch your skills and enjoy your challenges.

Rock The Mall

Well, it's 9:00 already.  I was going to spend the evening writing up the detailed story of our trip to Washington, DC and Rock the Mall.  That's not going to happen. So, I'll leave with you a few pictures and a brief description.

We left the church around 7:40 in the morning.  The drive down was pretty uneventful, even if two of us totally forgot to stop at the planned rest stop.  We got on the Metro at the Greenbelt station.  Along with almost an entire train full of girls and leaders and other people.  I feel sorry for anyone who thought they'd just catch the Metro and head into DC on a whim or were going about their normal Saturday routines.  The Girl Scouts totally took over the Metro. There was singing and swapping and story sharing.  We rode with a troop from Dover, DE.

We arrived at Smithsonian station right about noon.  There was a nice shady tree right near the exit from the Metro station that no other troop had taken over, so we did in order to have lunch.  We also borrowed the facilities at the Freer Gallery for a potty break.

You should have seen the masses of girls that had taken over the Mall and were steadily heading towards the Washington Monument.  It was like a sea of girls and leaders.  It was impressive just in it's own rights.  We joined in the migration and headed off towards the Washington Monument and the main event.

We never did get close enough to either stage to actually sing along, but we had so much fun talking to other girls we met wandering around and heading in the general direction of the stage.  I think the person from the furthest away that I talked to was from Arizona.  I saw someone carrying an Alaska flag.

We got to the other side of the Washington Monument ellipse because Rachel saw the fire trucks and just had to go up closer.  So, we were on hand to watch the telesquirt rise into the air and get ready to shower the people with water to cool them off. It was a lot of fun.  Liz did get separated from us for a few minutes, but we found her pretty quickly.

Since we couldn't get near the stage and it was already just about 2:30, we wandered through the WWII memorial for a bit.  The best part was that there was a Hero Flight chapter there with about two dozen or so veterans.  We were able to talk to and thank every one of them.  That was just as moving, for very different reasons, than seeing so many gathered to celebrate the wonderful thing that is the 100th birthday of Girl Scouts.

We were smart and didn't want to fight our way up the Mall to the Smithsonian Station, we walked a dozen or so blocks to a different station that was on K street.  We easily got onto a train and even made it with little fuss onto a car heading back to Greenbelt.  Once we got there, we used one of the GPS units to find a place nearby to eat.  We end up at the Silver Diner.  I could probably write an entire blog post on how awesome a diner it is.  But I won't, because as you can see, I've rambled on way longer than I intended.  Needless to say after dinner we headed back up 95 and home.  Boo and I got dropped off at about 11:15 or so.

It was a full day, and a fun day.  I'm very glad we did it, but I really don't need to be around that many people any time again soon.

Oh, and I've been doing Photo A Day June, they've all been posted on G+.  I'll do a more in-depth photo update tomorrow.

So, until then, I"ll leave you with these pictures from Rock the Mall.
Peace to all and may your adventures be fun and your weekends wonderful.

Birthday Week Review

Lots to catch up on.  I'm not sure I really gave a good write-up on Boo's birthday.  Of course, we were celebrating it pretty much all weekend for all intents and purposes.  We're finally down to just one cupcake left and about one more dinner of leftovers, but the vast majority of presents have yet to be put away in his room.

It's been a great week all together.  Nana got here last Wednesday.  Somehow, I managed to totally neglect mentioning that last week.  I took a half day off of work to fetch her from the airport with Boo.  Boo was so very excited to see her when she finally made it down to baggage claim.  It was fairly uneventful to get back home (unlike getting stuck for almost 20 minutes in traffic on the way down to the airport...).

Wednesday evening we got Nana settled in and made up Boo's "nest" on the floor of his room.  I think he slept on every available square inch of his floor this week.  He's a nest builder just like I am and was quite content to use Lee as a pillow/bed and all his blankies, friends and pillows to make a comfy looking nest.  (Thanks Aunt Abi for Lee!  See, not only is he a fun dog to have around, he doubles as a guest bed for small children! *laugh*)
After getting everyone Nana and Boo settled in his room for the night, Gak and I snuck out to get Boo's bicycle and some other odds and ends.

Thursday Nana got the boy all to herself while we were at work.  (Daddy had to put in a full day, so he left with me...)  Boo was glad to see me when I got home, but had a great, lazy, day with his Nana.  Gak and I actually got to go out on a date that evening!  Originally we were going to grab dinner, see a movie and maybe pick up the last of Boo's birthday gifts.  Well, we got dinner.  We wandered the book store but didn't find anything that leapt out at us and I just couldn't handle the thought of spending a few more hours staring at a screen, even though I really, really, really wanted to see Avengers.  (Gak's already seen it and the fact he's willing to pay to see it again says something...)  So, we wandered over to Target to pick up a few last minute things and headed home so I could wrap gifts and crash so I could get to work early.

Friday was the day.  I actually managed to get Boo in and out of the car three or four times without him noticing the bike in the back of the car.  We even managed to get it all the way upstairs without him noticing.  When he did, well, you saw the grin on his face from the post on the 1st.  I think I wrote up the big day itself pretty well in that post.

Saturday was super busy.  I started the morning extra early by running to the store for food for the evening's dinner as well as making both the goodie bags and the icing for the cupcakes in the afternoon.
We had soccer in the morning.  Boo almost participated.  Maybe in a few more weeks he will.  Maybe not.  I kinda hope he does, but if he doesn't that's OK too.  His coaches are awesome about trying to get him to participate without being pushy or mean.  He almost did participate a few times, until they noticed him and called his name and asked if he wanted to play.  Then he hightailed it right back off the field.  Oh well.  Apparently he does this at school too.  Eventually he'll be willing to participate in group activities.

After soccer we ran a couple of errands and caught up with Kat to drop off a few things with here that were going to the house.  Lunch consisted of Sonic drive-through scarfed down before trying to get the boy to lay down for a few minutes and me to finish getting everything for the bowling party ready.  The boys and Zoe had a blast bowling.  The four younger boys all bowled one game, while Zoe, Billy and I managed to get two in.  After the boys finished their game, we all had cupcakes and sang "happy birthday" and opened presents. It was nice to see his friends outside of school.  We've got to get the boys together more often, especially Boo and Dom.  They really are best buds.  It's so cute to see them playing together with their little blonde and little dark-haired heads close together hatching who knows what kind of ideas.  I hope they can remain friends a long, long time.

Gak walked over to the bowling alley after he got done work and got there right as we were wrapping up.  After that it was home to grab the stuff for dinner and let Boo ride his brand new bike for about half an hour.  Let me tell you, he hopped on and had no troubles.  Well, he doesn't always remember he can't pedal backwards on the new bike (that's the breaks) and he likes to go a few feet and then stop and yell out "red light!".  He's having fun and riding up a storm, so who cares?

Dinner at Kat's was fun and a nice gathering.  I have no idea how many people were actually there, but it wasn't many more than the normal number we have any given weekend.  The really surprising part, my dad actually came up with Mom!  Yep, PopPop was feeling like he needed out of the house and wanted to come up for his grandson's birthday dinner.  I can't tell you how happy I was to see him.  And I know Boo was extra happy too.  He loves his PopPop!

Sunday was a bit of an adventure, mostly in the good way.  Boo, Gak and I joined the rest of the group to head out to the MAAM WWII weekend air show in Reading.  We'd gone last year and had a lot of fun.  Breakfast was a bit of an adventure, but we survived.  The air show was a lot of fun and the weather was beautiful, other than the 20-minute or so downpour (that was quite a gully-washer) that trapped us in the Officer's Club.  Boo, Gak and I ended up leaving around 3:00 or so because a boy was exhausted and refusing to nap in his stroller.  That was fine as it meant we got more time at home with Nana.  Nana really wanted to come, but she was just exhausted after the traveling and all the going on Saturday.  She was thankful for the chance to rest for a bit.  I do wish she'd been able to join us, she would have enjoyed looking at the planes, and I know Boo would have liked having her there.

(The only thing I regret from Nana's visit is that we didn't really get a chance to go anywhere.  But, Nana said she mostly just wanted to spend time with her boy (Boo) and that's what she got.  I know darn right well in the grand scheme of things Gak and I aren't the main reason she wanted to visit, it was all Boo.)

Monday was another low-key day for Boo and Nana while Gak and I worked.  Amma was going to come up, but instead she spent the day with Aunt Beverly and Uncle Richard who were in town very briefly.  As much fun as it would have been for Boo to have a day with both his grandmothers, it was more important for Aunt Beverly to get time with her brother.

Yesterday I had the afternoon off because I had a doctor's appointment at 2:15 to follow up on the Vitamin D situation.  (Everything's good and getting better if I remember to take it, the two days I didn't, a day later I was sorry...)  Boo, Nana and I got to have lunch together and we tried to find a boy's T-shirt with something local on it that she could take back to her other grandson.  We weren't successful, but we did get another new Wilson chugger for Boo...  We also got Dragon pictures finally.  I'm not sure how many more years Boo will let me do that...

This morning Boo had his 4-year appointment.  His vision and hearing are excellent.  He wasn't too thrilled about the idea of getting on the scale for some reason, but he's 41.5" tall and 36.5 lb, putting him in the 70-75% range for both height and weight.  (I'm pretty sure he was only 40" tall when we were at Knoebel's a month ago, and he floats between 36 and 38 lb depending on clothes and time of day...)  He did very well with his two shots.  Yes, he screamed bloody murder with his MMR shot, but that stings like crazy, so it's understandable.

We also went to the bank and emptied out his banks.  We need to do that more often... He got to put almost $20 into the bank and kept almost $20 for his pocket.  He says he wants to buy books.  Nope, apple didn't fall far from the tree there... his daddy and I are some pretty big bookworms.  (Now to encourage him to actually make the leap to reading the words.  He's all but there...)

Then it was time to have some lunch with Nana and take her to the airport.  Kinda sad since we don't know when we'll make it out there or she'll be able to make it back here.  It kinda stinks, but that's just the way it crumbles right now.  If I had an extra $1200 or so sitting around, we'd be heading out there in the fall or over the winter after the Christmas rush.  But, I don't.  So, we won't.

In other random news, Steve is in Kuwait right now just waiting for space on a transport stateside to open up.  He should be home within the week I'm thinking.  Michelle is still overseas and will be until July some time.  She may be home this week, but that'll all be work related.  I can't wait to see either one of them!

Jon and Becca got a house and are settling in.

And here are the next few pictures for Photo A Day June:
June 5th was "sign".  I wasn't feeling very inspired, but I did like the looks of the sign at the gas station... and I think it's dropped another penny or two..  (just a snapshot from my phone...)

June 6th, today, was "hat".  The two most important hats in my life right now are my son's and my bike helmets.  I finally got a ride in with the boy-o today.  It's been raining in the afternoon for two weeks straight I think and with Nana here our schedule was all kinds of crazy so no rides.  I made Trey stay with the bike when we got to the playground because it had only stopped raining about 20 minutes before and I didn't need a dino tracking mud all over the apartment....

So, on that note, I'm heading to bed.  Sorry for the long ramble.
Peace to all and may your weeks be full and fun.

Photo A Day, June

I have lots and lots to write about this weekend.  But... as if I wasn't busy enough already, I've decided to play along with FatMumSlim's Photo A Day challenge.  I kinda stumbled across it when blog hopping the other day.  Feeling the need for a little inspiration and maybe a little bit of a challenge to shoot different things, I decided I might as well play along.  So, here we are on day 4.

I've got to keep this a little short, since I'm at work, but hopefully I'll have at least a little fun post every day, or maybe just a summary once a week.  I'm not sure how it'll pan out.

Without further ado...

Friday, June 1st was Morning:
I didn't decide to do this until I saw something about it at work.  So, I didn't get the morning picture I really wanted, my birthday boy sleeping in his nest.  So, you get a morning picture of his bicycle (don't mind the mess in the back of the truck...).

Saturday, June 2nd was Empty:
I was so busy most of the day that I kept forgetting to take any pictures that might fill this.  I could have gotten empty cupcake wrappers from his party, or empty dishes or all kinds of other things.  This is party related though, as this is the empty container of chocolate sprinkles we used to decorate the cupcakes I made for Boo's bowling party with his friends.  Both the bowling and the cupcakes were a hit.

Sunday, June 3rd was On Your Plate:
I kept forgetting to take pictures of my food, or any food for that matter.  So, before bed I snapped this one of our calendar in the kitchen.  It's not fully up to date.  But, even with missing some things, it still looks pretty full at the moment.  So, yes, we've got a lot on our plate.

Monday, June 4th is Close-up:
I had fun with this.  I saw my koosh ball sitting on my desk this morning and I just knew I had to play with the macro setting on my camera.  I like it when I can play around with this setting and actually get it to do what I want.  I'm really quite happy with the very short depth of field on this one and the nice, tight, focus.  Of course, I was wishing both yesterday at the air show and today playing around that I had a good DSLR.... I love my point-n-shoot, but I miss my SLR (and many days my film) camera... so much more versatile than this cute little pocket camera.  (This picture looks really cool full screen...)

So, peace to all and may you find something fun to shoot and an interesting challenge or two along the way.