Saturday, September 22, 2012
New Camera
I have a new camera! It came Friday. I think my new baby and I are going to get along very well. These are the first pictures I took with it. They were taken at ISO 25,600 F2.8 and SS 1/200. Eli is sitting at the top of the stairs. The lighting is terrible and the color is off and they are pretty grainy, but the fact that I could take these in this dim, lousy light is pretty cool. I have been so bad about taking snapshots of the kids (and adults!) and maybe this will be a good kickstart to doing more everyday captures.
Monday, September 17, 2012
School started September 4, but I am just now getting to look at the obligatory first day of school pictures. Charlie and Grace seem to like their teachers and I have to say it was a smooth and uneventful transition from summer vacation to back to school. Eli struggled going back at first, but I give him credit for at least accepting that he had to go and doing what he was asked (keeping his shoes on, going in without a big fit, etc - I really wasn't sure how he would do). The reports so far from his teachers have been very positive.
So here we are. 2nd and 3rd grade! Next year, all three kids will get on that school bus. Hard to imagine.
I know I have said it before, but I love how Gracie and Charlotte crack each other up. They really are very good friends.
Sunday, September 02, 2012
Costa Rica
It's been such a long time since I posted here, I am not sure if anybody checks anymore. I haven't been taking too many pictures of the kids this summer. I did vow to take some on our vacation to Costa Rica this August. I did okay. The kids took some on their camera, too, and Derek got some great video of the monkey who came right up to us (we could have reached out and touched him!) as we crossed one of the hanging bridges in the rainforest. I will download those and try to get them up here before too long. Here is what I managed. I only got the camera out a handful of times, but it's something.
Out first stop was Ocotal Beach. The kids had never seen black sand before, which was cool. The waves broke pretty big (relative to their body size, anyway) and by the second day all three of the kids were brave enough to get right in there. The beach seemed to have a pretty steep drop off right past where the water came up, and the tug of the ocean as it went out and hit that spot could be pretty strong. Eli learned to brace himself against it, but it still made me nervous.
Grace braves the waves
We spent 5 days in the Arenal Volcano area. The view from our room looked straight at the volcano. It was cool to see the different ways it looked depending on the clouds, and the girls got excited when it cleared enough a couple of times to see the very top.
We tried hiking in the Arenal National Forest. The first day was a little bit of a bust. There was a very cool trail though this amazingly tall grass. Derek and I loved it. The girls were underwhelmed. In trying to get Grace on board I gave this little rallying speech, telling her how to really appreciate a new place you have to get out there and walk around in it. I told her that Daddy and I have hiked on glaciers and in deserts and up mountains and into canyons and on 5 different continents and here we all were in Central America hiking in the rain forest at the foot on an active volcano and wasn't it cool?! A few moments of silence ensued. Then, Grace's small voice, "I'm bored." This from the kid who spent 1.5 hours that morning watching a goofy teenage soap opera. In Spanish.
Charlotte is wearing a little stuffed monkey around her neck here (in case you were wondering).
The whole happy group.
Eli refused to walk. He was very pathetic.
We had better luck the next day, when we took a trail about a mile in and up through the lava fields where the lava came through in 1968. We told the girls they could collect some rocks to bring back, and that helped them get excited. It was cool to see the huge black boulders everywhere. We also took a 2 mile trail though a series of hanging suspension bridges in the canopy of this part of the rainforest. Eli loved the bridges and did a great job on that hike. Finally, we went down to La Fortuna waterfall, which involves a very steep descent on stairs carved into the rocks (like the Niagara River Gorge). We carried Eli most of the way down (some of the steps were way too big for him) but he walked up part of the way by himself (and got carried up by Daddy the rest of the way). The girls marched up ahead of me and Derek and were waiting for us at the top.
It was a really great trip and I am already dreaming/scheming about possible locations for the next one.
A few iPhone snaps as well.
Eli and Derek on the porch of the first place we stayed.
I love the motion blur :)
One from Facebook. The kids in front of our room in Arenal.
The front sitting area of our "casita". We had our own little plunge pool.
Eli in the hotel pool. It had a whole series of little sections and he loved to walk along from rock to rock. Hot springs are all over the Arenal area, though we didn't go to any. The pool water at the hotel was much hotter than we are used to (high 80s maybe?) and there was a little side cool pool you could go in to cool off.
The best view of the top of the volcano I captured sitting in front of our room.
The last night we spend at the Hitlon near the airport (so we didn't have a long drive and a long flight the same day). My two boys relaxing with their electronic devices.
The family.
Out first stop was Ocotal Beach. The kids had never seen black sand before, which was cool. The waves broke pretty big (relative to their body size, anyway) and by the second day all three of the kids were brave enough to get right in there. The beach seemed to have a pretty steep drop off right past where the water came up, and the tug of the ocean as it went out and hit that spot could be pretty strong. Eli learned to brace himself against it, but it still made me nervous.
Grace braves the waves
We spent 5 days in the Arenal Volcano area. The view from our room looked straight at the volcano. It was cool to see the different ways it looked depending on the clouds, and the girls got excited when it cleared enough a couple of times to see the very top.
We tried hiking in the Arenal National Forest. The first day was a little bit of a bust. There was a very cool trail though this amazingly tall grass. Derek and I loved it. The girls were underwhelmed. In trying to get Grace on board I gave this little rallying speech, telling her how to really appreciate a new place you have to get out there and walk around in it. I told her that Daddy and I have hiked on glaciers and in deserts and up mountains and into canyons and on 5 different continents and here we all were in Central America hiking in the rain forest at the foot on an active volcano and wasn't it cool?! A few moments of silence ensued. Then, Grace's small voice, "I'm bored." This from the kid who spent 1.5 hours that morning watching a goofy teenage soap opera. In Spanish.
Charlotte is wearing a little stuffed monkey around her neck here (in case you were wondering).
The whole happy group.
Eli refused to walk. He was very pathetic.
We had better luck the next day, when we took a trail about a mile in and up through the lava fields where the lava came through in 1968. We told the girls they could collect some rocks to bring back, and that helped them get excited. It was cool to see the huge black boulders everywhere. We also took a 2 mile trail though a series of hanging suspension bridges in the canopy of this part of the rainforest. Eli loved the bridges and did a great job on that hike. Finally, we went down to La Fortuna waterfall, which involves a very steep descent on stairs carved into the rocks (like the Niagara River Gorge). We carried Eli most of the way down (some of the steps were way too big for him) but he walked up part of the way by himself (and got carried up by Daddy the rest of the way). The girls marched up ahead of me and Derek and were waiting for us at the top.
It was a really great trip and I am already dreaming/scheming about possible locations for the next one.
A few iPhone snaps as well.
Eli and Derek on the porch of the first place we stayed.
I love the motion blur :)
One from Facebook. The kids in front of our room in Arenal.
The front sitting area of our "casita". We had our own little plunge pool.
Eli in the hotel pool. It had a whole series of little sections and he loved to walk along from rock to rock. Hot springs are all over the Arenal area, though we didn't go to any. The pool water at the hotel was much hotter than we are used to (high 80s maybe?) and there was a little side cool pool you could go in to cool off.
The best view of the top of the volcano I captured sitting in front of our room.
The last night we spend at the Hitlon near the airport (so we didn't have a long drive and a long flight the same day). My two boys relaxing with their electronic devices.
The family.
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