2011-06-30

ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/80s, 18-105mm lens

The common milkweed upon which we find our Monarch caterpillars is blooming right now.  The field behind our church is loaded with milkweed blooms and it smells divine.  I wanted to capture a photo of the blooms before they die.  Plus I got a little sun flare in just for fun.  :)

Also just a reminder that this is the last Photo of the Day post on this blog.  Starting tomorrow my POTD's will be posted on my main blog, My Perspective.  I hope you'll join me over there.

2011-06-29

ISO 800, f/8, 1/60s, 55-200mm lens

My friend, Laura, invited us to go to the zoo with her today.  This was the last day of their yearly membership and she still had some guest passes left.  It was a gorgeous day.  Sunny and not too hot.

The leopard display was finally done being refurbished and the leopard was so close, you could almost touch him.  Except for the glass window separating us, of course.  :)  We had a great time.  More photos to come soon on My Perspective.  But in the meantime, head over to Laura's and see her awesome zoo photos.

I'm picking this one as my favorite photo of the week.  I mean, how often do you get to be this close to a leopard?  :)




Edit on July 6 ... I just saw that Misty picked this photo as one of her Top 5 for the week!  Thanks, Misty!

2011-06-28

ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/100s, 18-105mm lens

Doug weeded the hillside where we had planted a bunch of various flower seeds and we discovered some flowers growing that we hadn't seen before :) ... like these Black-eyed Susans.

For those of you who have been faithful to visit and comment on my blog and haven't had a visit back from me lately, I apologize.  I'm still a bit behind after returning from our trip.  I promise I will visit soon!
Also, just a reminder that June 30 will be the last post on this blog.  I will start posting my picture of the day over at my main blog, My Perspective beginning July 1.  I'd love it if you'd join me over there if you haven't already!

Week 25 Summary

Okay, so I'm waaaaay off schedule this week.  The trip to Boston this weekend has my days all messed up.  And I'm still pretty tired from being in a van for about 28 hours over a 3 day stretch.  If I never see the inside of that church van again, it will be soon enough.  :)

But the kids all did great in Bible Quizzing.  We came home with a gold, a silver, and a bronze medal.  Congrats Rachel, Keira, and Lexi!

Anyway, here's what last week looked like ... in pictures ...

19 - A milkweed beetle - taken with the help of my 10X macro filter.

20 - Muddy-faced kids.  I told them I'd let them get all muddy if they'd let me photograph them all together.  :)

21 - Keira and I went on a little photo shooot.

22 - A juvenile Robin that the kids caught then set free.

23 - Honey had her first visit to the groomer's.  She came home so pretty and fuzzy.  :)

24 - The hills/mountains of Pennsylvania ... taken out the van window on our way to Boston.

25 - Quincy Bay, Massachusetts.  We had time before our girls started quizzing and the beach was only a few blocks from the college where the quiz was taking place, so we walked over to put our toes in the sand/ocean.

2011-06-27

ISO 400, f/5.3, 1/160s, 18-55mm lens with 10X macro filter

Three of our caterpillars formed their chrysalises while we were away, so this is our last one left so far.  He's getting huge also.  It is hard to believe he was this tiny when we first brought him home.  He will be forming his chrysalis in the next day or so.  Soon we will have beautiful Monarch butterflies!

2011-06-26

ISO 200, f/8, 1/320s, 18-105mm lens

This photo is also from the 25th because I literally only took one photo on the 26th on the way home from Massachusetts and it didn't turn out very well through the van window.  :)  Exhaustion will do that, I guess.

This photo shows all the dead jellyfish along the coast at Quincy Bay, MA.  We had to be careful walking around so we didn't step on them and all their squishyness.  :)  I really only took this photo to show my son, Nick, because he likes stuff like this.  :)

2011-06-25

ISO 400, f/11, 1/250s, 18-105mm lens

Once we got to the college where the Bible Quizzing was taking place, the girls had some time to kill before quizzing started for their level.  (The younger kids quizzed in the morning - the older kids in the afternoon).  So we decided to walk a few blocks over to the beach at Quincy Bay.  It was a gray, overcast day and a bit chilly, but we all still enjoyed sticking our feet in the ocean and finding a few seashells.

2011-06-24

ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/1600s, 18-105mm lens

Just a shot out the van window on our way to Boston.  These are the hills/mountains of Pennsylvania.  It was a gray, rainy day.

I will catch up the rest of my photos tomorrow.  I'm beat.

2011-06-23

ISO 400, f/11, 1/160s, 18-105mm lens

Honey went to the groomer's today for the first time.  She got herself all pertified.  :)  I figured I'd get a photo of her before she decides to go roll in something icky.

On a completely unrelated note, Keira and I are leaving very early (like waaaaaaay too early) tomorrow morning for Boston.  She qualified to go to Bible Quizzing Regionals and they are this weekend.  We will be traveling in the church van with 11 other people--3 other adults and 8 other kids.  So if you don't hear anything from me for a few days you'll know why although I do plan to take my laptop.  Oh, and prayers would be appreciated.  For safety and sanity.  :)

2011-06-22

ISO 1600, f/8, 1/40s, 18-105mm lens

While walking around our property tonight, I noticed this little bird struggling among some trees/brush.  The kids took on the challenge of trying to catch it to see why it was struggling.  I was very surprised when they succeeded.  They put it in a big cardboard box and gave it some bird seed, which it refused to eat.  It just wanted out of the box.  They only kept him captive for a few minutes.  (Mean mom wouldn't let them keep it.)  :)  He managed to fly into some nearby pine trees where he stayed for quite a while.  I haven't researched what kind of bird it is yet, so if you happen to know, you could save me some time by leaving a comment.  :)  I thought it might be a juvenile robin?

2011-06-21

ISO 400, f/8, 1/100s, 18-105mm lens

Keira and I went on a little fun photo shoot and took along a couple props to play with.  She loved this umbrella I bought at Five Below for five bucks.  This is one of her favorite photos that we took.  Mine too.

2011-06-20

ISO 1600, f/8.0, 1/60s, 18-105mm lens

Sometimes the only way to get the three of them together for a photo is to let them get muddy first.

Just for fun, I'm entering this in the I {heart} Faces "For the boys" challenge.

2011-06-19

ISO 400, f/11, 1/125s, 18-55mm lens with 10X macro filter

As I was scouring the milkweed leaves for caterpillars (yes, I am a bit obsessed), I came across this little guy.  I believe he is a milkweed bug.  He was on a milkweed leaf, so I'm sticking with that.  Anyway, I slapped on my 10X macro filter to get some more practice.  Thankfully he stayed perfectly still while I played.  :)  I still need to work on getting the focus just right.

Linking up with

over at Lisa's Chaos.

Week 24 Summary

Another great week!  The kids had VBS all week and Doug was out of town for work, so I had some much-needed time to myself.  For a few days anyway since I helped out at VBS on Thursday and Friday.  Everyone is home today and things are semi-normal.  The kids have been getting along so far today.  Here's hoping it lasts.

This morning I chose to go for a bike ride (instead of a run) on the bike trail.  (It was a little too warm to run by the time I rolled out of bed.)  :)  Nick decided he needed to go with me.  While there, I concluded that I will leave him at home the next time.  :)  He needs to stop way too much.

Anyway, here's my week in pictures ...

12 - Pretty little butterfly on milkweed flowers.  We frequently look for Monarch caterpillars anytime we come across some milkweed.

13 - Nick enjoying a fresh-picked strawberry from our neighbor's greenhouse.

14 - Took the kids fishing at a different lake and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

15 - Random purple flower growing on our hillside.

16 - We finally got some rain and my lilies were very happy.

17 - Gold Rush VBS decoration painted by an incredibly talented lady from our church.

18 - Saw a mama turkey and her two babies on our bike ride this morning.

And if you happen to be stopping by from Inspire Happiness Daily, here's the photo that Tracey chose as one of her top 5 this week ...

It is our first teeny, tiny baby Monarch caterpillar of the year next to a grain of rice to show how small it is (was - he's grown quite considerably since then).  This photo isn't in this week's collage because it is from last Saturday.  My weekly summaries run from Sunday to Saturday.





To answer your question/comment Tracey (and anyone else who is interested), if Monarch butterflies live where you live, they lay their eggs on milkweed because that's what the caterpillars eat.  My kids can spot milkweed from a mile away now, so we stop and inspect them for eggs and/or caterpillars.  If we find one, we pluck the whole leaf and bring it home and place it into our bug box.  We give them a fresh leaf to eat every day or two, depending on how big the caterpillar is and how much they eat.  We also clean the container out every day because all caterpillars do is eat and poop and shed their skin.  :)  (We just wipe it out with a dry paper towel).


Here's the website Glorious-Butterfly to read all about how to raise them.  It is incredibly easy or else we wouldn't do it.  :)  We successfully raised 34 butterflies last summer and would like to raise more than that this summer, which I believe we will do since we started earlier.  It was like an ongoing science experiment for my kids.  They loved it!


Oh and as of today, we have 4 small caterpillars happily munching and 3 eggs awaiting to hatch.  :)  Can't wait to post butterfly photos!


Have a fabulous week!

2011-06-18

ISO 800, f/8.0, 1/800, 18-105mm lens

Yeah, I probably should have lowered my ISO, but I had to move quickly to capture this mama turkey and her two babies on the bike trail this morning.  So glad I decided to bring my camera along.  Although I do wish now that I had brought the 55-200mm zoom lens.  As it was, I really had to crop to get them this close.  If I crop anymore, they just get fuzzy.  :(

2011-06-17

ISO 800, f/5.0, 1/30s, 18-105mm lens

Our church's Vacation Bible School/Day Camp was this past week.  This year's theme was Gold Rush.  One of the incredibly talented ladies from our church, Trish, painted all the decorations, including this Prospector.  We had a record turnout and all the kids had a good time while learning about Jesus.

2011-06-16

ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/60s, 18-55mm lens w/4x macro filter

After having such a rainy April and May, and having such a hot, dry June, we finally got some much-needed rain today, so I ventured out this evening to capture some rain drops. I played with my macro filters again on my lilies ... still getting the hang of them.  I decided to turn down the saturation on this photo to make it softer.  The lilies are very bright yellow.

The forecast for the next 7 days? ... Isolated/scattered thunderstorms EVERY day.  Be careful what you wish for, I guess.  :)

2011-06-15

ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/50s, 55-200mm lens, Shadowhouse Creations textures added

Just a pretty purple flower I found growing on my hillside this evening.

2011-06-14

ISO 200, f/11, 1/500s, 18-105mm lens

The kids and I went on a picnic then did a little fishing afterward at a different lake than normal.  I thought a change of scenery might do us all some good.  Once we were all done we stopped at a different part of the lake so we could watch the sunset.  I'm so glad we did because it was gorgeous.

2011-06-13

ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/320s, 18-105mm lens

I'm semi-cheating today.  Being the 13th of the month, I'm supposed to feature a photo of Nick that I took today.  However, I forgot that I was supposed to take his picture until about 8:30 this evening and by that time it was getting dark.  I took a few but they ended up blurry from such a slow shutter speed (even with ISO 1600).  So instead of showing one of the blurry ones, I'm posting a photo I took just a few days ago of Nick enjoying one of the fresh-picked strawberries from a neighbor's garden.  His eyes just make me melt.  And how sweet are those little freckles across his nose?  :)

2011-06-12

ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/250s, 18-55mm lens

After church the kids and I took a walk behind the church where there is a whole field of milkweed to look for Monarch caterpillars.  We didn't find any more caterpillars today, but we did come across this sweet, little butterfly on the milkweed flowers.

Week 23 Summary

Another week gone!  Not much to say this week.  The kids are done with school and when they aren't playing nicely with each other, they are trying to kill each other.  I can feel my hair turning gray as I type this.  What hair I have left, that is.  :)  But, hey, only about 75 more days until school starts again, right?

To see a larger photo or find out more about it, click on the links.

5 - Alex playing on the new slip-n-slide

6 - Me ... taken by Keira

7 - Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly male

8 - Playing with sunbursts/sun flare

9 - Pretty yellow flower

10 - Blue Jay in flight

11 - Baby Monarch caterpillar - our first of the summer

2011-06-11

ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/250s, 18-55mm lens w/10x macro filter

We found our first teeny tiny baby Monarch caterpillar last evening at the park!  I placed a grain of rice next to him so you can get an idea of just how tiny he is.

For those of you that are new here, we raised 34 Monarch butterflies last summer.  It was like an ongoing science experiment for the kids.  They loved it!  And so did I!  It was fascinating to watch the process.  It is truly amazing how God works.  

I made a photo book out of some of the photos (I took many more that didn't make the book.)  :)  Here's the link in case you are interested in checking it out ...

Monarch Photo Book - Summer 2010

And I realize this is not a prize-winning photo by any means, but it is definitely my favorite photo of the week because of what it represents.

Can't wait until I can show off some Monarch butterfly photos!  Stay tuned!  :)


Tracey at Inspire Happiness Daily chose this as one of her Top 5 photos!  And I said it wasn't a prize-winning photo.  :)  Thanks, Tracey!

2011-06-10

ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/250s, 55-200mm lens

The kids and I ordered pizza and went to the park to eat it so they could play afterward.  While we were eating, we had a visitor ... this beautiful Blue Jay.  The kids gladly shared their pizza crust with him.  He would swoop in, grab a bite, then fly off quickly.

2011-06-09

ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/100s, 18-105mm lens

Just one of the flowers growing on our hillside.  I have no idea what it is.  We just threw a bunch of random seeds down to see what would grow.  :)

     

2011-06-08

ISO 400, f/22, 1/25s, 18-105mm lens

Just playing around this evening with sunbursts and sun flare.  Poor Honey does not like this 90+ degree weather.  Thankfully the forecast calls for a cool down over the next few days.