Summer

You guys! It's August already! Summer is moving way too fast (as usual) and I'm starting to panic about all the things we haven't done - beach! camping! etc!

This past weekend I suggested the beach (which Riley was all about), but we decided to check out another item on our list - paddle boating at Centennial Lakes. Neither Jesse nor I have been there before which seems like such a shame (and makes me feel like I need to find all those other local things we haven't explored). We've driven by it a gazillion times without really knowing what was behind all those shops off of France Avenue.

When we were in the Black Hills we talked about paddle boating with Riley. It didn't work out while we were there so we decided we should do it when we got back home. Better later than never, I researched a couple places nearby (Lake Calhoun and Centennial Lakes) and we headed out for a little summer fun. It was a hot day so a half hour on the paddle boat was enough, but I would totally come back here... for the paddle boat, lawn games, mini golf, walking, etc. They also have kid activities/music during the week (Wednesdays and Fridays, I think) and entertainment in the evening.

(Side note: if you have a waist band Fitbit, attach it to your shoe to get "credit" for peddling on the paddle boat.)

Oh, another thing we've been doing this summer is going to swim class. Well, Jesse or I simply chauffeur Riley to her swim class. We've been meaning to do this for years and finally got around to it. She's really apprehensive when it comes to water - she wants to be in it, but is very cautious and doesn't trust Jesse and I one bit.

Anyhoo, class one and two started with crying. Between week one and two she stressed daily about having to go back to swim class on Monday. She was bordering on hysterical when I brought her on week two, but the instructor basically told me to get out and as expected Riley chilled out. There is a big window where we can look in and she can see us so it was nice to see her pull it together. By week three she was a-ok and she was jumping in the pool with minimal help. By week four? She was swimming - at least the beginning of what I would call swimming, but it was swimming.

So proud of her and she's clearly proud of herself too.Tonight she proclaimed that she jumped in by herself and that her favorite part was swimming by herself. I'm really amazed that she's come this far in such a short time. Her instructor, Danny, is pretty straight forward. I don't get a lot of warm fuzzies from him, but he's encouraging and it seems to be working.

This is huge!

And so is this!

And that's our summer update. Now to pack the rest of the summer with more fun things...

Georgie

A while back I took a picture of my birth sister's dog and posted it on Facebook. That led to a conversation with my co-worker where I offered to photograph her dog. I'd love to photograph pets more, but it's hard (they don't like to sit still - go figure) so I wanted to get some practice in.

Georgie was a great little dog to take pictures of and I was happy to provide my co-worker with pictures of her dog. I encouraged her get in some of the pictures because I think it's important to have pictures with our pets (plus, I wanted to capture her wonderfully bright and fun outfit).

Thanks Georgie and Marne!

Project 52 - Back Light - Week 30

30/52

A couple years ago all Riley wanted to do was go outside. Now I feel like I have to force her. It's too hot, there are bugs, there's no TV... *sigh*

The other day I forced her outside and we blew bubbles and actually had fun so I decided to practice taking pictures of bubbles. But Riley loves to pop all the bubbles so I had a hard time getting a shot before she plowed through them. Oh well, she was having fun.

Instead I decided to try a new technique I read about when taking a picture with back light. I shoot in manual and use the in camera meter to determine my settings. I'll meter off the face, but when you have bright back light it makes the face dark even though your camera might be telling you it's right on. Take this straight out of camera picture for example...

Her face is way too dark for my liking. I read that you want to raise your exposure as high as you can without blowing out the face (take a picture and then check your screen viewer with the 'blinkies' on. Raise you exposure and as long as they aren't on the face you are good.) Your background will be blown out, but that's not so important. I tried it again and here's the result straight out of camera...

Better, right? I still need to do some tweaking to this process, but am really excited to have learned something new and useful. I then did some editing in Lightroom and Photoshop and ended up with this...

So the moral of the story is that you can't always trust your camera. Play around with your settings and don't give up when something doesn't turn out quite right. You'll get it eventually - it took me years to figure this out... and so glad I did.

Project 52 - River Walk - Week 29

29/52

I've learned one thing about myself this past week - I can't live with out Photoshop. I know, very dramatic of me, but I shoot in raw and Lightroom only takes my pictures part way to my vision. I just neeeeed Photoshop. I do.

Let's back up... husband did some upgrades to my computer so I could actually use the ram sitting on my computer. Basically, ram didn't work with my system, system now updated and I am no longer cursing at my computer for it's archaically slow speed. Once my computer was back together I start to put everything back in place and I could not find the code for my Photoshop CS3. More curses. My tech savvy nephew says he can help get me CS5.5, but after a week and a half I totally crack and sign up for a 30 day trial run of Photoshop CC. Unlike previous versions of Photoshop where you just buy the product, CC is on a monthly membership which I hate, but will probably succumb to.

At any rate, I finally got to finish editing my pictures from last week. On Monday I had the day off (because I had to work on Saturday) and decided to take full advantage. I got a massage, walked around the river in my old neighborhood (which I have a special love for), and then ate lunch at the Aster Cafe all by myself. Wonderful. I hate working Saturdays, but it sure is worth it when I spend my alternate day off like this.

 Oh, Nordeast, how I love you.

Family Time

Jesse's brother and his family have been gone for over a week so I thought I better get around to summarizing the rest of their visit before I forget. As a reminder, Jesse's brother, Rich is married to Susee and they have two boys, Mason (16), and Cade (almost 14). Three years ago they moved to Luxembourg for Rich's job and we've been able to see them at least once a year (they visited us twice, we went there once). We hope that we can keep the visits up, but not sure that's sustainable. Jesse did commit to saving up to back there again, but it might be a couple years yet. They plan to stay in Luxembourg for at least another 7 years and just bought a house so they seem pretty committed to that. I wish they were closer, but I guess it's nice to know that we have a place to stay when we want to visit Europe. In fact, Jesse's already told his brother that they will be watching Riley while he and I take a train off to France or Germany the next time we visit. Glad he's planning ahead

Anyhoo, I already talked about our boating adventures over the 4th of July weekend. A weird thing happened about an hour after I got off the boat - I got sea sick and it lasted at least a week. I did some research and there's a thing called land sickness that happens for some people after they get off a boat and that it could last a week or even months. I still get a little off feeling from time to time, but it's mostly gone. Apparently, it can get subsequently worse with additional boat rides so now I'm scared of ever getting on a boat again. Nothing like feeling nauseous all week (and no, I'm not pregnant).

Even with feeling like my equilibrium was off, I still had a lot of fun and didn't let it get in the way. I even played foot golf which was something I'd never heard of before that week. For those that don't know about this activity it's basically soccer and golf wrapped into one. The course is on a golf course, but has slightly different start and end spots, but the same rules. We were a group of 10 and I'm sure we got in the way of the 'true' golfers. I imagine they are likely annoyed by foot golfers, but no one there yelled at us or anything so I don't think we pissed anyone off too much.

Riley didn't understand the concept, but had a blast and was so proud of all the 'goals' she was making. She kept up with us for the whole 9 holes without a single whine so the day was a big win. Plus, I beat Jesse by a couple points which I wasn't expecting at all.

The rest of the week was spent just hanging out either at our house or my in laws. They played a couple of Jesse's strategic type of board games and they humored my request to play with sparklers while I photographed them. On their final night in town we all gathered at my in laws for tacos and said our final good byes. Some extended family stopped by as well so I had to make sure that I took some pictures. This is probably the closest I've come to doing a real photo shoot - posing people and all.

The grandkids

Since I had the tripod and timer set up I used the opportunity to get a quick snap of my immediate family as well.

And that was it They left the next day and our lives went back to normal - almost too quiet not having them around. We sure do miss them and can't wait until next time.

Project 52 - Family Fun Night - Week 28

28/52

Riley's preschool has a Family Fun Night each summer which is usually outside, but due to rain we were relegated to the school cafeteria. It was a lot of fun, just like last year, but this time Riley didn't cling to me the entire time. She can get that way, but last year she was especially clingy.

This year she was initially reluctant to advance toward the dance floor until she was sure she saw one of her friends. Only two of her classmates showed up, but she did see some kids from her class last year (that are younger than her) and her favorite teacher ever who is also from her class last year.

Dancing, games, and all around fun was had. Many necklaces were 'caught' as the DJ was throwing them left and right. We brought a picnic dinner (Jimmy John Jones as Riley likes to call it) and an ice cream truck came at the end.

Riley and her friends, Greyson and Sarah, from her class won the 'toilet paper' contest which totally made their night. Greyson's mom was an awesome 'model' for this event.

Actually, I think the highlight of the night was when the DJ played I Like to Move it and Riley totally lost it like she was an awestruck teen at a New Kids on the Block concert in the 90's... screeching in a high pitch tone "I LOVE THIS SONG" over and over. The hysteria had reached it's peak with this one.

Side note: Riley caught me taking her picture and ran over to see what I captured, and then her friend came to see, and then some other kids all started running over to see the pictures. Lol. So vain, these kids.

This will be our last Family Fun Night at this school and most of her friends are heading off to different schools in the fall, but I'm sure we'll be participating in many more of these types of events at her new school with her new friends. I can't wait to see how these sorts of things excite her in the future.