June 30, 2008

Ottawa Trip

How come long weekends are so short? It doesn't make sense!!! Well, they aren't too short, they just go by way too fast. The girls and I headed to Ottawa on Friday after work to visit our friends (and Godparents to B and K), Anne and Fred. Our mission this time was to visit the spa--with our gift certificates from Anne and Fred! (THANK YOU!) We went on Saturday afternoon to the Brookstreet Hotel Spa. It was very, very nice! Brooke and Keturah had manicures done and Anne and I had pedicures with an awesome, relaxing foot massage---I could have stayed there all day! I could definitely get used to this!

Here are some pics of our visit there:
1st-Anne and Keturah enjoying a coffee before our treatments.
2nd-Brooke and Keturah letting their nails dry after their manicures.
3rd-Keturah showing off her bright red nails.
4th-Brooke relaxing in the lounge after our treatments.
5th-Anne, Brooke and Keturah relaxing afterwards and letting their nails dry.
















































June 26, 2008

The Big City

I had the "pleasure" of going on Keturah's school trip on Wednesday and no, I haven't recovered as yet. We (50 kids and 10 parents) left the school about 10:30am and stopped for lunch in Whitby. We then headed to the Royal Ontario Museum and stayed there from 2 until 4:30pm. My group of girls (4) enjoyed the dinosaur exhibit the best, I think. Here's a picture of the pteradactyl (my personal favourite dinosaur). Following are pictures of the Totem Pole that spans all 4 (or 5) levels, one with Keturah in front...seemed fitting, since we are Aboriginal!

We then headed downtown to the Harbourfront and walked and walked to find our boat. I didn't know it was going to be so small...It was called a schooner and they said it held 75 people...All the parents kept saying, will that hold all of us? You could stay up on deck or go down below, where they had couches and pillows to relax...it was way too hot down below though... We enjoyed a lovely salad and pizza and rode leisurely around Centre Island and the harbour with some older rock music (my fave). The real "fun" started when we headed over towards Ontario Place and where the water got quite rough. The crew cut the engine and put up the sails, so we were going alot faster and it was alot wavier and yep, you guessed it, the kids started feeling it. A few started pulling out their Gravol after one kid threw up. A lot of the other sailboats we saw were almost tipping over, which I am sure they liked, but upset some of the children, who were watching and wanted off our boat right away! We headed back to the harbour and rode around there again for awhile. The cruise went from 5pm-8:30pm (about 3 hours too long). The adults seemed to enjoy it anyway! My stomach was feeling funny when we got off the boat! We then got on our bus about 9pm and headed home. Keturah and I stepped in the door at 11:30pm. I had no trouble falling asleep and have been wanting to nap all day, except I was at work and my head has been aching since last night---oh yeah, I bumped it on my way up the stairs on the boat as did everyone else! So, let's just say it was an "interesting" trip! Below are some pictures from/of the boat. The CN Tower in broad daylight and then later in the evening, some swans who were out around Centre Island and the boat docked after our trip.

Well, off to pack for our trip to Ottawa..The girlies and I are going to visit my friend, Anne and go to the Spa, so I'll have an update on Sun or Mon! Have a GREAT weekend!






































































June 24, 2008

Landscapes....

well, sort of....Here are a few non-wildlife shots that I took at Presquile Park. A close up of a lighthouse, a sailboat, another shot of a lighthouse and some trees overlooking the water. I told you I needed practice with landscapes!

Other News:

Keturah and I are off to Toronto for her school trip tomorrow---to the ROM and on a dinner cruise on the harbourfront---should be fun! I hopefully will have some great pics to post. We'll be home extremely late, so hopefully I'll post some pics on Thurs night, unless I go to bed before supper!

Brooke won the Jr/Intermediate Science Award today as well as getting straight A's---Wow, what a girl! Keturah got an awesome report card as well---all A's and B's! I'm so proud!





































June 22, 2008

Wildlife at Presquile

Well, it started out pretty cloudy, but we thought we'd risk it anyway and go hiking at Presquile, so we packed up the camera equipment, kids and some snacks and off we went...After what seemed like two hours (we took Hwy#2---got to get good gas mileage you know?) we got to Presquile and like creatures of habit, we visited all the same places we visited last time we went, when we didn't have much luck seeing any wildlife (in April). We did see a few more things and I got a few pics of landscapes and the lighthouses, etc, but I'll save those for later this week.

Here are some wildlife shots that I took:

1st/2nd pic: Swans flying overhead
3rd pic: a seagull standing on the roof, on one foot
4th pic: Keturah, Kevin and Brooke
5th pic: yellow warbler (I think)
6th pic: bumblebee on flower
7th pic: butterfly on flower
8th pic: frog on a log








































































We then stopped in Belleville and hiked around the mall, ate at East Side Marios and just got home a few minutes ago...I'd like to close my eyes about now, but need to make lunches, finish laundry and answer some emails. Good Night!

June 21, 2008

Brookie's a Beauty!

Here are some shots of Brookie---the first two are of Brooke at the farm today hanging with a couple of buddies she met. She then started sneezing and sneezing, so she is probably allergic to them too!

The next shot is of her laughing at her dad, who was trying to splash her with his paddle (while he was in the kayak in the river).

The last shot was taken as we were out hiking last week---I like how the background looks!




































June 20, 2008

Hooded Merganser

Here's a shot of a funny little duck. We saw him swimming around the Napanee River and he certainly didn't look like the other ducks we've seen in the area. He's very shy and therefore would not come near shore and would take off when Kevin was following him in the kayak. Well, anyway, he wasn't too far out, so I took this pic of him last Saturday. It's not the best as it was taken at the max of my zoom (300mm) and the second pic is an enlarged version, so it's not the best quality either, but I think you can get an idea of what he looks like. Yep, we had to come home and "google" him to see what the heck he was--- a hooded merganser. Very cute!

And, also on Sunday when Kevin and Keturah were kayaking, they saw another Merganser and guess what? It had 13 little babies with it...Cool---Guess what my next challenge is---yep, to shoot these little guys...Now I've gotta go hang out at the boardwalk all weekend! haha.

Here's some more information on this cute little guy:

http://www.ducks.org/hunting/waterfowlGallery/61/index.html

Apparently he isn't usually found in Southern Ontario!










June 18, 2008

Reflections!

Here is a pretty sunset on Friday night and then some shots that are reflections (on the water) of trees, the sun setting and my silver bullet! ha ha Not my usual thing to shoot, but they looked pretty cool at the time. As mentioned before, I need more practice doing these landscapes, etc...I do take quite a few shots of landscapes, I just don't do much with them afterwards...

Hey, 33 days until we leave for Halifax...Whoo Hoo. The countdown is now on!!!


































June 17, 2008

More Heron Shots

Here are some more of my favourite shots of the heron that I shot on Friday night---I sat watching him for about an hour...I could have stayed there longer, but Kevin was getting bored---I may have to buy him his own SLR or leave him at home!!! :-)

I actually got out by myself on Sunday night, but I didn't see anything worth shooting---the baby ducks were alluding me by being on the opposite side of the river to me and when I crossed the bridge---you guessed it, so did they! I did get some more adult duck shots, but nothing that stands out.

I do have some cool "reflection" shots I took on Friday which I may put on tomorrow or Thurs.







































































June 16, 2008

More Baby Ducks

Here are some more baby duck pictures...I was laying on the dock snapping these pics, so I could get an eye-to-eye shot of them, but I think Brooke was embarassed watching me. They let me get about 3 ft from them, so they are pretty tame already. The last shot is of the mother duck, standing on a rock watching her brood. She's so cute!






























June 15, 2008

Keturah and Abby

Keturah asked if I could highlight her on my blog again, so here are some pictures of her doing what she loves best with her buddy, Abby at the farm yesterday. It was such a beautiful day, a bit cloudy, but a nice cool breeze--great for horse-riding (or photography)!!!