5th Birthday Celebrations!!

It was Abby's 5th birthday yesterday! I look at her and still see the tiny little face that greeted me the first moment I laid eyes on her in the hospital. The shape of her mouth, her eyes and little nose. It's so amazing that no matter how much they grow up, they will always look the same! at 5, she is kind, competitive, loving, short tempered, beautiful, bossy, friendly with everyone - especially very nicely dressed women!!, a pest and awesome kid all rolled up into one! I'm mixing up all those adjectives together, because that is really who she is. Those are the ones that describe her the best. This year is a big year, she starts school, she will leave the comforts and security of home and a wonderful home-care daycare, and she will enter the world of routines, responsibilities, homework, new friendships and challenging relationships. It's the beginning of an era!

Aug 5th, 2010

Labour Day for me. My baby's 5th birthday tomorrow, how exciting!! And for The August Break:

Big day tomorrow, night night!

Cottage Trip...

We had the pleasure of a three day "trip" to our friend's cottage over the long weekend. They are great friends from Chelsea, who are lucky to have a beautiful cottage on Lake Clear neat Eaganville. It's a two hour drive, and going was relatively easy, the girls only getting a little crazy near the end. We don't go to many places, so a two hour drive for them is VERY long, and they are not used to it!! The drive is beautiful with so many photographic opportunities, but we didn't have the time to stop, so I'd like take a day to "drive in the country" and shoot with Madison...

We stayed for a couple of night, swam in the day, played games, and cards at night. It was nice to be away from home, to hang out with friends, and swim at our leisure in the beautiful clear lake! While it was a good time 99% of the time, the last night Madison decided that sleeping in a playpen was NOT her thing, and decided to scream and cry for about 2 1/2 hours. She had never done this in her life, so it was tough to try and settle her, and eventually she just exhausted her self (and us) and fell asleep. It's too bad because you kind of go away to relax and rest, but ended up more tired on the way home... oh well, that is life with babies!! (third photo represents our drive home!!) Anyway, got to run, baby is a callin'

Gigi's getting a great workout!!

Our after dinner trip to La Cigale!! The best ice cream shop in the region - definitely worth the trip up from Ottawa, the ice cream is to die for, the backyard where you can sit is beautiful, and who doesn't love a bright green building for taking photos! Although taking a photo against that green wall does some crazy things to the auto white balance, next time I'll be sure to shoot on RAW and manually set my AWB!

August Long Weekend

Cheers to the holidays! While being on Mat leave, each day is just like the rest, but still there is something kind of fun about long weekends and holidays. Our daycare provider closed for her three week holiday and Eric also took the 3 weeks off as well, so technically we are on holiday right now! We decided to just stick close to home with no plans to really go anywhere major during the time off. Honestly with where we live, and having so much access to water, why do we need to go anywhere really? The first week has been jammed packed full of swimming, visiting and fun in the beautiful sun.

As you know I was so upset because my camera had to off to the "shop" again, so I was kind of in photo withdrawal. I had been planning on upgrading my camera in the near future to a 5DMII, but I also had it in my mind to pick up a Point and Shoot to have something manageable to carry when out with the kids for the day. Also a point and shoot is a little less intimidating for Eric to use. So I decided that the 5DMII can wait for Christmas, or next year's birthday, and to pick up the Canon G11. We used to have a Canon G6 (at least I think it was a 6) years ago that my dad had given us, and I really liked that camera. And since I'm generally a Canon fan, I stuck with what I knew and picked it up yesterday! I know seems a little impulsive, but honestly I was planning on giving Eric a camera for Christmas last year, but decided to wait!

And then a few shots from today!

Camera gone again...

I'm disappointed, I had to send my camera back for servicing AGAIN!! I'm fearful that I bought a lemon, or that I just have terrible luck with electronics! In April I finally brought it in because of a recurring error99 message, where I'd depress the shutter, and JAM. And the only way to un-jam it was to pull out the batteries, and turn the power back on again. Turns out the entire "mother board" or sensor had to be replaced. Thank god for purchasing the extended guarantee eh! But ever since I got it back, the noise in it has been unbearable. At ISO 200, it's noticeable and then forget ISO 400, speckled! This should not be happening with the Canon 50D. I accept that it will be noisy at 800, and a little noticeable at 400, but not as bad as it is! So I brought it back, as there must be something wrong with the new sensor they installed last time.

The pain is that it's going to be gone for a month! I am on "holidays" for the next three weeks, but still I really want to shoot the kids, I need a camera for Abby's 5th birthday and Madison's 1st birthday, so it is a real in convenience to have this happen now!!

I'm considering buying the Canon G11 for a couple reasons, to at least have a camera on hand, and also to have a smaller point and shoot for those days - (like Lac Phillipe days) - when I just want something small to take snapshots, and don't need to carry around the big DSLR. But then again, maybe I'll just continue saving up for the 5DMII, full frame noiseless wonder! But it's too damn $$$ right now!

Signing off - frustrated! Night Night!

It's Summertime...

And that means lots of time spend in bathing suits!! Yesterday we went to Lac Phillipe for the afternoon, and had a great time. It's so perfect for the girls right now, because Madison can sit at the water's edge and play in the water, it's so warm. Abby and Gillian can go in a little deeper, and because of is shallow water and a gradual slope they are learning how to swim very quickly! But with all the activity and having to watch them, it's very hard to take photos while up there. Also not to mention the fact that we have to leave our stuff up at the picnic table while we swim!

We managed to stay for about 3 hours, and needless to say, on the way home all three girls fell asleep in the car. The drive is only about 20 min, so it wasn't much of a nap but a sleep none the less. Of course when we got home we figured they would just want to flake out and relax, but NO, as soon as we got home they hopped into their bathing suits again and into our kiddie pool for another 2 hours. By the end of it, and by supper time, we were dangerously close to meltdown time! But apart from the little grumpy face blow, no meltdowns!! Yeah!

Macro shot of the weeds while the girls swim!