Self-Portrait and Others

Day 30, the last day of the 30 day challenge is self-portrait.  Ok, let me just say I HATE SELF PORTRAITS!  I do not like pictures of me and having to take one of myself is extremely painful for me.  I would rather clean a dirty toilet in a men's public restroom than take a self portrait.  With that being said, here is my self-portrait of me doing one of my other favorite things, reading... on my Kindle.

I would much rather take pictures of the people I love.  Here is a picture of my husband I took while we were waiting for our food at a restaurant we'd never been to tonight.  It was really good.  I'm glad we went.  BTW, my husband is my best friend.  I love him so much.

I did a little bit of playing around with my pictures from the zoo this afternoon.  Here are a couple that I am really happy with how they turned out.

Can you guess what this is?  I took this picture while walking in the park.

Black and White

Day 29 of the 30 day challenge is black and white.  Today we went to the St. Louis Zoo.  Since we are zoo members we had a special invitation to see the new sea lion habitat that opens to the public tomorrow.  It was VERY HOT (108) again today.  So we didn't see the whole zoo, but we did get to see the zebras.

 It may have been hot outside, but it was nice and cold in the penguin/puffin habitat.  We went in there after we watched the sea lion show.  I got some more black and white photos in there.  Here is one of a penguin and one of a puffin.  The ironic part of this is that the black and white photo I took last year was also taken at the zoo.  Here it is:

http://cricklepad.blogspot.com/2011/06/regal.html

It was so hot that the jaguar was not only lazing around in the shade, he was in the shade in the water and seemed to be enjoying it very much.  I was quite jealous of him, because this part of the zoo is probably the hottest part.

Before we could go to the zoo today our kids had to go to the dentist and our dogs had to go to the groomer.  I took the kids to the dentist while Michael took the dogs to the groomer.  So, I had to sit and wait for them to get their teeth clean.

Hot and No Rain

Day 28 of the 30 day photo is flowers.  Around here we have hit a major heat wave.  Today it got to be 109.  There is no humidity, but that also means we still have no chance of rain.  We have not had a substantial rainfall since March.  The last time we got rain was over two weeks ago and it was not near enough to start to make up for what we've 'lost'.  The kids and I hibernated in doors today and I have been nursing a bad headache.  So, I didn't really take any pictures today except a very few at my son's baseball game.  Yes, they still had a game in this heat.  So, I'm posting pictures of flowers from June 11 when we had a couple hours of rain in the morning.

Last year's flower picture:

http://cricklepad.blogspot.com/2011/06/flowers.html

Here is a picture I did take today.  About 6:30 p.m. when it was still 105 outside, during my son's baseball game.  This picture was taken using one of my camera apps on my phone.

Here is another picture taken that day we had rain in the morning.  These are steps in the cemetery I like to go to.  They had had a memorial service for fallen police officers a couple days before, so I'm assuming this flag is a remnant from that.

At the Pool

Day 27 of the 30 day challenge is from a distance.  We went to the aquatic center at Wapelhorst Park today.  Michaela's friend Taylor came with us.  Michaela had someone to go down her favorite slide with her.  I will not go down those slides because I do not like them and Caleb is not fond of it either.  I love taking pictures of her going down this slide and today I got to catch both her and her friend at the same time.

Last year's distance shot:
http://cricklepad.blogspot.com/2011/06/at-distance.html

When we are at the pool it really gives me a good chance to photograph other people in a relaxed state.  I got some of these candids last time we were at the pool and would like to share them, now.

And what do I do at the pool?  Well, besides taking pictures, I relax in the shade under an umbrella when I'm not soaking in the water and sun.

Up Close in a Garden

Day 26 of the 30 day challenge is close-up.  I absolutely love thistle plants and love photographing them.  It's so fun to get as many angles on them as possible.  Here are a couple close-ups of a thistle plant.

A couple more close up of flowers that I'd like to share are below.

Walking along the wall of a garden.

Pink, Rugs and Swimming

Day 25 of the 30 day challenge is "something pink."  Ever since my husband and I moved into our house 17  years ago we've tried several times to get strawberries to grow strawberries.  Most of our tries have failed because there is a huge population of squirrels and rabbits that seem to want to eat the flowers and/or berries before they turn red.  Last summer I planted some strawberry plants in a huge pot on our patio.  I think I got one strawberry last summer.  This summer they are very bushy plants and have been producing more berries.  Here is a young berry that has not turned red yet, but is still pink.

This is a party decoration that has been hanging in my daughter's room since her first birthday party.  It is a big tropical bird and most of it is pink.

My daughter loves peace signs.  She received this pillow and rug from my mom for Christmas.  What could be more teen girlish than pink peace signs?

Michaela had her second swim meet of the summer tonight.  She personally didn't do as well as last week, but she still held her own.  Her relay team got first place in their medley relay.  And, she did place in the top four on all her other events.  I'm so proud of how she just keeps working at it even when things don't go exactly how she wants.

This is my new rug in my new bathroom.

Revisiting Thursday

Day 24 of the 30 day challenge is animal.  I have had a really difficult time deciding which photo I wanted to post for this.  I have a few that I just really like, so I figured why not go ahead and post all three.  So, here they are.

The first one is a male Cardinal.  We saw this gentleman when we were walking through the woods to get to the bone yard at Mastodon State Historic Site.  My son saw him first and we were both able to get pictures of him by being very quiet and using our zoom lenses.

The next one is a really cool dragonfly.  We saw this little guy in the same woods as the Cardinal.  There were several of these dragonflies flying around the foliage next to the bone yard.

When we were in Kimmswick around lunch time, we stopped at the historic bridge there.  Looking over the east side of the bridge we saw tons of turtles.  Here's one that was swimming in the creek.

And then there were these two turtles sunning themselves on a log not far from where the first one was swimming.

I also wanted to share this picture that I took inside the museum at Mastodon State Historic site.  It is of a replica of a giant sloth that lived the same time the Mastodons lived.  When standing on its hind legs like this it was about 10 feet tall.  That's one big sloth!

Here is last year's animal post:

http://cricklepad.blogspot.com/2011/06/camal-dignity.html

They have many of the Mastodon bones on display in the museum.  Here is a Mastodon molar.  That is my daughter touching it.  It's ok, the sign told us to touch it.  

From where I stand shows me going down the wooden steps in Mastodon that take you to the bone yard.  There are A LOT of these steps.

A Sunflare, A Daughter and A Turtle

Day 23 of the 30 day challenge is sunflare. This was actually an accident if I am to be honest. I am really happy with the way it turned out, just wish I had actually planned it! :-P

Last year's sunflare (which was planned):
http://cricklepad.blogspot.com/2011/06/sun-flares.html

Taken during lunch at The Dough Depot in Kimmswick, MO

A funny story about this. One of the pictures I posted on FB taken while we were at lunch had a group of ladies sitting behind us. Well, one of my FB friends that is from the St. Louis area was in Kimmswick with her nephews a couple hours after we were there. They were having ice cream at one of the sweet shops there. My friend also posted a pic on FB and those same ladies were in the background of her picture.

The funniest part is when we were leaving the Dough Depot those ladies were ordering desert!





Chasing a Turtle can be exhausting!

More on Our Day Out

Day 22 of the 30 day challenge is hands. Here is my son playing a game on his sister's iPod. She is helping him with part of it. It is so hard for me to believe that their hands are so big. My son is only 10 and his hands are the same size as mine. 

Last years hands:
http://cricklepad.blogspot.com/2011/06/in-her-hands.html

Taken at the park where Sandy Creek Covered Bridge is located.





Walking in the historic bone bed.

A Day at Historic Sites

Day 21 of the 30 day challenge is a faceless self portrait. Today the kids and I spent the day out exploring some of our state's historic sites. We stopped for lunch at this little restaurant in Kimmswick, MO called The Dough Depot. We all enjoyed the food there very much. 



I used the reverse camera on my phone to take this faceless self portrait while drinking my tea.

Last year's faceless self portrait:

http://cricklepad.blogspot.com/2011/06/faceless-self-portrait.html

On June 21st the kids and I had a day out. We went to three state historic sites that are about an hour away from home. First we went to Gov. Daniel Dunklin's grave site. He is known as the father of education in Missouri. He was Missouri's 5th governor and is credited for starting the public school system here. 

Then, we went to Sandy Creek Covered Bridge State Historic Site. This is one of only a small handful of existing covered bridges in Missouri. The picture here is of my kids standing outside the bridge. 

Next, we went to Kimmswick, MO. We visited another historic bridge (not covered) and had lunch in Kimmswick. We ate a place called the Dough Depot and it was delicious!

We then went to Mastodon State Historic Site/Park. There is a museum there about the giant animals that lived around here during the end of the ice age. The Kimmswick Bone Bed is part of this park and it is in this bone bed that evidence was found to "prove" that humans and Mastodons co-existed for about 2000 years at the end of the ice age. 

We walked the trail to the bone bed (not much to see there anymore as it's not a working site anymore) and we also walked one of the other trails that led to a creek we could wade in and cool off our feet.

It was a wonderful day. I love days like this.





Me standing on the historic bridge in Kimmswick, MO.