This weekend was truly a summer weekend.  Both days were stunning.  On Saturday, we set up the badminton net in the yard and played some mean badminton and volleyball.  I had my macro lens on the camera, so I shot this…

On Sunday evening, Ethan and I took Seth to Cooper Mountain Nature Park.  We saw birds and a bunny and a snake and gorgeous, clear views and loads of lovely light.

For those interested, the first 6 shots in this set were taken with the Canon 100mm 2.8 macro.  The last three were with the Canon 17-55 2.8 IS.  All were processed in Lightroom.

Yesterday, Ethan and I had the privilege of touring a brand new park in our area.  My friend, Joyce, invited us to attend the neighbor-hood-only grand opening of Cooper Mountain Nature Park.  It was a beautiful day to visit the really lovely location.  There are still areas and trails under construction, but we did get to go on an official tour (led by a woman named Elaine) who was excellent at pointing out the various birds and signs of wildlife.  It’s a very natural area with wonderful views, and the kids’ play area looks like it will be a lot of fun once completed.  Joyce helped me learn a shorter route home, so this park is only 15-20 minutes away.  We will definitely go back!

The building which houses the restrooms and a classroom and offices is so nicely done…

They had a great horned owl and a falcon on display…

Ethan checked out the view through what we later figured out was actually a piece for your ear, to hear bird calls…

On our hike, we saw birds and native plants and flowers and views and meadows and trees.  These blue and white flowers caught my eye…

As did these blowing grasses…

At the end of our hike, the cute red barn was back in view…

It was a treat of an afternoon!  And I look forward to spending time there with my camera and my family. 

I hope everyone had a nice Father’s Day. 

Last week, I was reading Allison McKenney’s blog where she shared a link for directions on how to make some really cute Father’s Day cards…so Ethan and I got to work!  How cute did these turn out?!?!

The tie and front of the shirt tucks under the collar to keep them closed; otherwise, you can open them up and tuck in a little message.  So fun!

We had a simple day.  Off and on rain kept us from going golfing, but the guys played some backyard baseball when it cleared off in the evening.

Ethan is so blessed to have Seth as his Dad.  I am so blessed to witness their relationship.  Seth wrote about what it means to be a dad and what his dad means to him.  It’s a beautiful thing.  I am so thankful.

Have you seen the movie Up? 

Every now and then, I miss my photo-a-day project.  Maybe I’ll just share one here now and then.  Today, I kinda liked this critter on our fence.

Tillamook, Oregon.

We’re not a big dairy family, but we do make exceptions for Tillamook cheese and ice cream.  Because if you’re gonna have those things, they may as well be the best.  And when certain family members from Alaska come to visit, they feel a certain pull to the west.  To see the grandeur of the Pacific?  Nooo…to smell the dairy country of Tillamook!  I mean, to taste the supreme Tillamook cheese and ice cream, straight from the point of origin…the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

And so it was, on Monday, June 8, that we headed west for about 1 1/2 hours and arrived at this place, which is celebrating a 100th birthday this year.

Happy Birthday, Cheese!  And Ice Cream!  From Tillamook!  We did sample some cheese and had some ice cream, but the closest shot I got of the latter was this…

Step awaaaay from my ice cream!  :)  And waffle dish.

Don’t you love the smell of freshly made waffle cones?

One of my favorite ice cream flavors that they don’t seem to sell anywhere else is White Licorice.  The centennial celebration flavor was delish, too (vanilla with bits of chocolate and peanut butter).  Some other flavors that delighted the family were Lemon Blueberry, Cookies ‘N Cream, Peppermint, Root Beer Float.  And I could just kick myself for not getting photos of the actual ice cream, but sometimes that’s just how it goes.  I was trying not to spill on my camera!  Yeah, that’s it!

How ’bout some good ol’ fashioned cheese making and packaging?  (Would you believe that Tillamook High School is the home of The Cheesemakers?!  Yep.  Cheese makin’ pride runs deep!)

(This is actually four shots stitched together, and because I just hand held my camera to take the four shots, I didn’t line them up very accurately, so I filled in along the bottom with brown because I didn’t want to crop the bottom any more, in case you’re wondering what’s going on there.)  It looked like some Cheddar and some Colby Jack cheese were being packaged up that day.  It was quite fascinating to watch all the different steps involved.

And then we walked through a cheesey store…lots and lots o’ cheese!

The Cheese Factory also has a lovely gift shop, as any self-respecting tourist attraction should.  I think I would like to take a photo vacation where I just shoot things in gift shops.  So fun!

Our trip was a quick one, but our Alaskan family can claim, once again, that they have indeed visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory. 

OK…so I just took the longest break in my blogging history, and I’m having a hard time deciding how to get back in the saddle, so I guess I’ll just jump!

In the past 2 1/2 months, I have taken at least 5,000 photos, and over 3,000 of them were of our baseball season.  I say “our” because Seth coached and pitched, Ethan played and I sat on the ground and took photos.  (Another mom gave me a hard time about always bringing a chair and then never using it.  :)  The ground was the best place for photos!  I actually should have brought one of those gardening knee pads.  My knees would have appreciated that!)

I didn’t do the best job at keeping up with the sorting and editing of the baseball photos as the season went along (maybe because I was trying to deal with the other 2,000+ photos that I was also taking?), which left me a rather big job at the end of the season.  Our last game was last Wednesday and we had an end-of-season party on Friday, and I really wanted to get some photos into the hands of our players at that party.  Prints were not going to happen, so I opted for CDs.  Lightroom and I worked our tails off and managed to sort through 3,000+ photos, divide them up into collections for each kid (13 of ‘em), sort each collection and edit 20-30 photos for each kid, and put them on CDs for each kid (well, Seth did that last part for me).  Ethan was kind enough to let me off the hook for finishing his collection on Friday, because, as he pointed out, he lives here.  :)  Thanks for understanding, buddy!  I did get his done on Saturday and uploaded all the team photos (353 of ‘em) to a private team gallery.  Can I just say that Lightroom is my bestest photography friend?!  There is NO way I would have got that much done in that amount of time without Lightroom.  And I learned so much about how to streamline this process for next time.  Some of my favorite baseball action shots were of kids other than Ethan, but I’m not comfortable posting their photos on my blog, so I’ll share a few faves of my boy.

geared up for catcher…

checking out the line-up…

for a few games, he was a bit of a bat thrower…

the coach (my hubby) getting ready to pitch…it was a casual, earthy league…Birkenstocks welcome 

the red batting gloves were a must…

it’s serious business running to first…

coming home is best…

last minute pointers…

I think he got it!

We’ve discovered an opportunity to play “Fall Ball” very close to home, so we asked Ethan if he’d rather play more baseball this fall or play soccer.  With zero hesitation it was baseball.  So, after a summer of neighborhood swim team, I think we’ll be back to baseball, which makes both my boys very happy.

For our second to last game, we actually had family from Alaska here, which is a rare treat (and worthy of its own post).  

Ethan and his cousin who’s closest in age…

We’ve had a couple weeks of supreme summer-like weather, and since tomorrow is June, I’m declaring it summer ’round here.  :)  Because of all our sunshine, those in charge of our neighborhood pool decided to open it early, which really makes it feel like summer.  This is one of the many times of year when we feel so blessed to live where we do.

My guys enjoying the pool this evening…

PS - It’s Monday morning now and we’ve just discovered that Ethan has grown nearly 1 1/2 inches in the last three months!  Seth made a remark about how big he is, and Ethan went and stood next to the spot on the wall where we’ve done some measuring and marking.  Seth went to check him out and noticed that the last time we did it was on Feb 25 (to mark his 7 1/2 years).  And he was 1 3/8 inches taller than that mark!  53 1/4 inches now.  No wonder some of his pants have suddenly become short.  It’s a good thing we’re into shorts weather now!