Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Where do I start?

We have been really busy lately.

Let's start with today.  Looks like Obama got re-elected.  I can't believe that our country would re-elect him.  It scares me for the future of America.

Now let's go back to 10/18.  I took Nathan to Reid Park Zoo.  It is still an adjustment now that I am letting him walk around with me instead of sitting in the stroller.  Keeping tabs on him makes it more difficult to take pictures, too (which is why I often go there by myself when he is in school!). 

10/20 we went to Boo at the Zoo at the Phoenix Zoo.  We did it last year, too, so we knew it would be a fun day.  Boy my feet hurt after walking around that zoo, though.  It is so much bigger than Reid Park Zoo.  That night we stayed in Scottsdale.  The next morning we drove to Clarkdale and took a train ride at Verde Canyon Railway.  It was Nathan's first train ride.  It was pretty, particularly with the red rock, but we were a little disappointed.  We did not see a lot of Fall colors nor much wildlife.  They told us we might see eagles, but we didn't :(

10/26 & 10/27 I did a Photowalk at the Desert Museum.  This was my first time doing one so I was excited.  It was good, but I was disappointed.  The behind the scenes stuff was not really geared toward photographers so I think they could of come up with some better photo opportunites for us.  I got to see the raptor free flight show and I learned how to shoot in continuous mode which helped.  I also learned how to force the flash on my camera and the flash helped me in the hummingbird aviary.  However, the instructor advised us to always use the flash at zoos due to diffused lighting, but I have found that it does not work well for me.  For now I will stick to the auto setting!

After the Photowalk we drove to Williams, AZ.  We stayed there overnight and got up the next day to go to Bearizona.  Love that place!  It started our cold, but quickly became a beautiful Fall day.  They fed some of the animals pumpkins and we got to take the open air bus ride.  I used my flash most of the day and after the fact I realized that many of my pictures did not turn out well because of it.  However, I took like 500 pictures so I did get some good ones.

After Bearizona we headed home via Sedona.  We were hoping to see some more Fall colors.  We saw a little, but it was not as pretty as it was last year when we went.  We stopped in Sedona to have lunch before driving the rest of the way home.

On Halloween, I went to Reid Park Zoo where they were feeding most of the animals pumpkins.  I particularly liked the elephants and the lions.  The elephants stomped the pumpkins with their feet.  The lions were playing with the pumpkins, even in the water.  I made another photography mistake that day because I forgot to turn the flash off when I was shooting pictures of the lions  through the fence.  I am learning the hard way what not to do! 

That night we got Nathan dressed up in his doctor costume to take him trick or treating.  We headed out, but he did not want to go up to any of the houses to ask for candy.  So daddy walked him around the block while I started handing out candy.  When they got back they helped hand out candy.  I think Nathan got a kick out of all the kids dressed up and giving them candy.  We ran out within an hour and a half and I thought I bought more this year than last year.  We get tons of trick or treaters!  It is still hard to get used to since we did not get any when we lived in our townhome in IL. 

On 11/3 Nathan and Paul had a father/son day.  They went to Empire Ranch and Parker Canyon Lake.  I stayed home to clean and go through pictures.  I feel like I did not make much progress with either!