Geronimo

A year ago, coaxing my youngest to jump off the side of the boat was a lesson in frustration.  Even jumping into his mom or dad's arms took bribery.  My, how a year changes things.  He's ready to go even if mom and dad aren't yet in the water.  Another interesting thing is as he watched skier's and tubers go by, he commented how he wanted to do that.  I understand the difference of seeing someone do something and then later getting the gumption to try it, but it might be time to break out the starter skis with this one.

Birds in the Clouds

It's been, what, a few weeks, maybe a month, since I showed the wonderful Herons of Illinois?  The wait is over.  There's a little..........well, it's a..............I guess its a swamp that's west of my home that I check out every now and then.  I've seen herons there before, but the skies and the arrangement I saw this time make this one a pic that is going on the wall.

Summer is the theme of the week

Another nice summer shot. This was taken early evening, but you can catch spectacular sunrises there, also. Can't tell you where it is, though.  The kids and I also fish there and its our secret place.  You should always have a secret fishing place in my book.

Midwestern Summer

A quick one.  Growing up in Wisconsin, I spent some time in the summers working on a farm baling hay.  Hard work.  A piece of farm equipment picked up the hay, made it into a square, tied it up with twine and then you had to stack it on the wagon.  Once back at the farm you had to pull off the bale of hay and stack it in the barn.  In Illinois, I see much more of this form of "baling". I'm not sure why.  I also see much more of these "bales" left in the field into winter.  Once again, I'm not sure why.

Up in Smoke

Another 4th of July up in smoke with the final large scale fireworks in the area last night.  We definitely get our fill of fireworks around here.  Photographing fireworks is alot of fun, viewing an endless stream of fireworks pics not so much.  The trick is getting a location where you get shots of the fireworks and the landscape underneath them, especially if around water or a hilly landscape or even in a city location.  I didn't accomplish this goal all too well this year, but I have a different plan for next year.  So here are three of the best shots I got this year.

One of the great things about kids

As you could tell by last night's post, its carnival time in Crystal Lake.  Today, probably the nicest day of the summer yet, we all hit the carnival.  My kids have some "adventure" in them, but I think its a little less than some others as the following pics will show.  One of the great things about kids is you can, with the help of their more adventuresome friends, coax them to do things(go on rides) they would probably not do on their own.  You know, the ole peer pressure thing.  One had a tummy ache by the end of the day and the other knew which rides he didn't want to go on next year, but both had a good day.  And dad had some good laughs.

I think I've been in a vehicle before with the kid that's with my son.  What a nut.

Beam me up, Scotty

I have to admit.  I don't understand the curiosity of riding some of the amusement park rides.  I mean, spend a few hours on the Illinois tollway in Chicagoland and you can get the same effect.  Maybe because its safer on the amusement park ride than the tollway.  But, millions of people love them.