Dad and Mom

November 3.

Next, it was Dad's and Mom's turn for portraits.  They were willing to go on the two-mile walk to find some good portrait locations, so away we walked.

This first photo is their favorite, and will make an appearance on their Christmas cards.

Of course I took some photos of whatever happened to catch my eye as we walked.

It was still very colorful along Loop 4.

I put my long lens on and captured a few more images.

The sun shining through yellow leaves.

It was a good day.


Back to life,
Christine

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Twelve Men on the Field

November 16.

Time for the Crusaders' football team party.  Football moms can cook, that's for sure.  I left my camera in its bag, but the guys--twelve were left at this point--wanted their picture taken toward the end of the party, so there I was, in the church lobby, trying to take a decent picture of twelve guys who couldn't take a decent picture.  Someone kept cracking up, or hamming up.

Here they are, in all their end-of-season glory.

Back to life,
Christine

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Goofy Danny, and Me, Too!

Danny is my #3, for those of you who don't know.  He's the goofiest guy I have, except maybe for my husband, lol.  One day, just around New Year's, I decided I needed a new profile picture for Facebook.  This usually means a lot of work on my part, but this time I figured if I got my camera all set up, I could just have Danny take my picture instead of having to use the remote.

So, while I got the settings and angles and everything just right, Danny posed as the subject.  Here he is hamming it up for me while I set up.

Okay, okay, I was ready.  After what seemed like a gazillion shots, I think Danny took a decent one of me.  Here it is...

Now you can play Guess My Age.  Just kidding.  ;)


Back to life,
Christine

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Walks and Water, Games and Goofy

Or, how we concluded our family vacation.

At least once on vacation, I love to walk down the lane to see what I can see.

Peeking between cottages

We peeked through another open spot:

Hey, that was my Dad down there, at the dock in his boat!  My mom, Danny, and I knocked on the W. family's door, went through to their deck, visited a while, then hopped in the boat with Dad and took off.

We came across the guys (Fernando, Jacob, and cousin Alaric) fishing:

This is what one's hair looks like after one goes on a boat ride:

This is the treehouse where I played throughout my growing-up years:

At the house, we played lots of multi-player solitaire:

And that particular evening, we enjoyed another fantastic concert--the Atkinson family bluegrass band:

My dad enjoyed chatting with a schoolmate from long ago:

The next morning, we finished up the huckleberries in some breakfast muffins:

Since it was raining that day, Mom and I fit a game of Scrabble in:

And, on our final full day at the lake...

We enjoyed a last boat ride:

We fully enjoyed our last sunset of vacation:

A little later on

On our last morning, I always take a goodbye picture of my beloved lake:

This year, we thought we'd try to take a family picture, one worthy of a Christmas card.  Alas, the facial expressions didn't quite work out so well, so we went with a goofy shot.

No, no, no.  The above is not the goofy shot.  That is what I saw in my viewfinder as I was getting the camera set up.  :)

Here is our goofy shot:

And that concludes our Lake Bonaparte vacation.


Back to life,
Christine

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Porches, Parks, a Palette of Color

Or, the first half of our second week of vacation.

We started our Sunday with a quiet morning on the back porch:

 We had the privilege of attending our cousins' church and seeing them baptized!!  Afterwards, we picnicked with them at their church picnic at Thompson Park:

The water tower at Thompson Park

We played a little Frisbee:

And we posed for our picture:

Back at the Lake, I spent time whenever I could sitting and waiting for this little guy to show up.  He was sure hard to capture:

Thus ended the Lord's Day:

Fernando made sure he got in his exercise.  Here he is not getting run over by the kayak:

(Guess who ran over his father with the kayak?  Twice??)

I went fishing with Fernando and Jacob.  Actually, I read a book and Fernando and Jacob went fishing:

Danny and Thomas teased the local duck family:

Joseph patiently waited while we got ready to go to Winter Bay:

The sunsets were absolutely amazing.  Again:

We never skimped on breakfast, and ate like kings and queens (recipe here):

Strawberry/Raspberry Banana Baked Oatmeal

We ate dinner at the Blue Heron:

We also enjoyed a dramatic sunset:

 Our second week did not disappoint; there was still much more to come!


Back to life,
Christine

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