After music class, after the furniture had been delivered, and after Squirt had herded up all her imaginary dogs, we were all pretty much free and looking for something to do. (The battery on my new camera had been charged the night before so I had somewhat anticipated my next move) I asked Wonder Woman where the closest place I could go to grab some pictures of some boats. She reminded me there are several marina's around here. Her favorite was across the bay. Mine too, but I was thinking somewhere much closer.
A few more areas were mentioned with less than positive motivation or excitement. How about the state park on the causeway? The girls overheard this option and screamed out they were ready to go. They can sneak up on a cat. OK that is not too far, plus we can double back through downtown for some architectural shots. Within a few minutes we were all walking out the door. By the looks of it anyone who saw us leaving the house would have thought we were leaving town for a few days. We had backpacks full of extra clothes, Wal-Mart bags full of snacks, hats, jackets, camera cases, it was ridiculous. :)
I noticed Kipp Jr with her mother's point and shoot camera. What are you doing with that, I asked her. Thought I might grab a few pictures, was her coy reply.
We drove the 15 minutes or so the park and bailed out of the van. The girls wanted to see the live animals at the park first. We headed straight for the first of three buildings on the property. Before we opened the door you could hear the noise from inside. There must have been a party going on or one of the live skunks must have been loose. The girls poked their heads in the door and quickly exited. Let's come back when its not so crowded.
We ventured just behind the buildings to the pier that overlooks the river delta. What is it about water and a pier that draws people? The girls ran as quickly as they could toward the water with Wonder Woman screaming at them to slow down and be careful not to fall into the river.
We all made it to the pier without falling in. As I stood on the edge of the pier looking around for a good picture, Wonder Woman nudges me and points to the girls. They had found a good spot to sit, directly at the end of the pier, dangling their feet over the edge. The setting was perfect. After a few pictures of the kids, I managed to snap some unimportant pictures of the city line and a pelican.
On the way back up the pier, Wonder Woman pointed out a good idea for another city line picture. I walked back down the pier a bit to get in just the right position. The city line was the most distant with the delta, the river and then the pier coming into focus toward me; it framed up pretty cool. We work well together as a team. She tells me what to do - I listen to her. :)
The park has some nature trails on the other side of the parking lot. With girls that have energy to rival the pink battery bunny; we took off to the trails. There was not a whole lot to photograph on the "woods" trail except a few trees and an old fence. I snapped a few shots and we moved on. Luckily the trail looped back to the parking lot. We made a pit stop back at the main building and tried one more trail. This "river" trail turned out to produce some great back drops for taking more pictures of the girls. They enjoyed throwing rocks into the river. OK maybe not the river, maybe more like the river bank. They throw like girls. :)
Soon the girls were ready to go to find the next adventure for the day. We had told them about another city park where they could see alligators. On the short cut back to the van we found a very interesting oak tree with limbs that nearly touched the ground. We took several more shots of the girls climbing around in the tree. They loved climbing trees. Made me remember how much I used to love it.
The gator adventure turned out to be a bust. I guess it is still too cold for those monsters to come out of their holes. We made a quick pass back through down town as planned, and snapped a few pictures along the way to the eat some dinner.
We arrived home and plugged in the SD card to see how the pictures turned out. Some were good. A few were really good. One or two were fabulous. The latter were of the girls so I am extremely biased. After ooo-ing and ahhh-ing over some the pictures; Kipp Jr says, can we look at the pictures I took. Of course. I forgot all about she had taken her mother's camera. Yes let's see yours.
We plugged in her SD card. The pictures seemed so familiar. Hey that looks like the ones I was taking. There is the pier, there is the city line, there is that old fence. Kipp Jr just smiled. Girl those are good. You have an eye for taking pictures. She smiled again. We had not gotten thru all her pictures before she ran off to play the Wii.
I looked at Wonder Woman and said, I did not realize she was taking these pictures. Wonder Woman told me Kipp Jr would wait to see where I went and when I got ready to take my picture she would hold her camera up and take a picture. She was watching you and taking the same pictures you took. The only time she wasn't taking the same shot, was when you were taking pictures of her and Squirt.
Not trying to give a lesson to anybody reading this...but...I got to tell you...I learned one, again. (Click here for another rockbottom life lesson post) No matter who you are or what you are doing, somebody is always watching you. And sometimes they do what you do, so be careful what you do. If you do the wrong thing, you could end up in some deep do do. :) Thank goodness this one turned out to the positive.
Updated after original post with picture comparison.
While I was taking these:
