Local trips to the rescue

FIL and BIL are visiting.. we spent a lot of time in the house, playing with a three month old baby that is delighted to find its own voice and in providing us with hours of amusement and happiness!

Jr. and the little one finally declared they wanted to go places. Their preference was indoor fun ... read "shopping" and we cleverly steered them outdoors.

We went to Christmas in the park for a little over an hour yesterday and the kids enjoyed it thoroughly!

Today the sun was not out but it stopped raining and the backyard was bright green. So off we went to a place that has been on our radar for a long time but we always drove past it.. 

Elkhorn Slough near Moss Landing on the way to Monterey. The drive was only an hour and the visitor center folks were great.  We went on a long hike for almost 2 1/2 hours and saw tons of birds and enjoyed the walk..

The photos are still a processing.. but here is a nice sample!

More tomorrow..

Pelicons

Two Photographs..

The first one is a Pelican with an "a". 

This shot captured at the Shoreline park a couple of weekends ago (when things were very different with life) during a picnic... 

The next one is a Pelicon with an "o". Yes, you got that right. The title was no typo. This shot was taken last sunday where a pelican was trying to act like one of the blue angels.. When you have a 70-200 on a 2x extender the thing is more than a foot long and taking hand held shots is a challenge. To top things off the gulls and Pelicans would come flying in from the sides and mess up my focus! 

The only bonus? This shot of the Pelican was as crisp as the shot of the airplanes (which could be crispier..). A lot of people got conned by the Pelicans. The blue angels would make a noise and everyone would turn to the edge of the Pier and out would come a Pelican and the crowd would burst out laughing.

This year somehow the fun was not there watching the Blue Angels perform compared to last year. There was just way too much of a crowd and too much second hand smoking for one day!

Next year we might not even go.. 

Robins - Photoblog

The backyard had a visit from two baby robins..

The older robins were watching from the roof line while the babies were getting the worms, just after the water sprinkler had finished.

Guess they are not old enough to understand the danger of letting humans come close.

Was very close to them and they were so busy with the worms that they didn't even notice me...

The backyard sure provides a lot of amusement for a few minutes every evening to take my mind off work and bring me back to house, kids, quiet, calm..

A big thanks to the baby robins and my babies who spotted them!

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Backyard, camera, action

They fought dearly for something..

The squirrel won!

The evening Chai was with some outdoor entertaining by the little friends.

A lot of serious and frivolous posts, all incomplete, as the mind wanders aimlessly..

Until something brings me out of this trance...

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Backyard Playtime.. Photoblog

Today was spent in napping, biking with kids (yes, Daddy got back on the bicycle for the 2nd time since the accident... and went on the main road as well!), taking pictures of the flowers, girls, squirrels, and birds in what was a great spring day.

The jasmines are in full bloom and the whole backyard smells divine!

Made some good chai and settled in the concrete steps..

This look on the little one's face is what we refer to as the "theesa kalai".. she must have done something she wasn't supposed to do and that explains that look.. She was moving too fast and I had the camera in manual.

The girls surprise me more than the birds and squirrels...

Need more of these quiet afternoons to lift up spirits...

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