I'm still here...

It has been a very busy month and I have a lot to catch up on.
Jayden has been in soccer camp, golf lessons and swim lessons. I have been busy w/ my photography class. I guess I should just sum up this last month w/ these photos...

Summer at Jake's means Wednesday night cruz in. Jayden likes to hang out and look at the cars and show off a few of his own...

In June I started my photography class, taught by Karen Russell. I love it. He does not. But don't you think this photo is great!? Good composition, proper exposer, nice depth of field. Now if only I could get a cooperative subject...

When Jayden isn't taking lessons, you can usually find him on his bike, scooter or skateboard. This was a cool trick he was showing me.

The Poets invited us over for a BBQ and some water slide fun.

The kids found a bug, Eli was fascinated. He was trying to listen to it.

After two years, I finally got Jayden back into swim lessons. Last week, he passed level two and starts level three next week.

July 3rd, the Hills invited us over to let off fireworks. Amy and I played w/ our cameras and I was able to pass on all my new knowledge. The poor kids, they were not allowed to move their sparklers around because us moms were trying to get good pictures. This was my favorite.

4th of July

We walked/scootered to McDonald's for lunch. This marked a special event. Jayden graduated from Happy Meals to Extra Value Meals. I know. This was a very momentous occasion.

After lunch, we met up with some friends and floated the Deschutes. Don't have any pics of that cause I am not bringing my camera on the river. And this drives me crazy. The forth is always very festive in downtown Bend. As we were floating down the river, all the houses had backyard BBQs and parties. Kids were jumping off the bridge into the river. And there was even a naked guy riding around on his bike...how patriotic!

Later that same day...we headed over to Jake's for the annual 4th BBQ. Christian Boris (meteorologist) from News Chanel 21, did his weather report from the diner. Jayden was fascinated by him and every time I came to check on him, he had inched his way closer and closer.

Dad was impressed by how down to earth Christian was and by his outfit.

I told Christian that Jayden was really interested in geography and thought that weathermen have pretty neat jobs cause they have to know where to point on the maps. So between reports, Christian asked Jayden a bunch of geography trivia questions. It was so cute.

A few days later, Dad emailed him to thank him for doing the shoot and for taking the time to talk to Jayden. Christian replied:

The live shot went great. The station thought it was one of the best live shots we had in while. Your grandson reminds me a lot of me at that age. I was a geography nut and I finished 3rd in the New Jersey geography bee when I was 13. It was fun talking to him and helped me pass the time at the shoot.

If he wants to come by the station some time I’d be happy to show him how I do my job. We have a great weather computer with a cool mapping system he would enjoy. Feel free to pass the info along.

Thanks,
Christian

Mmmmm...Ribs!

I was so excited to try out my camera on the Pilot Butte fireworks. This was my best shot. And another picture of Jayden with a sparkler, this time I let him move it.

The next day we had dinner and trampoline jumping w/ my friend Janet.

Yep that's me, don't get too many shots w/ me in them. While I was on the trampoline, a dog peed on my flip flop. Don't know why I felt the need to share that. That is what blogs are for, right?
7 eleven 2008
On 7/11 at 7:11pm, we met Janet at 7 eleven. Clever, huh? But we were 11 minutes too late to participate in the drawings and hotdogs. And they were not amused at our cleverness when we told them how cool we were for coming in at 7:11. But, we still got free Slurpees.

So there you have, the month in review. I will try to be better about posting more often. Actually I am considering making a commitment to take at least one picture a day, every day, and then post them on the blog. Can you still make New Year's resolutions in July? I think this would be a good way to improve my (photography) skills and then I would have documented so much of our lives.