Off The Beaten Path

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Ace and I like to get out of the house on the weekend. Momma doesn’t mind because she gets to sleep in. 🙂

Today we decided to go on a little nature walk.  We went to Three Creeks Park.  If you are friends with me on FaceBook (add me if not) you have probably seen the pictures from our previous visits, but this time we came in from a different entrance that we found last weekend on accident.

When we first walked in we were greeted by this gorgeous pond surrounded by trees.  The leaves are starting to change color, which made it even more inviting…

Three Creeks Park is spider webbed with walking trails…mostly paved, and some hidden gems…the dirt trails.  Ace and I prefer to rough it and take the paths less traveled…

Getting off of the beaten path enables us to see things that most people who are zooming by on their bicycles, or running with their IPods, completely miss out on.  Like the “Volcano Tree” as Ace called it…

And a giant patch of red berries which caught Ace’s eye…

After walking probably a mile back the curvy trail we found the highlight of Ace’s day…a small trail that led down to a bed of river rocks in the middle of the creek.

We spent probably 20 minutes there while Ace worked on his pitching arm by throwing the rocks into the creek.  Yes, he is a lefty… 🙂

And after his arm was tired from throwing and mine was tired from holding the camera we made our way back on down the trail.

It started off kinda chilly in the morning, but after all of this walking and throwing we had worked up a sweat.  Time to strip off some layers…

One of the most exciting parts of exploring these trails is not knowing where they lead.  I know that some of these trails make their way across the better parts of the East side of town, but luckily this one dumped us out about 300 feet from the truck.

We were both glad, because Momma had just texted us to let us know that lunch was about ready, and we had both worked up quite an appetite…  😀

Ruby

Ace loves dogs!  He always gets so excited when he sees a dog.  So, after quite a bit of convincing from Momma, I finally gave in…

But Ruby is a puppy…a big puppy!  😀  And a hyper one at that.  The running and jumping is not Ace’s favorite part for sure…but I’m sure he’ll get used to it.  😀

Happy Valentines Day To Me!

It’s been snowing here a lot the past week.  Ace has never really enjoyed the snow.  When he goes outside in the snow he just stands there and looks in amazement and the white fluffiness covering the once green lawn.

I’ve tried to get him to lay down..roll around…pick up a sow ball…and nothing.  He just points,with a big smile on his face and says, “SNOOOOWWW!”

So the other day (I used a sick day…shhhhh) Ace and I went outside to play.  This time I dug my snow pants out of the closet and suited up with him.  I though that if I rolled around  in the snow that maybe he would soon follow and start to enjoy it.

Nope…instead there is a two year old standing pointing at the snow and a 31 year old rolling around in the drifts, making snow angels, and making snowmen like he was 8 years old again.

I had fun…not so sure about Ace.  😀

Anyways, the point of this post is that I took my digital camera outside to take pictures if Ace did decide to play in the snow.   Even though he did not roll around in the freshly fallen flakes, he did look pretty cool in his new snow attire.  So, I got out my camera…and nothing.  It would not turn on.

The batteries are probably dead.  Nope!  The camera is dead. D.E.A.D. Dead.

So, Momma, being the quick thinker and most excellent wife that she is went out and bought me a Nikon D5000 DSLR camera.

She knew I would not spend that kind of money on a camera even though I have been talking about getting a DSLR for years!

Ace’s birthday is coming up next month and she was afraid that I would go out and buy a $200 point-and-shoot camera that I really did not want. (And you know what…she was right.)  😀

So, she surprised me with my Valentines Day present a week early.  (I was also informed that I will not be receiving any more gifts until next Christmas.)  😀

I’ve been practicing every night for a week now and am starting to get the hang of the thing.  Many buttons. Many settings.  Many things I have no idea what they are for.  😀

So,without further ado…I present my first photos taken with the new camera…

Me...seeing what I look like with my new companion.

Me...seeing what I look like with my new companion.

Ace being his onry self...

Ace eating pretzels (the only time he holds still long enough to take his picture is when he is eating. 😀 )

Ace Eating His Fingers

Ace Divided By Two

So there you have it.  I think I did OK, for being a complete beginner.  I’m planing on taking some workshops here in Columbus so that I can learn to use this camera to it’s fullest potential.

Maybe someday I can be as good as a few of my fellow blogger friends turned photographers…PG and Kim.

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