K has been playing soccer in the local league for 6 year old girls. She's actually proved to be quite good which really surprised me as I thought she'd inherited my natural athletic ability (as in none at all). Instead she gets right in, tackling and stealing the ball from the other girls. Of course she does have one advantage, that of being about 6 inches taller than most of the girls her age which makes her a little more intimidating.

These shots were taken at her game. I'm not sure what blogger is doing to the photos but I've noticed that that they are much more vibrant on blogger than they appear on my screens at home. I processed these using Scott Kelby's updated 7 points system. His system is quick and easy in Adobe Camera Raw CS5 compared to what it was when his book first came out (because you had to use CS3). The new version of the 7 points system is available on www.kelbytraining.com and (considering you can buy 1 month access for $25) is much cheaper than buying the now outdated book.

This morning "I" and I spent some time in the park outside our back yard.  For those of you that have never set eyes on our home, we have a grassy area (the park) outside our back fence and a gate in the fence to go out.  The grassy area is mowed once a week and there are several trees there.  It is flanked on one side by the "forest" a small area the size of a single lot but that contains dozens of fully grown ponderosa pines. The older kids love to play in the "park" and the "forest" and the best part is that I can look out the back door and keep an eye on them. Unfortunately for "I", I only let her out accompanied by an adult (she is only 22 months after all!) and we have had bears in the back yard in previous years.

Today she got to spend some time out there without the kids (they were at school).  She wore a new dress I picked up at the Gap for $11.99 (reduced from $30 or something!).  Of course I wasn't going to let her out there looking so cute without subjecting her to a photo shoot :)

Took the kids to San Diego zoo.  It's amazing to think that there were so many animals they'd never seen in real life or even in photos (only cartoons). They were surprised how big the animals were because you can't really get scale when watching on TV or reading a book.

Here's a sample of what we saw:

I am slowly starting to dig myself out from under 700 photos of Disneyland, the Oregon Coast, San Diego Zoo and Sea World.  I've started with the smaller groupings of photos. 

There were taken in San Diego at the part in our camp site "Campland on the Bay", which by the way is *highly recommended* if you ever find yourself needing a tent or RV camp site in San Diego.  It was quite close to Sea World (just across the bay) and you could even watch the fireworks outside. Great playground, swimming pools, and small private beach.

Wow, I am amazed to find out that I won 3rd place in the "Love Van Gogh" art contest over at Fine Art America.  There were 159 entries all inspired by the work of impressionist artist Vincent Van Gogh.

Thank you to everyone who voted for my artwork "Vincent's Sunflower".



You can own a print copy (starting at $24US) by purchasing here or the 11"x14" original pastel painting is still available for $150US (please contact me directly).