Stormy weather

We had a strange storm roll through yesterday while at the beach… Contrary to most folks, we actually look forward to them because they stir up stronger waves that we all enjoy ‘riding’ on. This is what the sky looked like (sorry it’s crooked, I was being flipped around in the water while taking the pic):

I think it’s cool that you can actually see where the storm ends and typical sunny Florida sky begins!

There were lots of birds feeding on the stuff washing ashore…

I really like the little sand castle you can see in the left side of the pic.

We’re debating going on an airboat ride through the Everglades… Hubby and I did one a long time ago, pre-kids and thought it was pretty neat, but the closest rides are about a 2 hour drive. Not sure I want to do that… Guess it depends on whether the kids want to go.

Have a great weekend!

Nature=Beauty

I took the kids to JN Ding Darling Refuge today. Below are some pictures from our visit. It’s the first time we’ve gone, in 5+ years of coming to Sanibel… how sad, huh? We didn’t see any alligators or crocs but lots of birds and butterflies. It was definitely worth the drive through, although we won’t likely make the trip again soon just because it’s not our cup of tea, so to speak. Feel free to click on any pic and peruse the entire group at Flickr.

Florida!

In years past, we’ve spent 2 weeks here in Sanibel during the summer months because it’s cheaper than the “on” season and because we all love it here. This year, we didn’t come down for Spring Break because of Sparkles… I just couldn’t stomach boarding her when she was so young. So we opted to wait until now, renting a house so we could bring her along. Crazy enough, it’ll probably be cheaper to spend the whole month of July here in the off season than one single week in March! Anyway, after spending about 23 hours in the car (the kids did GREAT and didn’t complain at all… it was almost surreal) we got to the house we’re renting. I won’t go into detail about how Sparkles suffers from motion sickness. A Lot. In my almost brand new car. Dramamine didn’t help. Ugh.

Anyway, we’re here and have been for almost a week. We’re loving that we can do more than when you only spend a week someplace. We love that there is no sense of urgency, that we all know we have LOADS of time to do things before it’s time to head back home. The weather has been unbelievable… overcast so no one is getting fried, but still warm and semi-sunny. We have a pool in the back yard that’s offered endless hours of entertainment and exercise for the kids and us parent types.

We went on the Sanibel Thriller boat ride… Highly recommend that, even though there are parts of it that got a little boring for the kids. The captain sought out the dolphins and we were entertained by several jumpers!

My oldest son only got a teensy bit wet…

I’ve done a little knitting, but nothing worthy of posting. Check out my flickr page to see pictures as our month progresses! I’m off to relax, a little something like this:

Lemonade, anyone?

Anyone know about cameras?

I took this photo using my Nikon D70 with the 18-70mm Nikkor lens and the macro function on the camera.  The lens has served me quite well over the past 6 or so years but I would love to learn to use this camera to it’s maximum potential, perhaps even read the manual and take a class or two on basic photography.  For now I don’t have time to invest into either, so I’m looking for quick info.  Anyone know of a good, relatively inexpensive macro lens for this camera? Nothing fancy, just something to dip my toes into the world of macro photography.

Let me know and I hope you’re enjoying a less wet version of a weekend than we are!

Some puppy love

Sparkles is 7 months old now… You can hardly tell there was a time when she wasn’t a part of the family!

More Crochet Toys!

Wow, I didn’t realize crocheted toys were so much quicker to make than knitted ones!! As a result, the kids have been asking for more of them, so I guess it’s a wash in the end.
First was the cake, but without the blueberries and with flowers instead… This is from the Amigurumi Two book::

Then the Happy Little Airplane from the same book:

Then there was the request for all the power-up mushrooms from Super Mario:

Pattern can be found here.

Then I finally finished my teacher gift knitting… A Mara Shawl using Hobby Lobby’s I Love This Yarn (only 2 skeins!!)

And my almost-but-not-quite-favorite new sweater:

and the back:

Pattern: February Lady Sweater
Yarn: Plymouth Galway Worsted 3.27 skeins
Needles: US8
Mods: I cast on for the XS (83sts) and increased raglan-style until I had 265 sts (Small size #s), omitting the eyelet increase row. Worked one gull lace repeat before splitting for the sleeves. Knitted the body to 10″ hoping it would grow with blocking and it turned out perfect… 14″ from the underarms fits perfectly on my hips! Yay! I’ll definitely be making more of this sweater!

As always, if you’re looking for more specific details, email me or check out my Ravelry projects pages!