Carnival Time

The 4-H Fair has brought a carnival to town for as long as I can remember.  It probably was (and is) one of the biggest local highlights of summer, especially if you're a kid.  What could be better?  Your parents fork over the money and you get to ride the rides.  Now my amusement is in watching Evan experience it.  (Okay, and in people watching.  Oh. My. Word.)

Evan started out on the cars, just a little cautious.



About 1.2 seconds later, caution turned to this:



As further proof of just how much fun he was having, yes, that is indeed his tongue hanging out of his mouth.



What's better than a shoulder raising devilish grin?



How about sharing the joy with a new-found friend?



This was Evan's second year going to the carnival, and this year he really 'got it.'  Perhaps a little too well.  Note the perfectly executed side-eye he gave to the ride operator.



Last year this expression would have meant "get me off this ride!"  This year it meant, "hand me my juice!"  Priorities, people.



He paused just long enough to sit with Grandpa while waiting for his favorite ride from last year, the trucks, to be fixed. 



Thankfully it was fixed because he remembered it from last year and had been asking about it. 





Last year's blurry cell phone pic on the same trucks.  ::sniff sniff::  Look how much he's grown!



This year they didn't have to stop the roller coaster though to let him off.



The blonde in the seat next to him didn't hurt.  She's the niece of my mom's friend and the reason he got on the ride.  Notice there was a blonde next to him on the trucks too.  And another one here:



He definitely knows how to have fun.

Fireworks Meet Lightning

As part of my effort to re-focus this exploration of photography, I decided a few weeks ago I needed to take advantage of the opportunities right in front of me.  So, 4th of July weekend, I decided to give fireworks a try. 

These were all taken from my front yard, so I think next year I might try a different vantage point to anchor the shots differently.  But for a first try, I'm fairly happy with these.





But the coolest shot was one I nearly deleted before I realized what was in it.  On the night of the 3rd, we got a pretty decent storm later on in the evening.  As the fireworks were going off, occasionally the sky would light up with lightning behind the clouds in the distance and turn the sky a deep blue.  I took this one as the fireworks were going up, and at exactly the point the lightning came down.  This was the one time I might regret having the biggest tree on our streeet! 

Fireworks, meet lightning.

June Downloaded

Where did June and half of July go already?  We've been so busy I've barely had time to take a breath before we're headed out the door again.  But summer is the time to do it!

We went on a behind-the-scenes tour at the Zoo with some of my coworkers and their kiddos.







Evan discovered a new best friend in his Aunt Barbara



and played with other adorable relatives.  [Note that they color coordinated their water guns with their outfits.  Note on the note?  Evan calls water guns "bubble chics."  I have no idea....] 



We celebrated the Dads.





We celebrated a friend's birthday (you'd never guess Evan was the only kid who didn't eat anything - look at that belly!)



And Evan makes sure we don't take ourselves too seriously. 

Jam Session

Dan and Evan had a mini jam session last week.  Enjoy!



And a behind-the-scenes look at working with a 3-year-old musician...

Focus!

I'm going to attempt to wrap up the entire month of June in two posts.  This one, and another one hopefully to be posted later this week.  I've fallen so terribly behind in everything fun.  It also spurred a decision of sorts this weekend that I *need* to take a step back and remember why I got (back) into photography in the first place, and the fun of blogging.  I want to explore some new subjects, challenge myself to learn, and just have fun with it. I already tried out a couple of things - fireworks and macros - that I'll post more of soon.

In the meantime, I finally got around to editing the pictures from Evan's birthday party.  As usual, he was a total rock star.

"Is that cake?  See this phone I have?  You can have it back when you give me cake!"



He not only refrains from tearing into the gifts until given the okay, he stops and poses for pictures.





Smarties!!  This is especially significant as this was his first ever gift from blogger fans.  Thank you, RaeJean and family!  Evan's handling his superstar status well.



Negotiating the release of the jelly beans.  He went right to the birthday cash and forked it over.  I need to talk to this kid about financial responsibility.



"Who's here?  Do they have presents?"



Reading his cards...



...and having a ball.



Thanks everyone who came out to celebrate with us!