Hazy

California is on fire and the smoke and haze has found its way to the San Luis Valley.
I'm missing my blue skies and the view of the mountains.
If it's this hazy here, I can't imagine what the sky in California looks like.

Tino's Three

Today is Tino's third birthday.















He had a rough start in life, born prematurely and hooked up to oxygen and monitors for several months. Three years later and he's a healthy & happy little boy.










We've been friends with Sam & Marianne for many years and, though Jamie doesn't play with Tino often, we celebrate each others' family milestones.
















Jamie was worried that he wouldn't have any friends his age at Tino's party and was thrilled to find Quinn and, later, Cortez to pal around with.




This birthday party had something for everyone, including face painting, watergun battles and, for lunch, BBQ pork ribs & hot dogs.
















































The main attraction, however, was the bouncy house they rented... Jamie, Cortez & Quinn thought that was the best thing EVER!




















































It was a fun and exciting party, although you wouldn't know it by the way the animals were all crashed out!

Is he tired of being my model????

This child has been the object of my camera lens for over six years.
Could it be that he's getting annoyed with my relentless demands?
A picture is worth a thousand words...

Too bad, Jamie, I'm going to continue chasing you with my camera!

The Uniform

T-Ball is over so Jamie has returned to Tae-kwon-do.
His instructor gave him his uniform today and he was so excited! It is a bit big and he didn't want to wear the pants during class. I'm hoping that it will shrink after I wash it.

A good day for a swim

Actually, most days are good days for a swim.
It was also a good excuse to

get out of the house and to play with my new camera.
Again, I'm blown away by the zoom lens (12X optical). I had fun taking photos of Jamie & his friends in the pool. I was pretty far away and they were not aware that I was snapping shots so I got some great, natural candids.
I also got this shot of the Great Sand Dunes and Sangre range to the east.

new toy...

FedEx drove up this morning at 7:40am with my camera! I almost kissed the delivery person.

The first picture I shot? Of Jamie, of course!

I spent most of the day playing with all of the settings and figuring out just what my new baby could do. There are lots of things I like about this camera..first of all, the zoom is AMAZING!!!

this is Jamie's toy parking garage, taken from across the room

these two show the view to the west from our backyard

Yep...my Powershot & I are going to have lots of fun and share lots of memories!
Can't wait to play with the panoramic stitch feature!

Happy Independence Day

Nothing reminds us that Alamosa is a small town more than holidays. It is so much fun to set up our lawn chairs on Main Street and watch the Fourth of July Parade with our friends and neighbors.

























































Later in the afternoon, we had some friends over for a good old fashioned cook out. The kids played baseball and croquet and the men played horseshoes. The women sat and talked, it was all so American. Tony was the grill master and we ate lots of yummy good food. Right before dusk, we got the smoke bombs and sparklers out for the kids. We felt especially safe because Superman was also in attendance. After our little fireworks play, we all piled into our cars and headed into town for the fireworks. We parked on the side of the road by the fairgrounds and had an excellent view of the 40 minute production. The kids were so excited and each aerial display earned a hearty "AWESOME" from the six year old judges.

More T-Ball

camera saga...

So, I researched the camera but NOT the internet sellers and got scammed. You know the old saying about if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is? Well, believe me...it is.

I ordered the camera on June 30 from TechonDigital (remember the name and NEVER buy from them). Two days later and I still had not received a confirmation email so, I started calling. Their customer service reps were rude, unprofessional and hung up on me twice. I was on hold, shuffled around from person to person and when I was able to finally speak to someone, I was informed that my camera had not yet shipped because I had not yet called to confirm my order. WHAT??? I do most of my shopping online and I have never once had to call and confirm an order that was placed over the internet. I assume when I click "submit order" that I've pretty much confirmed the purchase at that point. They then tried to get me to purchase additional (and extremely overpriced) batteries, memory cards, warranties, etc. for the camera. I didn't purchase any extras and was informed that the camera would ship tomorrow

Tonight, when we got home from Jamie's t-ball game, I had an email from TechonDigital saying that my camera was out of stock, that it would be 6 weeks before they were available and that they had canceled my order. I went to their website and, of course, they show the camera as being in stock and, now, it's $10 less than originally posted. So, I decided to Google TechonDigital and find out more about this internet seller. It looks like I got off easy because they never shipped the item to me. I found several reviews from others who had almost the exact same experience as I had (poor customer service, order canceled after not buying the overpriced add-ons) and others who received broken or defective merchandise and then had to deal with these people to return the items and get their money back. I went back to the original website where I first found TechonDigital, Everyprice.com, and Googled all of the sellers they have listed...they are all, at best, questionable.

My advise...stay far away from TechonDigital and be wary of any internet seller on Everyprice.com. Also, research the product AND research the seller before you make an expensive purchase. I did finally order my camera from Circuit City and it will be here on July 9th.

T-Ball Photos

Jamie's t-ball photos came back and I have to admit that I'm surprised. The shadow from the dugout is not as bad as I thought it would be and I do like having the field in the background. I don't like the telephone pole sticking out of his head but I think that can be Photoshopped (is that a word?) out.

New Camera

After much deliberation and research (and quite possibly reading every available customer review on the internet), I have decided on the Canon S5 IS as my next camera. I thought, from the onset of my search, that this was the camera I would choose but wanted to make a semi-educated decision. I spent 2 hours last Saturday at Wal-Mart playing with their selection of cameras, four of which were on my "camera of interest" list. There were several features about each camera that I liked but the Canon S5 IS was the most complete package for my needs. The sales people at Wal-Mart were not very knowledgeable and/or helpful so when they were not willing to price-match, I thanked them for letting me play and informed them that I would be purchasing the camera from an online seller for $100 below their price. Since I paid less than I expected for the camera, I splurged and also bought a wide angle lens and filter kit to go with it. The hard part is now waiting for everything to arrive. I can't wait to start experimenting and playing!!