Wheat Thins are for the birds

 Yesterday while I was sitting on the beach watching my kids, I noticed the birds were out scavenging.  I just love these little cardinals and love to see them around the island.  So I broke out the Wheat thins and crushed them up and tossed them on the sand nearby to get a closer look.  By the way, all three of these shots are straight out of camera!  I didn't do any enhancing of these cute little things at all!

 I love the contrast on these "red head" (I don't know the scientific name) cardinals.  So pretty!

These two must be a pair because the red  one was giving her food.  It was really cute watching them interact.

Two more days in Paradise and then hopefully home to some decent weather in Utah!  It's been a nice break to be consistently in the high 70's and low 80's everyday these past two weeks!

When they resist...just name the girl!

 Really?  A GIRLFRIEND?  I was sitting on the beach alone with Jake and although I had failed to charge my camera battery, I thought,  "I might as well use it up!"  Can't pass up the opportunity to find one really good shot!  So I dragged him out onto a rock and told him to sit and look at me!  He sat there for a minute while I fussed around with my settings.  About the time I was ready, the waves surged a bit and it started to pound him from the back a little.  Not hard, but enough for him to be done with me! If he's gonna get pounded, he's gonna get POUNDED!  I urged him to wait for a minute and was getting total resistance. Like this:

So I remembered that he has mentioned someone named Claire at school.  I really hesitate to call her his girlfriend, but she is a girl and obviously a friend, so  I  told him to look up and say "Claire"!  IT WORKED!  A sunny bright smile from this freckle-faced boy!

So that gave me a little mileage as I snapped as many as I could before he got up and walked away to go play in the waves some more!  He puts up with me, what can I say?

No Wonder it's the "Garden Isle"

Here on the north side of Kauai, it is very lush and green.  It rains more on this side of the island than on the south side.  But even with the rain, I still prefer this side because I love all the different colors of green!  I went out around the yard and took a few photos of some of the fruit and flowers that my father-in-law has planted here around the yard.  I guess I am so enthralled with it because it's so different from my yard at home in Utah.  There are tons of banana trees in the yard.  My husband cut down a stalk the other day, but this is what they look like still on the tree.

Ahh this one is ready to eat!  Do you know how to grow a pineapple?  You just cut the top off and put it in the ground!  How easy is that?  Doesn't it look delicious?

I also love the papaya straight off the tree.  Looks like there will be a few ready soon!

 My son caught a little lizard and wanted me to take his picture with it.  I was waiting for it to stand up and try to sell me some car insurance!

 That's just a taste of a few of the things growing here in the yard.  There are tons of flowers and vines around.  It's just green and beautiful!  More to come!

A Sweet Escape

Although this is my first photo here on this site, I should say that I've been putting this site together while I'm on vacation.  "What kind of a vacation is that?" you may ask.  Well, this is my place where I recharge my batteries, spend quality time with my husband and children, so I can go home and do my best to keep things moving for the rest of the year.  The other thing is that I can't NOT take photos of my children while I am here!  If you were wondering where I am, I am on the island of Kauai which has become a very familiar spot over the past 15 years of marriage.  I love bringing my kids here because they've grown to love it as I have and we are able to enjoy this place for 3 weeks or so a year.  Their grandpa has built a beautiful place of peace and rest in the most heaven-like  setting.  So here I have been able to clear my head a bit, to launch this site, to showcase some of my work, and share some of the things that I see through the lens.