Becoming a member made sense…

And again we found ourselves at the Mystic Aquarium. We were driving past on our way home and we needed to feed the cow nose rays one more time. Well, we needed to feed the cow nose rays, feed the birds of the outback, see the XD theater movie again, and build a few more virtual critter cams. Oh, and I had to take more jellyfish photos. They amaze me! I would love to show you photos of the cow nosed rays but getting a still shot of them while they were swimming under water that was being churned up by hundreds of hands trying to feed them was next to impossible. I have some very lovely blurry blobs that I could show you… maybe next time.

I love the seagull. He is there, on his trashcan perch, everyday. He is also huge but that makes sense since he is so very well fed! July 8th

Happy woodland...

Bristol, Rhode Island and Blithewold Mansion were our destination for this day. It was a bit of a stretch getting a 9 year old boy to sign on to a tour of a turn of the century, the last one not this one, mansion and its gardens. He slept all the way there and was not thrilled when he woke to find that we were going to see flowers. I think it was the sleep talking or maybe the tired but he fought me all the way to the ticket booth. Thank goodness for technology! They had a system where you would call a number on your cell phone and enter the number of the exhibit and it would tell you all about the plant, tree, etc… Halleluiah! He was hooked! Of course, the house tour did not have this system but by then he was committed. Both of us enjoyed the views. I took photos in the house until they told me I couldn’t. (There was no sign and I did not use flash! Hey, I maybe a crazy photo lady but I am responsible about it.)

Blithewold is Old English for “happy woodland”. It fits. I could picture the family living their days in this beautiful home. Put in central air and I would move in tomorrow. I have my limits, you know. Check out Blithewold on their website. Here are a few of my favorite images from the day. July 7th

Fish food...

During our trip to the aquarium earlier in the week, they told us that our tickets were good for two more days. Since we had left a lot of the park unexplored on Monday, this was the day to return to the deep. We spent hours in the exhibits, learning about sea life and using computer simulators to build and deploy underwater critter cameras. Then you could watch video of the actual cameras that had been at work in the field. We went into the sub that found the Titanic. We got to become animals in the XD Theater and feed stingrays in the petting pool. You should have seen the looks on my son’s face. And mine for that matter. Needless to say, we are now aquarium members. July 6th

Surf and turf...

With just one afternoon to play at the beach, choosing a beach to play at was very important. We asked the lovely woman at the desk where we should place our towels. She was very helpful and we headed off in the approximate direction. I say approximate because the beaches were an hour away and our directions were, ‘Follow the directions on the sheet but go past the beach listed and look for the next beach about a mile away. It is much better.’

So, we were off. We drove for the hour and started seeing beautiful beachfronts and rocky shorelines. We also saw a great beachside restaurant serving lobster rolls, which my son was not in favor of so we drove on. Surprisingly, there was no beach a mile away. There was a lovely but super crowded beach 8 miles away but not the right beach, so we turned back to retrace our steps. This time the call of the lobster roll was too loud. After a hotdog for my son and shrimp and lobster for me we asked again about the beach in question, which was of course, in the opposite direction. Back into the car and off we went.

We found it! It took 10 minutes to get in and get parked, then another 20 to get to the changing rooms and onto the beach. Yea, surf, sand and sun for the rest of the afternoon, all 45 minutes of it… I am lucky I got any photos at all but there is photographic proof that we did get to a Rhode Island beach. July 5th

Sleeping with the sharks...

Fourth of July and there should be fireworks. Well, I did see fireworks from my hotel window and I can’t say that I took any images worth showing here. I did take some video with my cell phone but the commentary from my 9 year old is a little off point. I am not sure how Harry Potter fits in? Maybe the sparks in the sky were from really big wands!

So, no fireworks today, instead I am showing you a few images from our visit to the Aquarium in Mystic CT that morning. I love that place. It isn’t too large to be overwhelming but it is filled with things to do and see. Not even away for 4 hours and I was already lamenting the fact that I didn’t have my ‘big’ camera. The best laid plans… I think I got some good images though. I hope you like them.

Did you know that some sharks do stop swimming and sleep? July 4th

Away games...

You have to love a little down time.  Well, that is a relative term when you go on vacation with an active 9 year old.  We spent last week in Rhode Island and I am sorting through the images now.  I will start posting tonight.

Disclaimer, I only took my point and shoot Mom camera.  (It has bells and whistles but it is still a point and shoot.) I figured I would rather live my vacation then just live it later through the photos.  Plus, it is hard to keep up with a 9 year old while trying to be Ansella Adams, something had to give. You have no idea how many times I longed for my camera kit the whole time I was away...

Sweet reminder...

A few years ago, one of my families said thank you for their portraits with a beautiful hydrangea plant. It was such a lovely and unexpected surprise. I planted it and have been lovingly caring for it as I watched it grow. This year it bloomed! It is such a pretty reminder of such a charming family. July 3rd