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  We got home and started getting everything unpacked and put away.  I walked into the family room and just had to laugh.  E3 and E2 had been playing a game before we left, and as we were getting ready to go I asked E2 to put it up.  I guess he did.

  We had so much fun!  The kids played hard, rolled down hills, got sunburned. 🙂 We didn’t want the fun to end so we decided to stay one more night.

  (I remembered to make the photo a link, so click on it to see the larger version.) They started the fireworks an hour early this year, so it was rather challenging to get the settings right to get the bursts without having the sky too light.  The sunset colors made for an interesting composition, though.

  We decided at the last minute to go to Winchester Bay for the next couple of days.  Starting several years ago, my in-laws head down to spend the week around the fourth of July there, along with several friends from where we used to live in California.  They all have RV’s and camp in the park along the bay, so when we’ve been able to go we usually stay in a motel somewhere in the area.

My kids love staying motels, as it is something so out of the ordinary and it means something special is happening. I have to admit I like it, too- someone else has to clean it!

  It is common knowledge that to take decent flash pictures, one needs to get the flash as far away from the lens as possible.  I had a great external flash for my C-2100, a Promaster 5750DX.  One of the best features of this flash is it has through-the-lens (TTL) capabilities for many different cameras, it just needs a specific module for the individual camera.  The C-2100 required a PC-sync cable since it didn’t have a hot shoe, so the module for it has the cable.  However, my nice new E-500 only has the hot shoe, and I finally got the module for it!!  I’m so excited.

  I was cleaning the kitchen after everyone was in bed, like normal, and I thought the bowl of cherries E1 and E3 had been snacking on was a perfect photo for today.  We’ve had some rough times recently, so our current family mottoes are: “Our family is a team,” “It’s us against the world,” and “I’ve got your back.”  And really, as rough as it’s been, life is still great, because we have each other.

  A very neat local independent toy and learning store, Mindventures, has now gone out of business.  I stopped in a couple of days before the doors closed for good to see what was left, and walked out with some pretty good deals.  I got a huge pack of assorted colored construction paper, a miniature hearts card game, and a magnetic travel backgammon set, all for less than 6 dollars.  I love travel games- they are great in the diaper bag to pull out when we have a wait somewhere, or are in the car for a while, or even to keep the kids busy when we’re eating out and it’s taking me even longer than normal to eat my food from entertaining E4.  I was really excited about finding a backgammon set, as E1 and E2 love to play.

(By the way, yes, I missed another photo day, but I’ve decided I don’t want to have a post that only says, “missed another one,” even for continuity.)

  Finishing up my rather boring lightbox attempts.  I’d like to sell some stock photography, so I really need to work on these techniques a little more.  Although I need to work on not taking them late at night in order to have a little more creativity.

  I’m still experimenting with the lightbox.

  The storage box I am using as a lightbox was still out, and so I tried to shoot the cherries after I went to the grocery store.