Day 290

Brian and one of his buddies took my cousin’s boy, Timmy, bank-pole fishing down in southern Illinois on the Ohio River this past weekend.  At some point, they made the short trek over to one of our favorite areas in the Shawnee l Forest.  Here are a few photos that Brian took with his point and shoot camera.

Day 282

Mason had an afternoon football game, so my brother’s crew had to leave mid-morning.  Before they left, I gathered the kids together for some photos.  I took some really great ones right off the bat, but later realized my camera had been on the wrong setting so they were super fuzzy.  The kids were too tired of posing to recreate them, so I settled for this.  Wish they weren’t in such a pyramid-like position, but it will work along with a few additional ones that I got earlier by a fence.  Kids are not easy to photograph, especially when there’s 5 of them and you have no assistant!

Once the kids ran off, I snapped some photos of some nearby insects.  I much prefer shooting the latter as they don’t talk back and fidget!!

After my brother and his kids left, we had lunch and then drove over to the swimming hole we had found on our last trip here.  Though the adults didn’t plan to swim, we figured the kids would get in; however, the water was a little too chilly for them as well.  They stuck to wading instead.  They enjoyed looking for frogs & crayfish.  Meanwhile, I strolled the shoreline looking for some beautiful nature subjects.  The water was a lot shallower today so there was more to explore.

Day 280

I’m way behind on blogging (20 days behind to be exact), so I’ll be catching up with some quick and dirty posts.  This means fewer pics, and probably very little if any edited pics.  Thankfully I can backdate posts so I’ll be writing them as if they just happened that day.

Anyway, today we drove down to my mom’s camper near Bennett Springs State Park to spend a weekend with her and my brother’s family.  The kids were so excited to see their Grammy and their cousins.  Here are a few snapshots.

Setting up the tent.  My brother and his kids slept in it the first night.  We slept in my mom’s camper.  Seth wanted to sleep in the tent, but he gets up way to early so we convinced him otherwise.

Seth with his twin cousins.

Down at the trout stream.

A little bit of nature along the trail…

We ended the day with dinner and an outdoor movie (Soul Surfer).  What a fun first day!

Day 264

When I looked out the window this morning before work, I saw the coolest thing.  It was a thin band of fog over the field across from our house.  It’s rare to see fog like this.  Generally the fog blankets the entire sky. 

Day 263

Today’s meeting was held at Glacial Park, owned by McHenry County Conservation District.  The park, which is a remnant of glacial activity, contains gravel kames, kettles, restored prairies, oak savannas and wetlands.  The location for the meeting was the Lost Valley Visitor Center.  I took quite a few pictures of the beautiful surroundings before the meeting and during our lunch break.   

After the meeting, one of my coworkers spotted some baby squirrels peeking out of a hole in a tree.  I took a photo but my lens didn’t zoom quite far enough.  I got as close as I could and then cropped the photo later at home so you could see the face a little better.  Pretty cute, huh?!!  We think there were 3 babies inside.  There was a 2nd hole further up on the right tree branch and the momma squirrel was peeking out of it.

Day 262

I drove up to northern Illinois today with some coworkers so that we can attend a meeting tomorrow.  It was a long drive but we were rewarded with an afternoon field trip to a beautiful nature preserve….Fel Pro RRR Fen.  This beautiful site has several natural communities including gravel hill prairie, savanna, sedge meadow, fen, and several spring-fed lakes.  Of course I had my camera in tow, though I was seriously wishing I had my 7D back for this trip.

Turtle eggs….

 

After the field trip, we all had dinner together at a local restaurant before heading back to our hotel.  I always enjoy nights by myself in a hotel room because it’s a little respite from my hubby and kids.  Peace and quiet and no responsibilities.  Ah…If only there had been enough room in the van for my 3 huge pillows then this would have been just about perfect!