Summer Break begins...

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Our first day of summer break and we spent it at Port Aransas/Mustang Island beach. We had severe storms last night but today was absolutely gorgeous...The water was clear and warm. It was partly cloudy for most of the day and the waves weren't bad at all...We had a blast and I have a lot of photos of our day...but I'm exhausted and headed to bed (Yawn)...But I wanted to share the above group shot of us...

Lori and her boys and Me with my boy!!

We missed Helen and Ashley today but hopefully they can come with us next time...stay tuned for more photos of our Beach Adventure...Have a good night :o)

A + Boy

Today was Michael's last day of school and actually all he had was an awards ceremony...I got to thinking this morning everyone always takes photos of their children going off to school on their first day of school for that grade but what about the last day...

Michael - August 2010 - First Day of First grade.

Michael - June 2010 - Last Day of First Grade.
Sheesh he's grown a lot this past year...

Michael with Jake and Julie.

Michael accepting his award from his principal.

Oh goodness...You don't think he's proud of himself, do you? LOL I love him but he sure makes me laugh at times!

Look at this Mom...it's my first medal!!

This last 9 weeks he got all A's, Yea!!

He received the medal for getting all A's & B's for the whole year. He kind of messed up his 3rd nine- weeks and ended up with 2 B's. I am so very PROUD of him despite the B's, he did his best.

He received the following awards for the Year:

Citizenship

Positive Attitude

Math

Spelling

Science

Reading

He earned a total of 31.5 pts in accelerated reading ( the goal was 20pts) and received an award for this.

Track Trek for 25 5/8 miles

Jump rope for heart 10 club. (Michael does not like to jump rope, ekk)

He did an awesome job this year and we worked really hard to keep those grades up!

Way to go Michael. I'm proud of you and love you sooo very very much!

Griibbiitt......

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Cool a FROG and NOT a toad...we found him out in the garden tonight!! I wonder if he's related to Kermit?

Our Sunday in Photos...

When I went out to feed and water the chicks I saw something on the chicks pen...I watched Michael walk by it several times before I finally pointed it out to him...

A gorgeous species of spinx moth.
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Fred was grumbling by this time and was ready to hit the road. We headed over to Mom and Dad's ranch...


This is my "Where's Waldo Photo"...I just amaze Michael when I am able to spot these camouflaged critters :o)

Michael ran off to play and came back shouting "Frog Momma, Frog". I asked him where and he held out his hand, lol...He had an itty bitty baby toad in his hand...I made him put it down on the ground and took photos of it in the sand...

Then it was time for a nature walk...Yea! Fred and Frankie were working on a tractor and I just decided to disappear :o)

Watering hole (other wise known as a Mosquito farm) with an Oak tree...It was a gorgeous day and I love this spot. The birds were singing and thank goodness for mosquito repellent :o)

A few years ago I spotted this gorgeous flower and then I never was able to find it again...I looked and looked...Today (Sunday) I was jumping for joy when I found not one but several of these gorgeous blooms. I thought the one I had seen years ago was a Leatherflower but after taking this photo and looking it up, I was wrong, it is a Blue Jasmine also known as a Hyacinth-vine...I love it and read that it is great for shaded gardens...Hmmm to bad my gardens aren't shaded!

Then I spotted another baby toad...actually they were all over the place and I don't even want to think about where I was walking,

squeesh-squeesh...ewww.

Oh and another Blue Jasmine...sheesh I haven't seen them for years and now they are all over the place...love this!

Then I spotted this caterpillar and the pill bug (rolly poley) approaching it...I think this is one caterpillar you do NOT want to touch and I just wondered if the pill bug would touch it or go around...He went around, guess that means do NOT touch me, lol.

Leafwing

Damsel fly our bluet on a log...the light was a bit harsh but I still love it when I'm able to get photos of flying critters and fast ones at that!

Empress Butterfly with wood ants and beetle.

I actually found this Huge Oak tree that had recently split apart and fallen. It must have had sap or something that was attracting the Empress Butterflies as they were all over it...The wood ants were enjoying it too.

Empress Butterfly with wings open.

They were even fighting over spots on the fallen Oak...sheesh!

A wee bit close and you can see his proboscis in the sap...too cool!

Yep I was having fun with this tree and all the critters attracted to it's sap...

Here's a bigger picture of the feeding frenzy scene! Looks like the old girl might have been hit by lightening? What ever happened it always makes me sad to see the big trees go down...Oh the stories they could tell!

Then I happen to hear my boys target practicing...I think Michael is pretty darn happy with his bb pistol. He just thought he was something!

Poor Frankie was shredding. We went to check on him and bring him back to the house for lunch and a break.

I was outside in the yard and spotted this scaly lizard up in a tree...Poor Michael was amazed once again that Momma had spotted it.

Mom's Lantana...Love the yellow and pink.


As I was changing out lens getting ready to leave I spotted this tiny baby walking stick on my camera bag...He must of hopped on for a free ride.

I changed out lens frequently today. Not something I like to do but once in awhile I just want to see what each lens can do...

On this day I used the Canon 100mm Macro, Sigma 70-300mm, and the Canon 10-22mm...I also noticed my sensor had a spot on it, grrr. Not too much I could do about it out in the field, so I was a bit frustrated when I found a black spot in all my photos, sigh!

Tonight I sat down and cleaned the sensor and all the lenses and it appears that my black spot has disappeared. I'll check tomorrow against the blue sky just too make sure.

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On another note Michael has his awards ceremony for School tomorrow morning and after that he is off for summer break...We are so excited. So many plans and road trips are in the works. Stay tuned for what I hope will be our best summer break yet!!