summer haze

Working my way a backlog of unedited photos, and found this one from last summer.  

It reminds me of warm summer evenings, vintage linens and the smell of lavender.  Of course, this flower is not lavender...I'm not sure what it is!  On my bucket list is to one day return to France to visit and photograph the lavender fields...that would be magical!

summer hike

We camped twice this summer in Rocky Mountain National Park.  Once at Glacier Basin and once at Aspenglen.  We loved Aspenglen.  It's smaller, less crowded and just a little quieter.  

While we were there, we tackled a pretty big hike--Deer Mountain.  If we'd known how long it was, we might not have tried, but it was so worth it!  Little Z had to be carried part of the way.  It was 6 miles roundtrip and his little legs got so tired.  The summit was incredible.  This photo was taken just part way up the trail. 

summer mountains: stitched panorama

I have a little more free time with Mr. Z in Kindergarten this year, so I decided to play a little bit in Photoshop.  I like to learn new things, but it feels fairly overwhelming unless there's no pressure and it's just for "play."  

I haven't edited many photos lately, so I began with some summer photos taken on top of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park.  It was the end of June and the wildflowers were at their peak.  I had some nice shots (first two below), but as I looked at them I wondered if I could combine them. 

I'd heard about "stitching" photos together in Photoshop, so I googled it and found a quick 5 minute tutorial. Turns out it's super easy.  Here's the result below.  I like it, and will definitely have to try this again!  This is three photos stitched together.  Next time, I'll have to remember to take a few more photos for a nice wide panorama.

summwer wildflowers

We were hiking at Lily Lake in mid-July and the wildflowers abounded!  Love the way nature is painted in such beautiful colors.

devil's backbone open space hike [loveland]

By far, my favorite thing about moving back to Colorado has been enjoying the great outdoors.  It's like food for the soul.  The kids don't just LOVE hiking, but every time we go, they always come back refreshed and happier than when we left.  There is something about being in nature with all of her colors and textures, sounds and smells that both relaxes and stimulates the senses.  We've sort of made a commitment that as long as we live in this awesome state, hiking and outdoor adventures will be part of our lifestyle.

Devil's Backbone open space was a great, shorter 2 mile trail for us, though there are lots of longer options too, if you want to go further.  We took Kelly Pepper on her first hike here (sorry, no photos of her--she was too busy enjoying the trail!) and didn't want to go very far from home.

The kids had a great time on this hike.  We will definitely be going back.

If you're interested, you can check out some of our other family hikes below.

Arthur's Rock [Lory State Park]

Calypso Cascade [Rocky Mountain National Park]

Fern Lake [Rocky Mountain National Park]

Lily Lake

homemade salsa

We've had an amazing crop of tomatoes this year.  Actually, it's our first crop of tomatoes ever.  Last year, we inherited a garden with our house, but everything was pummeled to pieces in a late season hail storm.  This year, we planted our first garden ever and have been enjoying it all summer.

I've had so many tomatoes that I needed to do something to preserve them all.  I've never canned a thing, but my mom used to, so I thought I'd give it a try.  After searching the Internet for tips, I discovered someone who said she froze her jars.  Since we have a deep freezer that has lots of spare room, I thought I'd give it a try.

To start, I gathered a ton of tomatoes, about 6 pounds.

My little helper and I added cilantro, garlic, onions and jalapeno peppers.

I almost forgot the limes.  Here is my ingredient list.

I chopped up everything in the food processor and added the juice of three limes and about 1/2 tablespoon salt.  

I filled my mason jars with about an inch to spare, let them sit overnight so that the flavors could meld and put them in the freezer the next morning.

There you have it!  Yummy homemade salsa to last us through the winter.

summer recap

 Summer is over.  Sniff, sniff.  My kids go back to school today.  Goodbye, relaxed summer schedule, I'm going to miss you!  Hello, quiet chunks of time and a little more personal space, I'm looking forward to seeing you again.

Our first summer in Colorado was really nice.  Quiet and simple.  Refreshing.  The girls swam a ton, Z and I had lots of fun at our amazing local library, we grew our fist real garden, read a lot and just hung out.

Here's a little collage of Instagram photos from our summer.

sparklers: painting with light {photo tips}

Happy Independence Day!

Hooray for the 4th of July!

Watermelon, parades and sparklers.

These are the things I love about this day.

And, of course, capturing fireworks.

Here are some favorite photos from our last 4th of July in Orlando.

It's hard to believe we've been in Colorado for nearly a year!

There are many ways and settings to capture fireworks.

I like to start with an ISO of 200, and play with my settings based on available light.

For these shots, my goal was to capture the light painted by sparklers.

I mounted my camera on a tripod, and since it was pitch black, I left the shutter open for 2sec. 

I asked my kids to make various shapes in the air with their sparklers, tracing them over and over again, as if they were painting with light in mid-air.

Voila!

Shapes of light!

f/5, 2s, ISO 200 

f/8, 2s, ISO 200

In the shot above, I'm focusing on Mr. Z who is standing still making circles with his sparkler, while one of my girls ran through the shot, creating a stream of slightly unfocused light.

f/5, 2s, ISO 200

This took several takes to get the spacing just right.  Plus, we had quite a few backwards "S's" until we figured out how to do mirror image letters :)

f/5, 2s, ISO 200

Tips:

mount camera on tripod

shoot in manual mode and focus on the light

experiment with moving into and out of the frame

play with speed of movement (slow movements result in brighter lines)

HappyPainting!

lily lake hike {Estes Park}

One of my favorite things about moving back to Colorado:  hiking.  We attempted this hike for the second time just one week before the epic flooding washed out Hwy 34 to Estes Park.  The first time was last fall when we came out for a visit (and shortly afterwards decided that we had to move back West.)  We've yet to complete the hike.  Someday.  

Last year, we got a little ways in and Mr. Z decided to stop walking while at the same time realized that he was deathly afraid of the backpack carrier.  He had never been in one before, since there is no such thing as hiking in Orlando.  (We went on a "hike" once which was really more like roaming around in the scrub in thick humidity while never gaining elevation all the while wondering why in the world you're torturing yourself for nothing.)

Anyway, this year we thought we might get a little farther, but alas, it started raining and the girls were far more interested in bouldering and scaring me half to death by perching a top rocks that were dangerously close to the edge of cliffs.  

Maybe next year.  Third time is the charm, right?