Its HOT, finally.  The hot and humid weather has finally started.  This weekend was a scorcher in the 90s.  We were invited to a birthday party for a friend of my 3 year old at the local park.  Its a beautiful park with an awesome playground but the heat kept us in the pavillion eating watermelon.

Until the kids found the water spritzer. Ahhh…nice and cool with the warm breeze.

I am certainty not complaining as I love summer and have been quite cold this spring.

Lilies, my favorite flower, ever. I planted them all around my yard. I wait patiently for them to bloom and then they are gone as quickly as they came. These orange ones come up first and them my beloved star gazers. I love to shoot them each year, they never get boring.

Nice warm days have arrived and the kids are super excited to be outside splashing around in some super cold water. Until they start shivering and their lips turn blue. Yay summer!

At arms length.  My son likes to pose with me.

A Triple Delight is one of my favorite dishes.  But my version is three happy children with a the most beautiful evening light.

Nature, up close.

I don’t own a true macro but I can still cheat. Love the small details of flowers and leaves.

We love to go camping and this weekend was our first trip out for the season. Sat was beautiful weather and I got to play with my new lens also.

Two minutes before this shot was taken, this was his pose. He thinks he is so funny.

Finally a nice warm weekend.  Perfect for a little fishing, or in her case, a little resting on a blanket in the shade while her brother went fishing. 

Can you see me in her shades??

This post is a little diversion from my usual. I am sharing, again, the view from my backyard. I often sit on my deck at watch the horses run. They are beautiful and calming and have such personality. I shoot them whenever the mood strikes or they are doing something funny or different. Last Friday I had to take a break from my Project:Garage Clean-up and go grab my camera and capture the unusual – the horse nap.  I admit I know little about horses except from what I observe in my back yard but in all that time I don’t think I ever saw a horse laying down on the job.

I try hard not to disturb them when I am on a horse shooting mission so I get my longest lens, which isn’t very long, and walk gently toward the fence that separates my yard from theirs. Luckily for me, I didn’t disturb their nap time so I could grab as many shots as my heart desires, which was a lot.

Here are a few ‘fun with horses’ shots to share:

They are beautiful, no?

My son surprised us all when he wanted to tackle this really TALL ropes course and zip line this weekend at an Earth Day Celebration.  It got slightly scary during one part of the course but he was determined to finish it and was very brave. This is the face of victory.