Sunshine, Birds Chirping..Let's get outside

Finally the sun came out this weekend. The birds were chirping, the sky was blue, and I didn't need to wear my parka to keep me warm!

We decided to explore the outdoors and visited Roche Cove as well as Sandcut beach this weekend.

They were both beautiful.

At Roche Cove we climbed up a rocky hill off the trail and found some mossy rocks to eat our snacks.

The climb up.

Mossy rocks for a comfy place to eat.

The closest I come to being in a picture. You can see my reflection in his beautiful eyes:)

The view.

Fungi.

Tree sap.

Jas checking out the sap.

We stopped at the Red Barn for groceries and another snack. My kids are serious about food!

The traffic on the way home because of construction. They love to rip Sooke Rd apart, so that there are continuously delays in and out of Sooke. It was only a 20 minute wait at least, and not an hour!

Jas was overheated from all that waiting.

 The next day we headed out to Sandcut Beach. I had heard about it from a friend, and had been wanting to check it out for a while.

Jas under the waterfall.

Making boats out of grapefruit rind and seaweed to float in the stream.

We climbed to the top of the waterfall, and this little face was too cute not to share!

Jude's set up.

A rope swing Rob bravely decided to try out. We didn't think it would hold him, but thankfully it did.

This is the path going down to the beach. I snapped this photo as we left, so I felt it was a great way to end this post.

We had a great weekend, and I hope you did as well.

Taking it off auto

This past weekend, I decided it was time to make the move. I took my camera off auto and switched to manual mode. I was nervous and apprehensive, but I did it. I mean it IS digital, so what's the big deal?

I played with the aperture and, ISO a bit, but mostly the aperture. Adjusting the shutter speed to meet the light requirement for the aperture setting.

I like having the aperture open all the way for a blurry background, but with my camera, or maybe it's the lens, I have to be very close to the subject for the background to blur.

Here is a picture of Rob with the aperture fully open. The background is not blurred at all.

Same aperture, closer to Rob. The background is blurred.

Here is a photo I took months ago. Same aperture, but very close to the subject. The background is very blurred. So now I know how to get that look.

Here are some photos taken on the weekend that I just wanted to share because they are of my boys, so are of course more for the cute factor:

They love jumping off of things.

When I look at this picture, I can't imagine how he landed this.

King of the mountain.

Look at that beautiful face.

Having a little rest after all that jumping. 

An Eagle Landed Right Next to My Son

Today we went to Gordon's Beach here in Sooke. I have only been once before with a couple of home schooling moms I know. The first time I went, I saw two eagles, an otter run across the beach into the ocean and then later one of the eagles trying to snatch food away from an otter in the ocean.

So today we brought our binoculars in hopes of spotting some cool wildlife

Jas decided to climb this root. A couple of crows flew away that were beside the root.

and so I thought this was just another crow, but at a second glance I realized it was an eagle. Close enough to have picked up Jas and carried him away. 

This is the eagle flying away

It was cold and windy at the beach, but it was so worth the trip! This all happened within the first five minutes of us arriving.

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend:)

A Day at the Beach

Wordless Wednesday