Twins down by the River...

"My dream is to be on my boat...or an island...that's my dream! -Cameron Mackintosh

I took the boys to the Mills River park where they discovered a nice place to play at the water's edge. We discovered it quite by accident.  There's a nice paved area around the whole park that is about 1.5 miles in total.  People use it to run, walk, or walk their dogs, and kids ride their bikes.  That's what we were doing-riding bikes.  There was a picnic table beside an opening in the shrubbery with a sign that said, "Enter at your own risk.  Parents are responsible for their children."  We entered...at our own risk, and found a little bit of paradise.  It was a small river, creek, whatever its called, it was water...the boys loved it.  I let them explore for a little while, then we left.  I promised them we'd come back to play another time.  Finally, we had a day without rain, and we went to the park.  To keep the promise that I made.

The boys wanted me to take pictures of these birds on the fence post as we were walking to our destination .

I had to take two photos...one for each boy.

At the water...pure fun for boys.  Boats...

Sticks...

 Throwing rocks...

I could see they were not going to stay out of the water, so we took off shoes, and rolled up pant legs...

Several geese came floating down the water very close to the boys...

Waving at the geese... and watching...

Temptation...I know he wanted to see if he could catch these geese...

 Fun with the toy boat...

Finally, it's time to go...putting the shoes back on was quite a chore.   We finally had to ditch the socks, and just put on the shoes.

Next time we will come back with water shoes, and shorts...

I thought I'd do a fun picture with Tate on the toy boat...

Happy sailing... Till next time.

Easter...Race

"We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won't need to tell anybody it does.  Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to their shining--they just shine." -Dwight L. Moody

Celebration of Easter has taken place for several days around here.  It started with an Easter egg hunt with the grandkids on Wednesday.

I found some lego candy which they loved putting together more than eating it... These guys love legos.

Maggie had to see what all the building was about.  I don't know why, but the boys liked to open all the eggs and put the candy in piles...

I wanted them to know the real meaning of Easter as well as having fun finding the eggs.  We read the Easter story, and watched a video of Jesus on the cross with the two thieves beside Him, and the empty tomb.  Then we made a version of the crosses and tomb.

Here is our project with the rock over the entrance of the tomb...

Here is the rock rolled a little to the side...with the shroud of Jesus visible. 

The boys enjoyed putting this together, and I think it gave them a wonderful visual of what Easter is really all about...Christ risen, not the Easter bunny and eggs.

On Saturday, I participated in a "Carry your Cross 5K."  The last 2/10 of the race you were given a 2x4 to carry up the last hill.

Before the race...

Waiting... to begin...

During the last mile or so there were signs with scripture written on them posted along the race path.  Along with the signs, they had Christian music playing.  I thought these two touches were very nice, and it made the race a little better to endure.  Here I am at the finish with my board.  It wasn't exactly easy running with this thing...and uphill.  Many of the boards had scripture or names of people on them.  When you finished the race, you could write on your board.  They use these boards year after year.

The church that hosted it was located in such a pretty area...Candler, NC...see the mountains in the background.  I might add, the course was very hilly indeed.  Most of the second mile was all uphill.  I ran down the hills, but walked up the hills.

I finished first in my age group...not a second or a third.  It was 1st place.  That is a 1st for me as well.  I have never won any races I have participated in.

I am very sore today...and I have shin splints.  It was a fun race to do to commemorate Jesus carrying His cross.  All proceeds go to missions, so it was for a worthy cause.
Hope your Easter was fun! Be blessed.

What's Happening around here...

"My work is nothing more than a visual diary of a very long walk."-Andrew Stark

Our photo club recently went on a field trip to the New Belgium Brewery, the River Arts District, and the Tobacco Barn, which is now a converted antique barn.  Here are some photos from that field trip.  First the brewery.  I only selected a few photos because beer is not my thing.  I think these are pretty unique.

If you look closely at this photo, you will see a reflection of me.

see my reflection?

I love the colors here...

Let me introduce you to Dennis Guffey.  He is a member of the photo club, and is very good to send photos to those he has taken a photo of.

Dennis Guffey

The following pictures of me were taken by Dennis on this field trip.  It is tradition that the Belgium Brewery have a slide in its facility.  I thought the guide was kidding when he told us that.  It is an easy and fast way to get from one level to a lower level.  The guide told us we could try the slide or walk down the steps.  I was the first to go down this dark, twisty slide.

Photo by Dennis Guffey

Photo by Dennis Guffey

Photo by Dennis Guffey...notice I am wearing my favorite shoes...Boots!

The River Arts district is known for its graffiti.  I had a fellow club member take this photo of me in front of my name.

Wow, it seemed my name was every where.  I don't know who the "Rob" is that is memorialized on the side of the building, but I was happy to take advantage of my name by having me stand underneath it.  

I found another bit of graffiti that I thought looked like it could be my name, so Dennis took my photo here as well.

Photo by Dennis Guffey

Photo by Dennis Guffey

In the Tobacco Barn, I was working on an abstract technique that will be our April challenge.  So the photos are meant to be a little strange.

Can you tell this is a chicken?

Flags...

In this abstract, I thought it would be fun to add a ghost effect with my grandson to the picture.  Isn't he cute added to the photo?

My little ghost...

I liked this bin of letters... too cool!

That's my photo field trip.  The last picture was, also, taken by Dennis.  Photography is my joy, and a great pleasure for me to do.  That's why I really love this photo.  It captures who I am, and what I love.

Photo by Dennis Guffey (thank you, Dennis!)

Happy April!