Ice volcanoes, or ice-canoes as they're sometimes called, were in full bloom at Elisabeth's preschool yesterday. After her teachers told me they were going to take the kids down to the beach to see the ice formations during class, the big kids and I plotted a hike down to the beach as well to witness them in all their glory after we picked Elisabeth up from school.
First off, Elisabeth is a real trooper. She is only four-years-old, and she's short, so that means she has short little legs. The hike down to the beach from her preschool building is a quarter of a mile, minimum, depending on which trail you take. By the time we picked her up she had already made trek there and back once and then Madeleine, Hank, Caroline and I were asked her to do it again. She was game for it, though, as long as she could have a quick rest and lunch first. So, off to the main area of the building where we staked out a table next to the (unlit-- boo-hoo!) fireplace to eat our sandwiches and clementines and pour over the trail map and decide which path we wanted to use to travel to the beach.
After we ate our fill, we put on our snow pants, boots, etc. and prepared to head out into the sunny, high twenty degree day for Caroline's first hike!
We made it down to the shores of Lake Michigan without incident and spent a long time down there exploring the ice formations on the beach and discovering the perfectly preserved layer of snow under the sand-- how cool! Doesn't it look like the kids are walking on the moon?
And, just because, here is a picture of Madeleine. I believe the technical term for what's wrong with this picture is "it's too bright." In all seriousness, I was playing with a new lens and trying out different aperture settings and shutter speeds and even though I think I had the aperture set too low for the bright day (or maybe the shutter speed too high? Or neither?) I still like the picture.
Our relatively short hike down took twice as long (or more!) on the way back up because we decided to walk down the length of the beach and come up the other end. We didn't realize that what a looooooooong trail that was. Poor little Elisabeth was exhausted by the time we made it back to the main building, and so was I!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Ice Volcanoes
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
that just looks awesome. i remember the last time we took that hike with you, i was pregnant and i had to take off my camisole to use as a tourniquet for someone's oozing leg. ah, the memories.
here's your techie info for the day. your "highlights are blown." meaning, whether because the aperture was too wide or the shutter was too long for the light, the pixels got hit with too much light and interpreted it as all white. it's still pretty, and you never learn anything unless you experiment.
continued ramble: i think you're rockin' that thing. so many people buy dslrs and use them only on auto mode. so very non-creative.
Photos are great! Hope to do that with you all sometime soon
I just happened on to your blog, ("next blog" button), and wanted to tell you I loved reading (and seeing the pics) of the beach/ice formations.
I love your pics, and the "too bright" one would probably be on my wall. Looks like a very fun day. And I had to lol about the extra long walk. I did that with my 3 one day, but ended up calling a friend to drive us back to our car. NO WAY was I hiking back on the trail once we realized how long it was.
Terri-- so how do you fix things when your "highlights are blown?" Or is there not a way. The pic that M took of me was in the same spot where K injured himself.
Bob-- that would be a good outing w/the kids, even if the ice-canoes are gone (they're very finicky and come and go with the cold and warm).
Thanks for stopping by, tweberarmstrong!
And Melinda, you made my day. :-)
Post a Comment