Just some fun with the camera

on friday, after dinner, my sisters and i went out side and were taking pictures. i took some pictures of Kara and Livvy that made one of them look like a midget.

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not all of them turned out perfect though:

after that, i started to take really cool pictures up close to plants.

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I really like this one 5

most of these have a computer effect. 56

this one is my favorite one  5

-Brynn H. 

Bainbridge Island Reward

http://www.biparks.org/parksandfacilities/ifaquaticscenter.html#swirlpool

We finally got around to our 6 month scripture reading incentive.  We went to Bainbridge Island Aquatic Center to go swimming.  Brynn had been there a couple times for birthday parties and loved it.  We picked up Brynn early from school and Terry directly from work and headed out.  They have a nice facility there that is lots of fun.  There is a 1 and 3 meter diving board, a rope swing, a lazy pool and even a water slide!!  (There was also a hot tub for me, YEAH!!)

Terry loves to make big splashes off the diving boards.  He does a "can opener" to do it.  It is similar to a cannon ball, but you only grab one leg instead of two.  While waiting in line for the high dive, Terry was talking to a younger boy in line, telling him that he was going to splash the ceiling, "I can do it too, 'cause I'm fat!"  The boy just laughed!  After each time he tried to hit the ceiling, the whole pool, full of people in the water as well as on the deck, oooo'd and awe'd, then broke into fits of giggles and gaffaws!  He didn't ever quite hit the ceiling, but once he did get the lifeguard wet.  

Later, Livvy, too excited about going down the slide to show Brynn her mad moves, threw herself down before the lifeguard gave the go ahead.  The guards carefully control when one starts to prevent terrible accidents at the bottom.  Of course it happened to be the same guard that Terry had splashed earlier that was manning the water slide at the time.  I apologized & told him it was my fault for not paying attention.  He agreed to let me "yell" at her when I got to the bottom.  I gave her a good whoopin' as soon as we got home.

Terry was farther back in line and saw Livvy leave early on the slide.  When he got up to the front of the line, he said to the lifeguard, "First I splash you, then my daughter shoots down the slide before you told her to.  We are the problem family tonight, aren't we?"  The lifeguard dryly replies, "Yep, there's gotta be one every night!"

Towards the end of the night, Terry was playing with Livvy in the water.  They were just relaxing and floating on water noodles and kickboards.  At one point, he started teasing her by taking a big breath and falling face first in the water and just laying still after that.  Apparently, after about 30-40 seconds of a little girl desperately trying to get her dad's face up out of the water, the lifeguard started to get worried and got down out of his chair and was walking over towards him.  As he got over to where Terry and Livvy were, poised to jump in, a look of terror in his eyes, Terry finally lifted his head & saw him.  The lifeguard, with a relieved look on his face,  said, "Sir, you at least gotta move...!"  Terry and I laughed about this the rest of the night!! At least it was a different lifeguard this time!

Yes, we are the "problem family".  Always the Hoecherl's!

Claywerks

I'm behind, once again. This is the first activity we did during Brynn's 6th Grade Camp Week. "Claywerks" is a ceramic and pottery studio that offers a variety of crafty opportunities. We chose to pay for an afternoon to pick out and paint ceramic characters offered at the studio. This is not a place to take young ones who won't be content to remain in a certain designated area for up to 2 hours. Lots of breakables and messy paint. No way would we have braved this adventure if our kids were younger!

We had a great time and spent 3 hours painting away. Once we were finished, we left our masterpieces over the weekend in order for them to be fired up in the kiln. Terry didn't quite get his dragon all painted, but it still turned out great! I chose to do a kissy frog. I love the big bright neon red lips! Brynn concentrated on the details of her fairy, and managed to get a couple more pieces painted as well. Emma took her time choosing her pieces, but once she had decided, there was no holding her back! Kara spent most of her time on her cow. She designed each black spot herself.   Livvy spent as much time as Emma did in choosing her animals. She loved painting them and was the first one finished! Luckily, she was willing to take over the photographer's job and didn't get too bored.

We will definitely visit Claywerks again. It was a great family field trip!