Reflections...

Trina's pics of the week

These are some of my favorite photos from our trip to New Mexico.

Gray sky ahead, blue sky behind


Pronghorn antelope, one of North America's most beautiful animals!


Majestic silverback, he interacted with us for quite awhile, several times using what almost looked to be sign language. Gorillas are such magnificent beings, how can we look at them and not see ourselves?


Cuddly carnivore!


Zebra's got back! I just love this shot, not sure why.

More photos... critter edition!

Edmontosaurus (we went to the Dino Land exhibit this week... too cool!)


Dimetrodon


Zen with koi


Local egret


Ruffled pigeon

My latest photographic efforts... the flower edition

I have taken the kids all over the place the past couple of weeks and although I always take a million pictures of my kids, I have tried to take photos of other stuff as well. I am working really hard to hone some skills as I have several folks that are wanting me to take family photographs and stuff. I recently took product photos for a friend of mine and that was fun and they look GREAT on her website. I really enjoy photography and would LOVE to make a living doing that. It's one of the few things I could work around my busy, homeschooling mom schedule. So here are some of my latest... let me know what you think!

Water lilies


A rose is a rose...


Colorsplash


Inner hibiscus


If only all things in life could be this radiant!

Some of my favorite photos from my trip!

Canada goose, profile


Brave boy hand-feeding geese!


Peacock in full display


North America's most majestic land mammal

Black-eyed Susans


The best photo ever taken of a desert box turtle!


Baby ducks... Aaaawwww!


White duck, blue water


Egyptian Goose in Clovis, go figure!

San Gervasio Ruins

One big iguana!


One of the ruins, wish I could tell you which one.


We were impressed to see that the ancient Mayans invented screen doors! ;-)


Another one of the ruins, so cool!


Here was a piece of wood that looked like an iguana to me, thought it was a cool pic!

Look kids... Big Ben, Parliament...

Ok, really it's some pics from Cozumel! I'm about 3 weeks overdue on posting, but what can I say? Life has a tendency to snap you right square in the eyes with reality when you come home from holiday! It was a wonderful 6 days and 5 nights. It was incredible spending time with Big Daddy and being able to discuss whatever, whenever and not worry about little ears. It was nice to stay up late, the surroundings were, of course, incredible, the resort was awesome, they catered to our every need and it was just wonderful! We did some snorkeling, it was alright, we did see a stingray and that was definitely the snorkeling highlight. I have to admit, the reef is not what I expected. Cozumel is supposed to be one of the top diving destinations and who knows, maybe if you go out farther and actually dive, the reef may be healthier farther from land. There were beautiful fish and the waters were clear and pristine, but most of the snorkeling right off shore was kind of sparse. We're not dive certified though, so there you have it!

We did rent a Jeep one of the days and drove all over the island. We went to the southern tip to see the lighthouse and the turtle nesting areas. We didn't see turtles, but we did see turtle tracks which was cool! There is an lagoon close to the southern tip that has wild crocodiles or "cocodrilos" to the natives. They had a 3 story lookout to check them out and it was neat. We participated in a dolphin excursion in which we were allowed in the water with dolphins. We got to pet and hug and love on them and they did some of their tricks with us, like pushing us up out of the water by putting their noses on our feet! What a rush! Talk about a powerful animal! They were beautiful! One of the dolphins had an 8 day-old baby that was too cute, needless to say we didn't get to swim with them!

We checked out the San Gervasio Ruins. They were awesome to see, but they didn't have any tour guides that afternoon, so we had to walk around on our own and for some reason in Cozumel, they don't really label things in any detail. Here in the US, you get these huge Historical Landmark signs with more info than you ever really wanted to know about something, but not in Mexico. The ruins were cool nonetheless, and the whole area was crawling with iguanas! I almost stepped on one and it scared the crap out of me!

And I know this sounds ridiculous, but one of my favorite destinations was the supermarket across from our resort! It was crazy to see that in Mexico they have Campbell's soup and Speed Stick Deodorant, yet the produce department has vastly different offerings and the bakery and deli sections were amazing! The pastries, cookies and cakes were amazing and at the deli counter they had all these crazy things like crystallized fruits (limes, oranges and such), strange cheeses and meat offerings that I was scared of! And contrary to popular belief... there is nothing cheap in Mexico! Yes they will barter, but not much. I was hoping to bring home some great beaded jewelry, a bunch of t-shirts for family and friends and some Mexican blankets. We managed to get t-shirts for the immediate family, a toy for the Monkey Man and 3 blankets, but that was all we could afford. I guess inflation is everywhere!

The trip was most amazing though in the aspect that I had the opportunity to re-connect with the love of my life. No kids interrupting conversations or anything else for that matter, and the time to just sit and be with one another as adults, as a couple. This was so needed and we swear that every other year, we will take the grown-up vacation, so we can take time to re-discover ourselves. Anyway, on to the photos!

Here's a view from our room, nice right?


Here's Big Daddy hangin' in the hammock enjoying the view.


Here I am waiting on a batch of quesadillas, enjoying the best bowl of pico de gallo I've had in years!


Dolphin kisses, I think I'm in love!


Sunset from our balcony.

Andy the Two-tailed Anole

We have a little friend that Monkey Man has lovingly named Andy the Anole. Andy has two tails, we don't know if he was born that way or if part of his tail fell off and he grew two back. Either way, it's pretty freaky! I see him almost everytime I take the trash out, he's almost like a pet and we all look forward to seeing him!

It was a moonlit night

The moon was absolutely gorgeous the other night and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a cool photo or two. Here's one of my best shots. It is kind of an eerie picture but I dig it!

A few more Dino Valley pics!

A front footprint of a large sauropod, most likely the 30-50 ft. long Pleurocoelus.


This photo contains two prints, the larger being a back footprint and the smaller print is probably a front foot of the Pleurocoelus. Both of these photos were taken in an area where there was believed to be a chase involving the slow-moving Pleurocoelus and the faster and very hungry Acrocanthosaurus. Exciting stuff!


This is just an awesome old, dead tree. I love shape and form of old trees and couldn't resist taking the photo of what must have been a majestic tree in its day.

More Dino Valley Pics!

A basking turtle. This was a big 'ol dude!


Another shot of the beautiful Paluxy River.


Therapod footprint on one of the rock shelves. SOOO COOL! They have determined these are most likely the prints from a 2-legged carnosaur called Acrocanthosaurus.


Another theropod footprint. They say there are a third category of prints that are much rarer, probably belonging to Iguanodon, but I never found any of those. :-(


Here is the Monkey Man's foot in a theropod print!

Camping at Dinosaur Valley

Here is our little campsite, aaaawww!


This is our RAGING campfire, it was damn near a bonfire, we had to REALLY keep an eye on the kids! But that is what happens when you get two grown men, large amounts of wood and fire accelerant together!


Here is the apatosaurus sculpture, granted, apatosaurus did not roam this area, but what the hell, he was donated to the park in the 70's, I think.


This is T-Rex, he also was not present in this area, but yet again was donated to the park in 1970. However historically inaccurate, the kids thought they were cool!


The beautiful Paluxy River. You can see the rock shelf in the shallows, it is these shelves that you are able to find most of the dinosaur footprints!