America's Favorite Pastime - The Oh So Small Version

ORANGE LITTLE LEAGUE'S SEASON BEGINS
Today was my first day of shooting for the Orange Little League. I started with the T-Ballers. They're probably my favorites to shoot not so much for their baseball skills but for their animation and oft non-baseball activities. It's almost hard to take a bad shot at these games. Here are a few from the first batch. I still have a lot of culling to do.

A Weekend Away, Just the Two of Us

BLUE LANTERN INN, DANA POINT
Mary and I celebrated our 17th Anniversary this weekend with our first childless weekend away since we've had children. Mary made all the plans including arrangements for the boys to stay with friends. I didn't know too much about the plans until shortly before we left, although Mary swears she told me. We drove down to Dana Point and stayed at the Blue Lantern Inn. When we arrived, we were informed that we had received a complimentary upgrade to our room reservation.
We had the best room in the place on the top floor with great views of Dana Point Harbor. On Saturday, I was treated to a Swedish Massage that was terrific. On Sunday, Mary had a facial treatment. Unfortunately I did not bring my camera so the photos here were taken with my Blackberry. It really was beautiful and the room was excellent, and the company... top notch. Thanks for a wonderful weekend sweetheart!

Into the Wild

SAN DIEGO WILD ANIMAL PARK
OK honestly, I can't remember when I took these and I didn't check the EXIF to find out. I was looking through some old files and came across these. This is another one of those locations that I'd like to go back to with the express purpose of taking pictures. They have a safari program there that puts you up close and personal with the animals on the back of a truck. It's on my list of things to do. There is so many different types of photo-ops here and not just the animals. All of these were handheld with the Canon 100-400L lens. A few of my favorites...

We Survived Donner Pass

DONNER LAKE
Last summer, we ventured up to Donner Lake for a few days of motor home camping with some friends, the Rahn's. They have boys the same age as Grady and Padraic. Pictured below is a small lake that was a great fishing hole for the boys. We also did a little canoeing and the usual hanging out aound the campfire. Yes, this is in the infamous Donner Pass area. The Lawrence Party fared much better than the Donner Party of old.