An Upgrade.

 

The day has come. After 6 great years with my Canon Rebel XT it is finally biting the dust. Those black branches you see coming out of the corners? They're in every single shot and have been for almost a year now. I've taken it to several places and several photographers. I've tried cleaning it a million times and nothing has worked. My only option now is to spend the money shipping it to the states for testing and most likely having a diagnosis of, "we can't fix it." I'm looking to upgrade but am just so torn! I've looked into the T3i, the 6D and the 50D. Upgrading is a bit stressful for me. Any suggestions?

A few of my favorites.

Just a few favorites from practicing with my SLR. 

I'm not claiming to be a professional by any means but I think I am improving little by little.

2013.

It's almost February but nevertheless there are things I am determined to follow through with in 2013.

-Master my SLR. I've dabbled here and there but never really learned any of the technicalities. After over 4 years of owning my camera I finally sat down and read through the manual. It's been my goal for the last few weeks to try to take a few shots everyday and read up on how to use it properly. I've already seen some improvement and hope to master it this year. My instagram is full of them already!

-Learn to play the ukulele. I've always wanted to learn to play a string instrument and we do own a cheap ukulele (like, $8 at the suvenier shop cheap) so what better time than now? So far the chords are fairly simple to get but my strumming is horrible.

-Run a 10k. I got back into running last March but got a little lazy about it after I got bronchitis. I know I can do a 5k but I want to do something that's just a step above.

-Embrace the local recipes. I complain to Tim all the time about cooking here. We were so spoiled by available ingredients in the states and I miss it. But instead of complaining I'm going to really try to cook more with local foods that I'm not used to. 

-Read. I'm a huge bookworm but I haven't had much time for it. I still don't really but I'm determined to read a few books at least.

-Go on a date with Tim once a month. Seriously.

2012 was an amazing year and 2013 is looking great already!

put your hands together for...

 

Owen has been obsessed with, "Ho Hey," by the Lumineers. He requests it on my iPod, on the computer & on the wii channel constantly. We got a little treat this morning when he decided to pick up the ukulele & give us a special performance, complete with air jumps, power stances and his very own stage on top of the coffee table. My heart almost exploded from the cuteness overload. Owen boy, we sure do love you.

moments this week.

{Owen has been missing his Dad all week. Tim's boss was out of town so he had to work everyday and on top of that, the poor man got the flu. Needless to say, Owen didn't get to see much of his Dad. He would wait by the door for him and say, "Daddy, coming?" and would bolt outside when he saw Tim ride up on the moped. So sweet.}

{Owen came up with a "racing," game. You just run. Back and forth, over and over. They love it and play all the time}

{June has been such a talker lately. She notices everything and tells you every time she sees a bird, a flower, a doggie, a baby. It's adorable and beautiful to watch her learn.}

{Tim taught Owen to draw a smiley face. Owen calls them "O's." It's pretty adorable.}

{Tim's hair is getting really long again.}

{baby explorer}

{and the remnants of an epic water balloon fight.}

Tinian Day Three.

                     

 

Day three was pretty mellow. We slept in to a glorious hour, hit the buffet, bought a few trinkets for the kids and headed home. I got to ride in the co-pilot seat on the way home and had so much fun. We really missed the kids by this point though and were anxious to get home.

Home Sweet Home.

Tinian Day Two.

We woke up the next morning and rented a car to see the WWII sites. 

There isn't a lot to see but they are pretty significant in history. Both of us being history fanatics we were pretty excited about it.

The creepiest building on the island. Not even joking. I had to turn on all the lights in my room before I could write this story. This is the old communications building the Japanese used during the war. It's all run down and abandoned now (obviously). It's out in the middle of nowhere, not near any houses or within walking distance of anything. Tim went in first as I was taking pictures of the outside and told me he thought someone was in the building. He heard people talking. We were nervous that maybe some teenagers or even some homeless people were in there and that it might not be safe. We went ahead anyway. After walking around the base floor we headed up the stairs where I heard a man speaking. I thought for sure there was someone up there, possibly a government worker checking on the condition of the place. I actually thought we might get into trouble for poking around. We headed up the stairs and saw no one. We wandered around for a bit and then, as I passed a room I saw a man standing at the opposite end, looking right at me. Tim called me over to look at something and when I looked back he was gone. I kid you not, I saw it. When we left the building I told Tim about it and I was surprised that he didn't refute me at all. Tim is a very logical guy (I mean, he's a Doctor!) but he said he knew he heard voices and there was no one there. We looked everywhere. No one was there but us. 

Holy cow. I was freaked. 

*We spoke to some locals about it and they verified that it's most definitely haunted and that it's not within walking distance to anything so if there were no other cars there then we were for sure the only ones in there.

MOVING ON!!! PHEW!!!

The next place we went is called the Blow Hole. It was beyond beautiful. We must have stood there for who knows how long just watching the waves come crashing in. We kept saying we should go but another big wave would come and we'd say, "Okay, after this one!" It was amazing. We were also completely covered in salt after we left.

We went to see a bunch of old sites but the coolest was the atomic bomb pits and Runway Abel. It's amazing to think of what happened in that very spot all those years ago. It was definitely neat to see.

Taga Beach. You can't go to Tinian without going to Taga Beach. Out of all the beaches I've been to, this was my favorite. Especially sans kids. It was perfect for swimming, the color was beautiful and we had so much fun jumping from the rocks. 

We went back after dinner to watch the sunset. That was a real treat. We see plenty of beautiful sunsets in Saipan but most from our yard. Kids and the beach that late in our routine just doesn't really work. It was so  nice to not have a schedule or worry about holding tiny hands. It was beautiful and relaxing. A really great night.

And then Tim made me ugly laugh all the way back up to our room, making me just another annoying tourist. :-)