Busy fun day...

We had morning swim practice, came home and did a bit of summer school, finished a sewing project, picked cherries at the neighbors house, went to open swim at the pool and ended our day at gymnastics.  Phew!
 I took a couple of opportunities to use the new camera.  I've spent a bit of time looking through the manual and at least found some of the auto scene settings.  I'm also going to spend some time looking for a class, this thing has so many settings that are way over my head! 

 Very happy with the zoom.  This was sitting across the pool and under the sun shade, almost 30 yards away.

 At gymnastics, I was using the sports setting so that I could have it on repeated shoot.  I'm not thrilled with the blured feet,, but the rest of the picture is in focus.  Some playing to do here and will test some things on Friday when we go again.

 Tyler's headstand buddy

 I took a few pictures continuously, although it's not the 5-8 per second shots.  

Cool to have it get things in sequence though.

Ty's class was nice and small tonight, giving him a good amount of attention from his coach.

Garden update....

Things are really taking off!  

The potatoes are now sprouting, after being replanted with untreated once, I've covered them with soil three time and will soon start to unroll the potato bag.  

Pumpkins

 Starting to get lots of curly tendrils and I think I saw the start of a flower.

 Red lettuce, after being replanted a few weeks ago.  Hoping it doesn't get too hot for this.  

Oh and the white pieces are egg shells, working to keep the snails out.  

(It's doing a great job)

 Sunflowers growing tall and with thick stems.

 Honey do melon is starting to move its way up.

 Take two for our strawberries.  After the first batch died, we ripped them out and took them back to the store.  These didn't look all that great to start with, but are already doing better than the first batch. 

 A few strawberries are starting to grow

 Watermelon

 Spaghetti squash; their hiding, but there are quite a few flowers under those big leaves.

 Ty's cucumber plant is making it's way down the side to the ground.

 This will be our first pick once it's fully grown in a few days!

 Replanted green leaf lettuce, a few sprouts.

 Tomato plant is still growing, but has been moved in hopes of getting it longer sun exposure.

 Same thing with our corn.

New camera.....

So excited!  I was able to go pick up my new camera today from the UPS customer service. (After they tried to deliver it twice while we were out) A Canon Power Shot SX40 HS which is a big step up from the regular point and shoots I've had.  It's not a DSLR, but it's just a step down. 

 I can't wait to take it on our Santa Cruz/Monterrey trip in a few weeks to see what it can really do.  First I'll spend some time playing at swim and gymnastics tomorrow. 

Here's some playing around in auto from tonight.  

Playing with the zoom while sitting on the couch...

 Not crystal clear, but impressed that it would pick these small photos up.

I haven't cracked the manual yet to learn more about auto setting, so we'll see how that goes.  I see some photography classes in my future so I can figure out how to use it to it's full potential. 

Swim Meat vs Cordova Blue Marlins

Our first official swim meet today versus Cordova went really well.  Cody had a stellar day improving on all his times from time trials.  Tyler did his best, but was a bit off.

Ty was up first with a 100 yard freestyle relay.  He swam really well, but had some miscommunication about when to start and their team was disqualified.  

Cody started with 100 yard medley relay, swimming the butterfly.  His team was also disqualified due to a stroke issue with one of the kids.  Fortunately for him, all of the relay teams had some kind of issue and none of them received  times. 

Ty's 25 yard freestyle 44.68, 3.13 seconds faster than last week.

Cody's 25 yard freestyle 27.49, 4.14 seconds faster than last week.

Ty's 25 yard backstroke 49.72, 11.05 slower.  

Cody's 25 yard backstroke 27.58, 1.88 faster.

Cody's 25 yard butterfly 42.36, 11.88 faster!

Cody ended with the 100 yard freestyle relay, from what I could see, his team did great!

He was swimmer #1. 

Swimming Time Trials

The boys did such a great job today at their time trials for swim.  

Checked in and ready to go. 

 Tyler with his 6 and under mates...

 Cody over at the 7-8 tent...

 Ty getting ready to warm up.

 He attacks the water, diving will come eventually!

 Freestyle warm-up

 Ready to go for his first race! 

Tyler 25m Freestyle 47.81

Cody 25m Freestyle 31.63

Tyler 25m Backstroke 38.67

Cody 25m Backstroke 29.46

Cody 25m Breaststroke 53.78

Cody 50m Freestyle 1:14.03

Cody 25m Butterfly 54.24