Ghosts and Patronuses

Tonight we stayed up way too late.

Tomorrow we will be grumpy.

But it was worth it!

expecto patronum

Tonight the hubs and I kept the kids up late to have a fun surprise for them. We did sparklers and glow sticks outside with the camera.

I just want to say right now my camera and I are not all that well acquainted. We have a friendly relationship, so far, but we really need to work on our communication. 

You're a Wizard

Most of the time tonight:
"How do I convince you to do what I want?" I ask
My camera responds "I will do auto with flash."
"But I really don't want to do auto with flash at this moment" I respond.
"Subject is too dark"
"Subject is not too dark, this is what I want"
"Subject is too blurry!"
"That is the POINT!"


By this time the conversation has unraveled to the point where we are getting nowhere and we just cease communication in order to prevent a falling out.  We did have moments were things went alright and we were able to achieve our goal for the evening.

Unfortunately, this brings us to the sparklers.

When I was little I remember getting the greatest sparklers. They lit up right away, they shot of such pretty sparks, and most of all they lasted longer than 25 seconds.

The sparklers we had for tonight.  Not so much.   They refused to light. They had tiny sparks, and really they had a problem with premature extinguish-ation.  In the future, I will procure decent sparklers. Even if I have to border hop.  These were pitiful.  We didn't get any awesome sparkler shots but the glow sticks worked so well.

The kids had no idea what we were doing. They thought we were just taking pictures of them running around the yard.  Occasionally I would tell them where to run and to move their arms like crazy, but I didn't show them the results until I went inside and did a quick edit while they took showers. They loved the outcome with all the magic and ghost glory. 

I ended up with a bunch of fun images, even with the fight with the camera. And the kids had so much fun.  I know I may regret letting them be up so late when we have to be out of the house early in the morning, but I'll just have to look at these faces to remember why we do these things.

Expelliarmus

Hiking at Crowders Mountain

So we decided that we are going to try to go hiking more since it is one of my favorite things to do.

Crowders Mountain here we come.  

It was a great opportunity for the family to get their state park passports stamped.  These are so much fun, you should totally check them out.



We ended up hitting three different tail markers and went nearly 4 kilometers. So much fun.  We took the camera and got some great shots of goofy kiddos and fun buggies.

Millipede, Apheloria tigana maybe?

Luna Moth

 Just a few thoughts on Crowders Mountain. This is a great state park, but I would make sure to look at the website before you go to familiarize yourself with the trails and options that the park has. We ended up on three different trail markers the way we went, since we started at the visitor's center parking lot and not at the pond. The easy trails are better started at the pond parking, but the trail to them from the visitor center isn't that bad. You will cross roads. The easy trails are the Lake Trails and Fern Trail, we also were on Turnback Trail which is moderate.

There are lots of picnic places, but bring your own water. The water at the visitor center has to be tested and while we were there the testing had not cleared as potable water. They have this information on the website.
There are canoes to rent at $5 an hour, and backpack camping sites, too. It really is a great place.

Back to the world I love

So, about five years ago I was a new wife and a new mom with a grand idea. I was going to do something with my business acumen and love of crafts. I wanted to start blogging, writing my own patterns for crochet, sell my crochet items, and help other people sell theirs. I had this initial fire that I was going to start a blog, register my new business name on all of the sites, crochet in my off time, and make a go of this.  Then reality got to me. I was new at everything. I didn't really have any routines down, and I didn't make any concrete ones as I was floundering along. So what is the first thing to go? Oh yeah, that grand idea. Not that I wanted to let it go but, I had a baby, I was working part time, I had a husband (who just so happened worked about 70 hours a week), and I had no idea what I was really doing. 

Now fast forward five years. Add two new babies, and a few moves across the country and a handful of jobs that did not make my heart sing and here we are back to Beam Creations. I had laid the ground work for such a thing years ago, but couldn't make it go. Now, I know better. I know to ask questions, ask for help, and also take things slowly. I may not ever make this a business that pays all my bills, but I am going to take up Beam Creations and make it my own. 

What is Beam Creations?

Beam is easy, I entered the Beam family in April of 2011. We are the Baby Beams. 

We are a crazy out of control bunch.

Hubby, Scoshi, Bit, Firefly and Me.

 

As for Creations, well, that would be life. Creations can be anything from the crafts the kids or myself are trying to do, the crochet patterns I am developing, the photography I love, the food I am attempting to feed my family with, our hopeless gardening attempts, or our family adventures we thrive on. 

I look forward to sharing our family's adventures and creations as we figure all of this out.