Post #16 of Personal Project 52 weeks.

* Nk’mip Winery. Wow. I can not believe how much that area has developed in the last 10 years.  One of my favorite parts of visiting the Okanagan is seeing the rolling green hills of vineyards and orchards. I love the long rows of vibrant bushes and trees in the midst of the golden fields and desert mountains. Or are they just hills? Either way, lots of irrigation.

* Noah likes Thomas the Train. To put it mildly. He’s obsessed. He generously cultivated this obsession in his younger cousin Lucas. Not as generous with sharing, Noah did permit Lucas to play with one or two trains here and there. They played remarkably well together. Fights were managed with strict enforcement of rules: you can’t play nice, take away the toys. But Noah is intense. He plays hard and when things “don’t work”… Oh boy. Lucas would just stand back and watch it all unfold.

* Grapes. Very sour.

* Burrowing Owl Winery. Yummy wine.

* Self-timer photo. We need some posing help. No way am I standing when the camera is on the ground pointing up my nose and exaggerating all sorts of stuff that should not be exaggerated. It’s all about angles people.

* Beautiful view. South of Osoyoos.

* I liked it.

* When you’re a cute 14 month old, it’s okay to exaggerate features.

* My man.

Post #15 of Personal Project 52 weeks.

We were away on vacation and then I had so much to catch up on! So this post is a couple of weeks late.

* Cherry tomatoes. Hundreds of GREEN ones. I was really hoping that they would ripen before we left but I was utterly disappointed. The 5 juicy red ones were delish tho.

* Mattias eats so much dirt it’s not even funny. I can’t keep it out of his mouth. Nutrients right?

* Osoyoos. Our warm vacation destination. *smirk* We lazed around the pool every day, between meals and naps.

* Last year, Noah went in the water exactly once. Art threw him in and *shock* he wouldn’t come near it after that. This year, we prepped him a little. Talked about swimming before we left. Talked about the fun of the pool. Showed him his life jacket. He surprised us. He willingly entered the water on his own. He was so proud of himself. I wouldn’t call him a water rat. And he definitely felt unsure if he wasn’t on a floatation device, but it’s progress!

* It’s true what they say about light being different in different cities, towns and countries. I haven’t travelled a lot of places as a photographer but it was remarkable to me how different the light is in Osoyoos. Sharp. Harsh. While I like the challenge of shooting in different conditions, harsh lighting is what I avoid. So when a wispy cloud covered the sun and the light was bouncing off of every surface, I grabbed my camera. Again, I’ve never shot images like this at home. The images are so light without being overexposed. Maybe it’s the lack of smog (although one could argue that smog could have the same effect), or the wispy clouds but I’d love some more of that!

* The nose crinkle continually makes an appeararance.

* Beach time.

* Poor little man. Life jackets are a tad awkward at that age.

* He really enjoyed the pool as well.

~ K