Tonight after dinner, Aubrey and I were finger painting. This is a shot of the one that she made. She loves art, and I am going to keep encouraging it as much as possible. I once heard someone say that it isn’t when you started becoming an artist, its when you stopped being an artist. Kids tend to see the world in their own unique way and they always seem to have that art educated out of them. I will not let that happen to Aubrey.

Even though I didn’t get too many shots, I got a couple decent ones. I really like the colors in this shot.

We went downtown to see the Independence Day firework show. It was a very eventful night. Aubrey got sick and had an accident all over Jessi, so I only got to shoot for about 5 mins before packing everything up and heading back to the car. Traffic was horrible, took 45 mins to drive 1/4 mile. Jessi and Aubrey had to change into some of my clothes. And yet Aubrey was still saying that the fireworks were really fun and she had a good time. It amazes me how Aubrey always finds the positive in the midst of bad things. She sure is something special.

Here is my good buddy John of The Downtown Champions, playing their first gig at Sluggos tonight. It was hot. I mean REALLY hot. I was dripping with sweat, I am surprised that I didn’t short out my camera with all of sweat that was on it!

Yesterday was a bad day for Jessi. Aubrey has been really pushing her limits lately and yesterday was one of her worst. Jessi, being pregnant and all, had a craving for a cake. So I did the good husband thing and made her a cake. I even went a little “Ace of Cakes” on it. I gave it to her while she was folding laundry. I think I did a pretty good job.

Aubrey got these flowers 3 1/2 weeks ago at her dance recital. They lasted for quite a while but they are no longer “pretty”. I love taking pics of dead flowers like this, expensive and beautiful, but only for a moment in time. Then they wither away and get thrown out.

Tonight the fam and I went to our favorite hibachi place, Tokyo for dinner. It was delicious and filling (and expensive). We had a good time and we all had fun.

It was raining all afternoon, all the way home from work and most of tonight. When I got home, I found this little “rainbow” on my front porch. It was a nice burst of color on a dreary grey afternoon.

Here is a panorama that I stitched together from 6 shots. The clouds were particularly interesting this day, lots of layers and textures. I look forward to the cooler weather, when I can get more shots of clouds like this.

This is a shot of a huge oak tree that we have at work. As you can see, It has been through a lot. Most of those knots are from limbs that have been removed by the numerous hurricanes through the years.