Spruce Woods, Spirit Sands

So here it is: A snap-shot of our vacation.

When I actually sat down to go through the pictures, I found that I'd only taken 146. One hundred & forty-six?? That's a good 300 or so less than Mexico... and only half of what I took on the way to Marineland. I can't believe all the things I have NO pictures of.... like pictures of our campsite - we had such a great site and set-up.... and it shows up in hardly a picture.

I AT LEAST should have taken photographic evidence of the raccoons' night time raids to our dining tent... how will the charges ever hold up when the rangers finally catch up to them with no photographic evidence?? Let's see.... 3 bananas, 6 apples, 6 ears of corn.... and the oranges - well they didn't actually EAT the oranges but they rolled them around like bowling balls and bruised them all up. We should charge them with the bag of marshmallows.... but since my husband caught them red-handed during a DAYTIME raid... dragging them away from our site into the bush.... and actually managed to take back the bag from one very annoyed raccoon, I suppose no harm no foul.... but still - no pictures?

I didn't get any of us bike-riding.... and we did a TON of riding around the campground - my youngest boy FINALLY mastered a two-wheeler during the trip! Way to go my boy!! And I have none of the kids on the camp play-ground, or us mini-golfing or canoeing (I'd MEANT to take pictures of canoeing... our camera was safely tucked in a plastic bag to come along... but stayed on the seat of the van where I forgot it when we left). And the water park!! I didn't get a single picture of the water park??

I'll call the missing photos a direct testament to how much fun I was having.... too involved to stop and take pictures. That sounds so much better than I forgot the camera in the tent - or was reading a book.... or taking a nap and didn't bother ;)

But you know what the most glaringly obvious omission is among the pictures I DID take?? Me. There's not a single picture of ME. I'm the ghost behind the camera... missing from my family's vacation memories. As much as I HATE having my picture taken, I NEED to hand off the camera once in a while so that I can be IN the memories too... I don't want to be missing from my children's scrap-books when they're older because I never bothered to make sure I was on the other side of the lens once in a while! And I forget who I was reading the other day... but they made a comment (on the subject of hating having their picture taken) to the tune of "if I'd known what I would look like now, I would have treasured more having my pictures taken when I was 40!". So really, if it's only going to get worse as the calendar advances, I should LOVE having my picture taken now - right??

Any how, enjoy the pictures - I'll try to be "present" next time!