Out to the park!

Mari: "we were going to see pretty leafs, but most are already gone" ;_;
- yeah.. and it rained 2 days straight so anything on the ground is already rotting... Still, some pretty colors at least

Mari: "this is my fav shot! But onee-chan was a meanie because the sun is right in my eyes and this photo took really long and then it started to hurt and..."
- hey, not my fault it took so long! There were 3 separate "engagement photoshoots" going on around us!

(seriously! And one couple was instructed to keep grabbing handfuls of leaves and tossing them.. over and over... which was kinda hilarious, not gonna lie)

Mari: "and then puppies ran up and my bag fell, but I wasn't scared of them or anything"
- yes yes, the puppy story was in our Teaser-Shot post. They were cute tho ^_^

they may be dead, but the glow of this shot makes me happy ♪♫♥♪ Win? WIN!

Mari: "then we got tired of leafs and cold ground and..."
- you got tired of cold ground? Your Grace was on a cushy seat while I was on all fours in the dirt & wet grass!"
Mari: "...and so we went to see the ducklings!!!"

- Ah yes, this!!. Mari, wanna fill in everyone on whats with the ducks?"
Mari: "these bronze duckies are from a picture book, Make Way for Ducklings and are in the Garden, and you can climb on them and everything ... and don't get onee-chan started on that time they had a class trip that involved following the pictures..."
- heeeeey, that was a great story I'll have you know! We followed the ducks' route from the book, using the pictures as guides to see how much of the city has changed over the decades and then..."
Mari: "see, there she goes again with that story"

(lol, any stalkers can now figure out exactly where we are geographically)

Mari: "everyone climbs on these for pictures, but I'm not a little baby so Chococat can for me"
- and you can test out your new camera, hoorah!

~ random adorable family is adorable. This is what happens here All the Time ~

vent for a sec... while I'm really happy with the shots, this was clearly the worst shoot location have ever thought of
These bronze statues are a KID MAGNET and TRAP! Hundreds of lil kids climb on them every single day, dozens are lined up around waiting for their turn at any given time
The bronze is very polished from all those butts (some kids can't even stay on there w/out help) so tryin to pose Mari on anything proved beyond challenging. It would take at least 10 minutes to set up each shot... and BAM!! another herd is already flooding in (plus the cobblestones are painful to kneel on *shakes old lady cane & grumbles 'bout knees*)

Mari climbed on the mama-duck to try a photo of all the ducklings

funny story: after much trial and error (and one woman coming up to ask if I'm doing a "Where's Waldo?" but with toys photo project around town, and another asking if I'm gonna be posting these on Facebook...) Mari was finally settled, and balanced and ready for a shot. Outta nowhere then a whole group of girls bounced in and each sat on a duckling for their group photo
I back away, but leave Mari in her location... and then the girls are posing and suddenly one is like, "omg, look at the doll!! She has a lil camera!! Is she taking our picture too???"

I also totally annoyed sooo many people... Would be patiently posing Mari on a duckie, but would try to back out of others' photos whenever possible. It quickly became obvious that certain parents clearly wanted me to bugger off, so their precious spawn could claim whichever duck I was occupying. .. but they were all passive aggressive 'bout it and would just stand there and give me death glares with out saying anything!

Pffft, ignore them and continue with my business. BUT whenever a little kid came up and asked "can I sit on this duck after you?" or "can I have a turn next?" - I'd immediately say, "of course sweetie", scoop up Mari and let them have it

Thats right - apparently only lil kids get the concept of, "ask her to move"

Mari: "ducks ducks ducks! They all have names, but onee-chan doesn't know which is which"
- yeah sorry.. I just know someone in there is named Quack and Jack... and..yeah ...

~ ok back to picture times! ~

....still haven't found a way for her to stay on the damn thing....

laws of physics be damned, we're sitting on a duck tonight!!

Mari: "and then we went to feed the ducks too"
- Yes, the park does have real ducks. ... plus occasional Canadian Geese. Those bastards are destroying half our grass and have been a serious problem

Mari: "I don't know what these berries are, but they were all over the trees. Onee-chan said not to eat them..."

manual focus - 'cause my eyeballs aren't bleeding yet

OMAKE!
This is just random awesome! Chocolates shop has a bike with a union jack sittin outside their doors
We just had to! (the crazy blur is flag flappin in the wind like its goin outta style)

who needs photoshop =P Eleventy (Mari: onee-chan named her camera... she keeps naming all her electronics weird things) can do its own magic internally