2008/10/11 - Scarecrow Festival (22 Photos)
Photos from the Scarecrow Festival in St. Charles, Illinois. Easily the best Fall festival in the western suburbs. Right on the Fox River.

2008/08/30 - Botanic Garden (41 Photos)
I hadn't realized it had been 3 years since our last trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden. Once again, pricing went up, from $12 a car to $15. We got a lot of great shots, however, because there was dew on most of the flowers. Get there when they open at 7 am and you'll have the place to yourself for close to an hour. By the time we left at 10:30 am it was a mad house.

2008/08/16 - Renwick Lake (14 Photos)
Located in Plainfield, Illinois, Renwick Lake is the only site in Illinois where five species of birds, one of which is state endangered, nest together in the artificial rookery. I don't have a long enough zoom lens to get up-close shots of the birds, but I did come across some pretty cool caterpillars.

2008/08/10 - Willowbrook (16 Photos)
We visit Willowbrook every so often. It has disabled animals but most enclosures are not conducive to photography so I focused on the landscape and flowers instead.

2008/07/26 - Peck Farm Park (44 Photos)
Peck Farm Park in Geneva, Illinois has a free butterfly house full of the beautiful winged and colorful insects, as well as flowers.

2008/07/13 - Pratt's Wayne Woods (16 Photos)
Pratt's Wayne Woods is a newly discovered DuPage county forest preserve for us. I got shots of a frog as well as several dragonflies and one damselfly.

2008/07/04 - Hot Air Balloons (49 Photos)
These were taken at the Eyes to the Skies Festival in Lisle, Illinois. You can see my shots taken three years ago here.

2008/06/29 - St. James Farm (22 Photos)
St. James Farm was privately owned until the owner passed away and the DuPage County Forest Preserve District purchased it for 36 mil and opened it to the public.

More info here.

2008/06/22 - Cosley Zoo (13 Photos)
Went to Cosley Zoo to test out my new Canon 40D but the battery was dead. I ended up using my new Canon Powershot SD870 instead and I was impressed with the quality of photos from this little point and shoot.

2008/06/14 - Indiana Beach (32 Photos)
Indiana Beach is an amusement park located in Monticello, Indiana, a two hour drive from Chicago. I went there every year as a kid and now we take my husband's kids annually.

2008/05/24 - Henry Vilas Zoo (28 Photos)
Henry Vilas Zoo is a small zoo located in Madison, Wisconsin. Very nice considering it's free. Parking is a pain in the butt and it's hard to find the animals you're looking for due to the lack of signage but I still enjoyed my visit.

2008/05 - Wisconsin Dells (37 Photos)
We took a two day vacation to Wisconsin Dells since neither of us has ever been there before. It's a cute area, albeit a tourist trap, but I can see the appeal for families since there's so many waterparks, indoor and out.

2008/05/10 - Courtyard (18 Photos)
Just some photos I took behind the house while my step-daughter practiced using her new (and first) digital camera. The photos in sepia and black and white are straight from the camera.