Beavers Bend State Park, SE Oklahoma

On our way to Beavers Bend State Park we stopped at the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge and Heavener Runestone State Park.

The picture above was taken at Heavener.

It was POURING so we did not stay there very long.

We just walked down to see the runestone and then slipped and slid our way back up.

By the time we arrived at Beavers Bend State Park the rain had stopped!

Even though they had their big festival going on we had our choice of campsites because of the rain.

We chose a campsite right on the river between Grapevine and Hickory campsites.

I am not sure which one it was since it was in the middle of them both.

You could not park down at these sites but the parking was close by.

No one else was camping anywhere near us!

The boys loved the really nice playground they had at the park.

Of course!

We travel hours away from home to a brand new park and all they care about is the playground…

The deer were EVERYWHERE!

They seemed like they were used to people being around also.

They would just ignore you as you took as many pictures as you wanted.

The view from the Cedar Bluff Nature Trail.

It connects to their big trail the David L. Boren (26miles) but we did not go very far on it.

We had our dog and my husband was worried about the rocky terrain hurting her paws.

Next we took the Pine Ridge Nature Trail to the Heritage Center.

They have a museum there and an old log cabin so be sure to check it out if you go.

As we got closer to the Center there were signs with information about the animals and trees we were seeing.

It was a very kid friendly trail.

The fall colors were really pretty.

I love rain soaked leaves!

Over all it was a really nice park.

Since the Ouachita National Forest is on the way we tend to just go there instead.

I was told by many people that I needed to make the trip to Beavers Bend and I am happy I did.

That being said, we will probably continue going to Ouachita.

I love the Mountain terrain and it is a little bit closer.

I am going to miss this ~Make believe

I painted a mask on his face because we did not like the mask that came with his new robin suit.

I am odd that way.

It needed to be complete!

He was too busy making faces at his reflection in the window to look at me.

Jedi knight Luke Skywalker…

He wanted to wear his black pajama bottoms and cape everywhere!

My husband made him Thor’s hammer!

So of course he was calling down lightning all day.

Cutest Robin ever.

One day they will be too old to pretend.

I will cherish every cape, mask, weapon, and pair of tights while they are here!

What moment do you want to remember today?

Look around your house in a different way today, look for things that are fleeting.

Let them make you smile.

My boys and I ~Zoo take 2

I am joining Emily over at the anderson crew again today to get myself in the shot!

I thought I would give the information on my camera settings for these pics for a little change.

Whether you want to know or not!

These were taken in mid day sun.

I put the sun behind us.

The sun reflecting off the bridge did put some light in our faces though.

The zoo map my boy decided to bring into the pics did an even better job of putting light in our faces!

I am going to pretend he did it on purpose.

I took these with my Nikon D300s, 50mm 1.4 lens.

Aperture was set at 1.8

Shutter speed 1/4000

ISO 400 (after getting asked about this I decided I should probably explain! A lower ISO is better for bright light. I had just not changed it from earlier. It does not matter much on my camera

but if you have an entry level dslr it might make your picture grainy to have a high iso)

If you have a DSLR make sure you are USING it!

I like to encourage people to at least keep their camera in Aperture Priority (that controls how much is in focus).

That way you can at least get those blurry backgrounds for portraits.

I wore totally impracticable shoes to the zoo this time.

No tennis shoes!

I like to step out of the typical mommy uniform sometimes.

So I wore a skirt and boots!!!

I have found long skirts work pretty well with my boys.

I had a pretty interesting incident in a knee length skirt before though…

Little boys like to wrap their arms around legs.

Floor length is a much safer choice!!!!