After a little birthday celebrating, we spent the evening at the local park trying out some new toys.

Lucky 13!

I got a new camera that I was wanting to try out, and so we headed over to the park and set up our new slackline for the first time. I had been thinking about getting a slackline for a while, it seemed like a great family activity that we can all have fun with. When a starter kit went on sale at REI the deal was done. Very happy with the purchase! It was incredibly challenging, but a lot of fun to play around on.

Toe shoes? Check.

The girls got by with a little hand-holding.

No thanks, says the dog.

We improved quickly, but have a long way to go.

I made it all the way across. Once. Out of about 40 tries.

Slackline rookie:

I’m pretty happy with the camera so far. There are a few things I have issues with. I can’t stand the dreaded white sky, but lighting conditions were a little challenging. The video sucks, and I need to disable the anti-shake settings and see if that cleans it up. I love the speed though, very quick – that was one of the biggest gripes with my old one. I missed so many shots just waiting for the thing to boot up or cycle after a photo. I’ll write up some more details once I spend some more time with it. I’m looking forward to using it at the Bighorn 100 next month to document some incredible scenery and show what it’s like to travel 100 miles on foot through the mountains. Stay tuned!