click! click!

we finally broke down and bought a new camera (there is no recovering from a swim under the san clemente pier)--and we love it! we went back and forth about replacing the leica and found this lumix (made in the same factory as the leica, with the same lens, but packaged in a panasonic box for half the price--so far it has surpassed our expectations: awesome interior lowlight shots, bright, crisp outdoor pics, great video, and it fits in my denim jacket pocket!) and owen may be the new photographer in the family. "click! mommy i take your picture! sierra, sit, and click!" the camera is either his two fingers angled just so, half an easter egg, an empty paper tower roll, or the ubiquitious stick. here are a few of our favorite "test" shots from the week:

this was taken at laguna beach last week with bright noontime sun. i love the bright colors of his cool new rash guard and board shorts and the contrast of his fair skin and that auburn hair. sigh, he's no longer a toddler eating sand, but a big boy using his dumptruck to build beach roads:

and here's the coolest new feature--under the "scene mode" you can choose "food"! my foodies out there will appreciate these random shots from our kitchen and fridge:

here is a series of screen captures from a video of owen doing the "thomas roll call" with his take along trains. this is another cool feature that we'll be playing with--the ability to see right on the camera screen-by-screen images of videos. again, the "intelligent auto" feature makes use of a backlight to give better indoor flash pictures.

and you can bet that i'm excited that we'll be able to flash tomorrow when the easter bunny comes!