Monday, April 30, 2012

Family Road Trip: Calgary Zoo

(Laura asked for my data on the shots and lenses so I added it)

A few weeks back we went up to Calgary (day after Easter weekend) since Regan had the day off.

Well I wanted to find a hotel that wasn't just all of us stuffed into one room. Since we have four kids (including one that is a baby and one that is a terrible sleeper) for my own sanity I needed something that would work for our family. I called around and found the hotel called Service Plus. It had a room called the Family Suite where it had one room with bunk beds and then a pull out cot. So Alden, Eli and Lucy could all sleep in there
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(f 1.4 at 1/60 ISO 500 with Nikorr 85mm 1.4 lens)
and then Regan and Oliver and I could have the main room.
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(f 1.4 at 1/320 ISO 500 with Nikorr 85mm 1.4 lens)
It was sooooo much better than a regular room. Especially since we can't all fit in one room anymore. We'd need two. It was great and if we stay over in Calgary again we will definitely be staying there again! It had a complimentary breakfast so we could feed the kids right there and a water slide and pool. Best part was no one else was at the pool so we had it all to ourselves :) Bonus!
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(f 2.0 at 1/1000 ISO 400 with Nikorr 85mm 1.4 lens)
And man did the kids enjoy it :)
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(f 1.4 at 1/800 ISO 400 with Nikorr 85mm 1.4 lens)
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(f 1.8 at 1/800 ISO 400 with Nikorr 85mm 1.4 lens)
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(f 1.8 at 1/800 ISO 400 with Nikorr 85mm 1.4 lens)
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(f 1.8 at 1/320 ISO 400 with Nikorr 85mm 1.4 lens)
I tried to do a timer shot before my battery ran out but it was all blurry - oh well, keeping it anyways!
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(f 2.0 at 1/250 ISO 400 with Nikorr 85mm 1.4 lens)
The next day we went to the Calgary Zoo. When we lived in Calgary we went a lot. We had passes and went quite often. I think it is a great zoo. It's a lot of walking. (I mean a lot!) Some snap shots from the day. (We met up with Susie and Lindsay and kids there too)
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(f 1.4 at 1/4000 ISO 1250 with Nikorr 85mm 1.4 lens)
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(f 1.8 at 1/60 ISO 1250 & f 8.0 at 1/800 ISO 500 with Nikorr 35mm 1.8 lens)
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(f 1.4 at 1/1250 ISO 1000 with Nikorr 85mm 1.4 lens)
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(f 1.4 at 1/1250 ISO 1000 with Nikorr 85mm 1.4 lens)
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(f 2.2 at 1/8000 ISO 500 with Nikorr 85mm 1.4 lens)
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(f 1.4 at 1/640 & f 1.4 at 1/500 ISO 2000 with Nikorr 85mm 1.4 lens)
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(f 1.4 at 1/800 ISO 2000 with Nikorr 85mm 1.4 lens)
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(f 13 at 1/320 & f 2.5 at 1/8000 ISO 500 with Nikorr 85mm 1.4 lens)
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(f 3.5 at 1/2000 ISO 500 & f 8.0 at 1/800 ISO 500 with Nikorr 85mm 1.4 lens)
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One of my favorite things was the butterfly place. All the beautiful stuff in there!!
Flowers at Butterflys
(f 3.2 at 1/1000 ISO 500 with Nikorr 105mm 2.8 (macro) lens)
Butterfly
(f 3.2 at 1/1000 ISO 500 with Nikorr 105mm 2.8 (macro) lens)
We were all a bit of a gong show with three small babies and feedings and all the other kids. Glad Regan was there!! It was a great day! Lots of memories made!

8 comments:

LindsayB said...

sure was a great gong show! some fab photos as usual. love the one of susie and hannah. love the butterfly pics too since i'm still bummed i didn't get to go in!

Laura Dunford said...

I think the blurry family photo is great. You can still see all of you and Alden's thumbs up got the focus hahah. Hate it when that happens; the little details get the focus but sometimes its just cute :)

Also, what lens are you using when taking these photos or did you use more then one? Sometimes I wish you could put your mouse on a picture and know what lens someone used haha

AKutarna said...

Gorgeous photos!

whitney said...

Great pictures!
we stayed in a hotel like that in Red Deer when we went up with mom and dad a few years ago, the bunk beds weren't technically in their own room, just a wall in between, but it was so much nicer. I think it was a holiday inn express family room, for future reference!

ehjenn said...

Gorgeous! Glad you had fun!

Heather M. said...

looks like such an awesome time away! you got some amazing zoo photos - so impressed as that is not the least bit easy to do especially with so many kids!

Jennifer said...

what a fun trip. Don't you love those family rooms! We stayed in one when we went to Edmonton, and I don't think I could ever get a regular room again!!

Amy said...

Little get-aways are just as needed as the big ones, I'm glad you had a good time as a family, and found such a great hotel!