We bought a camera!!!!

And it is awesome, so, so much better than our previous camera!  
We ended up getting the Canon T3 Rebel EOS DSLR camera, with thanks to my parents for sending me some cash as an early birthday present (thank you mom & dad!!!) and to my work for letting me pick up a whole bunch of Sunday hours for the next month or so!  I honestly thought it was going to take us a LOT longer to get to that point, but when I actually sat down and looked at our finances, it wasn't as far out of reach as I thought it would be.  I don't know that I've ever spent this much money on something that was mainly for me to use, so to be very honest, the whole thing made me a little skittish, but I know that this is something important to have for our children, and I was really trying to justify it as such.
The main reason for this camera purchase, as explained further here, is basically that I could not get a smiling, happy picture of little man.  He would always turn and I would catch the blurry, ghost-looking, side of his turning face.  Even if I changed the shutter speed on my point and shoot, the picture had terrible quality.  So, I gave up and only took cell phone pictures, which my friends and family tease me for quite a bit :)  Here's a picture of the new camera below:
We decided to test out the camera today while we were at the zoo, and here are a few of the results:

Little man, rather skeptical at first at the sight of the new camera... I'm sure he was thinking, "What is this thing that is always in my face now???"

Aaaaand just because you get a new, fancy camera doesn't mean you can convince your baby to look at it :)

We stayed mainly in the aquarium section, because it was so hot outside, which was great because it is little man's favorite section anyway.  He alternated between saying fish and octopus the entire day- although there were no octopuses... octopi?  to be seen, other than the plush one we bought him at the gift shop, but he was excited to see one nonetheless.

Pointing at the manatees.

Watching the penguins.

And, for some quick animal love, here is the oddest penguin who stood facing the rock the entire time we were watching.  Stage fright, maybe???

We still have quite a way to go in figuring out how to actually use the camera at this point, but slowly and surely we are learning the basics and hopefully will get better in time.  We have already figured out some of the buttons, read the manual, and are realizing some very basic stuff, for instance, if you actually look out of the viewfinder/eyepiece instead of the digital screen on the back, it takes pictures faster.  (Much to my dismay, as that means there are constant DH nose prints on the screen...)  We also just found a very cheap UV filter online as it was recommended to me by several people (thanks, Dad!) to keep the lens protected from random kid-tastrophies.  :)
If anyone knows of a good, free, online tutorial for camera use, or has seen any recent/relevant pins on pinterest about this, please link them in the comments below!
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