Hey there! It’s Maggie here, and you’re reading a new post on Chickadee Lover Maggie. ❤ Welcome back to my blog! I share inspiration from my life, creative things I’ve made, and fun experiences I’ve had. Thanks for being here! 😀

Yesterday I went to a state park with my family! The night before, my mom and I went to Publix to buy food for our snacks and lunches, which we packed up when we got back that evening. We left mid-morning on Sunday (yesterday) and took the drive to the state park 🙂

I drank some of this pretty lemonade on the way there! It was yummy but VERY tart. 😋 haha

We bought parking passes and let Samuel and the girls play at the playground. 😊

They had a lot of fun swinging, since this is the first playground we’ve been to in months that had a swing set!

We ate lunch at this little pavilion (which I didn’t take pictures of because thERE WERE BEES CHASING MEEEE🐝😂), then we walked down to the lakefront!

Bro, that trail we trekked was hazardous. 🙅🏻‍♀️ There were rocks and roots exposed, not to mention this fitting symbol of the times:

Corona caps. 🤓 How fitting. Looks like corona has bitten the dust, huh? Amirite?! 😂 Let’s hope that comes true very soooooon! 👏🏼

The view from the little lake beach was BEAUTIFUL!

Elizabeth and Izzy loved watching the boats go by and admiring the waves. My mom and I made sure they didn’t fall in or slip on any rocks, and they did a pretty good job of spotting themselves. 🙂

Today’s pictures are brought to you by the filter ‘Miracle‘ on the app RookieCam! 🤩💙 It’s free, it’s pretty, and I highly recommend that app to all bloggers and photographers 🙂

Samuel loved perching up on this rock and viewing the lake! ❤

My mom offered to take some pictures of me ❤

I easily could have stayed on that shore for hours, enjoying the comfortable weather and wonderful spot in nature! ❤

I helped Elizabeth up onto this rock, we took some pictures, then our mom and Joshua helped us down. 😂

There’s me and all of my siblings! 😀 ❤ In case you don’t know our ages (from left to right), I’m 20, Izzy’s 2, Samuel is 9, Joshua is 16, and Elizabeth’s 4.

I’ll never get tired of taking pictures of Izzy’s hair 😍💜

Here they are up close…

…and in this picture they look tiny. 😂 hehe

Quick selfie!

The last time I came to this state park in 2013, I took a selfie with the lake. Here I am again seven years later!

Just off from the shore, there were these crazy root formations. It was wild to see!

One of the most important elements of photography like this are horizontal horizons! Even lines balance the image and make the view more pleasing. When a picture I’ve taken has uneven lines, I use the ‘Rotate’ feature on RookieCam and slide the ruler until the lines match the ones shown on the grid. It’s a really helpful tool!

After my mom, Samuel and the girls went back up to the playground, Joshua and I took a dip in the water! We took off our socks and shoes, semi-rolled up our jeans (lol), and looked for Georgia red clay and little minerals and crystals. It was a lot of fun!

On the way home, we stopped at Trader Joe’s and I went inside and shopped for the items we wanted to pick up! It was the first time we’d been since the pandemic began (in March), and I was the only one who went inside (there was a line out the door – max occupancy stuff). I got everything we needed (except for what they were out of obviously lol), which made me really happy because I’ve missed having TJ’s almonds so much! 😍❤️

Thanks so much for reading! We all enjoyed our time visiting this state park yesterday ❤ I especially loved taking pictures of the lake! 🌊

Do you love exploring nature? What are your favorite things to take pictures of? Let’s chat in the comments!