Which Photo Will Win?

For some reason, I really enjoy the photo contest that our local newspaper runs every year. They always have some theme, and tons of people enter, and it's never totally clear by what exact criteria the photos are being judged, but everybody gets to be in the online photo gallery!

I missed out on entering for the past few years, but the last time I entered, in 2006, the theme was Christmas (or Winter? Or Winter Holidays? Surely not Christmas...). Anyway, here is my photo that was given an honorable mention and published, in the NEWSPAPER, on CHRISTMAS DAY:It kills me that I used to get to snuggle with kiddos that young.

The theme for this year's photo contest is Down to Earth, soliciting photos that depict "some aspect of the natural or built environment in the state." They have to have been taken in 2009, duh, and in Indiana, duh, and it's a little vague exactly what sort of photo manipulation is allowed, but to be on the safe side I kept it pretty vanilla. I also added my own personal criteria that I wanted either one or both of the children to be in the photo, but that the photo shouldn't focus so much on the child, but on her environment or, better yet, her interaction with her environment.

Here are the seven that I've narrowed myself down to, in chronological order with the year, from Monroe Beach in February to Anderson Orchard last month:Beyond that, however, I'm having trouble deciding. Which do you like best?