Hallo ChckLiz, and welcome to ThePhotoForum!
This is a nice little series of which I like Photo 2 best, I must say.
I suggest you don't let Photobucket reduce your photos, but you reduce them to a webfriendly 600x400 (or roundabouts) at home and only then load them up. The "reduce by 50%" thing in Photobucket does not seem to work all that well...
Plus photos with a lot of information (tiny things inside the frame like grass, leaves, etc.) suggest Photobucket will make them even smaller than the given 600x400 pixels (which is a nuisance!), while b+w photos (less info) or those with lots of sky, for example, tend to be made larger.
Be prepared for surprises with Photobucket.
And otherwise: enjoy your stay on board "ThePhotoForum".