Four Feet More

This week's You Capture theme was black and white, which I loved for vain reasons. Simply put, I look better in black and white. But, since I'm not vain enough to put a bunch of photos of myself up here, I wasn't quite sure what to photograph at first. Then I went through my photos from our recent beach trip. My two best friends and extended family were there to celebrate a birthday, and the weather was beautiful (not always the case at a Northern California beach). We made the most of the sunshine until the afternoon fog rolled in, and we all had to bundle up in our warm clothes.

Here I am with my two best friends, James and Mel. We were very color-coordinated that day, and it was entirely unplanned. I guess that's what happens when people hang together for too long - they start dressing the same (even though they couldn't be more different in other ways).


Vix and Eames on the beach. We have a photo similar to this one from their first summer home with us. I always call it "A Study in Contrast" because Vika looks so dark and Eamon looks so pale! At least this time the boy's got a bit of a tan, so he doesn't look as washed out next to Vika.

This is Mel's daughter, Madi. Or as I call her, Mad. This girl is cute as a button and more trouble than a fox in a hen-house. She saw another child's sand castle and gleefully smashed every single tower with her dainty little hands. Luckily it had been abandoned, so the architect of the castle did not have to witness its destruction.

Our You Capture assignment this week, handed down by Beth at I should be Folding Laundry, was Independence Day and food. This year we went to a 4th of July Festival which included a chili cook-off. My SIL's band was playing, so we were able to hang with Joe and Ty, and Mom and Ed for some music and dancing. There was a strange hula hoop woman dancing all by herself in front of the stage. Well, I use the term "dancing" loosely, since she was really hula hooping and swaying to the music. Wearing a long orange print skirt and a black tank-top, her gray hair in a bun, she looked more like someone who would be attending a Grateful Dead concert rather than getting down to "Pokerface" sung by a party band. But there she was, having a great old time.

The benefit of having hula-hoop lady there was that she let the kids use some of her extra hoops. That was all the encouragement Eamon needed. He got into one of those hoops and twirled until the music ended! And, though I've mentioned it before, I need to reiterate, that boy can hula hoop! I can't twirl the things worth a damn, but Eamon has some mad skilz! I think he impressed quite a few people (especially me). Between band sets, there were also some games, and the kids entered a water balloon toss competition. Alas, their time in the game was too short, as Eamon dropped the first toss Vika chucked at him.

When the show was over, we went to the chili cook-off where we ate tiny samples and voted on the one we liked best. Some of them were good, but others were entirely too spicy! The firemen had some chili that was insanely hot. Like, not even enjoyable hot. A few hours later, we were all feeling that chili, and not in a good way either. I think next year we'll skip the sampling.

After the festival, we headed to the cemetery to visit the grave of Jeff's parents. There were flags lined up everywhere, honoring the day, and it was very peaceful. Until Eamon said, "There sure are a lot of dead people here!" A quick explanation about sensitivity and loss followed, and then we were on our way.

Since I had my choice for this week's You Capture, and because the 4th of July is right around the corner, I decided to capture the symbol of our nation's Independence, the American flag. For most of my life, Independence day has meant BBQs, fireworks, and summer memories with the family. However, after teaching 5th grade (where we study American History), I've acquired a bit of a different perspective on the holiday. Reading about the great men and women who fought for America's independence from Britain, their trials and victories, has made this holiday and our flag mean so much more.

John Adams said in a letter to his wife Abigail (of the original Independence Day - which was actually July 2, 1776), "I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival." It's kind of cool to know that his prediction came true, even if he was off by 2 days. I wonder what he would think about the various ways the holiday is celebrated and our flag is depicted today (on clothing and home decor, for example)?

Another piece of American trivia for you: Both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826 - 50 years to the day from the birth of the country they helped found. Isn't that an interesting coincidence?

OK, I'll let my teacher side slip for now and show you the photos.

Happy 4th of July (3 days early)!

Recently I discovered "You Capture" (Thanks Saj!), a weekly photo challenge from Beth at I Should Be Folding Laundry. Long-time readers of this blog may remember when I used to participate in "Stuff Portrait Fridays." That challenge has long-since ended, so with the summer here, I decided to recharge the Nikon and begin shooting images for "You Capture."

This week's challenge was "Nature." An easy one to jump in on, especially since we've taken quite a few hikes lately. Also, since I'm heading off to Science Camp with my 5th graders today (wish me luck), it seemed quite appropriate.

The first image comes courtesy of my husband Jeff (a true photographer - I just play at it). It's a dragonfly we encountered during a trip through Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.

Next are a couple of shots I took while on a hike in a local wildlife preserve with Vika and Eamon. Here we have the ever-present California Poppy. I love the Spring, when these orange blossoms are popping up all over the place!


As we hiked along the trail, we heard a hawk call in the distance. The bird began circling closer and closer until finally he was directly above us. The kids were very impressed since they'd never seen a hawk that close before. I'm just pleased the shot came out clear!

So there you have my images of nature. What did you capture?

I finally got around to loading my photos onto the computer. I know, I'm a slacker - but better late than never. So without further ado, here you go:

This first one is of Eamon at his birthday party. Doesn't he look dapper in his little tie? I saw it at Old Navy and knew I had to buy it for him. The best part is that the little white designs in the black stripes... they're skulls and cross bones. As my friend Mel said, it's "preppy, with an edge." That's my son. Edgy. :)

Here's a shot of Eamon wearing one of his favorite gifts. For those of you non-Star Wars fans, it's a Clone Trooper (the army that later becomes the Storm Troopers when the evil emperor takes over). The hilarious thing about this costume, which unfortunately did not transfer onto film, is that it is almost completely transparent. So, when Eames put it on, with nothing but his black chonies underneath... well let's just say he made quite the fashion statement. Every guest at the party pulled out their cameras and quickly began snapping pictures. Sadly, Eamon played so hard in this costume that he ripped a hole in the leg within a half hour of putting it on. Did he take it off and return to his earlier “edgy” look? No. he continued to run around, with a pale little knee poking though the rip in the fabric.

The weekend after Eamon’s party, the four of us went to the pumpkin patch with my mom. Unfortunately, our regular pumpkin patch, where we take our annual family portrait, was closed this year. Some nonsense about letting the fields rest. ;) So we went to a new patch this year, which was still fun, but not nearly as picturesque. As a result, we didn’t get a great family portrait, but we did get a couple of nice shots of the kids.



After our family portrait session, we found the perfect pumpkins and assisted mom in her quest to acquire a cornstalk for her front porch - an annual tradition for her. As an aside, mom used to get a large haystack for her front porch as well, and it would sit there for months because she couldn’t get rid of the darn thing! For Christmas, she began wrapping it like a large present, and by January, the hay would be molding underneath. So glad she has abandoned that part of her Fall décor.

As we stood in the checkout line to buy our pumpkins, I did a quick tally in my head and realized that our four pumpkins were going to cost us nearly $100!!! I know that part of what you are paying for is the experience of going to the patch, but this seemed a little excessive. So, we quickly scrambled to set 3 of the pumpkins aside (we arranged them artfully by a corn stalk at the beginning of the checkout line – where several others were arranged. Were these also hastily set aside by families horrified at the exorbitant costs?). We still purchased Jeff’s pumpkin at the patch, but later bought mine, Eamon, and Vika’s at the local grocery store ($15 for 3. A much more reasonable price).

I hope you all are enjoying your Fall traditions. Next up for us is the annual “Fall Leaf Hunt.”

I love Fall. It's my favorite time of year. Even though I was anxiously awaiting Summer (the school vacation was desperately needed), around the first of August, I started wishing for Autumn.

Crisp, cool days. Leaves turning colors. Hot apple cider and warm pumpkin scones. Decorating the house for Halloween and visiting the Pumpkin Patch. So many of our family traditions revolve around Fall.

Since bringing the kids home, Fall has become even more special. It is when we celebrate our "Metcha' Day" with a Russian feast in honor of Vika and Eamon. Carving jack-o-lanterns has become a much more light-hearted event. Before, Jeff and I would compete to see who could create the best jack-o-lantern. Now we laugh as Eamon cringes in disgust each time he pulls the goo out of his pumpkin, and Vika carves so thoroughly that her pumpkin's "face" becomes one big hole. We go on leaf hunts and watch "The Nightmare Before Christmas" while drinking hot cocoa. On Thanksgiving morning, we watch the Macy's Thankgiving Day Parade in our PJs, marveling at the Broadway dance numbers and enormous character balloons.

To me, more than any other season, Fall is about family. What are some of the traditions your family shares in the Fall?

Here's a self-portrait Eamon took at Babushka's house.

At first, it just looks like a random shot of his eye and bangs, but look closer. Can you see the reflection of his hands holding the camera in his eye? Eamon swears he knew that would happen in the shot. Maybe he's right, and I've got a budding artist on my hands?

I saw this done by Fleur de Lisa and thought I'd try it out myself. Here are the results:

The concept:
1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page of results, and pick one image.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab’s Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.

The questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food? right now?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. What is one word that describes you?
12. What is your flickr name?

Click on the comments to see the answers to these questions.

Not sure how many of you heard about the wild fires burning in Northern California, but a few of them were within an hour of us, and stories of the devastation have dominated the local news. Even still, I didn't really think too much about them until the other night, when I went outside and saw this:


That's the sun, and it's red from all the smoke in the air.

The next morning, we awoke to find ashes all over our cars. That certainly made the fires seem a lot closer. Fortunately, they are now mostly contained, so hopefully no further damage will be done.

One of the benefits on our birth family search was that we got a couple of baby photos of the kids. The quality isn't the best, and the images are kind of fuzzy, but it's more than we had before, and we are very happy to have them.

These images are a bit small because the resolution was so low. However, we were able to print them out as wallet size photos, which we can put into the kids' lifebooks.

Here's Vika at around 10 months of age (I'm totally guessing here. I'm not terribly good at judging babies' ages). She's sitting in front of the same rug that was hung on the wall behind her Russian Mama during the interview (which gives kind of a nice sense of continuity). At the top of this photo, which was framed on the Tatiana's shelf, was a cut out picture of an unknown man (I edited it out here). I'm hoping his identity will be revealed when we get the video translation.



Here is a photo of the two kids sitting on their Russian Mama's lap. Eamon must be just a few months old in this photo, and Vika is probably around 20 months old. This isn't too long before they were placed in the orphanage.

The Russian Mama did ask that we send her regular updates and photos of the kids, and she promised to send us some photos as well.

An interesting side effect of the birth family search is that our family became a bit more extended. Even though we do not know them personally, and may never meet them in real life, I feel as if our kids' Russian family is part of our family too. I also feel a bit as if I am sharing Mother's Day this year with Tatiana. In previous years, she was a faceless person whom we did not know a lot about. Now that she is "real," my empathy for her and her loss of Vika and Eamon is even greater. I'll be keeping her in my thoughts this Mother's Day and hoping that the pictures and information we sent will give her as much comfort as the pictures and information she sent gave us.

I've been invited to join the "2007 - Your Single Best Shot" group on flickr, and as usual, I'm indecisive as to which shot I should submit.

Could you take a minute to view my photos and vote for the one you like best? You can get to the set by click here.

Thanks!

I finally posted some of our AZ photos on Flickr. If you are interested, you can see them by clicking here.

We took over 460 pictures, but lucky for you, I only posted 30. :)

Just a quick post, because I'm seriously exhausted. I'd like to put an exclamation point after that last sentence, but I'm too tired.

Anyway, the wedding was great (thanks for asking Katie), and my brother is now a husband. God help his new wife, Angie. :) Just kidding, of course. My brother is awesome, and hopefully I'll get up the energy to do a wedding post, with pictures, tomorrow.

In the meantime, I have posted my and Jeff's 24 hours of Flickr pictures, and you can see them at this link: 24 Hours of Flickr Photo Set

Don't expect great art though. Since May 5th was the day before the wedding, it was quite a jumble, and I took shots of some random stuff. But, go an have a look anyway, and if there is a particular picture that you think I should submit to the 24 Hours of Flickr group, give me a comment and let me know (yes, I admit it, I'm whoring for comments).

Ok, I'm off to bed to get some much-needed sleep. Hopefully I'll be more interesting tomorrow.

Today, Flickr is hosting it's 24 Hours of Flickr photo-a-thon. Basically, you take a bunch of pictures today, May 5th, and then post your favorite to the group. There is another group for your 24 hour photo rejects.

I know that Rhonda is taking part. Is anyone else? I would love to check out your photos and see what you saw today.

Once I get all my shots uploaded, I will post a link to my 24 hours Flickr set, and maybe you guys can vote on which photo you like best. Then the Flickr genies will go through the shots, and select their favorites to put into a book. Proceeds from the sale of this book will go to help Medecins Sans Frontieres.

Since my brother is getting married tomorrow, I have a feeling that many of my shots will be of wedding preparations and our Cinco De Mayo Tamale party this evening. Probably not Flickr Book worthy, but it should be fun all the same.

Happy Cinco De Mayo everyone!

I've been playing around a bit on the MyTheme photo editor. I really need to get Photoshop on this computer.