June Junk

July 4, 2015 10:13 pm

Okay, not junk. Not at all. But alliteration, you guys! And I get sick of titling these posts “miscellany” or “camera dump.” But anyway, here are all the fun pictures from June that didn’t already get their own blog post. Enjoy!

Heather with some art. She loves to art.1-IMG_20150602_164523as

If you’re going to be realistic about feeding your doll, you need the Boppy. Obviously.2-IMG_20150603_105238as

On any given day, looking into the family room, you may see something like this: 3-IMG_20150604_133348asTotally normal, right? Isn’t this how everybody uses their tablet?

Sometimes feeding the baby gets boring. That’s when you move to the family room and watch TV.4-IMG_20150605_092807as

Kyle turned 30 this year! Wahoo! The girls helped him open his presents.5-P1010506as 6-P1010508as 7-P1010510as 8-P1010519as

And blow out the candles.9-P1010527as 10-P1010530as 11-P1010532asSo we decided to experiment with the cake this year, and it came out YUMMY! I just used the recipe for chocolate cake and frosting off the back of the Hershey cocoa tin (also found here), but the secret was the filling. Kyle has invented this mousse stuff (it’s essentially instant pudding made with whipping cream instead of milk) that is divine, and that’s what I used (vanilla flavored). Kyle needs to blog the recipe, and when he does, I’ll link it (Edit: Link!). He also declared it’s even better the next day. It did not last long.12-P1010533as

Heather really likes to snuggle up in blankets. Even when it’s 100F outside. She’s also started piling up the cushions and pillows and making all sorts of comfy arrangements.13-P1010536as

I’m the Primary secretary in our ward, and our chorister asked me to help out a few weeks ago. To help the kids review the song for Father’s Day, they got to put something in my hair for each line they remembered. Everybody had a lot of fun with it!14-singing time

One afternoon, Heather came up to Kyle and said she wanted to marry him. (When I asked her what that meant, she said they dance!) So she put on her flower tiara thing and they danced. When I showed her this picture and asked her what it was, she said, “Me and daddy…being married…” in a sweet, sing-song voice, and she twirled away. She obviously has fond memories of this event.15-H and K marrying

 

Kyle walked by Heather’s doorway one morning to discover her in bed with what she declared to be her “perfect family.” I don’t think that requires any further explanation.17-perfect family

This is Heather’s dance class at their in-studio dress rehearsal. Too cute.18-dress rehearsal

And this was a Mommy fail. I packed the sunscreen! I just forgot to put it on her. Poor thing. Ibuprofen and aloe vera helped, but she was pretty uncomfortable for a couple of days.19-sunburn

On Father’s Day, Heather helped me make some peanut butter brownies for Kyle.20-Fathers Day brownies

In Primary, the kids got cards with Pop Rocks candy to give their dads, and Heather thought the candy was amazing. She liked watching it pop in Kyle’s mouth:21-Fathers Day pop rocks

And lastly, Heather had swim class the last two weeks in June. It was her first time not being in a parent/child class, and she loved it! They were in a 2-foot pool and the class was very small, so she had a lot of one-on-one time with the teacher. I love watching her learn new things!IMGP3277as IMGP3279as IMGP3281as

May Miscellany

July 3, 2015 11:06 pm

Kyle and his girls:12-IMG_20150501_185406as 13-IMG_20150501_185827as

Heather was so tired she laid down on the couch and fell asleep in the middle of the afternoon. This has never happened before or since. In fact, later that day, she didn’t believe it had happened until Kyle showed her photographic proof. (For the life of me, though, I can’t remember WHY she was so tired! Some adventure with Daddy, I believe.)14-IMGP2990as

Heather spent an afternoon with our friends the Badgers. She got her nails painted for the first time!15-IMGP2994as

All dressed up in her recital costume for picture day:17-IMGP3025as 18-IMGP3029as

Awww, sisters!19-IMG_20150519_161631as

Heather and I got to do some sidewalk chalking one afternoon, and it was super fun. I drew a face, and she proceeded to add the digestive system (‘cuz she’s awesome like that). This is the only art I got a picture of, though:20-IMG_20150520_162048as

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The girls and I went for a walk downtown, and Heather somehow ended up in the fountain. She thoroughly enjoyed herself, though, and has fond memories of our adventure on “the First Street.”IMG_20150526_153737as IMG_20150526_153742as

Let There Be Light!

July 2, 2015 10:46 pm

I saw a deal on Slickdeals yesterday for this entry-level studio lighting kit from Cowboy Studio.  For $45 it comes with 3 light stands, 2 white umbrellas, 3 light & umbrella holders, and 3, 45-watt CFL daylight bulbs (~225-watt incandescent equivalent).  I certainly wasn’t expecting professional quality components, but they’re better than what I had for staging a picture (which was nothing but my off-camera flash).

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First, I’m quite pleased with Amazon.  I placed the order Wednesday afternoon with 2-day shipping, and it arrived Thursday morning.  Can’t argue with that.

Second, I’m quite pleased with the products.  Definitely worth $45.  Many of the components are plastic, rather than metal, but I even so they seem pretty sturdy.  For hobbyist use they seem like they’ll be fine.

Heather, as usual, was super excited to find out what was in the box that arrived this morning, so I told her she could help me test out the equipment after work.

So here are a few test shots.  The only lighting used was from the kit.  I’ll probably get a shoe mount to hook up my flash with one of the umbrellas at some point so I can get more power and a faster shutter speed; or maybe just some brighter / more-directional lights.

The setup for these photos was 2 lights behind an umbrella in-front of her to the left at about eye-level and the 3rd light & umbrella below, behind, and to her right.

Really decent soft lighting!

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The first picture is Heather’s natural face when I ask her to look at something. Not sure why she looks so sad. Afterwards Jess came in and got Heather laughing. Since she’s moving around so much the images aren’t as crisp, but that’s where the flash would help. She also stood up, so the lights on the left were now below eye-level, so her eyes ended up shadowed in this next picture since her head is tilted back.

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Heather’s Dance Recital

June 27, 2015 10:15 pm

Heather has been in a toddler dance class for the past year.  They had their recital today.  Heather thought it was the most amazing thing ever.  I think she burned through 3 days worth of energy reserves during and after it.

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The studio strictly forbids anyone recording video during the performance (they’re more than happy to sell you a DVD for $40 though).  So I only have photos.  Their pricing only really irks me because they charge admission for the recital at $16 per person.  At a rough estimate they brought in around $10,000 at the recital (held at the high school), seems like they could afford to provide the video at a reasonable price (considering everyone has to pay for their own costume, makeup, shoes, and to be in the class in the first place).

They had a picture day a few weeks ago and we bought a print from that so we’d have at least one high quality picture of Heather in her costume:

Heather Dance Costume (s)

At the recital the lighting was challenging.  To compensate for low light, I used a wide aperture (and thus shallow depth of field, making focus difficult) and still needed to apply a rather aggressive noise-reduction algorithm.  And then my task was complicated by the guy in front of me who, just as Heather’s class came on stage, pulled his cellphone out to take pictures.  We were sitting in the third row, so our heads were actually below the level of the stage, which is why the dancers are cut off at the shin in every picture.  So the pictures aren’t amazing, but I think they get the gist across.

They gave each dancer a little medal after the performance.  No matter what we say, Heather is convinced this means she “won” and was the best dancer.  She is incredibly competitive.  We have no idea where she gets it from.  If anything, we go out of our way to downplay any competitive aspect of the activities she participates in.

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After the recital I asked her where she wanted to go for dinner to celebrate.  She chose Chick-fil-a.  We left at about 3pm and she fell asleep on the way there and on the way back and then went to bed at about 6:15pm (hence why we left for dinner around 3pm).  Going to bed she was complaining that her stomach hurt and her head hurt.  I think she’s just beyond exhausted; hopefully she’s feeling better in the morning.

As we were leaving the theater, Heather got tripped and fell pretty hard.  She was crying and one of the studio’s employees (possibly the owner) gave her a fancy cookie from their concession stand to try and cheer her up (you can see the cookie in the last picture below).

Enjoy the photos:

Camping

June 13, 2015 8:29 pm

Heather has been asking to go camping for several weeks, but while I was still in class there was no way it was going to happen.  So once that wrapped up I decided to stop putting it off and pick a date.  So I took the afternoon off on Friday, and Heather and I packed up the car, and then sat in traffic… (Jess and Corinne stayed home.)

I wanted to get on the road by 1:00-1:30, but inevitably it took longer.  We were driving by 2:30 which I thought would still be alright, but no.  It was stop-and-go, bumper-to-bumper traffic from Livermore out the other side of Stockton.  That drive should normally take like 40 minutes, but it was over an hour and a half.  Then we had another hour of driving to do on top of that.  Heather fell asleep, which was good given the amount of sleep she was likely to get in the tent.

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We drove out to Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park.  I liked it when I was there last year–quiet, secluded, trees, and shade.  Presumably there are comparable locations closer to home, but I couldn’t figure out how to find them.

We got to the campground, picked out a spot and got our stuff unpacked.  Then we wandered about looking at the bark houses and grinding rocks.  The high for the day was in the upper 90’s and we probably should have rescheduled, but that’s tough to do with a 3-year-old whose heart is set on the adventure.  Once it cooled down a bit we got our fire going and roasted our hotdogs for dinner.

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Once dinner was cleaned up it was time for s’mores.  I had neglected to put the chocolate bars in the cooler.  But it wasn’t a total loss, I bought the “fun size” chocolate bars which are still salvageable after becoming bags of liquid chocolate.

After Heather was asleep I played with the camera for a bit.  Couldn’t get any usable pictures of the stars, but I got this really fun picture of one of the neighboring campsites:

IMGP3086asI really like the light hitting the trees.  And a picture of the fire:

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In the morning we had breakfast of Silly Circles (off-brand Fruit Loops) at like 5:30 AM since that’s when Heather decided that it was too light out to sleep.  Then we went for a hike and back to the bark houses and grinding rocks while it was still cool and shady.  After that it was time to pack up and head home.

Heather fell asleep, but I woke her up for lunch at A&W.  She was excited to discover they have mini corndogs and milk, her favorite meal.  Then we stopped at the Ghirardelli chocolate outlet and ice-cream shop in Lathrop for an ice-cream sundae.

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Heather declared it, “The best camping trip ever,” so I guess it was a success.  I think we avoided sunburn and heatstroke with only mild sleep deprivation.

It occurred to me that I could set up the camera on the tripod to take pictures automatically so we’d have some pictures of the both of us camping.  Then I thought about turning them into a little video.  So enjoy the 4-minute abridged version of the trip with more music and less heat (sadly, I didn’t take the camera with us hiking or to the historical sites).

If your browser doesn’t want to play the video you can download it here: Camping June 12-13 2015 (small)

Audio credits, in order of use:
The end of the last adventure” by soundtrackmusic.org – Creative Commons Licensed
Chimney Fire” by reinsamba – Creative Commons Licensed
Calm Sky” by [SMJ] Music – Creative Commons Licensed
Ocarina – Sun’s Song” by ZREO – Creative Commons Licensed
Call to Adventure” by KevinMacLeod – Creative Commons Licensed