Happy Valentine’s Day! I’m off to James’ school for a wedding… Q and U are getting hitched.
We had a rough week with the stomach bug attacking our family. When David came down with it, we quarantined him and I *think* that was the end of it. When the little guy fell asleep on Friday afternoon, I was still on high alert and thought maybe it was a good thing to let him be. He was playing with some packaging from a recent print order and a dish towel and he ended up on top of the vacuum cord wedged inbetween the lovesac and the coffee table. I think James tossed him the pillow at some point.
Hopefully we really are done with the stomach flu. It was no fun watching James be so sick and then again with David on Thursday. Just to be safe, we skipped their soccer games on Saturday. They’ll miss next Saturday as well. I do wish I had gotten some pictures of Lowell and James; they had some really cute moments this past weekend. In all honesty, I didn’t take any pictures of them this weekend because they were running around in their underwear despite my constant attempts at clothing their bottom halves more thoroughly.
Boys…
Even the cat is a boy… He wants to be an outside cat, but when he does manage to escape the house, he walks about two feet from the door and lays down. Plop. We pick him up and put him back inside… it’s not that we are afraid of him running off; he has claw covers on his front paws which practically render him harmless to defend himself. And there are some pretty mean looking feral cats around here living in the drainage ditch in front of our neighbor’s house.
Okay, maybe it was more like 4 minutes of snow… Here’s me running around like a crazy person taking video instead of helping to get the boys ready to play in it. Needless to say, it turned into rain by the time they were dressed and got their shoes on.
I made the comment to David that the yards across the street look so green and luscious on the video, but they’re overrun with clovers and sticker-weeds. Our grass is dormant right now, so our yard is brown. Funny thing is – as soon as it gets hot, their yards will be brown and our St. Augustine will be green.
You know the saying… if the shoe fits, wear it. What if it doesn’t fit? Do you still walk around trying to make it work?
Yes, I’m guilty of oft changing my business blog/logo/look/whatever, it’s true, but none of those shoes I’ve tried on have fit and they’ve rubbed me the wrong way, leaving blisters. Until now. I woke up on Friday to touch-up a few things on my business blog and here I am nearly two days later with a completely new site. It’s now more cohesive with my family blog, cleaner, simpler. KISS, y’all. Keep it Super Simple. Last year, I divided my business and it didn’t work out so well. So I wiped out all the family sessions (I’ll still photograph full families, but I won’t blog them and they won’t go on facebook) and I’m just advertising for senior portraits now. It’s all I want to shoot… I chase kids around all day every day enough as it is and seniors have pretty much learned how to NOT run off and fall into a pond.
I’ve had this theme on davejenbarnes here for over a year and I’ve loved it, but it’s not very customizable without buying the $$ TWO HUNDRED DOLLAR $$ version. Are you freaking kidding me?! TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS for a wordpress theme?! And I thought the $89 upgrade to ProPhoto4 was highway robbery! It wasn’t so expensive two years ago when I invested in ProPhoto and had a blog that looked like everyone else out there. Anyhow, so I’ve totally loved this theme here on davejenbarnes, but there are bits about it that I didn’t like and can’t change due to the way they’ve diced up the back end of things. The other day, I stumbled upon another, simpler, theme that I really liked and knew I could hack to pieces and mod left and right so I installed it and one thing led to another and now I have a customized blogsite that I put together myself, took two days of my time, and apparently saved me HUNDREDS of dollars. Plus, if something *does* break, I know the php, where to find the problem, and how to fix it.
I need a favor, though — head on over, take a look around, and let me know if you find anything broken. (I know the slideshow is broken in my installation of Firefox for some reason, which is odd because the company that made the slideshow recommends Firefox. I already have a Support Ticket submitted regarding that because while I do know php, I don’t know javascript -yet-) I’ll be re-adding blog posts over the next week from the past sessions I’ve done. With fonts from Google’s Web Fonts API, I think (and hope!) it’s looking pretty good — at least it does on my end with my browsers.
Now I am finally ready to start attacking random teenagers with my business cards. I think I’ll start at Chick-fil-a; they’re always so nice there. (Just kidding, but to feel that way is a HUGE step up of confidence!) If you have any comments, drop me a note over on the Facebook page (after you “Like” it of course)… as that’s the best place for me to see your comments!
I love how his hair sticks up somewhere all the time. Lowell is growing up so quickly. They love playing on the trampoline. Thank you, Aunt Shelley and Uncle Peter!
Of course, I am afraid they’re going to break their precious necks. Sometimes I get brave and let them jump. One at a time. The non-jumpers are supposed to sit on the sides. James likes to lay. Our trampoline makes them all so dirty that it automatically equals a bath as soon as they go in. It’s days like these that I hope they remember forever. I hope I remember them, too.
Happy Friday.
30D :: 50 f/1.4 :: VSCO film
James was really really sick on Tuesday. I was worried we would have to take him to a clinic for dehydration because he couldn’t keep anything down, but he woke up this morning feeling fine and was bouncing around the house like a clown. James didn’t miss any school though.
Anyhow… On tuesday night at 3 AM, after putting Korben back to bed, David’s phone was buzzing like crazy in the kitchen, so I unplugged it. Turns out, after taking it to a repairman, David’s phone is dead, dead, dead. So he has my 4S with his sim card in it. (btw, if you need to reach me, you can text/call 512.553.5653 instead of my cell number.) We’re considering our options, but it looks like it’s going to be expensive no matter what we choose. Currently, my sim account is month-to-month so we could get that number on contract again and get an “upgraded” phone. One option is the Samsung Rugby II for a penny, but I don’t know if it takes the micro sim and I’m gonna want my 4S back soon. Ha… I don’t know if he would be happy with that Samsung, though, so I’m thinking we’ll end up going the iPhone route. We really have enjoyed the iCloud bit with photo sharing and iMessaging.
And to finish this post off, here are some quick snaps of the other two.
We love peanuts; it’s their favorite snack. We don’t have them often, but when we do, they love cracking the shells.
and the cat. Can’t forget the cat.
Oh, the goofy smile. He learned this from James, no doubt.
Have you seen this?
We love Maru. Inspired by this video, I set out my collection of various print orders’ lab boxes. Here’s Mambo’s version:
I really think he is hoping I let him lay around in boxes more often. He was like a moth to a flame… crazy cat.
That was our week so far — I am sure it will get more interesting before it’s over!
iPhone 4S :: unprocessed
He doesn’t like me to take his picture. He’s still got the chubby wrists and baby fingers. His head is the squarest little noggin’ I’ve ever seen on someone. You need a translator to understand what he’s asking for. We have an entire tub of duplos but he prefers the little legos that his big brothers play with. “Korben the Destroyer” is his nickname for a reason. He is the only one of my three boys that will find me just to give me a kiss. His brothers are his heroes and he wants to do everything they do, and mostly, he does. And he is the only one of my three that likes his back rubbed. I can’t believe he’s three years old.
What am I going to do with him next year when I’ll have two in school? Where did my little baby go? Why can’t I remember him as a baby like I can the first two? Why does he always smell so good still?
These are the things that go through my head when I see him. Someday, those pudgy fingers are going to be gone and I will miss them. I already know… I’ve been through it twice with the older two.
30D :: 22mm :: 1/20 sec :: f/4.5 :: ISO 1600 :: sooc
Disclaimer: Since I’m on a roll blogging trips I was blessed with in 2011 – which is more than we’ve ever had in a single year for all twelve years of our marriage – I thought I should go ahead and blog the Chicago pics, too, to get those out of my system all at once. After this, it will be back to the daily life stuff that I try, creatively, to capture with the camera. Yes, we got to travel in 2011, but yes, it was the hardest year we’ve ever lived through… and we are still feeling the repercussions of it. That’s another rant for another day. Please do not become envious. That isn’t my reason for posting this.
Warning: This is a long post. Very long.
***
Chicago. My favorite city. Where the roads are straight and don’t change names every 3rd block (curse you, Austin, and your completely stupid random road name changes!), the commuter trains actually go downtown, every building has a parking garage, the water is delicious, straight out of the tap, where the pizza is blow-your-mind-away awesome… the windy city, home of the CSO.
The reason for the trip up was because the saxophone octet from the school where David teaches was selected to perform at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Convention. David had gone before with an entire band on this same trip, but I was pregnant or nursing an infant or something (I can’t remember… I think maybe I was crazy pregnant, maybe that was it). I’m no longer pregnant or nursing, and David’s parents were willing to watch the boys (Thank you a million times!) so I jumped at the opportunity to join them on this trip.
I already blogged my cell phone pics, but these are from the big camera. Travelling with nine saxophones was crazy. I can’t imagine how they did it with an entire band’s worth!
After dropping off the luggage and instruments, we walked to breakfast at Yolk.
Everything here is delicious, and the serving sizes are huge. Someday, maybe we’ll have one in Austin.
From Yolk, we walked to Navy Pier.
I just love how silly middle schoolers are willing to be. They remind me a lot of college kids.
It really wasn’t as far a walk as it seems it would have been. For some reason, walking in Chicago is not that big of a deal. I would never have walked that far in downtown Austin, though.
We went for a once-around on the ferris wheel.
My husband. He makes me laugh.
Yes. I did get a little scared of heights. That’s why I was in the middle!
It was good to have my feet on the ground again.
From there, we ended up in the Winter Wonderland.
Look at all the shiny!
These silly mirrors were a hit with everyone.
Back to the hotel for rehearsal. We still didn’t have rooms… we landed at 8 AM and it was now around 2 PM by the time rehearsal started.
Finally, around 5 pm or so, we got 1 room for the boys, so we parked all the luggage in that one room and headed out for dinner. We finally got the rest of the rooms after dinner.
Our elf on a shelf made a few appearances in Chi-town. The little stow-away…
We headed to the McCormick Center to snoop around that night and get oriented with the different rooms they would be playing in.
I just love these next few.
Dinner at the Hard Rock Café.
The next morning, bright and early, we headed out to try to beat the rush of school field trips to the Museum of Science and Industry.
This place is pretty cool. Almost everything is interactive.
The body parts disturbed me, but I suppose that’s because I never thought that when you donate your remains to Science, you might end up on display. Dissected.
It’s so pretty at Christmastime.
My boys (and brother) would love this section.
I took these for Lowell. He loves how things work and how things are made.
When I saw the cockpit, I really started missing my L-man. I know he would have loved this and I could hear the questions he would ask me in his precious 4 year old voice in my head.
Before we left, we walked and walked and walked and walked some more down to the submarine.
The tour was quick, but so educational. If my boys ever have to man a submarine, I think I would go crazy worrying about them. The living conditions in that thing were awful.
After lunch, another rehearsal.
I have to say something special here. This man is the reason I majored in clarinet. This teacher affected my life and love of music in a profound way, as I know he has continued to do throughout his teaching career. I was honored to be able to be “a fly on the wall” (with a big camera and even bigger lenses) and capture these pictures. I wouldn’t be surprised, not even for a minute, if one, two, three, or even four of these students go on to pursue a career or even maintain a lifelong passion with music.
Mr. San Luis, thank you for all that you do.
Dinner that night. Chicago stuffed pizza.
The students didn’t believe me when I said they’d maybe eat only two slices before they had to quit.
Nothing makes Dave happier than Giordano’s pizza.
And after dinner? A show!
Day three started at the Shedd Aquarium.
I’d been to the Shedd before, in 2007. Actually, Lowell has been there, too, as a 4 month old. On that trip, though, I had my hands full as I was strollerless and on my own with my group of online mommy friends. We didn’t catch the show. I was glad we caught the show this visit.
And of course, dolphins make me think of James. My James, he loves dolphins.
And Santa.
David’s favorite.
And I just loved this model release. They were filming a Jello commercial and we may (or may not) be accidental “extras” in it. If only my business model release forms were as straightforward…
One of the things we learned in April of 2000, when we lived here, was that the Shedd has one of the best views of downtown Chicago. Back in 2000, we walked all the way from the loop to the aquarium and it was closed, so we hung out with my brother not far from here and took pictures with his fancy new toy, a digital camera. It was the first time I’d seen one. I don’t even know if he still has those pictures, but this place reminded me heavily of that time. I was so thankful that my brother flew up to Chicago to stay with us then and it was the first year of an annual tradition of Uncle Jerry coming to visit us for Easter.
This view reminded of me of that time.
From Shedd, we headed back to McCormick center to hit the trade show.
and met some VIPs.
and back to the hotel, where we found that darn elf hiding sitting in the lobby Christmas tree.
Probably my favorite touristy part of the trip was this next part.
Millennium Park and the Bean.
The Bean. The beeeeeeeeaaaan…
Under the Bean.
The students were occupied watching the ice skaters, probably looking for cute girls …
… so David and I stole a tiny kiss.
Someday I want to get back here when the weather is warmish. Probably, like, July or August.
I loved the location of our hotel.
As you can tell by now, this was a whirlwind trip. We had hardly any downtime, and what little we did have was usually in the hotel lobby and looked a lot like this.
Another rehearsal at the McCormick Place.
This picture embodies how I felt all week… surreal and a little bit blurry.
A quick award ceremony.
And then it was performance time. I can’t believe how quickly it got here.
They played beautifully. I’ve been to concerts where people have paid money to hear groups that don’t sound as good as these eight middle schoolers sounded that day.
And I know they were RELIEVED to have done so well and have it finally over.
After their concert, we booked it back to the hotel where David had arranged boxed meals from Jimmy Johns so we could eat and change clothes in time to make it to the CSO concert. I didn’t even bother taking a camera to that (photography is prohibited) but I think I liked watching the CSO staff photographer more than I liked watching the silly dancers they had imported from the ballet for their Welcome Yule concert. That man had some seriously fantastic gear. He shot two 1Ds Mark III’s with sound covers and three lenses… a 16-35mm, a 70-200mm and what looked like a 400mm L lens. I was so impressed that I dropped the bolero I had taken off (it may have been freezing outside, but it was mid-80-degrees inside) and forgot it in the Symphony Center. I miss that bolero.
Our last morning, we woke up to snow. Beautiful, glorious, wonderful snow.
Of course we had to make an impromptu stop at the park by Navy Pier on our way to the airport!
What is David up to?
Oh! Look who he found, making a snow-angel of all things!
The students went nuts, too.
And this is the last picture I took in Chicago. The Watertower.
After that, I packed up the gear and secured it for the trip to the airport.
I know this was a long post, and if you made it this far, thank you. I can’t wait until the next time I visit Chicago. Whereas visiting Hawaii again might never happen, I *know* that I will be in Chicago again, someday.
5D Mark II :: 24mm f/1.4 L :: 50mm f/1.4 :: 70-200 f/2.8 L :: 85mm f/1.2 L :: VSCO film
(Find the first half of our trip here.)
After staying on Oahu for the better part of a week, we packed up and flew from Honolulu to Hilo. The differences were amazing. The coqui frogs are LOUD! Hilo was not nearly as touristy as Honolulu! Maybe the two are related.
The island itself is huge, but it felt so more relaxed and local-kine. Mom and dad had found us a beautiful bed and breakfast just outside Hilo and if I had another week, I might just want to stay there and not leave the B&B for a few days. I’m considering having a big print made up of this first one.
You wouldn’t want a convertible here with all the rain on this island, so we ended up with a little thing that sounded and smelled like it wasn’t anyone’s favorite, but it got us from point A to point B.
The view of the bay from the bed & breakfast.
I hope that place is still around whenever I finally make it back to Hawaii. I have got to take David there sometime for a second honeymoon.
The next morning, we made a quick stop at Akaka State Falls to see the waterfall there.
Not only was the waterfall beautiful, but the walk there was gorgeous as well.
We met more family for lunch. I’m so thankful that I got to meet Uncle Harold. Mom brought the iPad and showed off pictures of her family as well as my cousins and my boys.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it back in time to see him again. I’ve heard such stories about him and his satsuma tree, and it was an honor to finally meet him.
After lunch, we headed to the open air market to buy some antheriums for the Yamaguchi grave.
The next morning we drove to Rainbow Falls but couldn’t find a rainbow.
Then we drove to Punalu’u (pune-ah-lou-oo) beach. The a’a lava flows over the years have left parts of the scenery of this drive look like a science fiction planet. I wonder how they even made the road to begin with.
The black sands are otherworldy and by far and wide my most favorite beach on Earth.
I stood on an outcropping where I had seen pictures of my brother standing before and wished that he were there with us to make the trip even more memorable. The waves were mesmerizing.
I could have stayed there for hours, but we only had twenty minutes. I remember setting a timer on my cell phone.
The drive back took exactly the amount of time we had before our next adventure.
You got that right. Yeah, baby!
Note to all of you considering a helicopter tour of Hawai’i: Put ON a jacket and jeans and tennis shoes and take OFF the doors of the ‘copter. We didn’t dress warmly enough and decided to leave the doors on, but now I know. Leave those doors off for the most spectacular views. This one thing, the helicopter tour, made my year. This in and of itself alone was worth the trip.
The pilot pointed out the macadamia nut groves in their neat rows.
Miles and miles of rainforest, where you’re praying that you won’t crash.
And then we reached the lava flows. They are beautiful, unfamiliar, and barren.
There is new land formed here every day. (and you can see the end of one of the landing rails for the helicopter at the bottom of this picture, though it looks a bit like we’re landing on top of a man wearing a white hard hat)
People still live here. They are rebuilding. They are tough. I don’t know if I could live here.
From the coast, we flew inland to Pu’u O’o (pooh-ooo-oh-oh), passing older craters and collapsed lava tunnels.
Just. Wow.
After the volcano, we flew over a trio of waterfalls.
and back to Hilo Airport.
After the helicopter trip, everything just flew by. We got packed and headed back to Honolulu for our flight back to California. We had dinner with family, said our farewells, and caught the overnight flight back to the mainland, the rock.
I know at the time I was ready to get back to my boys, but blogging this now, I’m ready to go back. I want to give a huge shout-out to my mom and dad for this trip. It was the opportunity of a lifetime. Thank you, both.
30D :: 50mm f/1.4 :: 10-22mm (all the pictures taken from the helicopter were with this lens) :: VSCO film
It seems now (seven months later) that I dreamed the entire thing up, but I have the pictures as proof and also a few shirts, a dress, and a hula dancer on my dashboard to serve as a reminder. Travelling with my mom to Hawaii for ten days wasn’t as “OMG DREAM VACATION!” as you would expect; it was more like a journey into my ancestry, discovering who I really am, where I come from. We traveled there to meet family, visit graves, experience a culture that we both crave. We left understanding who we are a little more.
Because of my purpose in going there, I didn’t take NEARLY as many pictures as you would expect of me, if you knew me. I flew home with around 1,300 images and for ten days, it would have normally been closer to at least twice that. I was so busy soaking it all up with my eyes, trying desperately to hold onto it with my memory, experiencing it, that I sometimes even left the camera in the hotel room.
I was entranced by the ocean. Slightly panicked, and completely in awe, I’d never seen so much water in my life. Even from seven miles up, you could still see the whitecaps (though they were too small to photograph; in the picture above, it’s clouds you’re seeing). I can’t even fathom how big those waves really were. It was pretty cloudy the entire flight, but we did get glimpses through smaller, more sparse clouds to the water below. I can imagine that it would be easy to start to think you’re flying upside down; the sky and water match each other so closely in hue that they start to look the same.
There was the cutest baby on the flight there. She smiled and flirted with anyone who would make eye contact with her.
After another short flight to hop islands, we landed in Honolulu and found the shuttle to the rental car. Dad had set up a blue convertible mustang for us and I have to say, it was awesome driving around Honolulu with the top down.
One thing I am kicking myself for now is not taking the time to walk around the hotel to take pictures of it. We stayed at the Hale Koa military hotel and while the word “military” might make you think of sparse and utilitarian, it was anything but. The lobby is open-air and relaxing and every room had a view of the ocean.
Our second day, we met up with my mom’s cousin. She was our chauffeur on Oahu and I loved finally getting to meet someone that had been sending us delicious Japanese treats as kids. That day, she drove us from Waikiki to Hawaiian Memorial Park Cemetery via H3. If you ever visit Oahu, you have to drive the H3. I’m telling you. Breathtaking.
And then you come out of the tunnel on East Oahu and it’s more breathtaking.
… with a view of the Kaneohe (Ka-ne-oh-hey) Bay
I didn’t think I would be touched by visiting the graveyard, as I have been blessed by not losing many loved ones yet in life, but it changed me. There are loved ones buried here. People still miss them, every day. If I ever make it back to Oahu or the big island, I will stop to honor these graves again. I don’t think I will ever forget where they are. I have tears streaming down my face just remembering.
We visited the Dole Pineapple Plantation, but didn’t tour any farms, like I thought we would. I learned that Dole grows their pineapples elsewhere and ships them in, not necessarily growing them all on Oahu. We did see some pineapple farms later in the week, but here we just enjoyed a little touristy shopping and a pineapple cutting demonstration.
Without a doubt, that was the best pineapple I’d had my entire life. It was at the Dole plantation that Kaiya finally warmed up to me. I’ll never forget her grabbing my hand and dragging me to the line where you buy the sorbet. We shared one and then headed back to the car.
The next morning, mom and I walked down Waikiki beach and took a quick excursion. In all the trips she’d sent me pictures of Diamond Head, but I never understood where it is. The thing about seeing other people’s vacation pictures (as I am sure you can relate) is that there isn’t really a point of reference for where everything *is* in relation to each other. Even on the Islands, I was disoriented. At least here on the mainland, it’s pretty easy to figure out North, South, East, and West but I was completely mixed up in Hawaii. The light definitely seems to come from everywhere there. This is Diamond Head which is on the south end of the island of Oahu.
And the MaiTai.
My mom, right after we boarded.
I stowed the cameras (both of them!) for the entire trip, but my mom took some pictures (and a video!) with the waterproof camera. I might have to do another blog post with just her pictures. :)
We went to a luau. At Paradise Cove, if you couldn’t tell.
(Big sign. Free advertising.)
And for a drive to Haleiwa (Hal-eh-ee-vah).
And a Bon Odori, or Bon Dance.
The Bon Dance is a style of dancing performed during Obon, the Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one’s ancestors. Anyone can dance, and the dancers move in a counter-clockwise rotation with graceful motions and sometimes the use of flags or fans. It isn’t hard, but it is a lot of fun. I borrowed a happi coat and made it around a few times, though you’ll have to visit THIS LINK to see that. You can see my cell phone pics of that [here]. I’m so glad I got to dance. If I’d not done that I think I may have regretted it for a long, long time.
This wraps up the Oahu visit for the most part, at least in pictures I had taken. We watched the fireworks on the beach on the 4th of July, went snorkeling, had some amazing meals, relaxed, visited family, walked, shopped, and picked up plumeria right off the ground to put in our hair. The PX at the Hale Koa had some great prices, especially after walking around the swap meet.
This is getting kinda long so I’ve posted about the Hilo half of our trip in a separate blog post.
30D :: 10-22mm :: 50mm f/1.4 :: VSCO film
This week, I wrapped up the Chicago trip pics from the 5D Mark2 by burning eight DVD’s for the guys. (One for each student.) I printed the disks on the new Epson Artisan 810 and have had the trifold cards leftover from awhile ago. David passed these out in class to the students today to take to their parents, so I’ll be putting together a blog post of them sometime soon. (I wanted to get the images to their parents before I blogged anything.) I’ve also started using my expodisc (that I won on twitter from The Grid podcast!) to ABSOLUTELY NAIL my exposures and custom white balance settings in-camera. I have the warmer version of it, and while I might end up seeing about picking up a neutral one down the road, I figure it’s best to use what you have, right?
30D :: 10-22mm :: VSCO film
Playing outside tonight with the boys and Lowell noticed the moon peeking through the clouds. I love his 4 year old “take” on life.
30D :: 50 f/1.4 :: VSCO film
