Happy Ranger.

Here is one of the few pictures that actually shows Alex riding a bike, right there, right in the middle of the frame, suspended in motion. He just learned how to ride without the training wheels last week. Thanks to Raul or rather his brother's way of training: starts with "duck walking" seated on the bike, don't start pedal until building up some balance and momentum. That is don't combine moving forward with pedaling in the beginning. The method works well in Alex's case.

Nothing better than snack, except more snack.

Nothing better than snack.

Getting ready to fight the bad guys. Power Rangers SPD GO.

Harry is busy eating. He got all his teeth. That must be some crackers there.

Snack Time.

You got to enjoy falling. He didn't crash riding the bike. He put the bike next to the dolphin and fell down when he tried to get on the tail. Harry couldn't be bothered.

...Power Ranger SPD

Ride a bicyle.

Need I say more.

Backyard Photography

Jin. Nikon D70 bolted with Nikkor 80-200 f2.8D, shot handheld at 200mm @f5.6 aperture priority auto. Shutter speed recorded was 1/160s.

Hurricane Rita

Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, bang, shit hits the ceiling. Rita is bearing down on Louisiana and Texas as a Cat 3 hurricane. Here's CNN pretty boy Anderson Cooper reporting live from Texas as captured by my D70 using a rented Nikkor 80-200 1:2.8D shooting at ISO 800 sensitivity. Still capture from my Toshiba 46HM95.

Camping at Lake George, 2005

Breakfast by master chef...Andy again.

Breakfast by master chef...Andy

inside the tent. It's end of August, the day is hot but the night is cold. We were overwhelmed the first night. The following night was much better, in part because of the weather warmed up a bit, and also we got a 'crash matt' from TaiKam, which helped.

Campfire...again and again

Campfire...again

Campfire

Harrry as supermodel. Now don't I wish I have that $2000 lens that give me razor sharp images. The expression and the composition are there, but I think there maybe some motion blur and lack of sharpness. I am all for sharpness and resolution, albeit I only have a 6.1 MP Nikon D70. You shoot with what you have and long for something better. I am a firm believer sucker for better equipment makes better photographer...to a certain extent. Or else one should shoot with a pinhole camera.

....taken by WeiWei. This is one of those rare pictures taken with all four of us together. I don't really own a tripod, so it's always 4 - 1 in terms of family portrait. This one is taken by Wendy, who shoots Canon. I think it's a good shot.

Catrina

Fishing. Here's Jamie showing me the fishing how-to basics. Very patient guy. This picture confirms I don't have much of a rear-end, which is just fine with me. I like the oomposition of this picture. Great shooting from Jin.

Catrina. Another great shot. Now only if the background is rear-end-free would make it even better. But then it would make it too professional and perfect.

Brian

Joseph and Justin

Harry, the fisherman. Nice expression from our fisherman.

Joseph and Justin. Here's Justin in pain. He somehow somewhere sprained his ankle.

Catrina

Joanna

Brian

Catrina and Joanna

Alex. Shot with fill-flash. He was annoyed and wasn't happy. Poor kid.

Lake George

Lake George

Harry, Lake George

Lake George

Summer 05, Kissena Park

In the backyard

Soccer, Fall, 2005

The joy of running. A bit of technical details: I was shooting this using Aperture priority. F-stop set at f8 and the shutter recorded is 1/50 sec. Also, I used continous and dynamic focusing.

Acorn Street, Beacon Hill, Boston

Probably the most photographed street in Boston. Cobblestones look good on photos, but not friendly for walking.

Boston's best underappreciated museum...

MIT museum. I consider it a children's museum. Whimsical machinery or toys are on display almost every where. The machine behind is called "Machine with Wishbone." Click the picture and view it in 100% and you should be able to read the caption.

Union Oyster House

America's oldest restaurant, where the food is good and the light is dim. And if you like, like I did, you can order a 2 lbs lobster, boiled, for a mere $45.95 (I knew it's seasonal price, but I did not know the dollar price, most expensive dish I ever ordered), baked potato included. Harry is no seafood eater, he just enjoyed looking at the monster.

Quincy Market

This is Alex first serious posing, other than the usual Power Ranger grand standing.

Boston Children's Museum...

Rock climbing, a sport not too young to pick up.

Russell Crowe in Blundstones

I am just watching the Late Night Show with Conan O'Brien. Russell Crowe is the guest promoting his latest flick, "Cinderella Man," (which makes the show a repeat, and I confirmed that with my TV Guide) and talking about his phone whirling incident. I saw him wearing a pair of #500 Blundstones, the stout brown pull up boots. I have a pair of #510, the black ones myself. They are really comfortable and durable. The total opposite of the over-priced and under-performed Birkenstocks. I own a pair of London, and I resoled that a couple of times; the most expensive shoes I ever bought not even counting the resoles. I just checked my PayPal account, I paid $78 on Sep 17, 2001 for my Blundstones. Now, I would have to pay like more than a $100 to get them shipped to my home here in New York.

Boston Children's Museum

Here is Harry playing in the "Construction Zone." He enjoyed crashing the toy trucks there. Harry the destroyer. You can find out more about the musuem here.

Holiday Inn Select at Woburn, next to I-95

Harry is resting in a full sized bed in suite room 437. The rate was $80 a night, and $96 for Monday and Tuesday. So we ended up paying about $300 for the 3 nights we spent there. Unlike the Holiday Inn Express we stayed in last time near CamelBack, PA, this one didn't have a microwave or refrigerator. But this is like the cheapest one closest to Boston. This one also offers free Wi-Fi access so I can get my Internet fix while on the road. I have been bringing my G3 iBook for all our family trips, it works as a DVD player on board of our Odyssey. I have yet to figure out how to get the iBook's audio play on the car's audio system.

Peabody Children Museum, New Haven

Peabody Children Museum where dinosaurs roam free. Children just love dinosaurs, so always go where the dinosaurs go if you have young children.

New Haven, Connecticut

Lunch in a Thai restaurant, Pad Thai on Chapel Street. The kids liked the chicken satay. I had the beef with basil. The food was agreeable and so was the service. Jin ordered her favorite Pat Thai noodle dish.