Fun with Photography

I've been taking a lot of pictures lately and using a variety of different software to add special effects or filters to make the pix more interesting. Here a couple of ones I took of just scenes around Seattle.

This one was taken the other day as I was walking to the car after work. It's one of my favorite parts of Seattle called Occidental Square.



This one was taken over Seafair weekend, when the battleships were in town. This one was docked in downtown Seattle and was really cool looking.



I took this one on Friday, and it was total luck. I took it out of the window of my office building - and I was trying to capture the moody clouds that were lurking. But when I looked at the pic afterwards, what was more interesting was the bright green recycle truck. So I stripped out all of the color in the picture, except for the truck and blurred the edges a bit. I think it came out pretty cool.



And I took these 2 on a walk I took with the kids yesterday.

Caught with her mouth full

I took this picture of Kellyn the other night at dinner and then added some special effects to it to make her stand out from the background. Kind of love how it came out.

Happy 3 little K!

Kellyn doesn't really turn 3 until Monday, but we went ahead and celebrated it today - with a party at the local "bouncy house" place...followed by a present extravaganza at home. ;)

We've set the bar high for the next birthday....

Seafair!

This weekend is Seafair weekend...an annual Seattle tradition. Basically, Seafair is month long celebration of summer in Seattle - comprised of a bunch of small neighborhood events - and ending in a 3 day weekend filled with hydroplane races, wakeboard events, pirates and a ton of aerial demonstrations - including the amazing Blue Angels.

Oddly enough, this is the first year we've actually made it to the final Seafair weekend - partially due to our schedules and partially due to the fact we've never been to excited to fight the crowds. But today we went - and it was definitely a lot of fun. Here are a couple pix from our day...

This was early in the morning - a wakeboard competition. It was kind of like watching the X-Games, as these kids were doing some crazy flips - and often not landing them.



Then we went into the hydroplane pits and watched the boats get prepped for the races.



Then, the aerial shows started - beginning with an incredible show from one of the top acrobatic pilots in the country.



And last but not least, the Blue Angels did an amazing show. Truly impressive.



And here's the fam at the end of the day...

More Blue Angels

These are not my pix - but they are some great shots of what we saw today, so thought I'd share. Love the Blue Angels!

Could she get any cuter?

Moment of Reflection

At the end of Faedon's Tae Kwon Do class each day, they have 60 seconds of "reflection." During this time, they are expected to think about what matters to them and be as still as possible. As expected of kids this age, most kids squirm and look around. But it makes me very proud to see Faedon (closest to camera) takes this time very seriously. He bows his head and literally stays still and meditating for the full minute. Very sweet.

Pre-K graduation

Well, he's not really leaving Pre-K quite yet, but they had a BBQ lately to celebrate all the kids moving up to Kindergarten. And it was quite an affair - BBQ, games - and since it's a church-based pre-K - each child got their very own Bible. And honestly, Kellyn and Faedon are really enjoying looking at the bible (lots of pictures). Anyway, here's a pic of the entire pre-K class...Faedon is the one in the front row in red shorts looking sweaty....he'd just finished a tough little soccer match.

Tiny Tiger

Faedon is really beginning to get the whole golf thing. Here's a pic of him from a driving range trip with Terry a few days ago.

The best big brother in the world

The other day we took the kids up to the local wading pool, and Kellyn was feeling a bit shy. So Faedon took her hand and walked her in and stayed with her until she found some friends. He could not possibly be a better big brother.

Napping with Daddy

I never get tired of seeing this

Having grown up far from the water, I still find it a novelty to look out my window every day and see ships coming in from around the world. It's just kind of cool.

Tiny Dancer

Kellyn is on a big dancing phase. Huge. And her favorite thing, putting on her skirt and fancy shoes and dancing on the table. We are hoping this is just a typical phase...