Saturday Walk – Redmond

18. August 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

Today was a lot cooler than earlier in the week and it felt a little “muggy” out, like a thunder storm was coming.  That said it was still warm  so we decided to take the dog out to Marymoor Park.

Marymoor covers around 640 acres and provides loads of outdoor facilities for Redmond residents.  They have baseball and soccer fields, nature trails, a velodrome for keen cyclists, a concert area where they are currently showing movies at night, a huge area for model plane enthusiasts and an off leash pet area where dogs can run free and play.

We take Roxie there every now and then and she loves running the trails and meeting other dogs.  One trail takes you along a large lake and loads of dogs fetch balls and swim in the water.  While on the trail we came across one dog, called “Ballmer” who was playing with his ball in the water.  We watched as his owner tried to get him to drop the ball for around 15 minutes, I was exhausted watching the dog who wouldn’t give it up.  He kept jumping into the lake and splashing everyone, clearly the dog was having a great time but I really felt for his family, Ballmer needed a lot of exercise!

Roxie on the other hand just watched from the side, relatively uninterested.  She doesn’t like water much, and James’ hobby of holding her over water to watch her “swim in the air” probably doesn’t help.

We were out for around 40 minutes and on our way back to the car I took this picture of Abi and her friend Charlotte.  They were both having a great time and gladly jumped into the long grass so I could take a picture.

It’s a little early to say Summer is over, but things are definitely cooling down, so getting these out door pictures now is kind of a good idea.  We had a great time walking in the park and on the way home got some bagels from Blazing Bagels (definitely worth a visit).

Today the guys spent some time in the garden chasing bubbles

Abi – Home

05. August 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

I had a really good day today, we had a lazy Sunday and again it was really hot (over 95 degrees), and I got some great pictures.  First I decided to go out and see what I could shoot, but I didn’t want to go to Seattle as the I90 bridge was closed as the Seattle Sea Fair was on today and the Blue Angels were flying across Lake Washington.  As a result I thought I’d go to the Botanical Gardens in Bellevue.

I got there around 3pm and it was incredibly hot.  Fortunately there weren’t too many people there so I got to walk around the garden trails taking pictures without people in the way.  I found a really cool suspension bridge and got some great shots.  They also have a lot of rock gardens and flowering perennials but they were in direct sunlight and wouldn’t have come out that well.  So I’m definitely going back one evening after work when the sun is lower in the sky, I should get some great shots then.

That said I still got lots of really nice images that I’ll be posting in the days to come.  On the way home I saw a really cool old Chevy truck so I pulled over to shoot that, and then in my own neighborhood there were some wonderful trees covered in red berries, so I shot some of them too (against a lovely blue sky).  So I got home quite excited with lots of pictures to pick from for tonight’s image.

Then, Abi decided to go into the garden and play on her trampoline.  Now for those who don’t know, Abi is a very keen gymnast.  She trains 3 times a week putting in nine hours in her gym.  Then she comes home and spends hours on the trampoline and her own floor beam and mats.  She starts to compete in October and I’ll be going along to cheer her on and take lots of pictures.

Anyway she was bouncing up and down and doing back hand springs and flips, so I thought I’d take a picture.  I’ll be honest I didn’t think the image would come out that well but the D4 camera is just amazing.  We got the picture below after around 15 attempts, she was doing amazingly well but I had to figure out timing and wait for a shot when her hair wasn’t in her face.

I’m really pleased with the end result, she looks beautiful and I’m going to print this one out and put in on the wall.

Tonight, Carter and Master Chief decided to play a little basket ball, here you can see Carter’s basket and Master Chief’s attempt to block.

Independence Day – Home

04. July 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

As today is Independence Day I had the day off work and spent the whole day pretty much with Abi.  I guess I should say here that I used the time to capture some great new images for the blog, but I didn’t get to do any of that.

Abi and I spent the early afternoon in the hot tub (it was in the mid 70’s outside) and then we went to the movies together to see Brave.  We had a really great time together.

By 4pm I was starting to worry as I didn’t have an image to post tonight, but Lisa pointed out that we were going to a July 4th barbeque and I would get a chance to capture something there.

So at 6 o’clock we walked up the road to Chuck and MaryLou’s house for a neighborhood get-together.  We had lots of food and drink and set off some (neighborhood safe) fireworks for the younger kids.

Two things struck me this evening; firstly there is definitely a sweet spot for children who like fireworks, probably below 11 years old.  Then they become horribly miserable until they can watch them legally with alcohol when they are older.  I say this as the 11’s and under were having a great time, and the adults, who were drinking and lighting fireworks (not a good idea at the same time by the way), were enjoying themselves.  But my son and his girlfriend (15 year olds) were totally uninterested and miserable.

I also observed that we say the strangest thing to our kids on holidays like this.  What other time in the year would you tell a 9 year old to go out into the middle of the street and wave around a phosphorus coated pyrotechnic that you just set alight and tell them to have fun!  Any other time I’d shout at them, asking “what are you doing playing with fire?  It’s incredibly dangerous and a stupid thing to do!”   We are very odd.

Anyway I did manage to get a nice picture.  Abi was playing on the grass with her friend Serra and Jillian, her old baby sitter.   They were doing handstands together and laughing on the grass.  I jumped at the chance to get a nice shot of the girls.

Carter and Master Chief were feeling very patriotic today and lit their sparklers to celebrate July 4th.

Abi Rock Climbing – Stone Gardens Bellevue

29. April 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

Next week Abi is 9 year’s old which to me is unbelievable as the last 9 years have gone by so quickly!  Anyhow for her birthday she decided she wanted a party at this place called Stone Gardens.  Stone Gardens is an indoor rock climbing club.  You basically join and hire equipment and they teach you how to spider-man up walls.

Before we booked the place for a party, we thought Abi had better try it out first (to make sure she enjoyed it and it didn’t end up a waste of time and money).  So this morning we went over to give it a go.  Abi’s best friend Valerie and her brother Quin came too and the three of them got the necessary special shoes and harnesses on you need to wear.  James was with us as well but he didn’t want to do it which is a real pity as I think he would be really good.  He’s tall and skinny and pretty strong, I bet he would be great and enjoy it too!  But no luck.

So Abi, Val and Quin met the instructor for their hour session (a guy called Jay) and we headed off to the beginner walls for some guidance.  Jay was really good, very patient and helped the kids gain confidence quickly.  All three scaled the first wall with ease, so we moved up to the next, higher walls.

By the time we left, the place was pretty busy and the kids had scaled walls of over 40 feet tall.  They all had a great time so we booked a party for the end of May (which was the first booking we could make).  I was amazed at how big the facility was and the number of people climbing – I really had no idea how popular the sport was.

One of the down sides however was the lighting was not very good for pictures.  I had to ramp up my ISO to be able to take a shot at f/2.8 with an exposure of at least 40 seconds, and most of those images were blurry (as the kids were moving so much).  If I had gone any higher with the ISO the pictures would have been full of noise and unusable.  That’s the down side of the D300s – hopefully my D4 will be here in the next few weeks and I can use it for the party.

The image below was posed by Abi and I used a flash off camera.  As you can see she was very happy to be there.

Carter and Master Chief are supper happy with their new friend, I think it’s Robot Love.

Lisa & Abi at the Space Needle – Seattle

27. March 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , , ,

I’m really angry with myself as last night I passed up a fantastic picture (because I was too tired) – how lame is that?  I was driving home and it was a lovely evening, nice sunset, warm, blue sky (you get the idea).  Anyway I was driving past some field and right near the fence was a tiny calf (yes that’s right a baby cow).  It was eating grass and very close to the side of the road.  There was even a place to park up!  But no, I was too tired, so I drove on and went home.  All the way thinking, I’ll get the picture tomorrow, it will be there then.

So tonight I leave work and it’s raining really hard.  I get to the field and there isn’t a cow, calf, duck, goat, chicken in sight – nothing.  I bet I NEVER see that bloody cow again.  As a result I didn’t get a picture and am forced to post something I captured the other day.

On Sunday Lisa, Abi and I went to Seattle and I got this shot of Lisa and Abi at the Space Needle.  I don’t get to photograph Lisa very often so this was clearly a special occasion.  I really like this image but that little cow would have been great too.  All I can say is, Bugger!

Carter was playing “Show me the Money” tonight from his quarter throne.

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