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Thursday, February 25th, 2010
The Rotunda on The Lawn at UVA (Charlottesville, VA)
This photo was taken back in September of 2008. We took a day trip up to Charlottesville to show Kate where she was born and where she spent the first year of her life. She didn’t remember any of it, but she had a good time.
We caught a lucky break with the weather. After it rained nearly the entire drive up to Charlottesville, the weather improved when we arrived. In fact, we were greeted by some really nice clouds.
Charlottesville is a neat town. Graduating from medical school on The Lawn is something I will always remember.
Posted in historical, parenting | No Responses »
Tags: Academical Village, autumn, campus, Central Grounds, Charlottesville, cloudy, college, fall, hdr, historical, rainy, sky, The Grounds, The Lawn, The Rotunda, university, University of Virginia, UVA, Virginia
Saturday, January 30th, 2010
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World
About 24 hours after our visit to Buena Vista Urgent Care for Kate’s bronchitis/ear infection, she bumped her forehead while riding BTMR and developed an impressive abraded contusion. I was told that she was fiddling with her headband and that somehow cause her to bang her forehead as the train hit a bump or curve. She’s tough, and it didn’t slow her down, but I think she was lucky that she didn’t get a laceration and end up right back at urgent care for stitches.
We felt a little cursed at this point. Unbeknown to us, we would have one more serious close call towards the end of the week. I’ll probably get around to telling that story later.
As for the above photo, I was holding Natalie in my left arm and operating the camera with just my right arm. Anyone who has ever held a D200 with a lens attached will tell you that this is no small accomplishment. Fortunately, Natalie wasn’t squirming.
Posted in amusement/theme parks, parenting, vacation | No Responses »
Tags: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Disney, Disney World, Florida, hdr, Kate, Magic Kingdom, roller coaster, theme park, vacation, Walt Disney World
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Disney’s Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida
After spending part of the morning at a local urgent care getting antibiotics for Kate’s bronchitis and ear infection, we headed over to Hollywood Studios. Kate was a trooper. We spent most of the day carrying her from place to place.
It was an exhausting day for everyone. As we were nearing the exit of the park, one of the "cast members" approached us and asked the girls if they wanted something special. She led us to a backstage "dressing room" where the girls got to meet Mulan, Jasmine, and Aladdin.
The girls look tired in this photo, but they were very happy. I think it was just what they needed at the end of a rough start to the vacation. I give a big thumbs up to Disney for doing this kind of thing.
Posted in amusement/theme parks, parenting, vacation | No Responses »
Tags: Aladdin, backstage, Disney, Disney Princesses, Florida, hdr, Hollywood Studios, Jasmine, Kate, Mickey Mouse, Mulan, Natalie, Walt Disney World
Sunday, October 25th, 2009
The 2009 North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh, NC
We waited until the last day to go to the state fair this year. Aside from the weather being a little on the cool side, it worked out very well. The crowd was small (people were pouring in as we left). The ride lines were short. The food smelled amazing, as always. The giant turkey leg was delicious. And none of the rides fell apart while we were on them. I’m already looking forward to the ‘10 state fair.
Natalie was handling the cold pretty well up until the point this photo was taken. It was very overcast and in the mid-50’s, which is not terrible, but there was a chill in the air. We were walking away from the Ferris wheel when she stopped us to proclaim that she was cold. She was making some adorable faces so I had to stop and capture the moment.
Posted in amusement/theme parks, parenting | No Responses »
Tags: cloudy, cold, funny face, hdr, Natalie, North Carolina, Raleigh, state fair
Monday, June 1st, 2009
Miniature Golf (Course #1) at Frankie’s Fun Park in Raleigh, NC
This was the first time that Kate and Natalie (really) played miniature golf. I say "really" because they played on a tiny course at a resort in Disney World one time. They both had a blast. I abstained from playing. Instead, I chose to keep them in line and to snag a few RAWs.
There are three courses. We played the first one. It’s actually kind of a neat course. There are several tropical themed faux buildings. Also, there are several very pretty fountains and cascades with really vivid blue water running through the courses. Sure, there is an inherent amount of color enhancement that occurs with my processing technique. But, the color of the water is true to life. It’s a really cool visual.
When we approached the 18th hole, I anticipated a problem. "Kate and Natalie are going to freak out when their balls disappear when they go in the hole." I walked Natalie up to the hole and showed her that there was no bottom. I explained to her that she wasn’t going to be able to get the ball back this time, and I explained to her why the 18th hole is set up that way. She seemed to get it. But, throughout the rest of the evening, she asked about 12 times why her ball disappeared on the 18th hole. I think it frustrated her a little bit.
Posted in parenting | 1 Response »
Tags: Frankie's Fun Park, hdr, miniature golf, North Carolina, parenting, Raleigh
Monday, May 25th, 2009
This photo of Kate was taken about 2 years ago. I can’t believe how much she has grown since then. Her cap and gown graduation from kindergarten is right around the corner.
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Tags: home, Kate, mirror, portrait
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009
The E.B. Bain Water Treatment Plant in Raleigh, NC
Natalie, my soon to be 3-year-old, fell down about 13 stairs tonight. She seems to be okay. Actually, I think she walked away from it without a scratch. I know that kids are resilient, but I’m very surprised (and so relieved) that she’s not hurt.
I was downstairs and everyone else was upstairs. Natalie broke away from the herd to come downstairs, presumably to get her sippy cup full of water. It sounds like she made it successfully down no more than one or two stairs before she fell. All I heard was a series of thuds that just kept going. It was a sickening sound and I honestly can’t get it out of my head. There were no screams or anything like that, just thuds. I started running to the stairs as the sound stopped. There was silence for about a second, then terrible screaming. The kind of screaming that scares you to death as a parent. I expected to find Kate (my older girl) when I rounded the corner. I was shouting, "Kate, Kate" as I was running to the stairs. Kate has fallen down 2 or 3 stairs before, but certainly nothing like this, not from the top. When I saw Natalie’s little hair covered face on the ground, it felt even scarier.
She was crying, which was a good thing. That ruled out a couple of really bad things right away. I got her to hold pretty still and to quit crying enough to be able to talk to me. She said the only thing that hurt was her head, she pointed right to the top of it. She seemed to be limping a little at first, but after a couple of minutes, she was walking just fine.
Even though she seemed unhurt, because she said her head hurt we decided to take her to the pediatric ED to get her checked out. I knew they probably wouldn’t do any diagnostic tests, but it was okay, I felt better getting her seen anyway.
Posted in historical, parenting | No Responses »
Tags: accident, art deco, emergency department, hdr, indoor, Natalie, North Carolina, Raleigh, The Bain Project, urban decay
Sunday, May 10th, 2009
I shot this during an evening walk with the girls today. Earlier in the day, Natalie had a massive episode of explosive diarrhea (and I do mean massive and I do mean explosive). Fortunately, she was full of energy in the afternoon and seemed to be feeling much better. I’m not worried about her tick bite, at least not yet…
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Tags: direct sunlight, Durham, gazebo, hdr, neighborhood, North Carolina
Saturday, May 9th, 2009
Ganyard Hill Farm in Durham, NC
This photo was taken at Ganyard Hill Farm in Durham, NC back in October of 2007. I’ve been going back and reprocessing some of my earlier work and this is a photo that I’ve always liked. There is a lot of activity to see in this one.
On a totally unrelated note, Natalie, my almost 3-year-old, got her first tick bite a couple of days ago. A tiny deer tick had latched on to her cute little face, right in front of her left ear. Fortunately, it had not been there very long before it was discovered. Natalie started freaking out a little bit because we were paying so much attention to a focal spot on her face. I can imagine how that would make a 2-year-old nervous. We were able to get her calmed down and she was so cooperative. I touched my arm with the tweezers and then I touched her arm with them. I touched my face with the tweezers and then I touched her face with them. I think this helped ease the apprehension of the whole experience. She held perfectly still while I tugged at the tick for what was at least 90 seconds until it finally released its grip and came off. We all got a good look at it (sunken at the bottom of its lethal isopropyl alcohol bath). So far, no rashes or fevers.
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Tags: Durham, farm, Ganyard Hill Farm, hdr, Natalie, North Carolina, tick
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009
The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, NC
Natalie is growing up so fast and she has such a cool personality. Prior to taking this picture, I had taken a few shots of Kate in the same location. I think that it made Natalie a little jealous. She said “take a picture of me” and climbed the steps to where Kate was standing. Then, she decided that she wanted to be the only one in the pictures so she pushed Kate to the ground. Kate embellished the magnitude of Natalie’s aggression, but she did take a pretty good shot. I cropped Kate out of this photo. She was in the very bottom left corner making a frowny face.
Posted in parenting | No Responses »
Tags: balcony, colorful, dinosaur, fossil, hdr, historical, indoor, Kate, museum, Natalie, Natural Sciences Museum, North Carolina, pterosaur, Raleigh, skeleton
