03 July 2011

Fireworks from our driveway. First time I've really tried fireworks with the D300. Like most DSLRs I've tried, Long Exposure NR doesn't work really well this is straight out of the camera no touch ups.

We played our first game of Qwirkle tonight. Pretty fun. This is the largest grid that we created.

Life's a Beach

Florida's Emerald Coast - Destin, FL 25 June - 02 July 2011.

This is a picture of Jake at the Bass Pro in Destin, Florida on our last night. We spent most of the week soaking up the sun on the pristine beach just outside our condo.

Kindergarten Open House

Pheasant Point Elementary Kindergarten Open House - O'Fallon, MO 14 September 2010. Tuesday night saw the kindergarten open house at Pheasant Point Elementary school. Pheasant Point does a picnic dinner in the lunch room followed by the open house. Its a pretty cool idea and works quite well, except the kids are crazy! All to be expected I guess.

Jake was excited to show off what he had done in the first couple weeks of school and to introduce use to his new friends. We met them and some old ones as well.

We got to tour Jake's entire school and see all the work he did. Jake was especially proud of his Counting to 100 award on the principal's Wall of Fame.

Jake with his "I can count to 100!!" award.

I'm particularly impressed with how much of an effort the school makes to show the kids how good accomplishment can feel. This is not to be confused with false accomplishment that many schools seem to promote (or so the media indicates). When the student does something exceptionally well or fast - effectively stands out amongst his/her class mates the are recognized. Its pretty cool.

Tigers Win First Game 6-5

St. Peters, MO - 12 September 2010. Jake's soccer team the Tigers (SCCYSA 5-6) won their first game 6-5. Although the score was close, the game really was not as close as the score indicates.

Jake celebrating the last goal of the game

Jake didn't get any goals but he stopped several clearing the path to victory for the Tigers.


As for me it was a great game to shoot. Got some of my best photos of kids playing soccer outdoors. This is just one of the photos. I decided I was going to do a book about the season this year. The working title is "Eye of the Tigers", but that may very well change. So far I've got approximately 200 images to work from and expect to have several more. Since this is a public forum I have chosen to only show images of Jake during the season and reserve the images of the rest of the team for the book.



Here's a few of Jake during the game..

Pumpkin Picking

October 2009 - Chesterfield, MO. Jake's second field trip was a pumpkin picking trip to Rombach's Pumpkin Patch in Chesterfield. Jake enjoyed it, but it was cold. Either way all the kids seem to have a good time and I got to enjoy a field trip with my son.

Diving, Driving and Drinking the Keys 2009

October 12, 2009 - Florida Keys, FL. Well the title says it all. A friend, Eric, and I left the crazy schedule of work for a few days to dive and drive the Keys (with some occasional drinking along the way).

The trip consisted of four main stops. The first night and day of diving was spent in Key Largo. We did four daytime dives with Horizon Divers. The four dives were pretty good an pretty much memorialized by Eric being groped by this grouper.

After all the diving I've done in Key Largo, I finally got to dive the Dry Docks and see the Christ of the Abyss. I personally was not disappointed - especially from a photographic perspective.

After the four dives on the Checca View, we packed the rental car and headed down US-1 to Marathon.

Rather than check into the hotel and get cleaned up, we did what two guys do after a day of diving. Found food and drinks. We did dinner at the Keys Fisheries, perhaps one of the best seafood restaurants to be found. Spent the night at the surpisingly nice Sea Dell Motel and finished a bottle of Red Stagg. At the recommendation of the night manager at Sea Dell, we had a much needed breakfast at the Stuffed Pig before heading to Tilden's Scuba Shop in Marathon for the day of diving.


Having dove with the Tilden's at Duck Key, I was expecting a pleasant day of diving. I was surpised by the small overcrowded boat and the less than stellar boat crew. But as they say a bad day diving is better than a good day at work. It wasn't a bad day, but it wasn't great. Still better than a day at work. The boat, however, was too small for the camera so no cameras. When we got off the afternoon boat, we packed the rental car and continued down US-1 to Ramrod Key.


The next day of diving was scheduled for Looe Key with Looe Key Resort. Looe Key was good diving and the resort and dive shop were great. I can't say enough, so I will simply say that I highly recommend them.


We finished the trip with a night in Key West. That's all I need to say about that :)

-T

Coco Key

Well I really thought simplifying life would lead to more posts.  I was wrong.  

I've got pictures from Coco Key but need to figure out which ones I want to post.  The water park was nearly perfect for little kids - my son and his friends loved it.  The slides and pools were not too big or too small.  The park itself would probably be too small for anyone over 6 or so.

While the park was good, the hotel (a Sheraton) was surprisingly poor.  To say that they survived on the convenience of the water park and the nearby sports complex (Arrowhead and Royal Stadium) is an understatement.  Elevators only arrived it you pushed the up button and the hotel restaurant was staffed by people who didn't want to work - hence the fact that they never bussed tables.

Regardless of what went wrong we had a very good time and I would highly recommend the water park if you have kids between 2 and 6 years old.   I would just pay the premium and stay at the Drury Inn across the street.

-T