Wannabe Annie Leibovitz

In another life, I think I would have liked to be a photographer. I have absolutely zero artistic ability, but I have always loved taking pictures and looking at photos. In 5th grade, I actually convinced my mom to allow me to buy a book called "How to Use a Camera" in one of our book orders. It was a small book with probably 15 pages of large-print instructions on camera use. It was definitely written for children to read and did not provide any major technical instruction. I did not own a camera and there was no way my dad was going to let me borrow his huge bulky camera that cost a fortune (remember, this was in the 80's!). I would sit in my room reading this basic book and imagine how fun it would be to actually take real pictures.

My little Canon digital has been perfect for taking memorable shots of the kids, but very rarely do I take a shot worthy of being framed. But, because of an assignment, Arthur was able to borrow a Canon SLR camera from work. He brought it home last night and let us play a little. It was fun and addicting trying to take nice pictures. We definitely were better at taking pictures of inanimate objects rather than our lively children. But, it was fun, nonetheless!

We definitely need practice taking pictures of the kids, but I don't think these are too bad for a first try!

Pictures of Arthur's fried rice turned out looking scrumptious, though!
And a few odds and ends around the house actually didn't end up looking like odds and ends!

Beating the Monday Blues

We met up with friends at the Griffith Park Merry-go-Round this morning as part of our summer activity field trips. It is remarkable that after 80 years, the merry-go-round can still give the children a thrill. Tyler loved riding his own horse, but Dylan sort of froze in terror for most of the ride. Toward the end of it, he began to loosen his grip on me and started to enjoy himself. When the ride was over, we went to a nearby playground for lunch.

The boys had great naps and behaved quite well in the evening, so after Family Home Evening, we went to a local shop for ice cream.

Summer Field Trip - La Brea Tar Pits

As part of our summer activities, we went to the Boone Children's Gallery, but I forgot to bring my camera. It is a place where kids can use various supplies to create art projects. The boys did enjoy the paint area, but since they are not very artistic, they had more fun running around the padded building block area.

The next week, we joined a few friends and went out to the La Brea Tar Pits. It is an interesting museum that documents life in Los Angeles between 40,000 - 10,000 BC. Tar continues to bubble up from beneath the ground, so there is a very strong odor. This tar trapped many Ice Age animals and preserved their bones quite well. The boys enjoyed watching the Wooly Mammoth display, but were a bit frightened when it would lift it's head and roar. Although they dragged me over to it about 6 times, they were too afraid to stand next to it by themselves for a picture. I am sure you can imagine what Tyler and Dylan would look like standing next to a life size wooly mammoth, though.

Here are the kids outside the museum, where they entertained themselves running up and down the hill. At one point, we got almost all of them to sit nicely for a picture (Afton and David - sorry we missed you!):

Latest Dance Craze

Tyler has been working really hard on his latest dance moves. Unfortunately, practice does not seem to be helping him much.

(P.S. my computer kept crashing, so I was not able to fix a few editing glitches...apologies)

Summer Field Trip - Getty Center

A group of us with kids have organized summer field trips to keep us busy during the summer. Each week, we have been visiting fun places throughout town. I have quite a few to catch up on, and hope to get all those posted quickly.

Back at the end of June was our first activity. We went to the Getty Center, which is this gorgeous museum that sits on top of a hill on the west side of town. The views are spectacular and they have some fun activities for the kids.

Even LA traffic wasn't going to keep us from having a good time!

Dylan and Tyler enjoying some of the travertine blocks that were shipped all the way from a quarry in Italy (there are actually fossils in the travertine)
Tyler, Nathan, Bennet, Sarah, and Natalie modeling their hand-made masks
Riding the tram - probably one of the favorite parts of the museum
We can't forget the cute stroller kids on the tram!

If you are in need of a few more pictures from the Getty, check here and here for pictures from a prior visit.

TP'ing the Office

I don't know why I never learn my lesson. Whenever it is quiet in the house, I actually think that the boys must be playing nicely. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case.....

Book Worm

It has been a busy summer and I have lots to post. Hopefully I will get motivated and get all the pictures together. In the meantime, I have to brag a little about Tyler. Since his preschool is out for the summer, he has been working really hard on a new skill. Although, he has quite a bit of work to go, I never thought he would pick it up so quickly.



I love you, buddy! I am so proud of you!