It was a very good year

When I was thirty-four, it was a very good year
It was a very good year for children and parents
That are able to spend time together
We'd ride down slides
With cheers and cries
When I was thirty-four

Why must I be unhappy with my photography skills?

I'm never happy with the photos that I take. That doesn't mean that I don't like the photos that I take, and that doesn't mean that I don't love some too. It just means that I feel that I can do better.

Is that wrong? Probably if it means that I am, and will always be, unhappy with the photos.

I love our babies and love taking pictures of them.

Alice in one of earlier photo shoots

Isaac in the shoot we did the other day

Are both these images of people that I love? Of course. Can I find more things technically wrong with the first image? Yes.

I'm conflicted. I want to become a better photographer. That takes time, time that I'd rather be spending with my family. Maybe I can figure out how to do it off hours, read more books, etc. It's something that I have to be ready for. With vacations and kids you have to kind of shoot and move a lot of the time and hope that things are going to slightly turn out how you imagine them.

*sigh*

I just want to be better without putting in the work. Is that too much to ask?

Confusion runs in the family

My grandma has had memory issues for a bit. It's gotten pretty bad lately. It makes me sad, but it is what it is.

I don't know really how I should be dealing with it. I'm trying to take queues (?) from Laura from how she deals with me when I have a headache. Really it probably isn't that different: forgetting words, quick to anger (for me at least), inability to remember things after a short time, forgetting what you are doing, seeing things, etc. Laura is always patient, calm, doesn't seem to mind being asked the same question every minute, etc. 

The more I think about it, the more I realize I have the best wife ever. I can't think of a more comforting thought. 

Back again

Well, I'm back at work again. Mixed feelings of course, but hopefully it will go fine. I'm not worried about getting back to speed with the government work because I'm quite familiar with that dance - quick quick slow, quick quick slow, and you're right back where you started. 

The worst part seems to be the winter! I doesn't feel like Christmas with lights on palm trees, but I could deal without the bitting wind. It must be that I didn't get a chance to ease into winter. Yes, let's go with that. 

Time to put down the phone, look out the window and enjoy the warm bus ride home. 

Where's Daddy?

Just like with Alice, last night we asked Isaac where "Daddy" was. And he looked over to me. He knows my name.

I knew this moment was coming. I even prompted him for it. Doesn't mean that I could keep my eyes dry though. It's like an acknowledgment of work that you've put in for the last 9 or 10 months. A look and a smile. That tiny little thing makes it feel worth it.

Some milestones are wonderful.

Jim Gift Guide

I feel weird when people ask for gift ideas for me. I try to keep things in mind to make it easy, but it still feels weird. Buy stuff just because it's the end of the year? A special occasion? We are at the point where if I want something I can get it. Ideally I will wait for it to be sale. 

So, what's a good gift for me? Something that would work every year?

Coffee and interesting food to eat with it. New beer or beer with a pairing of something else that I would not have thought of before. Cheese. 

Really just something consumable that will be enjoyed, that doesn't need dusting, and will very likely be gone before the next Xmas so I don't have to feel guilty about having two or throwing / giving it away. 

The other categories include lego, Star Wars related things and interesting books. But books are always tricky. 

So, person from the future, you now have some ideas.

She's back!

It's so nice to have our Alice back. Alice the helper, the kid who quietly plays while singing to herself, the one that smiles more. We had Malice with us so much during our trip it was becoming quite tiresome. 

Maybe it was a lot, perhaps too much, to ask her to travel so much. Now we are home for a bit to relax. That what Christmas is about, right? Total and complete relaxation. 

Letter to the Big S

Today Laura and Alice dropped off a letter to Santa. It was great watching them walk down the street - Alice in her new and slightly too big snowsuit. 

It's finally feeling like Christmas. It just doesn't feel like Christmas with football on tv's, lights on palm trees and walking around in short sleeves and sandals. 

By the sea

It's amazing how much that I don't know about the sea. It's wonderful and terrifying at the same time. I could listen to it all day and watch it just as long. It will go from a constant roar to moments where everything will suddenly go calm and quiet. Then back again to ground shaking crashes. 

I can totally understand the love of the sea. The one way love - the sea does not know or care about the people that ride or dive below the waves. 

If retired or work at home would I ever choose to live by the sea? Probably not. It would be a good way for the days to stretch into weeks and the weeks into years without noticing the passage of time. You would suddenly find yourself to be an old man, and the sea. 

Memory triggers

Why do I take so many photos? Blog so much? Is it because I can't just enjoy the moment? I don't think so. It's because I know that this is a special moment that I want remember and I feel that my memory is crap - or if it's not now, I assume in the future it will be. Pictures specifically help me trigger not just that moment, but part of that day. I take a photo of the sunset not to remember the sunset, but to remember the walk with the ones that I love. The picture will never be as lovely as what I am seeing with my eyes, but it will allow me to see it again.

Sometimes a photo is worth a thousand thoughts, feelings, little touches, and shared looks. The pixels are worthless for any other purpose.  

Barefoot in December

I can't honestly say I remember BBQ'ing barefoot in December before. By the ocean. While sipping red wine. And watching the Star Wars ep 7 trailer (or like the 15th time). Everything is awesome. 

A difficult life

I am sitting here this morning in a couch fort sipping my coffee watching the surfers on the beach. Life is hard. 

Bricktastic!

Well, Legoland California was awesome. Laura was even trying to figure out how we could come back and spend an extra day there. We had fun, and I think that Alice enjoyed her time there too. It was a long day for someone who just turned three, but I think that she did a wonderful job. 

One day was far too short, two days in a row might be too intense. Maybe three days over a week would be best? Or just assume that you will spend a day just in duplo village. I had a blast, but I think that it have been better if the kids were between 5-10. I'm glad for the off season though. Hardly any lines but some things like the water park were closed. I'm general I was quite happy. 

I would have gotten more things from the gift shop but for some reason they are focused on children. The adult clothes were not fun enough, and the lego, while being cheaper than at home would be hard to get there. Online delivers right to the door and pretty much has free shipping. 

The happiest place on earth. 

Happiness. Piece by piece.

They say that money can't buy happiness. They would be wrong. Money buys lego, lego creates happiness, ergo, money buys / creates happiness.

The fact that we are in the lego hotel AND they have a super awesome bar(s) with awesome staff just makes it a bit better. I'm sure that Laura would hate it if I quit my job and moved here. Doesn't meant that I am not considering it. We will see how I feel about things tomorrow. Right now, I'm super happy. I just wish that the kids were a bit older to enjoy it a bit more. 

Jim out. Weeeeeeee!!!

But I want to stay here!

It's sometimes difficult traveling. Alice loves her comfort places, and new places are not those. Well, they become it as soon as we get ready to move on to a new place. 

I think that the next vacation will be travel to a place and stay there until we come home. In a way I feel that it's some kind of abuse moving her around so much. That's just how we have gotten used to traveling. 

I remember when we came home from Flordia when she was just shy of two - she was ecstatic. And she will probably be this time too. I'm still happy we have come. I know she will be happy when we are back. Maybe one day she will catch the traveling bug. We will give her lots of opertunites to catch it over the years I am sure.

;-)

Spaceship!

It's funny the things that you learn when you get close enough to them. Today we got close enough to Endever that I could almost touch it. Know what the thing that struck me about it? It's made up of tiny pieces. Not just the bottom, but the "white" part too. It looks like a bumpy quilt rather than a sleek pearly white seamless ship. 

Seems like a good analogy to be used for a lot of things. 

I have a freaking awesome life: today I saw not just one, but many spaceships. Thank FSM for the rain that forced us to find an inside activity. 

Mobile kitchen

Even though we are staying at places with "kitchens", most of the time the tools are crap. Which is fair - it's what I'd stock a rental too. But it makes me angry and worried that I am going to cut off my finger in some foreign country. 

So, next time we are traveling to places with kitchens and I will cook, I think that it's in my best interest to take along:

- a sharp chief knife. 8"?

- pairing knife

- cutting board, probably plastic for weight

- a peeler

- bottle opener / corkscrew

It's not really a lot of things, but it would make me so much happier while making meals. 

The other thing that I debated and decided against was to bring a better coffee machine. I really wish that I had. I guess if I did that I'd have to add in a food thermometer. Such is my life. First world problems. 

http://j-i-m-s.blogspot.com/2014/10/living-life-of-minimal-stuff.html

It will be nice to be home with good knives and boards again. I think that I'll sharpen them just for fun.