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Time for a orthodontal update, pretty impressive progress for only about a month. See day 315.

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Decided we needed a matching portrait of the manchild for holiday cards.  My challenge was to replicate the one of our daughter from day 308.

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This is what a $2K grill really looks like...move over Lil Wayne.

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My sister-in-law's gorgeous wedding in St. Louis.  The ceremony was at Bailey's Chocolate Bar and  it couldn't have been more beautiful and perfect.  I highly recommend the "Mexican" chocolate martini, hands down the best drink I've ever had.

The reception was at the Mariott at Union Station, another amazing place.

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She's a fairy.

He's Link, the elf from the Zelda video games.  NOT Zelda, she's the princess.  

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There's a small herd of little men terrorizing my home.

Our son is 12...already

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He's the next Ian Anderson

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Fun with candlelight.

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Yes, I carried the chair into (and out of) the woods.

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Took the kiddies on a walk this evening on the same path I took yesterday.

The girl who constantly whines "I'm just not that into Nature, Dad" ended up with two handfuls of frog eggs and we all enjoyed a 30 minute front row performance by a very large beaver.

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I've been at my PC for almost 2 hours now and have gotten ZERO editing done because it's so slow.
I'm giving up, these shots are processed from RAW, converted to JPEG and nothing more.

New laptop est ship date: 4/15/10...
counting down the minutes...

(yes, she hit it)

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Today the mailman brought my TTL flash (meaning it can auto adjust "through the lens").  It's so great!
I dragged the kids out to the woods for some portraits with much moaning and groaning.
It's got a "slave mode" option that essentially makes it a wireless flash.  So using my "gorilla-pod" I tried some off-camera flash shots by attaching the flash to various branches and roots, with mixed results.  It'll take some work to hone the skill but it's definitely easier than the manual flash I exchanged for it.  I need to work on my timing especially in slave mode, I'm so used to snap snap snap snap... I forget the flash needs a bit more time to recycle power. That's why the flash is more apparent in some of the shots over others.  Plus it was getting darker with every passing second.

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Took the boy out for short a hike in Woodcock today.  He was not as excited to be out in Nature as I was.  He'd much rather be plugged into the Xbox but we have a new fun rule: No video games, if the sun is shining (insert maniacal laughter here, if you so desire).

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The boy.

Tomorrow should be interesting.  I'll drag myself out of bed for a (hopefully) frosty morning.  These warmer days and clear frigid nights have created the perfect brew for the elusive hoarfrost.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  Then tomorrow night I plan to do some star trail/long exposure/lightpainting/landscapes if the ideas in my head come to fruition.  I wish I had friends that were interested in the same tedious art but, alas, I shall be tromping around in a dark field all by my lonesome self...sniff...sniff.

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It's Movie Night!  For those of you who don't actually know me, my wife is in medical school and the books close on friday nights.  We all crowd onto the couch and watch a movie.  Being the true 80's children my wife and I are, this usually means we force our children to watch movies like Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Three Amigos, The Princess Bride, etc... 
Tonight it was The Karate Kid.  It was as friggin awesome as I remember it.  Our 11 year old son loved it as well although I don't remember as much bullshit's and goddamn's when I watched it (every weekend) in 1987.

This is his awe and amazement at the preview for The Karate Kid 2!