This past weekend, our family went down to LA. While we were there, we took the kids to Pharoah’s Lost Kingdom in Redlands. The place is a huge: rides, miniture golf, games and a water park. It was a hot afternoon, so the kids spent all the time in the kiddie pools. Katelyn & Andre were hitting the water slides non-stop, while the younger kids, Allison & Justine, spent most their time in the wading pool & float around the lazy river.

Of course, I brought my camera and spent most my time snapping shots. I was a bit nervous with all the kids splashing water all around, but in the end I managed to keep my camera dry.

Here’re a few of the shots.

This past weekend Kyle, the Jedi-in-training (also, the birthday boy), lead the young rebels in the fight against Vader and the darkside. Katelyn & Allison relunctantly joined the rebellion. Yes, they have much fear in them. Who wouldn’t fear Vader in his full suit and sandles? The padawans valiantly fought their way to Yoda’s swamp where all young rebels eagerly took a refreshing dip in celebration. May the force be with the young rebels…

Here are the visual newsreel documenting the younglings’ efforts.

Katelyn and Allison got a hold of an old family photo album the other day. They excitedly asked their mother about some photos of an old dog they discovered. I guess they found it was cool for their own mom to have a dog (Katelyn asked for a dog a few times). Suzanne explained the photos and described how the dog was her pet and that it died some years ago.

That night, when I was readying Katelyn for bed, she went on bragging to me how her mommy used to have a dog. I told her that I do remember the white poodle. She then said to me in a sudden sad tone: “Daddy, Mommy said her doggy died.” I acknowledged it with a nod. Since I noticed a sense of curiosity in her, I explained to her that the dog died of old age and how that’s is natural process. After some thinking and debating in my head whether she was old enough for me to explain the concept of eventual death, I went on explaining that even her daddy & mommy will grow old too.

Katelyn immediately made the connection, sat up and asked me in an alarmed tone “does that mean you & Mommy will die too?” I replied “yes, we will die of old age eventually.” She started to tear up and asked “will you come back after you die?.” I answered that you cannot come back from death but that death is natural and happens to everyone.

Growing more distraught, Katelyn said “but I don’t want you to die.” I calmly tried to allay her fear and explained how that it is in a very distanced future. I explained that we’ll be taking care of her until she grows up and that it’ll take a lot of years before we even reach her grandparents’ ages.

At this point, Katelyn hugged me and in tears, she said “I will miss you!“

It’s Father’s day, so I want to blog a few quick lines about my girls. As you get to my age, I find that you start to look more forward to Father’s days than your birthdays…

Last month, we took the kids down to LA for a spring break visit.

While Suzanne was paying a visit to her friend Ly and her newly born baby, I spent some time with the kids and their cousins. We had a little easter egg hunt in my sister’s backyard. The kids had fun looking for the left-over eggs that Suzanne had prepared for her class. The older kids were too fast for Allison as they were darting back and forth grabbing the hidden eggs. Not wanting her to miss out on the fun, I resorted to lead Allison to one of the hidden eggs. She happily grabbed one and put it in her ducky basket. Didn’t take long for her to realize that the other kids got more eggs than her, so she complained to me: “I have only 1 egg Daddy, I don’t even have two eggs!” I bursted out laughing and explained to her that there weren’t any eggs left.

On another day, we took the kids to Getty Center. My friend Allen recently showed us some pictures of his visit to the place. The museum recently opened after years of renovation; it sits on top of the hill next to UCLA campus and provides an expansive and awesome view of LA and the pacific ocean. Just the view itself was worth the trip. We didn’t get much of a chance to check out the art collections, as the kids quickly got rowdy. When Katelyn fell into the water fountain, we packed up and headed straight home. What a nightmare!

The highlight of the trip was a day visit to Disneyland which has become sort of an annual spring break mecca for us last few years. Suzanne got all the kids each a hat; Katelyn picked her own hat and wouldn’t take it off the entire day! As usual, everyone liked “It’s A Small World” and of course the Dumbo ride. The highlight for Katelyn was posing with Minnie Mouse who was her favorite Disney character. After catching the Disney parade in the afternoon, the adults and the small kids were exhausted and ready to call it quit. I decided to stay with Katelyn and my nephew Andre.

With only three of us left, we were whizzing from ride to ride the rest of the day. Andre was a great sport— the oldest kid and had to stick with the girly and kiddie rides all day.  So to make it up to him, I took him & Katelyn to a Buzz Lightyear ride, after which Andre proclaimed “that was an awesome ride! It’s all worth it!” The two cousins even braved the “Haunted Mansion”! After a late dinner of hot dogs and pretzels, we caught the fireworks. Katelyn loved it when Tinkerbell flew back and forth high above the castle. We didn’t leave the park until 10PM. Katelyn was a trooper as she walked all day long on her own two feet. I was totally exhausted when all was said & done!

Here’s some of the pictures from the trip.

Last Thursday, Suzanne had to hold teacher conferences at her school. So I quit work early and came home to take care the kids. It was a gorgeous evening, so we grabbed some food and headed to the park. We sat down on a field of grass and happily chowed down Baja Fresh burritos. Afterward the girls & I ran barefoot on the grass in the park, chasing ducks and each other… The girls had so much fun that they didn’t even nag me about taking them to the playground, like they usually do.

I brought along my big zoom lens and snapped a bunch of close-up shots. Of all that I took that evening, the one pictured here on the right stood out to me. A little sepia treatment and it’s become one of my personal favorite shot of the girls! I simply can’t help but smile when everytime I look at it.

The weather gods finally smiled on us, yesterday was beautiful. Taking advantage of the first dry & warm day in weeks, I took the girls out to the local park after work. The girls were happily enjoying their outdoor dinner with their Daddy, feeding & chasing the ducks, and had a blast at the playground. Obviously, they were couped up for too long. It was an absolute joy to see my girls having so much fun.

I barely managed to gulf down a burrito since the girls were all over the place; but I had a great time myself. In addition to running around & playing with the girls, I managed snapped some quick shots of the kids with my 200mm zoom lens…

Katelyn: “When I grow up, I want to be a vet.”
Daddy: “You do? You’ll have to study hard but you can be a vet or anything else.”
Daddy: “What about you Allison? What do want to be when you grow up?”
Allison: “I want to be a tiger!”

Allison has a small stuffed tiger that is one of her favorite stuffed animals. She sleeps with it practically every night. I wonder if her stuffed tiger has anything to do with this…

A conversation in the car with Katelyn this past weekend:

Suzanne: “What’s mommy’s favorite color, Katelyn?”
Katelyn: “Your favorite color is yellow!”
Rex: “What’s Daddy’s favorite color?”
K: “Blue!”
R: “What’s Katelyn’s favorite color?”
K: “Yellow, white, black, pink, and red”
R & S: laughing
S: “Honey, you can only have 1 favorite. That’s what favorite means…”
R: “So which is your favorite color then?”
K: “All of them. They are all my favorite colors because they’re all in my heart…”

We were playing Hide & Seek with the girls tonite. We divided into 2 teams: Mommy & Katelyn versus Allison & Daddy. So at one point in the game, it was Suzanne & Katelyn’s turn to seek, so Allison & I went and hid in a bedroom closet. I closed the door and we sat there in the dark. I repeatedly reminded Allison to remain quiet. But when Suzanne came into the room and didn’t find us, she called out “Who wants candy?” Allison bolted out of my lap, flung the door open and ran to Suzanne yelling “candy!”

Game over…

The rainbow episode between Katelyn & I transpired as follows last nite:

Rex: "Sweetey, what did you do at school today?"
Katelyn: "I made rainbows today. Do you want me to make you a rainbow?"
R: "Oh, I’d love to get one"

Katelyn rushed to her table, broke out her markers and after a few minutes, returned with a sheet of paper with a rainbow drawn on it.

K: "Here you go. Do you like it?"
R: "Wow, I love it! Thank you so much…"
K: "You bring it to work tomorrow and hang it up okay?"
R: "Sure, I’d do that."
K: "Make sure you show it to your friends at work."
R: "I’ll do that too."
K: "Make sure you tell them to ask you who made it okay?"
R: "Of course!"

So this morning the first thing she asked me when she woke up was where the rainbow was. I didn’t see it on the cofee table. I was hurrying to get to work and didn’t have time to look around for it. So I lied and told her it’s in my car, thinking that’d be the end of it. That white lie quickly turned out to be a mistake, as Katelyn ran outside and peered down the window of my car.

K: "Daddy, I can’t find the rainbow in your car"
R: "It’s in there baby"
K: "Are you sure you put it in the car?"
R: "Yes, I put it in the car"
K: "Daddy, I don’t see it!"

She pouted a little and then got on her Grandpa’s car and headed to school. She looked disappointed. I better find her rainbow tonite or I’ll be in trouble.

If you frequent this blog, you know that I am a shutterbug. I know, I know… You’re thinking: "gee whiz, what gives that away." My main subjects are my two daughters. (Again, I’m stating the obvious.) If you view their pictures here, it’s really easy to spot how different my 2 models really are in front of the camera.

Katelyn loves to be in front of the camera–always flashing a smile, even when she was a little toddler. She’s a willing subject, posing for her shutterbug dad without asking. She is easily excitable. And she’s photogenic (well, her dad likes to think so), most of her shots come out great. It’s very easy to shoot Katelyn. She’s a pure joy to shoot.  

Now that’s not to say Allison isn’t photogenic or a joy to shoot for me. But she’s different. She’s more shy of the two, the serious one. She’s still a bit uncomfortable in front of the camera. She’d pose or smile if I ask her to, but she does it in the most uncomfortable fashion. She’d always lean her head to one side and say "cheese"; and breaking a half-smile once in a while. That’s her pose and it’s her only pose. It’s become a habit too. Now everytime she sees a camera, she breaks into her ackward pose. It’s rather funny. A perfect example is pictured here. Note the contrast of the two poses, the smile on Katelyn and Allison’s signature head tilt?

So I learned to shoot Allison differently. Most of the good shots I got out of her when she isn’t posing. I try to shoot her when she isn’t aware of the camera. Natural shots suit her more. I call these "private shots" because I feel like I’m stealing her private moments with these kind of shots. Now if only she’d smile more frequently, because she usually looks serious in some of these "private" shots. Allison is also a joy to shoot, abeit in a different way.

 My daughters provide me the motivation to learn photography. They’ll be my excuses for buying expensive equipments in the future when I become a better photographer. Now, if I can only coax my wife into a willing subject as well.

Katelyn spotted the moon outside her window while we drove home from dinner tonite. The sky just cleared up after pouring rain the entire day.

Katelyn: “The moon Mommy. It’s a crescent moon. It’s pretty!”
Mommy: “Yes, it’s very pretty”
Katelyn: “Daddy, the moon is following me!”
Daddy: “It is?”
Katelyn: “Yeah! It’s following me. Why is it following me?”
Daddy: “The moon always follows who it likes the best. So I think the moon must likes you the best!”
Katelyn: “Yeah, the moon likes me because it keeps following me”

At this point I smiled because the conversation reminded me of the time when my parents told us the same thing when my sister and I asked them the same questions while playing in the park one night. I must have been a few years older than Katelyn because my sister must have been around Katelyn’s age. That was so many years ago.