Fourth of July in New York City

We just got back from a fabulous weekend in New York for the 4th of July. Every time I visit, I come away with a new appreciation for New York. It has lots of character (and characters). We did lots of walking and eating and I even found time to snap a few pictures.

Ryan in Central Park...

New York has such great playgrounds. This one in Central Park had lots of slides, swings, a sandbox and a fountain. Ryan was in heaven.

Yep, that's my boy. Parents of young children are constantly faced with the same dilemma - when your child does something cute-but-gross/dangerous, do you take the shot first? In this case, I figured putting his mouth all over a public play area touched by thousands of grubby hands probably wasn't going to kill him, so I took the shot.

Ryan enjoyed his first sandbox experience...

I didn't have a ton of time for photo exploration, but I grabbed a few shots while we were walking.

This was the view looking across the Hudson River into New Jersey as we got ready to watch the fireworks.

Ryan's #1 favorite "toy," the Blackberry. He had his mind set on walking around the crowded pier, and this was one of the few things that could get him to sit quietly. Until he saw complete strangers making calls and got upset they wouldn't let him play with their phones.

He was also enthralled with the helicopters flying overhead.

Shooting fireworks with a telephoto lens and without a tripod is pretty much an exercise in futility. I tried anyway, but didn't really like the results. After a while I intentionally played with the camera during long exposures to make something more abstract and I thought they were kind of cool.

Here's a shot of the grand finale that came out decently.

We had a great time and can't wait to visit New York again.

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Adventures in Eating

Ryan is learning to use a spoon to feed himself... with mixed results.

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Happy Father's Day

Big thanks to my wife Carolyn for her outstanding work on our annual Father's Day picture. Here's the side by side with last year for a comparison.

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Our West Coast Visit

Wedding season is almost here and I can't wait to blog all of the fabulous weddings I'll witness this year. In the meantime, here are some fun personal pics from our brief visit with friends and family in Seattle and Portland a few weeks ago. Ryan got to visit lots of kids on our trip and had a great time playing with everyone else's toys. It's always great to see our West Coast friends, and we wish we could visit more often.So much changes between our visits, so I have to make sure I document them well!

Ryan and Aubrey in a standoff...

Aubrey, Bailey and Peyton

On to the next house, which was a massive play date reunion with Carolyn's friends. Here, Ryan causes a traffic jam...

Ryan didn't quite understand that you have to move once you go down the slide...

Colby

Kallen is learning to walk and doing a great job.

Sydney

The moon bounce was a huge hit...

The money shot. But I think I'd have better chances of winning the lottery three times in a row than getting six kids to look at the camera in the same shot.

The only way to get the group shot was with popsicle bribery...

Garin

Olivia

Ryan helping out with the chores...

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