Category Archives: Photography

On this Tuesday (one that feels like it really should be Friday)

Can’t stop looking at... this favorite photo from our beach trip. I have always wanted to spend a stormy weekend at the coast and, judging by this picture, I got my wish.

Unashamedly enjoying…

Oh how I love Glee. This show takes me back to that very special time when I thought I could sing and enjoyed a split second of fame as I sang a solo piece as “Bet” in my high school production of Oliver. There’s a teeny tiny little part of me that still wonders what if…

Oh, and “To Sir With Love” is one of my favorite movies. Genius!

Way too excited about…
Toy Story 3

We’re looking forward to our very first all-family movie night/day. I think I may be more excited than the kids.

Putting my order in…

I have waited far too long.

And seeing…

Yes, blue skies. Just barely visible through the pile of work that awaits me at work tomorrow.

But I know they’re there.

Good Night.

Playing

This week’s I ♥ Faces challenge is all about play – not something we are short on in our house. I didn’t fully appreciate how powerful the concept of play is to a child until I gave birth to my own. Thomas can actually get very upset when he doesn’t feel as though he has a chance to play – although admittedly his distress is strongest when this realization happens to coincide with bedtime.

This week’s photo was taken on our recent group family trip to Netarts on the Oregon Coast. It’s always wonderful (and a little frightening) to watch the boys interact with other children their own age – especially children that they don’t see on a regular basis. It’s fascinating to see the different personalities shine through as you observe them playing together (or alone, as Thomas likes to do on occasion), watching them resolve conflicts (sometimes with parental involvement) and just generally enjoy each others company in a completely neutral location, rather than at someone’s house.

I was reviewing photos of our trip when we returned home and, when Samuel saw this one he was horrified and exclaimed “Oh No!”. How dare that other child touch his face! I adore the colours in this photo and the way Samuel is looking directly at the camera as if to say, calmly, “Mum, why is he doing this to me?”

The Reason For All The Rain: Monday Mosaic

Saturday was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, birds were chirping and I was able to walk around wearing a t-shirt for the entire day. On Sunday it started raining again.

But both days were wonderful thanks to a very good friend and her mother who took both of our boys (BOTH!) for an overnight adventure. That meant that Kei and I were given more than 30 hours to do the following:

  • Visit the Portland Nursery without once saying “stay close please”, “don’t touch that” or “that plant is not a toy”.
  • Plant some strawberries and some tomatoes in record time (or regular time for people without children).
  • Go out for dinner and watch other people’s children get told off by the manager for playing with dirt in the ornamental garden – all while being thankful that they weren’t our children (because our children would totally be doing that).
  • Stay out late for dinner and drinks without stressing about getting home in time to pay the babysitter. We were still home by 9:30pm. (sad, but true)
  • Sit outside by the fire pit until late into the night talking – without the need for a baby monitor.
  • Sleep in until 10:30am (!!!!)
  • Watch a movie during the daytime. Couldn’t convince Kei to see Sex and the City so we agreed on Iron Man 2.
  • Browse for shoes at the mall by myself – but without finding the ones I was looking for.
  • See the excited expressions on my baby’s faces when we picked them up at about 5pm.
  • Have the wonderful experience of time to ourselves, but the even more wonderful experience of being reunited with our babies.

So tomorrow is back to school (5 more days of it than I realized – I guess I was getting excited for the end of the year). I just hope the weather picks up and the sun shines so our strawberries and tomatoes are given a fighting chance. I know the rain is good for them but enough is enough.

And so for my Monday Mosaic, I share a little reminder of why we have rain. It gives me hope for more t-shirt days in our near future.

Believe it or not, Summer is almost here

So the weather may not exactly scream Summer in Portland right now, but school will still be closing next week. Thomas’ last day of his first year of pre-school is next Tuesday and I am in a little bit of shock over how quickly it’s come, but how much we’ve progressed in such a short time.

Last September was tough – lots of crying and “mummy, I don’t want to stay heeeere….”, but we persevered. This morning as I drove Thomas to school as he talked to me about how much he loved going to school, sang songs to me in Japanese and talked excitedly about how he was going to play Star Wars with his best friend who he insists on referring to by his (very long) full name. He even walked into the classroom by himself without needing me to stand beside him as he answered the question of the day (sort of like a secret password). Thankfully he came running out of the room as I walked away because he’d forgotten to give me a hug. Glad to know he still needs a hug from Mummy.

Thanks to a September birthday, Thomas will be spending another year in pre-school and I am grateful for the extra year of socializing and playing and napping and snacking before the really serious work begins.

As a a farewell to the school year, I share a few of my recent P365 photos taken in the halls of the school that Thomas has come to love.

We catch the elevator every day and, of course, Thomas insists on pressing the buttons. I realize that walking down a flight of stairs would be less lazy but, honestly, this saves us precious time as we turn up late every single day. It’s something we’ll work on next year.

The aforementioned stairs in what is one of the oldest school buildings in our city.

And of course the boy who is growing up way too quickly. It’s a good thing he’s staying in pre-school for one more year. I don’t think I am emotionally ready for a kindergartener.

An Everyday Moment

This photo says so much about our lives right now.

  1. The hat – Samuel is obsessed with them. Actually I suppose it could be called a helmet, which is an even greater obsession
  2. The bike – Samuel would ride his bike everyday if he could – sadly the miserable Portland weather has prevented him from enjoying one of his favorite pass times after daycare. Right now he has to make do with riding this bike inside the house.
  3. The lightsabre – seen in the front basket is a symbol of Thomas’ continuing obsession with all things Jedi. We talked about it from the moment I picked him up from school today until the moment we arrived  home.
  4. The playroom – Now a LOT cleaner thanks to a thorough cleanup on the weekend. I doubt it will stay that way for long.
  5. The boy – growing up so quickly.

A Fascination With Feet

This week’s I ♥ Faces challenge is a special “barefoot” challenge to raise awareness for Souls 4 Souls. Thankfully I have a foot fetish of sorts in that I love taking pictures of feet (I was going to put that in the title but thought it might attract a different type of reader).

Given the weather in Portland lately (yawn, I know!), we have experienced many bare feet around here. In fact, our recent trip to the coast was more gumboot weather than bare foot weather.

Exhibit A:

It was also a little Lord of the Flies. Only one family in our group of six was blessed with girls and they were unable to make it at the last moment due to illness.

That left five families with eight boys between us – not including Dads of course. That’s a lot of testosterone in one location and not a tutu in sight. (Wow, if this post doesn’t attract at least a couple of questionable characters, I’ll be surprised).

I’ll be back with more photos from our mini-vacation soon, but for now I’ll share some more feet just for fun.

And if you get the chance, check out Souls 4 Souls and see how a small act can make a big difference.

I know, I know, we’ve been back for months…

But honestly, I have so many Aussie pics to go through and I just keep finding little gems for my Project 365. I think I’m going to have to post every day to catch up.

This is one of my favourite photos from the entire trip.

Grandpa and Samuel sharing a moment by the river. Or maybe Grandpa’s just trying to keep Samuel from diving in. It’s honestly hard to tell.

The whole family (uh, minus my two brothers…)

I look back at these photos and even in just the past couple of months, I can see how much Samuel has grown up. He looks like such a baby here.

While we were visiting, my dad (otherwise known as Grandpa) planted a tree for each of the boys. We’ll be able to see their progress on each visit back to Aus, and if my Dad decides to take a few photos and send them over in the meantime.

Uncle Jono… again.

And, on the day before we flew home, a quick trip to the Melbourne zoo. It poured with rain while we were there so I spent much of our visit walking around in one of those bright yellow plastic ponchos, only pulling out my camera when I was certain it wouldn’t get wet. So I only have a few photos to show for our visit, and none of the boys petting Kangaroos (gasp!). Instead I took photos of inanimate animals that were thankfully under cover and, therefore, the perfect dry photo subjects.

And, finally, our layover in Auckland as we headed home toward Portland. This is as much as I have ever seen of New Zealand (sad, but true) and has now become a regular port of call as we attempt to fly with Air New Zealand every time we head to Aus. I am incredibly grateful that our trip home was a lot less eventful than the flight over, even if it was more crowded thanks to a cancelled United flight (curse you, United!).

Farewell, New Zealand (airport)… and Farewell Australia. We’ll be seeing you again soon.

Yellow

Of COURSE I had a photo for this week’s I ♥ Faces challenge. The theme is “Yellow” and anyone who knows my son is aware of his obsession with the colour – one which has faded over the past year as his obsession with Star Wars has taken over. I am thankful that the days of him declaring “I like yellow! No one else can like yellow!” are over, most importantly for the fact that his little brother is free to wear yellow hand-me-downs without vilification.

I often wonder whether my child is more obsessed with things than others. He seems to cling to a particular object or theme and not let go for many months. But then we also have Samuel who’s hat obsession is equal to that of his brother at the same age. So either it’s completely normal for children in their first years to experience this type of behavior or it’s an Ishida family quirk.

Recently Thomas has also declared his love for the color red so it now equals yellow in favorite color status. There is one exception, however. Red and yellow in the form of traffic lights are NOT ok. That has become the latest chant from the backseat on the drive home from school and, frankly, I can’t say that I blame him for that.