Have you been to Gubat? » Kids

The Lazy Days of Summer

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 23:42:14 +0000

NOT! I know I haven’t posted in forever, and it’s because things have been crazy hectic around here. The end of the school year is just packed with activities, from soccer tryouts to strings concerts to end of year parties to course selection for next year, and everything else.

And swim season has started. In fact, we’ve already had two meets and have a week off for the 4th of July holiday. I volunteered to take pictures for the team and to administer the team’s site on a site owned by the Washington Post, called Reach for the Wall. Check it out when you get a chance: HCCC site. The cool thing is that they’ve used a couple of my pictures to illustrate a couple of stories, including today’s.

My hyperactive children are also involved in every summer activity known to man, except for summer school (ha!). Kate is on swim team, and also plays tennis and continues piano. She is no longer participating in junior golf because according to her, “You have to be too quiet.” Ben was at football camp this week, gearing up for the fall, is on the swim, golf, and tennis teams, and is also playing in a summer basketball league. And the high school soccer team is holding informal practices already. Football conditioning will start next week. Phew!

Both kids also leave for the beach with Ted’s brother and his wife tomorrow. We will be kid-free for almost a week!

And finally, I’ve been experimenting with a new theme for the site. Not sure I like it though. OK, that’s enough for now. I need to go make sure the kids are all packed.

GMU Basketball

admin — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 02:29:47 +0000

I’m sitting here watching the snow fall in the epic snowstorm of 2010 which is supposed to dump up to 36″ of snow by tomorrow night. Which is not to be confused with the epic snowstorm of 2009 which dumped 2 feet of snow on us in December. I’m supposed to be gathering stuff in case the power goes out but instead, I’m sitting here posting videos and pictures from our tip last weekend to see George Mason University men’s basketball team. Very productive!

Swim Meet #4

admin — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 15:52:41 +0000

It’s going to be a while before I’ll have pictures from this week’s meet ready to post since I shot RAW so I’ve posted some videos instead. But first, a disclaimer. I was NOT the cinematographer, so someone else gets credit for the shaky and avant garde nature of these videos!

Kate’s been working hard and finally got to swim as an official swimmer this week, in the 9-10 backstroke and then up an age group in the 11-12 breaststroke. There are several year-round swimmers in her age group so it’s hard to crack into the official lineup (there are only 3 for each team per event) so she was very excited, and I think a bit nervous too. In fact, in one of the clips you can see her going through the breastroke, including the turn as she prepped mentally for the race. She got fourth in each of those races, just missing out on points for her team, but she was very happy with her performance, having set personal bests in both strokes.

Ben had a good meet as well. He swam all 4 of the individual strokes (but not the IM), as well as leading off the 13-14 medley relay in the backstroke. He set personal bests in all of the strokes except freestyle so he was happy with his performance. A good day overall (if you don’t count my wonky camera). Still pictures coming later this week!

Salvage

admin — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:31:09 +0000

I took the old 20D out today to shoot Ted and the kids playing golf. This confirmed that the camera works fine in shade and overcast conditions, but overexposes drastically in sunshine. This makes it fairly unusable as far as I’m concerned, given that 99% of what I shoot is outdoor sports. I decided to shoot in RAW at the end to see if that would help, and it did. So maybe I just use it in RAW until the end of swim season and then send it back for another look. There is also a used 20D for sale at B&H for $289 and I have a $50 gift card so it’s tempting to just buy that one until I move up to the 1D series a year from now. Gotta mull that one over a bit but it is intriguing.

Frustration

admin — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:28:52 +0000

I was so excited when I got the phone call that my 20D was ready after being in the repair shop for three weeks. Imagine my frustration when I tried it out before Saturday’s swim meet only to find out that although it seemed to be working fine in the shade, all of the shots taken in the sunlight were extremely overexposed. No matter what settings I tried, AV, manual exposure, fully automatic, negative exposure compensation, it was the same result. Good thing I brought the old Rebel for “just in case.”

The repair place has a 180 day guarantee so I’m going to take it back the next chance I have (probably not until Friday) and explain exactly what happens. I might even take some shots there so they can see for their own eyes what the problem is. If they can’t repair it, then I’ll just shoot with the Rebel for the remainder of swim season and look for a new camera once soccer season gets going. Aaaagh.

In the meantime, here’s what I was able to get from yesterday’s meet. The meet was not frustrating for the kids at least. The team won and Ben posted personal bests in all his individual events. Kate posted a personal best in the breast stroke but was slower in both the back and free. Last week she had a personal best in the free but slower in breast and back. I see a pattern here, so perhaps at the next meet she’ll get a personal best in the back but be lower in breast and free. Who knows what she’ll have up her sleeve for the last meet of the year!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

admin — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 22:45:27 +0000

We’ve had incredible amounts of rain in June, so much so that we have easily surpassed our average monthly rainfall and we still have over a week left in the month. It rained on today’s swim meet but they carried on until it started to thunder. At that point it was mathematically impossible for the other team to beat us, so they just called it off. I think it’s officially in the books and we don’t have to have a reswim, but who knows?

Ben shaved time off his freestyle and backstroke, and swam a legal breastroke for the first time! I’m sure he’ll improve as the season progresses since he hasn’t really been able to make it to practice. Kate took time off her freestyle but inexplicably added time to both her backstroke and breastroke. She claims her foot slipped off the wall at the backstroke start but I’m not sure why she struggled with the breaststroke today. Maybe just being cold since it was chilly in the rain.

On the photography front, I really miss my 20D. These are shot with my old Rebel, and are soft, soft, soft.

Some random comments on Mexico

admin — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:30:58 +0000

1. Lots of European guests at our resort meant a fair share of topless sunbathers. Much to Ben’s chagrin, however, the vast majority were older women who had NOT had plastic surgery. 2. The color of the ocean is so … Continue reading →

First Day of School

admin — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:09:59 +0000

We survived the first week of school and the return to the whirlwind schedule. Most importantly we survived the 6:45 bus for middle school! Surprisingly, Ben has not resisted getting up in the morning. He doesn’t even hit the snooze button when the alarm goes off, which is more than I can say for myself! Here’s a picture of him just before he left for the bus stop. Please note that this is taken indoors, and not at the front stoop as in prior years (when it hasn’t rained). I left the picture-taking task to Ted who apparently decided that the dark would prevent him from taking a picture. I guess he forgot about the flash.

The sun had come out by the time Kate left for the bus, so Ted had no qualms about taking pictures outside. He also had time to encourage her to make funny faces. Kate’s starting the gifted program, just like Ben did when he was in third grade, and much to her excitement got the very same teacher as Ben. The squeal of delight that came from Kate when she saw who her teacher was rivaled that of the most enthusiastic teenybopper.

Golf

admin — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:54:30 +0000

The kids have been playing golf for a little while now, but I’ve not gone out on the course with them until this summer. Kate plays only 3 holes and has only minimal interest, but Ben is really getting into it. Since the start of the summer he’s taken 15 strokes off his game and is playing at least once a week, and more often two. Add another sport to the list!

Last Thought on Swim Team

admin — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 19:59:17 +0000

This is Kate receiving her end of season trophy from the assistant coach. I wonder why Ben has a new found interest in swimming?