The kids used special solar glasses to see the transit of Venus from our back yard. After the sun went down, we watched the event through the NASA web site and their webcast of the event from the top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The following are some of the sites that we checked out for information about the transit:
We originally learned about this when we visited the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley a couple of months back. We watched a program about the transit in the planetarium. The program was interactive and Ryan got to play Venus in the enactment of the upcoming Transit of Venus. Below is the best photo we have from inside the planetarium. That's Obaachan in the photo with Ojiichan and Naomi. I remember being a little tired and taking a little nap.
May 10 was Bike to Work Day. Also in some quarters, the entire month is Bike to Work Month. Most of our biking is on weekends as a family fun activity. On a recent bike ride the kids spotted the following: 78 songbirds, 19 robins, 8 dogs, 7 hummingbirds, 3 morning doves, 3 yellow butterflies, 2 geese, 2 mockingbirds, 2 crows, 2 ducks, 1 squirrel, 1 woodpecker, 1 frog and a snake...not to mention all the other bikers, joggers, and walkers.
Photo below from top left corner clockwise: bike rides usually include the obligatory stop at a playground; taking a break on the trail; another playground photo; a snake; and leaving the playground.
Yes, Naomi is starting to outgrow her bike. Ethan is getting there too.
There's a type of camera that allows one to refocus images after the fact. I was looking for floral photography tips when I came across a site for a company called Lytro located in Silicon Valley. Check out the image below. If you click on different part of the image, the photo gets refocused on that part of the image. Also if you double click on the image, it will zoom in on that part of the image.
It's soccer season once again! This year by coincidence Ryan's team was assigned the name Ninjas. Last year they were the Red Ninjas, but the kids picked the names themselves. Spring soccer seems more casual than fall soccer, which is fine by us. The soccer fields where the games are played are next to open fields where there are cows grazing. It's a great setting for soccer! Enjoy the slide show below.
Here is a sample of Naomi's first foray into nature photography. This photo session started over the weekend and included taking photos during a walk of our neighborhood with one of her uncles.
Our kids participated in Arbor Day celebrations with the City of Concord on Earth Day, April 22, this year. We've done this the past three years or so through our scouting activities. We have a leg up on some of the other scouts because the cubmaster for boys' pack is the "tree guy" for our city.
This year we planted about a dozen or so trees in Newhall Park. The mayor and another council member were also in attendance.
Ethan is officially now a Boy Scout after bridging to Troop 370 earlier this week. He enjoyed his five years as a Cub Scout, but it is time to move on. And move on he did. He's already away on his own with his new troop on a weekend campout on Mt. Diablo. This was the first time for him to actually backpack into the campsite.
Here is a video clip of his graduation ceremony that included him earning his Arrow of Light award, which is the only award that moves with a cub scout to boy scouting. The ceremony included scouts getting their Arrow of Light award presented to them by the Order of the Arrow.
We're experiencing a scorcher this weekend. The weather forecast shows highs today into the upper 80s, but this morning in the shade outside the backdoor the thermometer was already registering over 90 degrees. How's the weather in your area?
The Smith family has their annual Easter Egg Hunt and celebration at their house. This was the 24th year of this event that was started for their daughter who is now gainfully employed in NYC. It's been a few years since she last attended this event named for her.
Being that they have a very large piece of property, a rarity in these parts, there are many places where eggs can be hidden. Last year was the first year in several years that we missed the hunt. The kids made it this year, although dad had to stay behind as a friend was coming over to help prune trees.
The day started off inauspiciously enough with a fried egg.
The Smiths go all out for this event, barely nosing out their annual Super Bowl party for Best Event honors. There's usually quite the banquet of food provided by the hosts but also the side dishes and desserts brought by the many families that attend the event. The main event has two objectives: to fill up Easter baskets with as much chocolate candy as possible and to find the three special eggs. The candy is easy to find. There's so much candy scattered about their yard that it's difficult to make sure that all the candy is not stepped on. The hunt is started in waves starting with the smallest seekers scampering off at the sound of Dan's duck caller. That's Dan below. I think he was wearing his hunting jacket this year.
The kids were ready with their empty Easter baskets and the eager egg seekers all gathered at the ready at the official orange start line. Such a straight and evenly drawn start line is not needed for this start but would come in handy for a later event that is described below.
This is what it looks like in terms of finding candy. It's just scattered all over the lawn that seems to go on forever. Just look for the shiny foil covered candy. Some people are really just satisfied with this.
Then there's the searching and searching for the special eggs...up in trees...along fence lines and in the thickets of plant leafs.
The first egg is usually the most difficult to find for whatever reason, causing Dan to climb the steps to his official announcer's post to provide hint. "The blue egg is not where you think it is, but maybe near something blue." Or something like that.
And then sometimes you get success!
And even more success every blue or yellow moon. The story behind the yellow egg find this year was that it was Ryan who found it, but he gave it to Ethan. What a great little brother, huh?
Yes, the special thing about the special eggs is that the finders of these eggs are awarded with their very own large chocolate Easter bunny!
The final event of the day is the egg walk. If you blink, you will miss the race. Sometimes the race judges have to go to the cameras and breakdown a photo finish. Sometimes there are eggs flying every which way. It's a good thing that the eggs are hardboiled. The races are divided by age with the level of competition increasing with each age level.
An afternoon visit to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco included neon colored animals, some good food and a visit to the Morrison Planetarium. Here's a video recap:
On a story about "best fries" was an entry for one Bay Area location called Frjtz in SF. They have burgers, sandwiches, crepes, breakfast and even mussels on their menu. Will have to go check it out one of these days. Do you have a favorite place for fries?
[Gotye:]
Now and then I think of when we were together
Like when you said you felt so happy you could die
Told myself that you were right for me
But felt so lonely in your company
But that was love and it's an ache I still remember
You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness
Like resignation to the end, always the end
So when we found that we could not make sense
Well you said that we would still be friends
But I'll admit that I was glad it was over
But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and I feel so rough
No you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
[Kimbra:]
Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over
Part of me believing it was always something that I'd done
But I don't wanna live that way
Reading into every word you say
You said that you could let it go
And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know
[Gotye:]
But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and I feel so rough
And you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
[x2]
Somebody
(I used to know)
Somebody
(Now you're just somebody that I used to know)
(I used to know)
(That I used to know)
(I used to know)
Somebody
We visited Uncle John earlier this year. He was the biggest Cal Bears fan that we knew. Red flowers are very common at grave sites, but blue ones are not. So we took some pictures and touched them up just for John. First here is the untouched picture.
The following are the touched up photos. Just what did we change?
A page of ink drawings among personal papers from 1981 released Saturday March 17 2012, by the Thatcher Archive at Britain's Cambridge University. Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was so fascinated by U.S. President Ronald Reagan that she snatched and kept this page of his doodles at a G7 summit, the former British prime minister's newly released papers reveal. Reagan left the piece of paper sitting on a table at the meeting near Ottawa, Canada in July 1981, adorned with a scribbled eye, a man's muscular torso and several heads including one that looks like a self portrait. (AP Photo/The Thatcher Archive)
