I’ve already posted too many close-up pictures of the kids, I’m sure, but I love expressions and faces. Who was it that said “the face of a child can say so much. Especially the mouth part of the face.”

When the kids empty the dishwasher, we have them stack items on the counter if they can’t reach the place they are supposed to go. Tami and I came into the kitchen the other day after Timothy had finished emptying the dishwasher and found this on the counter:

My son has been cursed with some of the obsessive-compulsive problems his father has. Alas, poor child!

We’ve used a WhirleyPop popcorn maker for a long time and have been overwhelmingly pleased with the results. But we thought we’d try a slightly more convenient method to make popcorn, and purchased an electric unit from West Bend.

The first batch of popcorn, using the 1/2 cup of kernels and about the same amount of oil as we used in the WhirleyPop, was really bad. It was soggy and the popped kernels were small. I called Dad, since he and Mom have one of these things, and he gave some suggestions. So tonight we tried a couple more batches. I used the same amount of popcorn, and about six times the oil (!!), and the results were definitely much better. But still not WhirleyPop quality: the popcorn was a bit too tough and rubbery. So the results are, after three batches, we’d rather risk the unproven side effects of cooking with aluminum and eat great popcorn than risk the proven effects of too much oil with not-quite-great popcorn.

But that’s not the point of the post. This is:

Here are some pictures from the annual July 4th picnic at Uncle Mike and Aunt Bonnie’s. I think they forgot about leap year, because it ended up being on the 5th instead. But it sure was a production, and we’re thankful they were so generous in allowing us to come!

These are some pics of Tami’s mom with her two youngest grandchildren:

All of her grandchildren:

Children exhibit an unusual attraction to dirt. Or dirt exhibits an unusual attraction to children. But either way, the two end up together a lot.

Another one I captured this evening:

With the purchase of the new camera, I was planning on having to learn a bit of Photoshop. I still plan to, and I know there will be times I need it, but so far most of the things I get right out of the camera are really nice, and the Adobe Camera Raw editor lets me adjust the white balance, exposure, and a few other aspects of the image. This one above is right out of the camera, with exposure, a touch of WB adjustment, and some vignetting. It’s a lot of fun when a shot turns out!

There are lots of debates about the value of the Canon EF 1.8 II lens, especially when compared to the EF 1.4 (here’s a very clear, level comparison). Dad let me borrow his 1.8, since he has much (much!) nicer glass, and I took some shots of the kids to see what I could get. I’m not smart enough about all of this to be picky yet. I’m sure the 1.4 is a far better lens for a multitude of reasons, but I’ll take the 1.8 over nothing any day!

Vignetting is manually applied. These are cut down and converted to JPGs from RAW, with no non-ACR processing, and only white-balance and exposure in ACR.

This past Saturday was the Nutter Corporation’s Dozer Day in Vancouver. The sun was out, and the temperatures must have hit the 90’s. There had to be thousands of people at the event this year, and the lines were slow-moving and exhausting. But the kids really enjoyed getting to drive some heavy equipment, eating hot dogs, and scrambling for candy at the Dan Jones candy-throwing conveyer truck. And I really have to commend the volunteers and drivers, because every one of them I saw was just having a blast. The driver of the excavator the kids got to ride in was laughing and looked like he was having so much fun, despite the heat and constant flow of children.

Here are some pictures and videos from the day. And as soon as I get some links to the pictures Amy and Dad took, I’ll include them here as well.