NHL Archives - Page 20 of 39

100 Steps Father-Son Photoshoot

June 8, 2011 TechyDad JSL, NHL, Photography, Photos

This was going to be a “Wordless Wednesday” post, but I needed to give too much back-story. So instead, it’s a “Wordy Wednesday” post! And a Photo-Heavy-Wordy-Wednesday post to boot.

On JSL’s birthday, he got a new camera. In addition, I gave NHL my old camera with the broken flash. (Where “gave” means “let him use with my supervision.”)

A few days later, Chookooloonks posted some photography exercises. Among them was one called “100 Steps.” It’s very simple. Step 1: Grab your cameras. Step 2: Walk out your front door. Step 3: Take 100 steps. Step 4: Find 20 things to take photos off.

So I armed the boys with their cameras, explained what we were going to do, gave them some ground rules (no photos of people without their permission, car license plates, etc) and off we went. To keep things simple (especially for 4 year old JSL), I limited us to 10 photos.

First, here are mine:

Now, here are NHL’s (with 2 removed because they were horribly out of focus and 1 removed because it could identify a neighbor’s house):

Here are JSL’s (he only took nine):

After we were done, we decided to stretch the rules and walk around our block for a bit taking more photos. Here are some of ours. See if you can guess who took which photos.

If you answered that the first 4 were JSL’s, the next 4 were NHL’s and the last 6 were from me, then you were right! Your prize? The chance to go do the same thing with your kids. Go outside for a walk and take photos together. If they don’t have cameras, don’t worry. Just have them point out things for you to take photos of. Just remember the most important rule of all is to have fun together!

Aloha Friday: Expanding Culinary Horizons

May 20, 2011 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Food, NHL

NHL used to be such a good eater. He would order pizza with broccoli and mushrooms. Not because we promised him dessert, mind you, but because he liked broccoli and mushrooms. Then he would proceed to eat every veggie and fungal item on his plate. He also once wanted a taste of some spicy vegetarian chili I had ordered. I wavered, afraid to give him spicy foods, but he liked it. He wanted another bit and another and another.

Sometime around three or four, though, his culinary horizons collapsed inward. Suddenly, vegetables were avoided and spicy was shunned. About the only healthy thing he would eat was fruit. We would implore him to eat veggies to no avail. We tried sneaking them in, but he kept finding us out. He, sadly, inherited stubbornness from somewhere. (*whistles innocently*)

Recently, though, he appears to be rediscovering the joy of trying new foods. He fell in love with broccoli awhile ago, but, on one of our rare trips to McDonald’s, he decided to try BBQ sauce on his chicken nuggets. He loved it. That led him to try the sweet and sour sauce that came with his “Chinese chicken nuggets” (our code name for “Sweet and Sour Chicken”). He loved that too. This from the kid that once refused anything that contained any kind of “sauce.” (The lone exception being pizza.)

The most surprising, though, came a few days ago. We were trying Green Giant’s Simply Steam Brussels Sprouts with Butter Sauce. NHL looked at the green orbs on our plate and asked to try it. I’ll admit, I was conflicted. On one hand, how could I say no to a kid asking to try brussels sprouts? On the other hand, it’s brussels sprouts! What’s the likelihood that he would like it?

He didn’t just like it, he loved it! He ate about a third of the package by himself. Now, if he sees us take out a package, he asked for some. He’s even identified them fresh in the supermarket and has asked for me to make them. (I know that poorly made brussels sprouts can taste bad, so I’m not sure how brave I am making them just yet.)

Now, if only he could help us convince JSL to eat veggies instead of asking for Mac and Cheese for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Does you and/or your child eat vegetables? If so, what kinds of veggies are your and/or your child’s favorites?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the McLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #88

My Little Photographers

May 19, 2011 TechyDad Birthday, JSL, NHL, Photography, Photos

When NHL turned four years old, my parents bought him a camera for his birthday. No, not a DSLR or even a cheap point and shoot This was a Fisher Price Kid Tough digital camera.

The entire camera was designed with kids in mind. There were two handgrips (for better grips), two eye pieces (since kids might not get “squint and look here”), and the whole thing was rugged enough to survive a drop down a flight of stairs. NHL had a blast taking photos of everything in his sight. (So much so that we quickly realized ground rules were needed like “No taking photos of Mommy and Daddy when they are on the potty!”)

Eventually, his attention was diverted by other toys and the camera found its way to the Heap Of Rarely Played With Toys. At some point, JSL took an interest in this camera, but there was a problem. No matter how often I put a fresh set of batteries in, it would only work for a brief period of time before dying again.

During our Disney World trip, JSL began asking for a camera. What began as an occasional request quickly ramped up. In fact, as I waited in line at Epcot’s photo center (to get some photos added to our Photo Pass card), JSL went berserk. There, right in front of him, was a display of Disney-themed kids cameras. He wanted one and he wanted one NOW!

Somehow, we held him off until his birthday. That’s when he got this:

That would be his new V-Tech Kidizoom Plus. It is a 2MP camera, does video, adds special effects to photos and more. If anything, it’s a little too complex for JSL so we’re trying to limit him to just photos.

He’s now hooked on taking photos. Here’s a small selection of his work.

Don’t feel bad for NHL, though. He’s inherited my old camera with the broken flash. Well, perhaps not “inherited”, but rather “will be allowed to use on a heavily supervised basis.”

If the weather holds out this weekend, perhaps I’ll be able to take the boys on a photo shoot. I’ve got my eyes on a photography exercise that Chookooloonks posted about. I’ll take them outside, walk 100 paces and have them take 20 photos of things right around them.

If you could go on a photo shoot with your kids, where would you go?

Aloha Friday: Bullying, Reactions and Friendship

May 13, 2011 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Bullies, Friendship, NHL, School

I’ve been itching to write about this for awhile, but wanted to wait while we assessed our options. (Besides, B already wrote about this last week, so I figured it was high time I address it.) On Thursday, April 28th, NHL was punched in the stomach by another student in his 2nd grade class. NHL was sent to the nurse with bruises on his stomach/ribs.

One interesting wrinkle to this story was NHL’s reaction. While in the nurse’s office, he was crying, sad that he had upset the child and had hurt his feelings. NHL blamed himself for the bullying incident even though he had done nothing that warranted a punch in the ribs. He even, over that weekend, listed the child as his friend. Yes, the kid that punched him in the ribs was still a friend to NHL.

As you may recall, I was bullied a lot when I was growing up. One incident in particular happened in middle school At the risk of retelling a story I’ve blogged about before, I only had one person that I considered my friend at the time. That was RH.

The only problem with RH being my friend was that he would stab me in the back. Literally. With a pen. He would bully me for awhile and then would play the victim, claiming that he had heard from a third person that I had said something bad about him. Then we would be friends again until he decided to bully me again.

Why did I keep taking him back as a friend when he kept bullying me? Simple. I felt like I had no other friends. If I admitted to myself that RH wasn’t my friend, I was left friendless. At the time, a horrible friend seemed better than no friend at all. It scared me to see this scenario playing out again in NHL’s school.

Then, in a display of good timing, I saw a tweet from @sociallysmart (aka Corinne Gregory) about the covering up of bullying incidents. To summarize the article (which is a must read for all parents), school administrators across the country are turning a blind eye to bullying because it makes them look bad if they admit there is a problem. Of course, this is a case of short term gain-long term loss. What the school administrators gain in the short term (saving face and avoiding bad PR), the kids lose in the long term (higher incidence of bullying with little to no consequences).

The only solution is for parents to know their (and their children’s) rights and stand up for them. It might be tough to do at times, but it is essential for our children’s well being.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Have you or your child ever been bullied by someone you/they considered a friend? How did you/they react?

Also, don’t forget to enter my Aerobie Sprint Flying Ring giveaway. It’s ending in four days and has a very low amount of entries (as I write this).

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the McLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #87

Mom Field Trip = Dad Day With Boys

May 12, 2011 TechyDad Comics, Family, Fatherhood, Fun, JSL, NHL, Parenting, Photos

Today, over on TheAngelForever.com, B is recounting the story of her mom field trip with Christina from CutestKidEver to see Rene Syler (aka Good Enough Mother). But what of the flip side? What did the boys and I do while B went on her road trip? Well, the boys and I had our own fun times.

As you may remember, I was undecided on whether or not I should go to Free Comic Day. After B left, I made my decision: We were going. I armed the kids with their Green Lantern rings from our Green Lantern party, got them into the car and headed over to Zombie Planet.

I had heard that the 501st, a group of Star Wars fans who dress up like Stormtroopers, would be there. NHL was excited to see “costumes.” Ever since Disney, he’s gone costume-crazy. He must meet (and get his photo with) any costumed character who is anywhere near him. He was not disappointed.

We got out of the car and there, in front of the store, was a single Stormtrooper. He was joined by a Tusken Raider.

The Tusken Raider would occasionally make a growling sound (like the one that the movie Tusken Raider made as he stood over Luke Skywalker). This scared NHL off from getting his photo taken with the Tusken Raider. So we went indoors and proceeded upstairs to the free comics section.

Unlike last year, when it was “take as many as you like”, there was a 5 comic per person limit. I had gone online the previous days to Free Comic Book Day’s website to see which comics would be available. This meant that I knew just which comics were the best for my boys and which should be skipped. The only complaints from the boys came when NHL looked out the window and spied Spider-Man. He insisted that we *HAD* to go outside right now to meet the web slinger.

I explained to NHL that we needed to check out (even we had nothing that we were being charged for). Besides, I had brought some Phineas and Ferb action figures that needed peg stands. I hoped that the comic shop would be able to help. (Sadly, they didn’t have what I needed.)

Finally, we left the comic shop and NHL immediately approached Spider-Man for a photo.

Then, I made a Geeky Daddy decision. NHL was wearing a Green Lantern ring. Green Lanterns Hal Jordon was supposedly “born without fear.” So I couldn’t very well let him leave afraid of the Tusken Raider, could I? I’d have been deducted 30 Geek Points!

I spoke with him about it and he finally agreed to get his photo taken.

After that, we headed home for lunch and some comic book reading.

Once the boys were fed, I decided that it was too nice of a day to be couped up indoors. So we grabbed some of our colossal cannons and headed out to play.

Eventually, NHL had a bright idea. His great-grandmother had given them some butterfly nets, but NHL thought they’d make great colossal cannon disc catching nets. And they did!

Our next door neighbor’s daughter, N, also came over and played with the boys for quite awhile. Eventually, they tired of chasing after green discs and wanted to play with bubbles. Cue the Winnie the Pooh bubble blower!

They also wanted to play with chalk and I eventually relented.

I noticed the skies were getting dark and warned the boys that we might have to go inside soon. Besides, B’s return time was getting closer and closer.

As B pulled up, I hurredly gathered the chalk and got the boys (and N) off our driveway. The boys said goodbye to N and hello to B. Then, as we walked in, the heavens opened up. Perfect timing!

The boys and I had a fun day together and B had a nice Mommy Road Trip. I’d call that a win all around!

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