Photos Archives - Page 26 of 60

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!

Wordless Wednesday: Grill Overkill

June 1, 2011 TechyDad BBQ, Cooking, Food, Photos, Wordless Wednesday

For on-the-grill photos, see Grill Time and I’m Grilling Hidden Mickey Pineapples.

Don’t forget to enter my Dinosaur Train giveaway. You could win Dino Poop and Hatchers.

Dinosaur Train Toys Review and Giveaway

May 24, 2011 TechyDad Dinosaurs, Fun, Giveaway, Photos, Review, Toys

My boys love the Dinosaur Train television show on PBS by The Jim Henson Company. They also love playing with toys. So when I was given the opportunity to review three Dinosaur Train toys from Uncle Milton’s Toys, I was excited. When I saw that the toys had educational value, I jumped at the opportunity.

Dinosaur Poop

Let’s be honest. Tell any kid that you’re going to let them play with poop at the table, and they’ll look at you funny. But once you take out this product, they’ll be crying for you to open that package quicker.

Of course, the contents are not really poop, but a brown dough-like substance. They come inside of a storage container to keep the “poop” fresh between uses and some pieces of the dinosaur’s most recent meal.

In the case of a carnivore, these pieces are 2 fish skeletons. In the case of a herbivore, 2 plants. An omnivore has one fish and one plant. The pieces can be put together like a puzzle for even more fun.

Once all the pieces have been found, you can flatten the poop and press the fish skeleton or plant into it to form a fossil impression.

You can also get more creative and form poop sculptures.

Of course, this toy can also lead to interesting statements from parents such as “Who wants to play with poop?” or “Keep that poop on the table and not on the floor!”

Hatchers

How would your child like to grow his or her own dinosaur? Hatchers lets your child do just this. Each package contains an egg.

Drop the egg into a glass of water and out hatches a dinosaur.

Ok, not immediately. This is the tough part. The hatching takes about two days. So children get to learn a lesson in patience.

Dino Track Discovery Pack

My boys love games. So it was only natural that they loved playing with the Dino Tracks. Each package comes with three trails. Each card contains a dinosaur footprint on one side and some dinosaur facts on the other. There are also two “egg” cards with suggested games such as follow the trail or try to jump the space of one dinosaur stride. (As you can see, one T-Rex step is just a little bit shorter than JSL on top of NHL.)

Giveaway

Thanks to Uncle Milton Toys, one lucky winner will receive a Dinosaur Train prize pack which includes two packages of Dinosaur Poop and two Dinosaur Train Hatchers. To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: What is your favorite dinosaur?

You can also earn bonus entries by doing any (or all) of the following items. Just be sure to leave a separate comment for each item that you complete. (Don’t just leave one comment listing everything you did.)

Follow @TechyDad on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include @TechyDad and a link to this post in the Tweet. (1 bonus entry per day) For example: Play with poop and hatch some dinos with @TechyDad’s Dinosaur Train #Giveaway http://bit.ly/jB2JcX
Subscribe to my RSS feed or let me know if you already are. (1 bonus entry)
Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from April/May/June. Leave a comment here letting me know which post you commented on. (1 bonus entry per comment, maximum 3 entries)
Enter any of my open giveaway posts (excluding this one, of course). Leave a comment here letting me know which giveaway you entered. (1 bonus entry)
Write a post on your blog linking to this giveaway. Leave 3 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries. (3 bonus entries)

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today, May 24th and ends at Noon EST on June 7th, 2011. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. residents only.

Disclaimer: The products were provided for this review by Uncle Milton. The opinions expressed above are my own.

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?

Happy Fourth Birthday, JSL!

May 14, 2011 TechyDad Birthday, JSL, Photos

Dear JSL,

Today, you turn four years old. It seems like only yesterday that B woke me up, the Monday after Mother’s Day, telling me that you were on your way. That day was filled with a lot of hurrying. Aunt S & Mimi hurried to pick up your brother. My parents (Bubbe and Grandpa) hurried to make the drive to see you. Mommy’s parents (Nana and Papa), meanwhile, hurried to join us in the hospital.

Before we knew it, you were born and we all instantly fell in love with you. Your brother came over, said hi to you and gave you a kiss like he had known you for years. As you grew, you would always look up to him and would try to do the things that he, as a bigger kid, could do. Sometimes you succeeded, sometimes you fell flat on your face. But you kept trying to be just like your big brother.

When we went to Disney World, it was fun to watch your reactions to the costumed characters go from horror to delight. (Ok, the horror wasn’t so much fun, but the delight was.) You would have probably been happy if Disney World consisted of only the Winnie the Pooh and Small World rides. Add in all the rest, though, and you and your brother were in love. We had created some Neurotic Disney Kids!

You’ve scared your mother and me many times with your many febrile seizures and falls. We have seriously considered wrapping you in bubble wrap or hockey goalie padding/helmet more than once. When you decide on which record of your brother’s to break next, please avoid ones such as “Most Ambulance Trips” or “Most Days In A Hospital” and look to ones like “Best Grades” or “Quickest Room Cleaning.”

As you began talking, we found your speech to be very cute. Unfortunately, those dropped sounds that began as cute became frustrating. You knew what you were talking to us about and couldn’t understand why we were having trouble deciphering what you were saying. Luckily, you are now getting speech therapy and we understand you much more often. There’s still the odd moment where we just don’t get what you are saying, but since the problem has been identified we can calmly work out what you mean.

Every day as I go to work, you insist on hugging and kissing me goodbye (and then closing the door behind me). I look forward to your “welcome home” hugs/kisses when I return. You are always there to help me, Mommy, or anyone else. You are, as you put it, “everybody’s helper.” I also love tickling you because I just can’t get enough of your laughter. (Fair warning: There will be plenty of birthday tickling. In fact, I might just tickle you as I read you this.)

You love playing on the playground (especially the swings), puzzles, watching TV with me, Buzz Lightyear, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, superheroes, and macaroni and cheese. Despite how some people might assign gender roles, you also love Tinkerbell. When we went to Disney World for the 2011 Social Media Moms Celebration, I was the only dad on the line with two boys and no girls. It didn’t matter, though, because my sons got to meet the famous fairy in person!

Though I don’t want you to grow up (you’ll always be my little boy no matter how big you get), I’m also excited to see all the new things you’ll learn in the coming year. We all love you very much. Happy birthday, JSL!

« 1 … 24 25 26 27 28 … 60 »