Fun with a toy camera

Andrea got us a Holga last year. It's a toy camera that uses 120 film. It's got a plastic lens and this one happens to have a flash. As a photography tool, it's not much, but it makes some very unique images. Images are vignetted and often slightly out of focus. The plastic lens distorts and many of these camera are sealed so poorly that light "leaks" into the camera exposing the film in odd ways. Despite all of this, these cameras have been used to make some award winning photos.

Don't sweat that you can't develop 120 film locally. Most Walmarts will take film and send it off and even scan it for you. I got mine developed by mail at Dwayne's Photo. Dwayne's still sells and develops Kodachrome (queue the Paul Simon).

Sam, Melanie, and Emily in front of the Plano Farmer's Market late last year. (Fuji Neopan)

Mel looking cool at the Filmore Pub in Plano. (Fuji Neopan)

Sam and his toy alligator at a train exhibit. (Fuji Neopan)

Sam and his toy alligator going to play. (Fuji Neopan)

Sam at the neighborhood playground. The flash has four different colors to choose from. (Fuji Pro 160S)

Sam at the playground. (Fuji Pro 160S)

Taking a break. (Ilford Delta Pro 3200)

Ian at work. (Fuji Pro 160S)

Fun with the Doodle Pro. (Fuji Pro 160S)

Playing with blocks. (Fuji Pro 160S)

Knock it off, DeeDah!

So, do you remember the golf club set from last weekend?  Well, Sam wouldn't let us play with the balls that came with the set.  There was a red ball and a yellow ball and he either held them in his hands or kept them under his armpits the whole day.  (He puts anything that he doesn't want us to have under his armpits for safe keeping!)  

The next day he decided that I could play with the red ball, but I still was not allowed to touch the yellow ball.  Sam invented a game where we had to throw our balls high in the air.  His yellow ball went rolling away and Chris picked it up to give it back to Sam.  But, Sam scolded him, shaking his finger, "Knock it off, DeeDah!  That's not yours!"

Here are some more pictures of us hanging around the house the last few weeks ...

We love fruit smoothies ...

but smoothie mustaches are even better!

More Thomas stuff from Lulu!

Here's Sam playing with the "berwulls" (barrel loader).

We found Cleo's toys when we clean out the garage last week.

This is one of her favorites and the first one that we ever bought  her.

She pulls so hard and holds on so tight that Chris can spin her in a circle!

Here's Cleo resting.  Check out that pink and purple tongue.

More Coffee!

Sam loves coffee!  He's starting to ask for it every day now and he usually wants two cups.  We give it to him in an espresso cup with a packet of Splenda, and it's about half milk.  When he says coffee, it sounds like toffee or hoppee.  I love how he slurps it.  I guess we can't be too surprised considering how much coffee Chris and I drink.  He used to sign "more, more, more" to ask for the second cup, but he's doing a lot more talking and a lot less signing these days.

Plano Balloon Festival 2008

We went to the Plano Balloon Festival again this year and we had a blast!  Sam has definitely entered the stage where outdoor events like this are a lot of fun.  He was actually interested in what was going on around him and we didn't have to chase him around every where.  

Chris took 435 photos, so it took me a while to go through them and pick my favorites. 

Sam was mesmerized by the balloons, but he was sure to tell us about all the red, green, yellow, blue, etc. triangles (flags).

Of course pulling on the ropes was a lot of fun while we were waiting for the balloons to inflate.

Almost there ...

And ready to take off!

Sam loved this balloon with the star and rainbow on it.

We had a lot of fun waving at the people in the balloons.

This was another favorite with all the animals on it.

And here's a shot from the other side.

This balloon was set up right in front of us.  We had an interesting vantage point and got to see inside as it was inflating.

Off and away ...

There were a lot of balloons there this year.  The weather was perfect.  

Time for a teddy graham break.

There wasn't much wind so the balloons were low in the sky and hovered around for a while.  Ian said that some of them even landed in the streets of our old neighborhood.

We had BBQ sandwiches while we waited for the balloon glow.  Sam was more interested in running up and down the hills ... so were most of the other kids.

Sam even convinced Mommy to run with him for a while.

What's a festival without an Elvis impersonator?

Sam loves music.  He did a lot of swaying and clapping.

Mmmmm sucker!

I love this balloon.

Closer shot of the burner and flame ... getting ready for the glow.

This balloon is always fun.  It was here last year too.

This yellow balloon was very pretty at night, and don't miss the Texas flag!

Yes, we got Sam a glow stick.  They guy came by and asked Chris if he wanted to buy one.  He almost said no, but then remembered that kids like that sort of stuff.

Sam had a blast playing with his glow stick.  He preferred it as a circle instead of a stick.  He would roll it down the hill and chase after it.  He played with it till the minute he went to bed.

I thought the glow was a lot of fun.  We've seen the balloons take off three times now so this was something different.

Sam loved the balloon glow.  They would count down from 10, and then either do "all burn" or "twinkle burn."  With twinkle burn, they would all glow on and off like they were twinkling.  

This was our favorite glowing balloon.

Here's a video of all the balloons glowing.