Tag Archives: Tim

05
May
2013

Sunday in the Park with my Canon

By: Megan

See what I did there? I titled the post after the Sondheim musical Sunday in the Park with George which is based on the artist George Seurat who pioneered the pointillism technique of painting. Tim and I were lucky enough to see some of his work in a London art gallery in 2005. The paintings are breath-taking in person. I am no artist but I was shooting in Manual mode for the first time on my new(ish) camera and it is Sunday and we were in the park so yeah…. See Dad, I told you I would put that BA in Theatre to use someday. Don’t you all feel smarter and more cultured? You are welcome.

Here is what I got.

The first dozen or so photos were completely white washed out because I had the White Balance set to a “cloudy day” setting and I guess the camera thought it was sunnier out than I thought.

I love that Tim plays just as much as the kids do when we go to the park. He really is an amazing Dad. I hope that the kids will remember climbing, sliding and jumping at the park with their Daddy. Here is photo proof even if you can’t see any blue in the sky.

This would have been one of my favorites if I would have had the white balance on a better setting. The kids just loves to hang upside down.

The wrong white balance didn’t ruin this photo. I don’t think anything could ruin a photo of a Daddy and Daughter swinging. I remember doing this in Oak Park with my Dad.

It was when Patrick joined the party on the swings that I realized that I needed to do some major camera setting overhaul. I love this photo. I think it captured Patrick is his truest form. He is pretending to be the bullets on Super Mario (Patrick has always favored the villains over the heroes) and he has this look of mischief that makes you think twice before turning your back on him.  But he looks so sweet in his villain-ness that you don’t care if he is good or bad, you just love him. THAT is Patrick.

Here my white balance was good but my focus was a bit off. Playground we are at is the playground at Michael’s school. He knows this playground well and he was excited to show his Dad what a good climber he is on the “spider web.” Tim, being the awesome Dad he is, climbed the web with Michael and I am glad he did because when Michael got to the top he lost his footing. Michael didn’t fall, he caught himself but he slipped enough to scare him. He was shook up pretty bad. He is sensitive in as many ways as he is insensitive.  He was scared and feeling really nervous. I wish I was able to capture the moment better as Tim was talking to him and reassuring him. At least the sky was blue in the photo and not whited out.

I didn’t get Tim calming him down but I did get Michael taking a brave step back down.  What I am proud of most was seeing Michael make the choice to be brave and overcome a swell of fear that just a year ago would have controlled him.

Again. Not the most flattering photo of Michael but here he is looking fear in the eye. A year ago he wouldn’t look into the camera lens. Plus look at the bokeh (the blurry background) while Michael is still in focus. Win!

I will post a few more of my favorites tomorrow. For now you can find many more photos from today’s learning my camera trip to the park here. Some are better than others but before you go look at the 40+ more photos, I will leave you with this one and a shout out to Tim for playing with the kids while I played with my camera.

15
Apr
2013

My two favorite photos from vacation

By: Megan

runner up:

and my absolute favorite goes to:

My home town of Minot, ND got 8 inches of snow last night and this morning in MN I dressed the kids in full snow gear to go to school. It looks like we will be skipping right over Spring this year but Summer is coming soon right? Like I said yesterday… just 4 days of UV rays has changed my mood so drastically that I believe that a sunny vacation should be required for anyone who lives in the upper Midwest every year around this time.

14
Apr
2013

AGM 2013

By: Megan

This year’s AGM for the company Tim works for was in Phoenix. The weather was warm, the sun was shining and the whole family (plus Beth) were able to come.

When we left on Thursday morning our plane was on the runway for over an hour waiting to be de-iced. Luckily, de-icing was fascinating to the kids, “IT IS LIKE A CAR WASH!” So the delayed departure and subsequent time sitting in an airplane wasn’t too big a deal.

 

Just a few hours later and one free beverage-no free pretzels or peanuts on US Airlines- later we landed in Arizona where the sun was shining and my soul sang.

Have I mentioned lately how long and unending this winter has been?!

We hit the ground running and as soon as our bags were delivered to our room we were suited up and in the pool. Swimming is how we spent our days (Tim was in meetings during the morning hours but that didn’t keep the rest of us from the pool) and our evenings were spent enjoying company events. Tim’s company always does a great job making sure the kids have plenty to do so the parents can catch up with friends and colleagues that we haven’t seen since the last AGM.

We just got a back this afternoon. I only pulled out my “big” camera once because I wanted to swim and play too. Yesterday I brought the camera down to the pool and was able to snap a few (ok, a hundred or so) photos of the kids, Tim and Beth swimming in between requests to “GET IN AND SWIM MOM!”

I laugh every time I look at this photo. It makes me think Hasselhoff running across the beach in the opening credit of Baywatch.

This kid loves the water. All my kids love the water but this one… he is always finding a way to be in the water whether it is helping me was dishes, splashing in a puddle or playing in the bath long after the water turns cold. I can’t wait to set up the pool again this summer.

I couldn’t be prouder and more excited about how far the kids have come in the past 15 weeks of swim lessons. Switching to FOSS Swim School was the best we thing have done for them in terms of swimming safety and body awareness.  And it is by far the most fun they have had in an extra curricular activity.

Foss stresses backfloating as a life saving skill. I completely agree. They teach the kids to flip from their belly to their back when they get tired or overwhelmed in the water so the kids are able to catch their breath and take a break in a safe way. Check out Michael just floating around the pool. He has pretty much mastered his back float.

Check out the water in the photo. It may be a bit more to carry around but man I love LOVE my camera.

And here he is practicing his freestyle. I wish my Dad would have been there to see it. I can’t help but think about how proud he would be watching his Grandson swim. My Dad was a swim coach, swim teacher and competitive swimmer. He never missed a swim meet or a single event of Beth’s or mine when we were swimming competitively. I know he was proud of how his girls swam, so seeing Michael swim makes me beam with pride on so many levels. That is my boy making my Dad smile with pride. I love you Dad. Check out your grandson. And Michael when you read this years from now make sure to note how much joy you bring your Daddy.

Elise has been taking lessons at Foss too and she is getting so much more comfortable in the water. I think by the end of the next session she will be floating on her own. For her, just like big brother Patrick, everything is more fun when in water. Her giggles and squeals of glee were heard all around the pool when playing a simple game of peek a boo with Beth.

She thinks she can swim on her own. In fact she kind of resents you for helping her. When she “gets it” she is going to take off and become a great swimmer. She paddles/scoops and kicks like there isn’t anyone there holding her up. Its only the ability to keep that toddler belly and bum floating that is keeping her from becoming the next Missy Franklin. Look at the intensity on her face. She is in it to win it.

Elise is a Mommy’s girl, that isn’t a secret but she loves her Daddy. He thinks she can do no wrong and she thinks he hangs the moon.

And then there was jumping. Is there anything more fun, careless, free, uplifting and wonderful then the joy of jumping into a pool?! My boys don’t think so.

Beth and one of Tim’s co-workers wife’s Katie taught the boys how to do cannon balls one morning while I was sleeping off the fun I had the night before.

And tomorrow I will share my two favorite images from the whole weekend.

28
Mar
2013

Star of the Week.

By: Megan

Michael is the Star of the Week this week and each day there is something special he gets to do or bring. He has brought volcano rocks and books. He brought in two books to read. He filled out and shared with his class his poster. Tomorrow is on Tim and I. Michael’s teacher asks the parents of the star of the week to send in a letter, poem or story about their child. This is what Tim and I came up last tonight.

 

Michael’s Mom and Dad always knew he was smart. When Michael was three years old he knew every type of farming and construction equipment that John Deere made.

 

When he turned four he knew the names of over 200 hundred animals including dinosaurs!

When Michael turned five years old he started playing video games.

And at the age of six he became the worlds youngest weather and volcano expert.

On July 10th 2013 Michael was celebrating his 7th birthday with his friends and family when Lucy, the Shannon family dog, started to bark.

Lucy barks at a lot of things, so no one paid much attention to her. It was probably just the squirrel family that lived up in the big maple tree in the backyard.

But then Michael felt something. Michael has super senses. His ears are so strong that he can hear the humm that some lights make. He doesn’t like trying new foods because he has really strong taste buds. He can feel the lightest touch on his skin. Sometimes it is good to have super senses but sometimes it isn’t. Michael is always the first to smell his sister’s dirty diapers. And they stink really bad!

Michael’s super senses felt the ground rumble just as he was suppose to blow out the candles on his birthday cake.

He stopped and thought…. what would make the grass under my feet rumble?

Could it be a T-Rex chasing a Brontosaurus? Probably not. Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years.

Maybe it was a herd of zebras running toward the playground at school.

No. There are not any Zebras in Minnesota.

If it wasn’t an animal or an extinct dinosaur, maybe there was another clue he was missing.

The ground was shaking beneath his feet and he noticed the day’s sunny blue sky was starting to get darker.

The ground rumbles when a volcano erupts and then the sky turns grey when the ash fills the sky.

But that can’t be right. There are no Volcanoes in Cottage Grove.

It is July and it is warm out. Could a tornado be coming?

If a tornado was coming there would be loud sirens blaring and everyone, not just Michael with his super senses, would hear the tornado sirens.

Could Michael use his senses to find another clue? The ground was rumbling and it wasn’t from Zebras or a T-Rex chasing a Brontosaurus. The sky was turning grey but it wasn’t a Volcano or a Tornado.

Michael then used his super smelling sense. He smelled cake. He smelled flowers and green grass. He smelled wet dog because Lucy had been running in the sprinkler and he smelled smoke.

If the ground was rumbling, the sky was dark and the air smelled like smoke it had to be a haunted castle from Mario Brothers. The ground rumbles when Bowser jumps on the ground. Sometimes the castle is so dark there is only a circle of light. And if the Castle levels were in real life the lava would smell like smoke.

Did he solve the mystery? No that can’t be right. Michael is Michael Shannon and his brother is Patrick. He isn’t Mario and Patrick sure isn’t Luigi!

What could it be?

Michael thought about all the things he knew about. He knew about Mario Brothers, he knew a whole lot about weather and volcanoes, he knows over 200 animals and it wasn’t any of those things.

What could it be?

The ground rumbled. The sky got even greyer. The smell of smoke was starting to make people cough and then he heard it.

HONK! HONK!

It was a horn.

Big machines can make the ground rumble. Big machines puff smoke out of their stacks that can turn the sky grey and make a yucky smell.

Michael quickly blew out the candles so his cake wouldn’t start on fire and ran from the front yard to the backyard to see what kind of machine was coming down the road.

It was a tractor!

Michael’s Papa had drove all the way from Minot, North Dakota to give Michael a ride on his tractor for his birthday!

Do you know what was is the tractor’s loader bucket? Sand. Lots and lots of sand. Papa filled the new sandbox, that Michael’s dad built, with a tractor load of sand.

Michael played in the sand box with his brother and sister and all his friends pretending that zebras and dinosaurs and tornadoes and volcanoes and Bowser and King Boo were all attacking Planet Earth and with the help of his family and friends Michael used his super senses and smarts to save the Earth.

the end.

He hasn’t read the story yet. The instructions were to send the story in an envelope and then his teacher will read to to the class. I hope he likes it. Speaking of reading. Check out my boy.