Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Sandy and Megan get haircuts

I always tell Sandy that she looks cuter with short shoulder length hair. It has been a long time since her last haircut so she finally got it chopped. Megan came along as well for her very 1st hair cut too. Megan was not born with much hair as a baby, so Sandy has always been very protective of it. Up until now she would only cut the bangs, but the length on the back was the original. Anyways, a couple of quick snapshots in the backyard.

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Sandy's Shutterfly Photo Album

I had a tough time figuring out what to get Sandy for Christmas. She said that there wasn't anything that she really needed or wanted at the moment. I was planning on getting her a gift card for a massage at Burke Williams, but that's what I do every special occasion. I decided at the last minute to make her a photo album. This photo album would span our entire lives together starting back when we were dating, through all of the pregnancies and kids and up to now. It was quite a monumental project actually. I had to get by on 5 hours of sleep a night for about a week because the only free time I had was after the kids had gone to bed at night. I had to go back and find the original pics and re-edit them all to be printable quality. The collection of photos were captured by 5 different cameras that I have owned starting with a humble 3 megapixel Kodak point and shoot. It was quite nostalgic going back through these moments in our life. The completed album came out to be 101 pages long (that was the max Shutterfly would allow), with 1-6 pics per page. I quite enjoyed the project and was very happy that Sandy loved her gift. She actually got teary eyed when she looked through it. Anyways, here's a sampling of images that I may not have posted before. The last 2 pics were not take by me of course. Click here to view the photo book on Shutterfly.



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Christmas day 2010

1) Megan checks out the presents under the Christmas tree.


2) Noah sits in Sandy's lap and checks out his present.


3) Ethan shows off his Toy Story PJs.


4) Noah picks up Ethan's Thomas the Train.


5) Megan is going to practice telling time with this Hello Kitty Clock.


6) Ethan and Emi climb onto Donna.


7) Noah plays with Ethan's gift while sitting in Ted's lap.


8) Noah tears into his gift.


9) Emi tries on her new princess dress.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Holiday photos

Here are this Xmas season's holiday photos. The weekend we took these photos, all of the maple leaves around here turned amazingly bright orange and red. We drove around Irvine looking for a park where we could get some fall seasonal photos but alas, I could not find any. Most of the colorful maples leaves are found lining the roads around Irvine and the center dividers. We ended up going to Aldrich park in the center of UC Irvine and taking these photos. Noah was very difficult and would not sit with the other kids to take a photo. We had to put snacks in front of him to munch on and the 2 other kids had to hold him down. This was the best shot I could get of them. Perhaps next year he will be more cooperative. Season's greetings from the Tran Family to yours. Merry Xmas all.

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Sunday, November 28, 2010

Random family pics

1) Here are some recent random pics. I took this first shot of my brother at San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary. We got out there a bit late and the light was already getting too low for shooting wildlife. So I took a pic of Bi instead. Shooting a portrait shot with a 400mm lens is not ideal, but it does give creamy bokeh. Here he is with his new telephoto lens.


2) Christmas came early for the kids. We've been wanting to get Megan and Ethan bigger bikes to ride since they have outgrown their tricycles. They are still in training wheels though. Sandy and I are big on safety so you will notice the knee pads, elbow pads and gloves along with the bike helmets.


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Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Wildlife photography with my brother.

My brother recently bought a telephoto lens, so I took him out to try some wildlife photography. It was a bit slow for bird activity that morning but we still came home with some keepers. Pics taken a Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve and San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary.

1) A Monarch butterfly on a lantana flower.


2) Snowy Egret flying low over the waters of Bolsa Chica.


3) California Gnatcatcher.


4) Brown Pelican takes flight.


5) A pair of American Widgeons.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Colin

1) I had the pleasure of doing a photo shoot with Colin and his loving family this past weekend. We spent the afternoon playing at the park. We ran through the grass, played with the fountain and zipped down the slide. He even brought along his dog named Derby, who is a Saint Bernard. I could barely keep up with the little guy. He's an amazing kid and I look forward to our next play date.


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17) Cya little buddy!

My life one click at a time...