The Chan Family

Christmas Morning 2011

Dan — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 16:09:22 +0000

Season’s greetings to all, wishing you happy holidays!

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Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Carolyn — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 05:29:38 +0000

What? Dec. 3 and we are just getting snow? Unheard of around here. The boys can’t get enough of it!! I forgot to take pictures of their bigger snowman and the 2 snow forts we made the next day. They are melted now. Yes. All the snow has melted (another unheard of) and the weather has been in the 40s lately. But…

tonight right after dinner snow started to fall. Beautiful, slow falling snow. Perfect to add to our evening of seeing A Christmas Carol. Mikey, right before bed said, ”I can’t wait until I wake up, Mom. I can play in the new-fallen snow. My snow fort will be THIS high” (raising his hand above his head). When I told him a few weeks ago that new snow would help his fort, that was before I realized the fort would have completely melted. :)

Douglas loves the snow too- his reaction to seeing it the first time is memorable. Dan posted a video of it here (also found on the sidebar or under our videos tab). Not sure how many inches we’ll get tonight… we’ll see in the morning.

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Thanksgiving

Carolyn — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 03:50:10 +0000

We had a beautiful Thanksgiving spent with friends (thank you, Arthur family). We relaxed, ate, played, took a walk, ate and relaxed some more. The boys had a wonderful time just hanging out. Wish Dan could’ve been there- he was busy saving lives at work. We each contributed our thankful thoughts for the beautiful scrapbook layout Alison created. Mikey’s picture is of his brothers. Davey’s is sliding down a slide (illustrated with help from Michael). My thoughts are on the middle “joy” tag.

Here’s some artwork from the boys.

Turkey by David made at preschool.

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One year old!

Carolyn — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 03:25:54 +0000

Little Douglas turned one. We took one year photos, ate cake topped with Oreos (decorated via his brothers) and opened presents. Can’t believe my youngest is walking! Little turkey is full of personality these days. I love it! We love you, Douglas!

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Halloween!

Carolyn — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 06:18:34 +0000

David had a wonderfully fun Halloween costume party at preschool and everyone was invited. He made monster goo (glue, borax, water, & food coloring), had a witch’s brew of homemade root beer with dry ice, games and yummy treats.

Halloween night our pirate, knight and monkey went out with just light jackets on. Unbelievable! It’s been such a warm, beautiful fall. The boys had such a fun time running door to door. They weren’t great at saying “thank you” but wished each door a “Happy Halloween!” before leaving. They’ve all been enjoying the candy.

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Firecracker Shrimp Bowties

Carolyn — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:22:51 +0000

Firecracker Shrimp Bowties

1 lb frozen raw shrimp
1 pkg snap peas (or snow peas)
1-2 tomatoes, deseeded and chopped.
4 tbsp jarred pesto
A good drizzle of olive oil
1 lb bowtie pasta (also called farfalle)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4-1/2 tsp dried red chili flakes
Salt and pepper

Get your shrimp running under cold water in a colander for 5 minutes to defrost them. Also put on a big pot of water and salt it for your pasta.

While you are waiting for your shrimp to defrost and water to boil, you can start de-stringing your pea pods. This is the only tedious part. Grab the tip of one end and pull the string until it comes out the other end. Do this to all your pea pods and then cut them in half. To deseed your tomato, you cut it in half (with the tomato sitting face up on your cutting board), and then stick your fingers inside and pull out all the juicy seedy parts. Leave all the tomato flesh inside. This will make your sauce taste much better.

Put your pasta in the boiling water. De-shell the shrimp once they are defrosted as well as remove the tail. Put a frying pan on medium-high heat with a tablespoon or so of olive oil. Once the pan is nice and hot, throw in your shrimp and season with salt, pepper, chili flakes and garlic powder. They should really only take 1 to 2 minutes to cook. You just want them to have barely turned pink. Remove them from the pan onto a plate and add your pea pods to the frying pan. Sauté for 2 to 3 minutes and then add the tomatoes and sauté for another 1 or 2 minutes. You can then turn off the heat, add the pesto and a good healthy dose of olive oil. It’s an olive oil based sauce so be pretty liberal with it. You can also add your shrimp back to the sauce.

Once the pasta has cooked to al dente, drain and add the veggie/shrimp/olive oil sauce. Dish up and serve with French bread slices and sprinkle with a bit of parmesan.

From foodbuzz.com

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David’s First Day of Preschool

Carolyn — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 03:01:42 +0000

David had his first day of preschool September 13. He loves it. I think the second day of school I started a carpool with his cute classmate Kelly. When he saw that I had come to take him home instead of Kelly’s mom he started crying. He so wanted to ride with with Kelly in her blue van. After finding out she was coming in the car with us he was all smiles again. Cute kid. He does a great job identifying and tracing letters and I’m told he’s pretty bright among his peers. I love seeing him sporting his backpack around the house all day. So stinking cute. In the picture below where the group is in their party hats, his class had a VIP (Very Important Person) party where they learned how special they were and sang a song “I’m a VIP, I’m a VIP…” I asked David what does VIP mean. Response: “Umm…I don’t know,” “like when you have to pee?” That’s our three year old. He has the funniest faces in pictures these days. Here are a few.

And the best for last. Here’s the picture he took in class on the first day of school for his attendance/name card. Hilarious! I love this kid.

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First Day of Kindergarten!

Carolyn — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 13:53:04 +0000

Mikey had his first day of Kindergarten yesterday. He was so excited and nervous and loved every minute of it. I asked him what was his least favorite thing and most favorite thing about school. He thought for a minute and then said play time and recess. Trying to figure out why he didn’t like play time I asked “What did you do for play time? It wasn’t very fun?” He responded, “Mom, what does least favorite mean?” Turns out play time was his favorite and recess another favorite. So cute. He read The Kissing Hand book and brought home the cutest little picture with his finger prints and a tree. He handed me his folder and smiling said, “You have homework.” Some papers I needed to fill out. He’s now excited for helper days starting in October, the 100 day of school party, little cartons of milk during snack time, and playing with Legos and the castle at play time today. It’s hard to believe our little boy is so grown-up.

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Lazy Days of Summer

Carolyn — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 06:37:11 +0000

Last days of summer are here and I cannot believe it. Yesterday was such an ideal summer day -despite beginning with somewhat dismal weather. Mikey and David enjoyed a wet session of soccer camp in the morning; we had friends over for lunch and a play date; I enjoyed an afternoon nap; and the boys played outside with neighborhood friends literally all evening. I called them in for dinner, they gobbled it up and ran back outside. I cleaned up dinner put Douglas down for bed then played the piano for an hour while watching the boys out the window play and play with about six neighborhood friends. It was so relaxing. The sunset was beautiful from the stormy weather and I spent a few minutes sitting on the deck savoring the children’s laughter on one of the last days of summer.

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Pinnacles Overlook, Badlands, South Dakota Panorama

Dan — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 03:21:40 +0000

First turn off past the Pinnacles entrance to Badlands, National Park, see the family in the far left admiring the view.

Pinnacles Overlook, Badlands, South Dakota Panorama

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Sunset at Sage Creek Overlook, Badlands, South Dakota Panorama

Dan — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 01:56:15 +0000

Two panoramas taken from Sage Creek overlook at Badlands National Park, South Dakota taken a few minutes apart at sunset and dusk. These are HDR bracketed photos that are fused and then stitched such that there are actually 5 photos with 3 exposures (15) per panorama taken with a Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 lens at wide-angle. Big thunderstorm seen in the horizon and a nice view of the basin with the Badlands seen towards the far left.

Sage Creek Sunset, Badlands Panorama

Sage Creek Dusk, Badlands Panorama

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Light & Dark: Moonrise, Sunrise, Sunset over South Dakota Video Panorama Montage

Dan — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 01:34:01 +0000

This is a video montage of scenes that I took in South Dakota. In order: Moonrise at Fossil Trail, Badlands National Park, South Dakota, Sunrise at Custer State Park, South Dakota, Sunset at Sage Creek Basin Overlook, Badlands National Park, South Dakota. Enjoy! (Try it in 1080p if you have the bandwidth)

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Sheep Mountain Table, Badlands, South Dakota Panorama

Dan — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 04:22:01 +0000

After a grueling off-road trip through treacherous terrain we arrived at Sheep Mountain Table, Badlands, South Dakota a vista off the beaten path of the southern Badlands where these pictures were taken. We got the whole family plopped on the edge of one of the drop offs to get some of the scenic background from our trip onto our kitchen wall. Enjoy the view.

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Stair Climber

Carolyn — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:21:30 +0000

Douglas believes he has mastered the stairs- if only he knew how to safely get down. We tried to teach him but he thought it was a game and would scoot down, sit, and fall over backwards laughing.

First for Everything

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Gymnastics Camp

Carolyn — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:05:07 +0000

Mikey did a week at summer camp and learned a few gymnastic tricks. He is now more ambitious and daring; climbing the trees in our backyard and hanging upside-down. He also wants to learn to do a cartwheel. The theme of the camp was “The Circus” so he was all painted up to be a lion/cheetah in the final performance (guess he wanted to be a cheetah, but had made a lion mask during craft time, so he was both). I wish they’d actually learned more gymnastics during the camp, but Mikey had a great time trying out all the equipment and playing in the giant foam pit. David was so sad that he couldn’t participate- he’s not 3 yet.

Here Mikey had just walked out of the back room. They were all so cute dressed up like a big circus. Each group rotated between about 5 different sections around the room. He’s getting ready to jump across the trampoline into the foam pit.

Balancing on the beam- he could walk all the way across it by himself without falling off.

There were all so focused and serious- it was fun with the circus music playing in the background.

I am so proud of our little gymnast. Gotta love his little growling cheetah face. This was the first time ever he let someone “paint” his face. He kept it on all day and we happened to be going to the doctor for Douglas’ checkup- the nurses thought he had some sort of rash. Was quite humorous.

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Harney Peak, South Dakota Panorama

Dan — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 04:48:32 +0000

This is the tallest peak in South Dakota, elevation 7,244 ft, and about a 3.5 mile trek with over 1,000 ft ascent from Sylvan Lake where we were camping. It took about 4 hours for Mikey and I to summit to the top, and boy was I proud of my little guy — the only 5 year old we saw all morning even attempting it! Carolyn, Douglas, and David made it about half way before turning back, but Carolyn got to hike it by herself on the third day we were there while the boys and I attempted to go geocaching with no reception and a dead GPS battery (epic fail but nothing that a little ice cream couldn’t mend). Anyways, breathtaking panorama and what a view!

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Moonrise Panorama Fossil Trail, Badlands National Park

Dan — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 02:16:20 +0000

I’ve been wanting to get some pictures of the Milky Way Galaxy and our trip to the Badlands was the perfect opportunity for dark skies except for one thing — my vacation time fell into a full moon week, drat! Nevertheless, on our last night in South Dakota while meandering to our little cabin at the Cedar Pass Lodge, Carolyn urged that we just stop and shoot the night sky before the moon came up. So the boys pulled out the bedding underneath the stars and gazed as I setup shop with 30 second exposures across the horizon to compile into this panorama. The southern band of the Milky Way is visible to the right and towards the far left is the big dipper. This was by far one of the most exciting and memorable shots that I’ve taken so far.

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Sunflower Sunset in South Dakota

Dan — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 14:10:16 +0000

As we were driving yesterday evening through the farmlands of South Dakota just west of the rolling hills of the Missouri river banks we were enveloped by field after field of yellow sunflowers staring at as we ventured towards the setting sun. We pulled over and trod towards the sunflowers, braving the mosquitos to capture one of the most simple yet picturesque places that I have been. Here are a few of the shots that I composited on my laptop. Click the images for their full sizes.

Sunflower Sunset - Tokina 11-16mm at 11mm f2.8 bracketed +/- 2 stop HDR composite, tripod mounted

Sunflower Fields - Canon 75-300mm single shot cropped

Moonrise - Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 single shot uncropped, handheld

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Winner!

Carolyn — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 04:42:35 +0000

Today is my lucky day! Usually it is Dan that win’s everything around here, but today I am the lucky winner. Due to a random number generator I won some pretty cool kits. I’m stoked!

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Niagara Falls from Maid of the Mist Observation Tower Panorama

Dan — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 04:26:46 +0000

Overlooking Niagara Falls from the Maid of the Mist Observation Tower. New York and American Falls to the left, Horseshoe Falls and Ontario to the right. Maid of the Mist boat seen touring the falls.

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Montreal Mont Royal City Overlook Panorama

Dan — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 04:28:32 +0000

Skyline view of Montreal, Quebec from Mont Royal park on a beautiful afternoon.

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Bluffer’s Park Toronto Panorama

Dan — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 02:50:50 +0000

Loved this park as a kid and would come down here to feed the geese and pelt pebbles at the seagulls. We pit-stopped here on the way out of Toronto, the bluffs seem to have shrunk, or rather, my perspective probably ascended four feet from the last time I was here.

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Sunset on the Beach, Gloucester, Massachusetts Panorama

Dan — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 20:41:56 +0000

Perhaps one of the prettiest sunsets that I’ve seen and experienced, this panorama of the beach in Gloucester, Massachusetts shows the boys and nephews playing in the sand, and towards the sun you can make out the large sand maze that Uncle Dan drew. This is also the same night that we had taken the family picture on the beach.

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Toronto Zoo Buffalo Panorama

Dan — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 20:34:35 +0000

No these are not wild, nor are they in any exotic national park, but rather at the Toronto Zoo. I couldn’t resist taking a panorama from my vantage point though, so here it is.

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Cannon Mountain, New Hampshire Panorama

Dan — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 20:07:35 +0000

Driving through New Hampshire we stopped by Cannon Mountain and ascended to the summit in the gondola. It was a stormy day, but nevertheless we got a nice view from the vista.

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