Do you remember the boots from the last post? They are for Sassy’s horseback riding lessons. After postponing the lessons twice due to snow-related problems, she finally had her first lesson last week. I knew that she really wanted to learn to ride because she didn’t bat an eye when I told her she had to wear boots and jeans. This is a girl who hasn’t worn jeans since she was three years old because she won’t wear pants with buttons. She had so much fun at the lesson and can’t wait for the next one. After dragging her to all of Sporty’s baseball, basketball and soccer games, I’m so glad she’s found something she enjoys. She glared at me when I took pictures of her during the lesson, but that’s the price she’ll have to pay. The camera goes with the boots and jeans.

Snow is a big deal in the Seattle area, mostly because there aren’t enough snow plows, so the entire area practically shuts down when it snows. Also, the many hills make driving in the snow/ice quite an adventure. It’s better just to stay home in front of the fire, curled up with a cup of tea and a good book.

The beauty of my bridge in the winter gave me an idea for this year’s Christmas card. No, it’s never too early to think about Christmas. So I dragged everyone down to the bridge for some photos. Since I’m usually the photographer, I’m rarely in pictures with my kids. But I don’t want them to look back and think that I was never around. Haha!

And once this snow lets up, you’ll find out why Sassy is wearing cowboy boots (besides looking absolutely adorable). Stay tuned!

This little guy has been a joyful disruption in a former family of two. He runs his parents around and causes them to lose sleep, but they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Here he is with his favorite bunny, going “night night”.

He loves to cook with his dad and already knows that onions and garlic are for smelling and not for biting.

My sports nut of a son is playing three sports this season. Yes, you read that correctly, THREE. Before you scream, “Are you crazy?” I have to lay all the blame on my husband. He innocently thought that none of the three sports would take up very much time, which is true, but the three of them combined means that Sporty is in some sort of sports activity 5 out of 7 days of the week. Thankfully, said crazy husband is the one who is shuttling said nutty son to all of the practices.

Sporty is playing soccer, flag football, and baseball this season. Unfortunately, I have to make do with my pitifully short 80-200mm lens. In order to capture superior images in future sporting seasons, I absolutely must have a longer lens. Ahem.

I recently returned from a 3-week trip to Taiwan. My husband did an amazing job holding down the fort at home while my mom and I toured the island and visited relatives. In my previous visits, I had only seen the cities where my family lived. On this trip, though, the tour took us to the mountainous eastern side of the island as well as some coastal regions.

The green mountains surrounding the Taroko Gorge reminded me of the scenery from the TV show Lost (filmed in Hawaii).

Turtle Island is off the eastern coast of Taiwan. Does it look like a turtle to you?

The charming little village of Checheng.

We stayed in several 5-star hotels on our tour, including the Lalu on Sun Moon Lake. This lotus is floating in the reflecting pool, which flows over the edge of the building.

In Taipei, we went to the 2-28 Museum, which tells the story of thousands of people who were executed by the Chinese Nationalist government following an uprising by disillusioned and disenfranchised Taiwanese citizens. My grandfather, circled in red, was one of the victims (my dad is circled in blue in the photo below my grandfather’s). My grandfather’s body was never found, but it’s likely he was shot and dumped into the ocean (as seen in the sketch).

Of course, a trip to Taiwan would not be complete without a mention of all the incredible food. My favorite: xiao long bao at Din Tai Fung, which is so much better in Taipei than it is in Bellevue.

And in spite of all the beautiful places I saw, I have to admit that the following two pictures are my favorites. I made sure I always went to the bathroom when clean toilets were available so that I could avoid the notorious squatty potties.

We took the kids to Northern California on their first extended road trip last month. Surprisingly, they did really well in the car, and we didn’t even have to resort to using a DVD player. On our way back, we drove up the coast and stopped by the sand dunes in Oregon (near the Eel Creek Campground). It was incredible! From some vantage points, all you could see was 360 degrees of sand, and you could almost imagine yourself lost in the Sahara Desert. We definitely want to go back there and maybe rent some dune buggies to explore the area.

Sassy lost her front tooth last week, and if it’s possible for her to get any cuter, she has. She talks with a little lisp, and when she smiles, the gap in her teeth is adorable, if I do say so myself.

Sporty is a total sports nut. He plays baseball, soccer, basketball, and football. He’ll watch all those sports, as well as golf, hockey, tennis…you get the picture. Baseball is his favorite, and this year, he’s playing spring, summer, and fall baseball. I’ve been designated the team photographer this season, and I have to admit that it gets boring after a while. Baseball is a lot of sitting around and then 30 seconds of excitement, then back to sitting around. I mean, really, how many pictures do you really need of your child at bat? My husband begs to differ, so I go on shooting. My friend Caroline has gotten some great shots of her son sliding into second base and tagging a runner out at home plate. But I don’t have the patience to hold the camera to my eye for 2 hours in hopes of getting that one great shot. Hubby says that I just lack the enthusiasm. True, true…

To combat my boredom, I enlisted Sporty to pose for some shots. He was completely unenthusiastic, but that’s what you get when you’re a photographer’s child. I was excited by the shots I got, but my husband was particularly interested in the shot I got of the ball that nailed Sporty in the nose when he foul tipped it. In consideration of my child’s privacy (haha!), I didn’t get any shots of blood gushing from his nose or of him crying on the bench. It turned out that he was crying because he thought he would have to sit out the rest of the game, not because he was in pain.

::sniff, sniff:: My baby graduated from kindergarten. I know, it’s just kindergarten, but I can’t believe Sassy is already 6 years old and going into first grade. I wasn’t sure how she would perform on stage because last year, she completely froze during her pre-K Christmas concert. She was so proud to be the loudest vocalist during rehearsals, but when she got to the actual performance, she had a major case of stage fright. This year, though, she sang with all the hand motions, she recited Psalm 1 with the rest of her classmates, and she announced that she wanted to be an artist when she grew up. The when-I-grow-up pronouncements are the best part of the kindergarten graduation. When Sporty graduated, there were a ton of future veterinarians. This year, there were a lot of artists and scientists. My favorite of the evening: I want to be a Ninja rock star.

We had activities every day over the Memorial Day weekend. After our picnic today, I was wiped out, so I took a long nap after we got home. By the time I woke up, it was dinner time, and we all piled into the car to go out. When I looked in the backseat at Sassy, her hair looked kind of strange…kind of ragged. Maybe it was the lighting. But when I looked closer, I saw that she had chopped off the hair in the front. She said that it kept getting in her face. ::sigh:: I guess that will teach me to leave her unsupervised.