john and hiroe: October 2008

Halloween 10/31/08

Junior's Halloween starts with the pumpkins...

...and ends as a pumpkin.

Junior's Class 10/28/08

Today was Junior and Hiroe's last day of their Mom and Baby class. Does this mean he graduated?

Another passport photo attempt 10/15/08

So I set out again tonight in pursuit of a great passport photo. A simple setup in the living room yielded the following photo.

Not bad, but I didn't like the background or the lighting. Nevertheless, I'm finally able to capture him smiling for the camera.

Still not happy with the background and lighting, I decided to set up the studio. The results were much improved.

Junior seemed to like the new studio too.

It's fun shooting digital. Taking volumes of photos can yield some classics.

And you can have some fun too!

I wonder if Hiroe will let me leave the studio set up for a while. My guess is yes :-).

passport photo 10/14/08

Took some photos of Junior tonight. Hoping to get a good passport photo. This one is not bad if they don't mind the fist. We'll give it a try...

He's getting big!

University of Minnesota Arboretum 10/11/08

Today we went to the University of Minnesota Arboretum. Thought we'd check out the fall colors and let Junior see a Minnesota fall - all from the comfort of his cushy car seat.

The colors were amazing, and the place was crowded. We weren't the only ones who had this idea.

Families were everywhere.

I think there were at least 3 weddings going on while we were there.

But that didn't deter us from exploring.

While looking around we came upon one area dedicated to Crabapple trees.

The unique attraction to these trees for us is that we planted a Crabapple tree for Junior in our from yard. It was the closest we could come to a Cherry tree in this climate. From a previous post...

Anyway, we decided to let Junior pose for a picture by a full grown version of his tree.

Don't know that he appreciated the moment.

And, no, he didn't spend the entire time in his car seat.

He got to do things like pose for a family picture.

Or one with mom. That's either a stretch or some "power to the people" arm gesture.

Papa.

I enjoyed watching this group drive by. They were having so much fun. It was the perfect Sunday drive day!

Later I saw this bee hive. It seemed to be vacated... and safe hopefully.

But regardless we kept our distance - here I am taking the above picture.

And a pause for a family picture. Juniors hat didn't fit quite right, but it will fit even worse next year so he only has one chance to wear it. Don't think he appreciated this moment either.

Yes, he did sleep through the entire outing. Guess we need to come back again next year so he can see what he missed.

Random shots 10/9/08

A couple of random shots....
Junior is pretty elusive when it comes to smiling for the camera. This is about the closest we've come so far. He really does smile. Really.

I assume this is comfortable. It kind of hurts looking at it, though.

Update 10/06/08

Time for an update, huh? Wondering what's been going on?
Well... we planted Junior's tree. It's japanese custom to plant a tree when a baby is born. Junior gets a crabapple that should bloom all summer. It's the closest thing we could get to a cherry tree for this climate.