Baby Raccoons

Hubby dear was on his way to the Laundry Room, one block away, when he heard some noises coming from the tree outside the Laundry Room. He looked up and was pleasantly surprised to see two baby raccoons, playing on the lower tree branches. He ran home, grabbed the camera, went back and took a couple of photos.

They were two playful babies! And sure were making a lot of noises! Hubby dear showed our two little neighbours and their mom the raccoons. The two little boys were so fascinated, that they stood under the tree for almost half an hour, watching the baby raccoons. The raccoons did went higher up the tree when they saw a crowd =)

I remembered last year, two huge raccoons were trapped in the trash bin while scavenging for food late at night. It was easy for them to climb in, but there was no way they could climb out after that! They were afraid, and they were cuddling each other very tightly when we spotted them in the bin. Although they were considered to be pests, we were not keen to have them killed by the garbage trucks that would be coming later. Not knowing how to rescue them, we called the police. A police officer came and put a thick long stick into the bin. Moments later, the two huge raccoons climbed out, and disappeared into the woods behind our neighbourhood.

Seeing the baby raccoons this afternoon, makes me wonder if they are babies of the two raccoons trapped in the bin last year =)

Summer Vacation - Boston

Summer vacation is a three-month affair. Imagine, no school for three months! Hence, the kids here equate Summer to School's Out! I still remembered visiting my boy's class in First Grade, and when we introduced Singapore as "Summer all year round", one boy asked "Does it mean there's no school for the whole year?!".

With such a long break from school, we had to plan some activities for the boys. A vacation inclusive, as the housekeeper (that's me!) needs a break from her 24/7 work too! We had actually make plans to visit Yellowstone National Park in August. However, an email from a dear old friend of hubby dear led to an early vacation in June, to Boston! Hubby dear's old friend would be in New York for a business trip, and asked if we were keen to meet up. He could meet us either in New York, or Boston. Hubby dear eagerly and happily agreed to the meet up ... Boston, it would be!

Our accommodation was at the Beacon Hill area, and getting there from the Airport was a breeze! We chose not to drive, as parking could be a headache in downtown Boston. Walking is the best way to explore the town, and if you are tired of walking, take the subway, bus or train! We bought a 7-day MTBA link pass each, at $15. Kids under 11 travel free with an accompanying adult. Sweet, isn't it? And so, we spent our 5 days in Boston, walking and taking the subway =)

After we got out from the subway, we walked along the busy street (lots of cars on the road!) towards our hotel. I had to stop a couple of times, partly to adjust the weight of the luggage on my back, and to admire the architecture of the buildings at the Beacon Hill area! I'm in love with these red-brick buildings! Here's another shot of the buildings along Charles Street, on a slope.

And don't you just love the Post Office?

And through the lovely Public Garden ..... to meet the Ducklings!

Make Way for Ducklings is a children's book by Robert McCloskey. This bronze sculpture in the Public Garden, of Mother Duck and her eight ducklings, is constructed by Nancy Schon. On the day of our first visit to Boston and the Public Garden, we saw that the ducklings were dressed in the Bruin's jerseys! Yes, that was the day of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup, with the Boston Bruins playing against the Canucks from Vancouver, Canada. Bruins' fans celebrated their victory late into the night. I was nursing a terrible sore-throat that night, and was woken by the noises, ahem, I meant the cheers of celebration, and only managed to fall asleep around 2am, when things quieten down.

Ducks and ducklings, swimming leisurely in the pond on a warm Wednesday afternoon. The boys spent almost half an hour standing by the pond, taking photographs of the ducks and ducklings, of birds and squirrels. Here's a picture of the Garden by the pond.

We saw wedding couples taking photographs by the pond. An old man was busking, playing a wedding song for the bride and groom, with his bored-looking dog lying beside him.

And we were off to find dinner. Something nice to fill the stomach, after all the walking. Something nice to treat ourselves, since we were on vacation. Hubby dear opted for seafood, and hence, we ended up at Legal Seafood.

Hubby dear ordered a seafood combo ... the bowl of rice was not captured in the picture. Even without the rice, it was a huge portion! The food was not bad, but in my opinion, the seafood combo hubby dear had at Monterey was a lot better.

I ordered some fish dish with rice, while the kids had their kids' meal of pizza with fish and chips. Even the kids' portion was huge.

We were so stuffed after dinner! Luckily, we got a workout walking back ... it was a 30-minute walk back to our hotel. The boys would have to sleep early, since they had woken up early to catch the flight to Boston. Tomorrow will be another day of walking ... we will be going on the Freedom Trail!

Happy Father's Day!

Father's Day is this Sunday, June 19. It's too early to say "Happy Father's Day". However, since we will be in Boston on Sunday, I see no harm in having the kids give their Papa, their cards and presents earlier.

Just a simple card. Simple enough for me to prepare, and simple enough for the kids to assemble. The kids chose the embellishment they want for their card, and I helped them cut the paper.

Darling son KW opted for big "DAD". Just stick and paste. He was more interested in writing on the inside of the card than "decorating" the card. He didn't refuse though, when I offered him the star hand held punch, to add more "interest" to his card. Can you see the stars on the bottom right corner of the card?

Darling son YW, on the other hand, was very keen in decorating the card. When asked if he would like a ribbon on the card ... OK! How about stamping on the card? YES! And so, he happily stuck the ribbon and embellishment, stamped the inside and outside of the card, and wrote. A lot more work than his GorGor's card =) And he was all smiles after completing the card.

To all fathers, here's wishing you a very Happy Father's Day!

School's Out!

School has ended, and Summer is here! Summer camp, swimming, tennis, soccer ... you name it, they've got it in the programme at the local sports and recreation club.

My boys' swimming class will only start in two weeks' time, while my friend's kids will only be going for their Summer Camp next week. We decided to bring our kids to the Olbrich Garden, for a day of fun and play, since the sun's out! A day of fun awaiting ... for two moms, four active boys, and a very sweet girl ...

We love the flowers in the Garden! Take a look at these beauties!

The kids were tired after the walking, and we took a short break under the shade of this huge tree.

Love the green, love the colors, love the space and the clear blue sky!

The boys were happy to be running up and down the slope ... but we had to be careful not to disturb the birds ....

We had fun, and the afternoon passed by quickly. The boys were exhausted by the time we got home. They really dislike walking in the heat, but with good company, they have no complaints =)

Birthday Cards

What kind of card says "whoop-dee-dooo!"?

Open the card and the inside reads :

Happy Birthday, We are helping you stretch the celebration!

I popped the bee, which was part of the stamped image, and added some liquid pearl to the centre of the flowers. Happy belated birthday, Judith! Hope you like the card =)

How about this one?

It was only after I took a photograph of the card that I realized I should have used the same card stock for both the card base and the square piece to mount the mouse on. The finished card didn't look too bad despite the color difference.

Happy belated birthday, Anna!

No worries, no extra calories intake from the cake =P

Nikon D7000

Our new camera has finally arrived! Nikon D7000! Our old D70 has mold inside the lens, as well as inside the camera. Photographs taken had white spots on them, and the card slot seemed to be faulty as well. Photographs uploaded onto my laptop could not be read, and "disappeared" completed. Lost and gone forever. This had happened quite a few times. It was very frustrating, especially when they were photographs taken during trips. So we decided to invest in another DSLR, since the old was almost seven years old. We bought it when my little boy was born =)

Our first shot. No flash used, taken at night under orange light. What do you think? What you see is what we captured. I did not photoshop the picture. In my opinion, the lens and the focus are pretty sharp. I foresee lots of usage out of this camera, both indoors and out, day and night.

How about this one? I did up the contrast and a little of the color.

The picture was taken from inside the apartment with the zoom (18-200mm) lens. The flowers were just outside my living room window. There was the window pane, followed by the window mesh, then the flowers. The new camera definitely did a great job in capturing the flowers, as compared to when using a point and shoot.

I'm happy with our purchase, and looking forward to purchasing the Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.8 lens. It is suppose to be good for portraits and low-light photography. And not to mention, it produces sharp images and is reasonably affordable.

It has been raining and I cannot bring the camera out for outdoor shots.

Looking forward to better weather!

Bird in Distress

The weather had warmed up, and the temperature had gone up to a high of 34C! We left all our windows open and since it was cooler in the living room, we were there most of the time.

It was almost 2.30pm when I heard continuous chirping coming from my bedroom. And so, I went up to the bedroom to check. To my surprise, I found a tiny bird perched on the ledge outside the window, chirping away. He didn't seem to be intimated by my presence. Birds usually do not land on window ledge, and when they do, they will fly away the moment they sense that there is someone approaching.

And so, I watched this little fellow for a while. He didn't seem to have the intention of flying away. In fact, he turned around to look at me, and started chirping away again, as if he was trying to tell me something. Are you injured? Are you lost? I would love to help, but I just couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. I also did not want to scare the bird. So I decided that I should just wait and see.

At 4.30pm, I noticed that the bird had moved from one side of my window to the other. Still chirping away, with no intention of flying away. His hard work of continuous chirping paid off, as after a while, I saw a similar bird flying by, and landed beside the stranded bird. I was watching them at a distance away, so the second bird didn't fly away. However, when I approached the window, trying to take a photograph of the two birds together, it flew away even before I reached the window.

Not wanting to frighten the second bird, as he might be able to help the stranded bird, I moved away from the window, watching them at a respectable distance. Sure enough, the bird flew back, cautiously, as it now perched on a tree branch instead of the window ledge. He was chirping away loudly, and so did the stranded bird.

The next thing I knew, there was four to five bigger birds that came, all perched on the higher branches, chirping away. It was like an orchestra! What a sight! I got really excited when I saw the robin and the red cardinal! I ran to the window with my camera, oops, and frightened the two bigger birds perched on the lower branches. I did, however, managed to take a picture of the robin and carinal, since they were perched high up in the tree.

Then I turned to the window ledge to check on the stranded bird.

It was gone! It was now hopping and chirping away on the ground, with the other bird! They flew away after a while.

I was really glad that it was just lost, and not injured. And he managed to be reunited with his friend. What an experience!