Photos: Lantern Home

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Lydia is carrying a lantern with her right hand to commemorate the Moon Festival while holding her mom's hand with her left hand.

Julie Song, one of SiowFong's coworkers, graciously allowed us to borrow her daughter's lantern, inside which is an incandescent bulb, for the lantern walk tonight during the Families with Children from China dinner at the China Harbor restaurant; however, Lydia did not need to use it as the organizers supplied all the children with paper lanterns that did not have any light source. After we returned home from the dinner, SiowFong gave Lydia a chance to use a real lantern.


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Lydia is looking at the lantern as she is carrying it and Tiger while her mom follows her and monitors her.

Note: Both of these pictures were taken on September 26, 2008 in the street in front of our home.

Photo note: Off-camera flash was used to provide the only light for these pictures as the porch lights of our neighbors was too dim to give enough illumination for these night shots, especially since Lydia and SiowFong were moving. As you can see from the pictures, the light is coming from my right (Lydia's left and SiowFong's left). To soften the harsh light from a single flash unit, the flash was mounted on a lightstand and shot through a white umbrella.

Photos: Families With Children from China Dinner

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(left to right): Ma Wee, Lydia, Rosalie Miller, and SiowFong (who is videotaping)

Rosalie Miller, one of my former colleagues, is also an adoptive parent of a daughter from China, and when she saw us at another table, she came to say hello.

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Ma Wee and Lydia, who is examining the paper lantern given to her tonight

At the end of this evening's festivities, the children walked around the restaurant while carrying these paper lanterns to commemorate the Moon Cake Festival (which is also called the Mid-Autumn Festival). "The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar, the other being the Chinese New Year, and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomeloes together." (Source: Wikipedia)

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Ma Wee and Lydia are watching a group of children who are performing various Chinese dances

Note: These pictures were taken on September 26, 2008 during the Families with Children from China dinner to celebrate the Moon Festival at the China Harbor restaurant in Seattle, WA.

Photos: Port Townsend, Scenery

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Lighthouse at Fort Casey State Park

Whidbey Island, Washington

Note: Since most lighthouses all over America have been museums for decades, some of them are in disrepair, but this one at Fort Casey had been well maintained over the years.

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Washington state ferry

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Barnacle-covered crab

Notice how well the crab's exterior colors blend with its surroundings.

Photo note: Wildlife pictures, like landscapes, are usually best taken near sunrise and sunset when the light is even and soft. After taking some sunrise pictures this morning of Discovery Bay on the beach adjacent to the Chevy Chase Beach Cabins in Port Townsend where we stayed, I found this crab on the beach around 6:30 AM.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on September 7, 2008.

Photos: Port Townsend, Fun Time

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With Ma Wee observing, Lydia is playing with bubbles, one of her favorite pasttimes.

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More bubbles

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Lydia is sharing a vanilla ice cream cone with her mom.

Notes: All of these pictures were taken on September 6, 2008 after dinner on the back porch of Cabin 4, one of seven cabins at Chevy Chase Beach Cabins in Port Townsend, Washington.

Phil and Alison Wallace, local friends who have two elementary aged sons, highly recommended that we stay at Chevy Chase Beach Cabins if we ever visited Port Townsend.

The Chevy Chase Beach Cabins' website states, "Cabin 4 is the quintessential getaway. Its cliffside perch offers sweeping views from the living room and bedroom, as well as a private deck to watch the sun set over Discovery Bay and the Olympic Mountains. This completely refurbished cabin features a new kitchen, living room, and bathroom, and a king-sized bed in a cozy wood-paneled bedroom."

Photos: Port Townsend, Ebey Beach

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Lydia, who is wearing her yellow galoshes, and her mom, who is wearing her waterproof gardening boots, are walking on the beach.

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Lydia and mom are standing in the surf.

Note: Both of these pictures were taken on September 7, 2008 at Ebey Beach on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington.

Photos: Port Townsend, Tracing Lines

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Lydia and mom are walking towards our car.

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Lydia is trying to walk on the painted white numbers that label lane ten.

Taking a ferry usually requires some waiting time because we arrive early to make sure that we do not miss the ferry. During this waiting time, SiowFong, Lydia, and I leave our parked car and walk around the terminal.

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Lydia is do her balance-beam walking on the white stripe that separates two lanes.

Notice Lydia's concentration as her head and her eyes are focused on the location of the white line.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on September 7, 2008 at the ferry terminal in Kingston, Washington.

Photos: Port Townsend, Ferry Ride

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Lydia is sitting on the window ledge. Her feet do not quite reach the seat.

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Lydia and mom, who is reading some travel brochures about the Olympic Peninsula and Port Townsend that she found on the ferry

SiowFong does at least ninety percent plus of the travel planning and packing for our in-state and out-of-state trips to visit places, so the credit for the good outcome of these vacations is due to Lydia mom's preparations.

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Ma Wee and Lydia

Note: All of these picutres were taken on September 5, 2008 on the ferry ride from Edmonds, Washington to Kingston, Washington, a 30-minute journey.

Photo note: Illumination was provided by an on-camera, Nikon SB-800 flash whose flash head was aimed at the ceiling to give even lighting of the ferry's interior.

Photos: Port Townsend, Dungeness Spit

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Lydia is walking on a large driftwood log on the beach while holding onto mom's hand. For the last few months Lydia has relished doing these balance beam-like walks.

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Lydia and mom are enjoying some snacks on the beach.

Photo note: Notice how harsh and uneven the sunlight even at 4:00 PM. The best beach pictures and portraits occur 30 minutes around sunset or sunrise, the two times of the day when the light is much more even.

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This picture, which was taken in the tree-shaded portion of the trail to the beach, portrays why the area is named a spit since the land extends like a narrow peninsula into the distance.

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Lydia and mom are resting while enjoying their afternoon snack.

Ma Wee, who did not want to hike down to the beach, was sitting on the tree-shaded trail a few hundred yards away where she could see all the action on the beach.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on September 6, 2008 between 3:40 PM and 4:00 PM at Dungeness Spit National Monument on the northern part of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state near Port Angeles, Washington.

Photos: Port Townsend, Farmer's Market

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(from left to right): In the right foreground are Ma Wee, mom, and SiowFong as they listen to a performance by a local Port Townsend band that was providing entertainment during the Farmers Market.

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The local band

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Lydia and Ma Wee

SiowFong plans a few local weekend trips for Ma Wee each time she visits us. Ma Wee's five-month stay in 2007 included trips to Port Angeles (Washington), Victoria (British Columbia), Vancouver (British Columbia), and Whistler (British Columbia). Ma Wee's 2008 stay with us included visits to the Mount Baker Wilderness Area, Port Townsend, and Port Angeles, all of which are in Washington.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on September 6, 2008 during the regular Saturday morning Farmers Market in Port Townsend, Washington.

Photos: Home Portraits

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Lydia, her favorite Tigger (the medium sized one on the right), and another smaller Tigger

Since Mary Dietsch, one of SiowFong's longtime friends, gave the medium sized Tigger to Lydia in August 2007, Lydia and "Tiger" (she does not call him Tigger even though she knows that Tigger is his name from the various Winnie the Pooh books and two Winnie the Pooh videos) have been inseparable companions. When Lydia was asked to list everyone in her family earlier this summer, she mentioned mommy, daddy, pour pour (Ma Wee), and Tiger.

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Ma Wee and Lydia (as well as the two Tiggers)

The main reason for today's portrait session was to obtain a few pictures that SiowFong could add to the final selections of the Kodak Gallery photo book that she is making for her mom as a special gift before her mom returns to Malaysia in early October. The 61 page photo book will include pictures from January 2007 through September 2008.

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Ma Wee, mom, Lydia, "Tiger" x 2, and dad

Note: All of these pictures were taken on September 1, 2008 in the dining room of our home.

Photos: Panda Umbrella

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Lydia is holding the toddler-sized blue umbrella that her auntie MayLee gave to her in June 2008 when auntie MayLee visited our home and accompanied Ma Wee (Lydia's "pour pour" or maternal grandmother) on the long international flight from Singapore.
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Lydia is holding the umbrella, which her aunt purchased for her in Melbourne, Australia, the city where auntie MayLee has lived for many years.

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Lydia extends her right arm as she lifts her umbrella high.

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Lydia is probably thinking something like "How about placing the umbrella on my head?"

Note: All of these pictures were taken on September 1, 2008 in the dining room of our home.

Photos: Lydia and Kyvin

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Kyvin and Lydia are enjoying each other's company in Kyvin's playroom, which is located on the bottom floor of the split-level home.

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Children enjoy mimicking each other. After Kyvin began placing a blue plastic rubber ring atop his head, Lydia started doing the same thing.

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Dad is reading a story to Lydia and Kyvin.

Photographer: Mayfanna Li

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Kyvin and Lydia are playing with Kyvin's train set.

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While Lydia is examining a syringe from Kyvin's doctor's kit, Kyvin is handling a stethoscope.

Note: These pictures were taken on August 27, 2008 in the children's playroom at the home of Matt, Mayfanna, Kyvin, and Kayla Kaing during a play date that Lydia had with Kyvin.

Photos: Lydia and Andrew

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Andrew, one of my coworker' sons who is 17 months of age, came over to our home for a play date with Lydia. We also planned for some portraits of Andrew today because his stepmother and my coworker, Becca, had to cancel his portrait session at Yuen Lui during the last weekend in August (the end of their semiannual Children's Portrait Special) because Andrew fell against a coffee table edge at home and sustained a sizeable cut on his face the day before his portrait appointment.

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Before I took about a hundred of Andrew's portraits, I asked Lydia to pose for the camera to make sure that the lighting was correct.

Note: Both of these pictures were taken on August 23, 2008 in the upper landing area of our home.