Erev Thanksgiving I've been tinkering with settings on my new camera (the old one failed to come on today, so apparently our concerns about reliability were well-founded) to see what it can really do. It's taken about four good clear nights to get the settings where I want them for this:

Here are some mouth-watering shots from our Big Island Candy trip: being the pre-holiday season, the production line was going full-out.

Playing Doctor (actually, I'm the patient):

Now that the theater extravaganzas are over, Max is back in Dance class, but he decided to move up a level "to learn new things." Lots more bar work, for one thing:

Pure cute:

Finally, I won't post it, but you can click through if you want, and see the little slug at [a well-known chain of fast-food....].

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!  ¶ Wednesday, November 21, 2007 3 comments

  Mr. October Sorry, it's been a while since I posted anything. I haven't stopped taking pictures, mind you, though I have switched cameras: I dropped mine, and it did stop taking purple pictures, but when there's a month like October coming up, you want something reliable. So I went on eBay and got a new camera: same brand, bigger zoom, which came in handy once or twice. But enough about me.... I'll be spare with the pictures this time: believe me, there's a lot more where these came from.

What was going on in October? Well, for starters, Max actually got the Munchkin part that he auditioned for back in late August, so we spent good portions of September taking him to practices, and the run was three weekends in October.

My parents came to visit, Max discovered the joys of facepainting, Max turned Six years old, the school had its Medieval Faire and then we ended up with Halloween.

November? Pretty quiet.  ¶ Tuesday, November 06, 2007 2 comments

  Halloween and other signs of Late Autumn

	Inspired by his "Wizard of Oz" experience, Max picked the Cowardly Lion for his costume. As usual, Gram came through. Naturally, he tried it on as soon as it arrived.
	Here he is, almost ready to go (note the bare feet), with full face paint and a thoroughly decorated pumpkin for his prizes.
	When we saw a house that looked like it was giving out candy I'd say "that looks like a possibility" and Max picked up on it pretty quickly. Here he is shouting "On to the next possibility!"
	The reckoning. We did our trick-or-treating around the corner, but there was a really dense group of houses all doing it up in real style. Lots of little gift bags, and lots of good chocolates. Max has been quite generous sharing his candy, actually.
	Max loves cold weather: he gets to wear all his cool knitted stuff. Here he is with the sweater and vest and hat Woody's knitted for him, plus the sword he made at school. The shield was started at school, but the proper handle and coloring was done at home. The pirate patch came from a friend's birthday party. Woody just read him Peter Pan, too, so pirates are pretty hot right now.
	Snow on Mauna Kea, from a few nights ago. We're getting our first major winter storms this week -- thunder and lightning, too. Here you can see the value of the stronger zoom: I'd never gotten details on the observatories before.

  ¶ Tuesday, November 06, 2007 0 comments

  Going to the Faire

	In the three years we've been going to the Medieval Faire, Max had never gotten to ride the "unicorns": usually the line was just too daunting (and one year they weren't available), but this year we got there early.
	We still had to wait the better part of an hour -- one of the two horses was skittish -- but Max said it would have been worth "twice the wait."
	Max was dressed as Gandalf (that's what the Robe is for), so the face painting lady gave him magic shooting from his eyes.
	We ran into Max's old play-group buddy, Samuel Kai, and they did the Light Maze together and hung out a bit. There was also the Enchanted Trail, baked goods, fire dancers and crafts.

  ¶ Tuesday, November 06, 2007 0 comments

  Turning Six

	Max at school for his birthday, with friends! The school birthdays are pretty cool, with a special cake and ceremony.
	The traditional Ken's Birthday Short Stack with Sparkler! Max looks a little nervous because the sparkler was leaning towards him a little precariously. When we first started doing Ken's for birthdays, he wouldn't eat the pancakes (he'd hardly started on solid food!). Later, he'd eat plain pancakes, but not toppings. Now he'll eat the whipped cream and strawberries, and leaves the rest of the pancake for his parents.
	We had the party a few days later at a local park. Here's the crew, taking a short break from their balloon games (we didn't plan for those: the balloons were just decoration until someone started pulling them down!).
	Here they are, all lined up for destruction and mayhem. Yes, we had the obligatory piñata. The burro survived three or four rounds....
	But you can't underestimate the power and tenacity of children seeking chocolate! All things considered, it was pretty orderly. I was impressed that the pavilion we rented had a crossbeam which seemed specifically designed for suspending things at just above child-height.
	Anyone remember Duck, Duck, Goose?

  ¶ Tuesday, November 06, 2007 0 comments

  Many Faces of Max

	Just what it looks like: Max was messing around with his lenses and I decided to take a shot through one.
	As I said, Max was having fun with his new facepainting kit. Here he is with wolf whiskers. I know the background's blurry: I like the very realistic sense of motion.
	Combining his wolf suit with his bee wings and antennae, plus his birthday crown from school and the sock and mitten concept from his lion costume, you get: King of the Winged Wolves!
	Max made the sword at school: a week's worth of sanding and polishing, and then some. The lollipop was a gift from his misguided parents, in honor of his stage debut. Munchkin Warrior!
	This is Max's first attempt to plan the face for his Halloween costume, the Cowardly Lion. More about him later.

  ¶ Tuesday, November 06, 2007 0 comments

  More Dresners in Hawai'i
My parents were here for almost two weeks. We ate a lot of good food, saw some sights (here we are on the way to the warm ponds):

and did some home improvement:

Yup, refloored the kitchen (Yes, I have a lot more pictures of us reflooring the kitchen, available on request....) Also replaced some light fixtures, some light switches (was this place ever up to code?).

It was a great visit.  ¶ Tuesday, November 06, 2007 0 comments

  The Munchkin Experience Not only was Max a Munchkin, he was the center for the Lollipop Guild. Only the smallest, cutest Munchkins need apply....

">	A lot of the practices were closed to parents, but I managed to sneak a shot or two in.
	Max can read a few words (more all the time, it seems) but you have to admire his dedication, carrying the script around at rehearsal, turning pages with everyone else, practicing his lines at home, etc. Of course, all that work came at a cost, especially when the last week hit and rehearsals started to happen at the same late hours as the show would.
	Max loved doing make-up. We got him a face-painting kit as a congratulations for the show, and he's had some fun with that!
	Lollipop Guild, full regalia! After the show ended, they got to keep the costumes. Max has worn it to school a few times now (without the hair and hat, of course!).
	To "preserve the mystery," cast members weren't really supposed to mingle with the crowd in costume, but it turned out that people loved it, so by the end of the show, lots of the cast was wandering around. This is from the very last night, Max with Glinda (whose day job is radio DJ, believe it or not).
	All of the munchkins, backstage before the final, final bows.
	Dorothy, Munchkin and Max (also his friend Elijah in the corner)

  ¶ Tuesday, November 06, 2007 0 comments