As most of you know, Aeryn celebrated her third birthday a couple weeks back. As is our custom, mom took the day off from work and spent the day with the birthday girl. She had planned to take Aeryn to the Children’s Discovery Museum, but it’s closed on Mondays. They ended up spending the day together here in Hollister. Later that night we all gathered at Chuck E. Cheese to enjoy mediocre pizza. (Aeryn accurately referred to the restaurant as “Sucky Cheese” before we corrected her.)

Above is the video I shot that night. If you have a fast computer and fast internet, check out the high definition version of the movie.

Find more like this: Aeryn, Birthday, Video

One of the drawbacks of the one-man operation that is www.saundersstuff.com is the fact that publication only happens when I make it happen. For the past month I have been dutifully generating the content—the photos and video footage—that make up this site, but I haven't spent the time required to get that stuff ready for the web, and I haven't put in the thought it takes to write one of these posts.

Mostly this is because I bought a new camera and other photographic equipment, which caused me to spend my free time during the month of December reading about different photographic techniques and trying to put them into practice. I've captured over 3200 pictures since the new camera arrived. Some of them were of the kids, but they grow uncooperative after a dozen or so blasts from my flash. So I took hundreds of pictures of household items like a lemon, a bottle of wine, a bowl of ice, and a Winnie the Pooh doll. While these were all very accommodating models, and some of them were quite photogenic, rest assured that none of them will be featured here.

Having explained the reason for the stale content, here's a rundown of what happened this past month:

• 
  I turned 40, but it didn't hurt too much. (The new camera arrived just before my birthday and made everything feel better.) I chose hot apple pie to mark the milestone. More photos here.
• Aiden's daycare hosted its annual holiday open house. Aiden was very shy and declined to sing with his class. Deb got some video, and I took a bunch of photos, but none of them was able to show a happy boy infused with the spirit of Christmas.
• Santa Claus visited the daycare, where his affection was soundly rejected by both Aiden and Aeryn. See here and here for their reactions.
• I got some new lighting equipment and forced my kinfolk to perform like dancing monkeys while I snapped photos. In return they took great pleasure at trying to pelt me with blue balls shot from this crazy fire truck/missle launcher. I also was able to capture some nice photos of the little ones while they were mesmerized by Dora the Explorer.
• We travelled to Colorado for our first white Christmas. Pictures are here, and Deb and Alex are under orders to write detailed reports on our adventures. Please feel free to bombard them with requests if you don't see more from them very soon. Use the email link at the bottom of the page. They've been forewarned.
• My niece and nephew, Shane and Lauryn, came to visit, giving me the chance to practice shooting portraits. One thing I learned is that it's downright impossible to get five kids to smile and look at the camera simultaneously. Still we got some good ones.
• While experimenting with my new lighting equipment I managed to capture a side of Aiden that has been heretofore elusive. Used to be his quirky movements and facial expressions were too rapid fire for indoor photography. I finally found something that he can't out outrun: the speed of light.

So now that we're all caught up, I will try to maintain a more regular schedule of web site updates. Next on my agenda is the video I shot while the kids were playing in the snow. It will go live here just as soon as Deb and Alex write their updates!

Find more like this: Aeryn, Aiden, Alex, Holiday, Birthday, Photos

When I was a teenager, I was a fan of the rock group Van Halen, just like a lot of kids in my demographic. In my mid-20s, I drifted away from Van Halen as my musical interests went in new directions. Before I left, though, Eddie Van Halen had a kid named Wolfgang in 1991. This fact was completely lost to me until a couple of weeks ago when, in a bit of nostalgia, I put an old Van Halen CD on my iPod. There I saw the name of a short song called "316." That's when I remembered that the Van Halen kid was born on March 16th, and "316" was a tribute from his father.

Last week we celebrated Aeryn's first birthday. We tried to celebrate it on March 16th, but Aeryn wasn't in the mood. She hardly napped at all while at daycare, so she came home to us in a foul mood. We tried to enjoy her company, but she ended up going to bed early. (When Aeryn is in one of those moods, she's really unbearable. She cries when you hold her, and she cries harder if you put her down. The only thing that makes her stop crying is her dark bedroom.) Since Alex would be visiting her father for most of the weekend, we decided to postpone the birthday until Sunday.

Sunday arrived, and Aeryn was in a far better mood. She enjoyed her dessert and seemed fascinated by the candle. Afterward she had fun tearing off the wrapping paper. Aiden found it hard to contain himself with presents around, and he periodically would lend a hand if Aeryn seemed to be losing focus. Mom supervised, and Alex kept the official gift record so that thank you cards could be properly completed at a later date.

This week you will find the pictures I took on Aeryn's birthday. I also put together a slide show retrospective of Aeryn's photos from day 1 to day 365. Most of the pictures have not been posted here before. The slide show is set to "316." (I hope Van Halen doesn't sue.)

Ginger and Pinocchia update: Ginger, the yellow ninja pictured in the posting below this one, is missing. We suspect foul play. Pinocchia claims no knowledge of Ginger's whereabouts. But, according to Aiden, Pinocchia has assumed Ginger's identity. If we try to call the green ninja Pinocchia, Aiden corrects us and says, "No, that's Ginger." Twice I've tried to take Pinnochia's picture, but the green ninja always manages to evade the camera. Very suspicious.

Find more like this: Aeryn, Birthday, Photos, Video

Last Tuesday was Aiden's third birthday. I took the day off from work, and we took the train to San Francisco. We got a late start and couldn't stop at Aiden's favorite donut shop in Hollister. We had to go straight to the Caltrain station in Gilroy. Before boarding, we stopped at the little snack bar they have at the station so I could get the donut I had promised Aiden. There we ran in to Ron, a neighbor we met just a few weeks ago. Ron happens to be a Caltrain engineer, and he was scheduled to drive the same train we were taking to San Francisco! I told him (hoping he'd take the hint) how much Aiden loves trains and how it was Aiden's birthday. Ron was very nice and offered to let us ride up front for a couple stops. Aiden had a great time watching for trains heading in the opposite direction and calling out the red, yellow, and green signals. We spent the rest of the day at Pier 39, where Aiden got to watch the seals, chase the pigeons, and eat some shrimp.

Here's the video I put together to commemorate the day.

Earlier this month we celebrated Alex's 13th birthday. She thought she was going for a quiet dinner with her friends at a local restaurant. Instead she arrived to find about 40 friends and family members yelling "Surprise!" Alex looked to be shocked. Some pictures of the night can be found here.

I also added Alex's most recent school photo to her portrait page.

Find more like this: Aiden, Alex, Birthday, Photos, Video

Back in 2006, I decided to take off from work on November 21st and spend the day with Aiden. It was his third birthday. He was a big fan of trains at the time, so we took Caltrain to San Francisco and spent the day at Fisherman’s Wharf. For Aiden’s fourth birthday, it was Deb’s turn to take a vacation day. They boarded a boat in Monterey and went whale watching.

Continuing the transportation theme, this year I arranged for a glider pilot to take us on an aerial tour of the Monterey Bay Area. Aiden loves air shows, and it was a busy day at the airport. A P-51 Mustang (World War II-era fighter) hurtled down the runway at about 200 MPH, and a Czechoslovakian jet trainer (which looks a bit like a fighter) took off as we looked on. It was nice of the local pilots to put on a quick little air show for Aiden’s birthday.

After that our pilot did his pre-flight check of the glider, which consisted of making sure all of the control surfaces were functioning properly and shaking the heck out of the wings to see if they would remain attached to the airframe. Aiden and I were buckled in, they pulled us out to the runway, and a tow plane taxied over to hook us up. Soon we were in the air, on our way to the coast. The tow pilot hauled us up to 8000 feet before we let him go, from there we had about 45 minutes of gliding time before we would run out of altitude. Luckily the pilot knew all this and had us on the approach to the runway at Hollister by the time we were a few hundred feet above the ground. In the interim, though, we enjoyed spectacular weather, with visibility extending hundreds of miles in any direction. We saw both the skyscrapers of San Francisco and the snow-capped peaks of the Sierra Nevada. Aiden was a little nervous as we took off, but he soon relaxed and had some fun looking at all the tiny things on the ground below.

Later that evening we sang “Happy Birthday,” and Aiden squealed with glee upon seeing his present. Watch the video above to see more.

But wait, we have more videos:

• Here’s a big-screen version of this year’s video.
• The Monterey video is here.
• The Cal-Train San Francisco video is here.

And finally, I uploaded some pictures of the kids taken during the past week or so.

Find more like this: Aiden, Birthday, Photos, Video

On Tuesday last week all five of us piled into the car to drive up to San Francisco to celebrate Alex’s birthday. We originally planned to visit the California Academy of Sciences, but it seems that a lot of people took off from work on November 11th to celebrate with Alex. There was no place to park, and the line for tickets was impossibly long. We ended up over at Crissy Field, which is quite scenic, and, on this particular day, not at all crowded. The kids enjoyed walking the pier and watching people fish. Aiden liked Fort Point, a historical site under the bridge. Later we moved over to Fisherman’s Wharf for dinner, then Girhardelli Square for dessert.

Click here to see more pictures.

Find more like this: Alex, Birthday, Photos