Boo @ The Zoo

We're there every year, so there's no exception this time. The fall color at the Bronx Zoo is unbeatable in NYC. If you want portraits done with colorful autumn background, you go here in October and November. There is this theme called "Boo At the Zoo" every year around Halloween in the Zoo. It's fun for the kids. Actors and actresses in fun animal costumes parading around the zoo with kids is a lot of fun to take pictures with kids. Here are some pictures I like to share with everyone.

 Bronx River Waterfall

 There are two rhinos. I always thought there was only one.

 Flamingos.

 Seabird at the Seabirds Aviary.

Very sexy looking fairy lady.

Hunting Fall Colors in Corona Park

Yom Kippur. No School. So I took a day off to photograph my kids in the park. It's autumn. I was hoping to have lots of beautiful colorful trees as background in the park. No luck though. Most tree only started changing colors. I might have to keep coming back on weekends just so I won't miss anything.

Here's the view of the park. Some leaves have started changing color, but not all.

There are a few spots in Queens Zoo that's got some trees in full autumn color though. This one in the farm animal area is my favorite spot.

It was a bit disappointing. I hope to capture more in the next few weeks.

Kid Army Torn Apart Balloon Alien Bug

I brought my girls to New York Hall of Science again. They've been pressing me bring them there for awhile now. I took a day off since they have no school. It's a boring place for adult, but kids seems to love it a lot. Today there is a giant alien-bug-looking thing made of balloons on second floor. The kids went total wild tearing it apart. It was hilarious. My children never got tired of this place.

Nathan

I took my kids to the Hall of Science again. We have membership and parking is free, so why not. There was nothing new there, but kids still enjoyed their time very much. As usual, I was practicing my photography with my kids.

I brought my SB-600 flashlight. I was trying out a technique I saw online. It goes like this, minus one stop exposure on camera and plus one stop on my flash. The light kept changing indoor, so that minus one stop part became anywhere from minus one third to minus one. It was fun trying it out. I need more practice.

This picture is my favorite one for my son so far. I use aperture priority mode. F1.8. -1/3 EV. +2/3 Flash.

I could've tried +1/3 Flash to see how it went, but my son never stop in one place long enough for me to try anything. So this one has to do. There will be lots of opportunities to try different things later on.

Bronx Zoo

Hermine failed to show up in New York last weekend. It was actually a really nice day to go out. Obviously kids won't stay home. We went to Bronx Zoo to see if the leaves change color yet. It's a wonderful place for photo shoot in autumn when the leaves change color. Even though some trees have already turned yellowish in my neighborhood, the trees in Bronx Zoo were still quite green. We'll have to try again next month.

Zoo Center

The lizard in zoo center. That komodo dragon in the neighboring exhibit has always been unreachable for me. It never showed itself.  

Only one tiger this time. No idea where the tiger kittens went.

Nevertheless, it was a good exercise for kids to walk around. We'll be back.

Wedding Feast

I went to a distance cousin's wedding tonight. It's just like every other Chinese wedding party I went, with the usual set of foods too. However, I did get to eat something I don't usually eat at a Chinese wedding.

A roast pig. I like the crispy skins they served on a bun with sweat sauce. Although putting a whole pig on the table rather kill the appetite for some.

A king crab. I usually see other type of crab, called Vancouver crab, steamed on sticky rice. It's first time I have a king crab on a wedding.

It was a wonderful wedding party, with plenty of food and wine to go around. I wish the newly wed happily ever after.

Legoland

We had no plan for this weekend. So after my daughters accusing me of being lazy all morning long, I said what the heck, let's go to Legoland. That made them happy.

Greeted by this upside-down Lego-man.

And a Lego-man, maybe Lego-woman, worker.

I like these mini-scenes they made with legos. This looks like a concert scene in Central Park.

Lego and Star Wars go very well together.

A pirate pig.

Nicely painted ramp, to the bathroom :-)

Birthday Dinner

It's my daughters' birthday. We eat at home as usual. Eating out cost too much. My wife is a good cook. Foods taste better at home actually.

We always start with this snail dish. It's almost like a tradition now. Every time we're celebrating something, we start with snails.

Fried chicken and spring rolls are mostly for kids. They love fried stuff.

Lobsters. We only get them once in a while. We prefer shrimps. Less work and more meat.

Pork ribs and taros, fried, then with garlic sauce poured on top.

Rice cakes. My favorite.

Yum.

Crowded Subway

The train was so crowded this morning. There's an announcement about some police investigation on 57th Street. I didn't know what's going on. The messages are always so vague. I later read about a crazy person throwing a fake bomb on police car and stuff near Columbus Circle. I guess I can't blame MTA for the delay this time.

Fiery Sunset Cloud

I went out to pick up my wife and saw this fiery sunset cloud.

NY Science Hall Again

Well, we got nowhere to go this weekend and kids just want to go to the Hall of Science all the time. So off we went. There's a make your own juice kinda activity there. I can't remember the name. It was ok; I guess. I wouldn't say it's worth the five dollar they charge me. While kids were busy making orange juice with honey, I took some snapshot of the nice lady working there.

Here's a snapshot of some unknown flower out in the new playground.

My Grandma's Parakeets

My grandma keeps two parakeets. I usually see them very active because I only go there at day time. I went there tonight for my cousin's birthday. The birds were probably very sleepy. No chirping; just stand there. One did jump to the side of the cage after I took a few photos with my iphone.

Heatwave Starts Today

I didn't want to go outside today, but there are some undone business at the bank. So, I ventured out into the 90 degree heat. It wasn't so bad. Not yet, anyway. This is the view of Empire State Building.

Hot Smurf

Spotted this hot smurf girl on my way home.

Sailing away...

Or so I wished...

Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum

Last time I went to see Intrepid was over twenty years ago. I don't have much memory of it then except that it was the largest ship I've ever seen. It's been renovated since then. I finally had a chance to bring my family to see it again. It didn't disappoint at all. My children loved the place too. This is a great museum for the whole family.

It's shooting objects this size that I wish I have a wide angle lens.

There were about twenty old air crafts on the flight deck. There were a few more on the hangar deck too. I only had my 35mm 1.8 lens. I wished I had bought 17-50mm lens instead.

The interior of the "Island", aka control tower, was quite cramped. I wonder how the personnel move about without having to squeeze thru each other.

There were a few models of the carrier on the hangar deck. The lego one is my favorite.

That's a lot of lego pieces.

Another angle

The details are unbelievable.

Son Turn One Year Old

Time flies. It didn't feel like it's been a year already.

NYC Whales & Dolphins Watching

We no longer have to drive to Boston to go on a whale-watching cruise any more. There is American Princess Cruises right there on the Rockaway in Queens New York. I found out about it last year and finally get to go with my family to see the whales.

The cruise went around the Rockaway Peninsula into the Atlantic Ocean. We were able to see the NYC skyline at all time, but not a single sign of whales. We cruised around some giant schools of fish along the shore. The marine biologist on board insist that the whales should be around since we were literally floating on the seafood buffet for whales.

We finally gave up on the whales, but we did met a big pod of dolphins feeding and jumping around. At least we got something. I shot over one thousand photos of them, but only get to keep five. These critters were fast. I only managed to catch their backs and tails. Next time I'll just bring along a camcorder. At least I can catch the actions.

On the background, it's New York City skyline.

That's Verrazano Bridge connecting Brooklyn and Staten Island on the background.

We were right outside New York Harbor, so there were many container ships sailing about.

This is a big group. There were at least 30 or 40 of them playing about.

Here's another shot of them.

Seagulls keep following our ship, probably hoping to catch some discarded food.

This is the ship we rode on.

There were tons of fish swimming about, but no whales came to eat them.

My son loved this old sailor for some reason.