Bronx Zoo

Zoo Center
I'm going to miss this place very much. I love going to the zoo. Bronx Zoo, being the largest zoo in NYC, is my favorite place to go take pictures. Unfortunately, I have kids who simply don't want to go to the same place again and again. So I let my membership expire. I'll be back in a couple of years when my kids started to miss this place like I do.

Juvenile crocodile sunbathing in Children's Zoo.

Eclipse

I had no equipment at all to enjoy this eclipse event, but I went out anyway because there were tons of people out there. It was sunny, but it felt like I was looking at the street thru the tour bus window. I took this picture just for the sake of it since I couldn't look at the sun. I was surprised to see the lens flare taking shape of the solar eclipse.

Bushkill Falls

On our way back from Great Wolf Lodge, we decided to stop by Bushkill Falls since it's only 45 minutes drive. I haven't been there for ten years. The only thing that changed was the amount of people there. It took quite a while to find a parking spot. If you want to go there, make sure you bring a camera instead of a baby. I did the exact opposite. It's really hard to hike the cliff while holding a two year old baby, let alone taking pictures with an iphone at the same time. I'm definitely going back, but only with my older kids and a camera. It's a wonderful hiking place. Good scenery. I can only imaging what this place will be in the fall when the foliage changes color.

A Weekend @ Great Wolf Lodge

My sister bought one night stay in Great Wolf Lodge for my family as a birthday gift for my daughters. While I generally don't like to spend any time at all in a water park, I don't want to turn away a freebie either. So off we went, to the water park resort in Scotrun, PA.

The one thing I don't like about going to water park is that I don't feel like bringing my camera there. First, it will get wet. Second, photographing stuff in an area full of ladies hardly wearing anything makes me looks like a perv. I did not even use my phone. Although in hindsight, I should've brought my camera since we ended up going to Bushkill Falls after checking out.

The water park was fun, at least that's what my kids said. They really enjoy staying in the wave pool. There's a long line for the slides, but they didn't seem to mind at all. It's hard to find a chair in there though.

The foods are expensive. We went out to Tannersville to eat. It's much cheaper that way. We stayed in Kids Cabin. That's the room with separate section with bunker beds for kids. My children love the looks of it. Although the next morning, they claimed the beds were too hard to sleep on. Also, the birthday cake we bought was way too sweet even my sugar craving kids won't eat much.

On the plus side for me though, there are two Pokemon gyms and one Pokestop there.

Fireworks @ Maspeth LIE Overpass

It was an impromptu decision to see the firework after picking up my wife from her work. It was too late to drive to East River. All area were either closed or in heavy traffic. We just drove down around LIE in Maspeth looking for a suitable spot to see the firework from afar. We could see the Manhattan landscape from an overpass there. However, the firework was a bit to the north of what we could see. So we stay for awhile to see the fireworks provided by some random people on the street. This is a video I filmed. The firework literally exploded right above our head. We have debris falling on our head. We decided to move down the street a bit more to the west. And we were able to see the Macy's firework above the treeline for about 10 minutes. I couldn't film that because it's too far way and I was in the car.

Long Island Children's Museum

Thursday was a day off for NYC school kids. I took the day off to take them to Long Island Children's Museum. It's a fun place for kids. Lots of activities for them to try out. I was contemplating to get a membership there, but eventually decided against it. My children are getting too old. They'll like it for the first couple of times, but they'll grow bored if I bring them there too many times. They're already not excited at all to go to any zoo in New York City, or any park at all. They want to see something new all the time. I have to look at the map all the time, trying to find some place that sounds like fun.

Sunset @ Forest Hill, NY

Subway Delayed Again

There was a power outage which caused massive delay for subway. I missed three trains because they were so crowded. I was lucky to be only 30 minutes late. My coworkers were one and a half hours late.

Caught Another Mouse

It looks like the only way to catch a mouse is put a fresh piece of chicken on a trap these days. The mice are getting so smart I actually saw one running around a mouse sticker to avoid getting caught. This one got caught last night around 4am. I heard a pop after returning from bathroom.

Chinatown

I was sitting in my car waiting for my wife and kids to come out of the doctor's office. A couple of photographers walked by and aimed their cameras up. I looked up and saw this Chinese New Year's Charm up on the light pole. I took this phone with my iphone 5s.

NYBG Orchid Show

We went to the New York Botanical Garden to see the Orchid Show after I saw it on a blog online. We haven't been to the NYBG for quite some years. After signing up for the annual membership, we head straight to Enid A. Haupt Conservatory where the orchids show were staged. If you love macro photography, make sure you bring your big lens. I saw many fellow photographers with their big guns there. 

We hopped on the tour bus to scout around for our spring photoshoot locations. There's a historic mill there that seemed to be a very promising place. We'll certainly be back when it's warmer and lots of blossoms outside.

Dirty Wall

One of the downside of owning a rental property is having to fix the property when tenants move out. This morning a tenant moved out. They left a disgusting mess for me to clean up.