Seen at the Flower Stand, originally uploaded by Yano.

Posted this picture on my Flickr account…it’s gotten on their “Explore” pages for the week, which is a pretty cool honor. We were at the Farmer’s Market in Santa Monica and I stopped by to take some pictures at the flower stand. Not sure if these things are flowers - more like sticks, but that’s what makes them so interesting.

FYI - I did a lot of post processing on this - punched up the blues in the original (which more yellow-reddish) to give it this magenta feel. However, other than the color changes, the soft colors on the back were in the original.

The Gentle Smile, originally uploaded by Yano.

In most pictures, Ben has a crazy ass smile, full of teeth, and his eyes get all squinty. However, he knows the difference between a regular and smile and what we call the “gentle smile”, which you can see here.

Traveling Ball, originally uploaded by Yano.

This was a moving sculpture at the children’s museum. It kept Ben entertained for about 15 minutes, which is a pretty long time.

Nothin’ But…, originally uploaded by Yano.

Almost done processing the 300+ pictures from Alaska. I just got Adobe Lightroom and I’m having way too much tweaking and playing.

Not sure how productive I’ll be tonight, though, with the premieres of Dancing with the Stars and Heroes on at the same time. Heroes will have to be DVR’d since Dave and Ben both like DWTS (Dave for Brooke Burke and Ben for the fancy dancing). I’m curious to see how Kim Kardashian does, considering she’s done NOTHING, and I’m excited to see Warren Sapp show his moves. Though I wonder if DWTS has jumped the shark, considering TV show poison Ted McGinley has joined the cast. No offense to Ted - I loved him on “The Love Boat” for as long as the show lasted with him on it.

As for Heroes, I just want to know who’s alive and who’s dead! I’ve seen pictures of cast members on the set who are supposedly dead (or who we assume are dead) so I wanna know what the truth is. It’s been so long since this show has been on that I’ve almost forgotten what’s happened. And PLEASE, let’s not let Hiro jump around in the past anymore. He was so fun and endearing the first season, and ultimately boring the last. I want to love this show again!

Zoo Flower, originally uploaded by Yano.

The Anchorage Zoo was full of beautiful flowers. It was raining that day, and there was a drop of rain coming off this one.

Happy Bokeh Wednesday!

The Next Generation, originally uploaded by Yano.

At family parties, all the aunties and uncles always bring out the mah jong tables and playing. Last week, the kiddies got their own table to play with!

I’ve got about 2000 pictures to sort through from my Alaska trip…it’s going to take some time!

Chillin’, originally uploaded by Yano.

Ben and two of his best friends. Not a spontaneous picture - he totally posed for it!

I’m leaving for Alaska tomorrow, and as of 3:45pm I have not started packing. It could be an all-nighter!

Sooooo…Guilty!, originally uploaded by Yano.

Here’s your weekly dose of Ben!

Dave had a packaged delivered to him, and Ben found the box full of packing peanuts. He had fun with the “whites” as he called them…a little TOO much fun.

Poser, originally uploaded by Yano.

This blog needs a dash of Ben…

He’s at the point now where he asks me to take pictures of him when he sees my camera and does poses. He’ll see the camera, say, “Picture!”, go several feet away, and smile. He’s even gone so far as to move his stuffed animals around and pose with them (I’ll post those later). See that third pic? that’s when he’s being the ultimate cheese - smiling really big with his hands framing his face.

Then, after he hears the shutter click, he runs to see the picture that’s been taken, then runs back for more.

What a cheeseball!

Wheel Thing, originally uploaded by Yano.

This was in the “swamp” building at the zoo. Not sure exactly what it is or what it is for, but it looked cool.