Ben and Alonna

Blog

  • Barber Park from 200 feet

    I’m trying to use the kite/camera rig to get the perfect “how the heck did you take that?” picture of the Boise river / capital building /foothills, and hopefully a few people floating down the river too.   So yesterday I went over to Barber Park and played around with the camera/kite combo for about half an hour.

    • If I’d angled the camera about 30 degrees to the left I would have gotten a great picture of table rock and the river – much closer to the “perfect picture” I was after. But I think this looks cool anyway.
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    • Apparently they’re growing something on the roof of this building.
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    • I really need to put together a suspension system so the pictures aren’t so blurry all the time.

  • Coeur d’Alene – Days 1-2

    Last weekend Ben’s sister Beth came to visit.  We decided to take a road trip to Northern Idaho, an area that Ben and I hadn’t yet explored.  There’s a popular destination called Coeur d’Alene which is on a lake in a mountainous area.  Also we heard about a cool rails-to-trails bike trail that we were really excited to try out.

    We drove 7-hours Friday night and Saturday morning to get to Coeur d’Alene.  The drive was long, but really pretty – windy mountain roads, rivers and canyons, golden-colored wheat fields, and small towns.  After arriving, we had the afternoon in Coeur d’Alene, so we took out the kite to take some photos… you can see a few of those in Ben’s last post.  Here’s another good one, and also a photo of our reward after a long day of driving and kite-flying.

    Coeur D\'Alene
    Coeur D\'Alene

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  • Kite Aerial Photography #3 – Coeur d’Alene

    • Location: Coeur d’Alene Lake in Idaho
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  • Becky and Jenna’s Ceremony

    Last weekend we went to Minnesota for the commitment ceremony of my friends Becky and Jenna.  Here’s a few photos leading up to the wedding:

    Pedicures for the girls
    Rehearsal Dinner
    Becky getting dolled up

    We all met at the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis for some photos.  It’s a really beautiful location – I can’t wait to see the professional photographer’s photos.

    Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis
    Becky

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  • Kite Aerial Photography Attempt #2

    • New kite: the Sutton FlowForm 8.  The 8 is for 8 sq ft of material.  Serious Aerial photographers use the FlowForm 30, an 8′ Rokkaku, a Powersled 81, or some other enormous kite.
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  • Things that make us happy

    Ben and I met 7 years ago in Colorado.  At one point during our giddy ‘get to know each other’ phase, we had an e-mail conversation about things that made us happy.  Here’s our lists, feel free to join in.

    Things that make Alonna happy (Summer 2001)

    • pickles
    • spotting wild life
    • babies
    • someone tickling my feet
    • wildflowers
    • being right
    • helping people
    • diet coke
    • holding hands
    • Ben writing me poems
    • digital cameras
    • watching Friends and That 70’s Show
    • piano in rock music
    • showing off a big bruise
    • Colorado clouds
    • playing cards with my grandparents
    • fishing with my dad
    • shopping with my mom
    • seeing my family on holidays
    • the Canadian Rockies
    • the smell of mountain air

    Things that make Ben happy (Summer 2001)

    • mountain biking
    • pizza
    • driving fast on winding roads in the mountains
    • Cherry Coke
    • snowboarding
    • the Winter Park condo
    • standing on top of a mountain
    • sunsets
    • hanging out with my brother
    • hanging out with my sisters
    • hanging out with my mom
    • making people laugh
    • roasting marshmallows
    • carrot cake
    • fire flies (lightening bugs)
    • getting e-mail from Alonna
    • listening to covers by my favorite bands
    • making analogies
    • when people remember analogies that I make (“it’s kind of like what you said…”)
    • giving poems to Alonna
    • trying new things
    • Saying howdy to friendly strangers
    • hearing good classical music live (Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, Beethoven, not the sissy stuff)
    • Goofy t-shirts
    • This game.

    Happy Anniversary Ben, I love you!

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  • Kite Aerial Photography Attempt #1

    • The basic setup – an eye-hook bolt tied to a $20 kite. I set the camera to take a picture every 2 seconds
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  • Becky and Jenna’s Shower

    My best friend Becky and partner Jenna are tying the knot!  To help them celebrate, we had a BBQ bash with the girls on Saturday night and a shower with friends and family on Sunday.  Here’s a few photos from the shower.

    Becky & Jenna\'s Shower in Apple Valley
    Becky and friends
    Friends
    Family
    Alonna and Mom
    Alonna and Mom
    Becky and Jenna opening gifts (with Taylor\'s help)
    The Girls

  • I like Mountain Biking, But Does Mountain Biking Like Me?

    • Red Badge(s) of Courage:
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    • This happened in one of the easiest sections of the Rock Garden at Table Rock.
    • The biggest danger in mountain biking is going too slow.  Or too fast.
    • (I prefer Red Raspberry of Courage, but calling it that assumes everyone has heard of the book the Red Badge of Courage – or at least the term itself – and no one has.  Plot summary – Civil War boy soldier is wounded in a cowardly fashion, everyone thinks he must be very brave because of his injury and this shames him into actually becoming very courageous)

  • 2008.07.11-13 – Stanley Mountain Biking Weekend

    • Day 1: Fisher Creek and Ladd’s Fajitas and horseshoes
    • Day 2: Elk Meadows and aluminum foil sculpture-food and more horseshoes
    • Day 3: Scones and packing up
    • Pictures…

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