Photography 101...

The past summer I was able to take a photography 101 class with Ray Tan here in Singapore. I opted for the one on one class and I learned so much... If you have a great camera and I find yourself overwhelmed with all the buttons and what it can do... don't be call Ray.

Here are just a few of our favorite shots while taking the class. We had 10 sessions, most of them at home learning the ins and outs... and 3 outings... 2 day time and 1 night... check out the photos...

I do have to give you an intro for most of the pics... they are a bit artsy but we were looking to capture the light and shadows and some of them are really cool looking.

I do have to give credit to the next one the cat... Ray took this with my camera it was killing him that I could not get the shot... after about 15 tries this was his one... awesome.

The one above is my shot of the temple in China Town behind this amazing gate with an elephant... and the next one belongs to Ray.

The next picture I shot at China Town and out of all our classes and all the photos I took this is Ray's favorite. He likes how some of the people are moving and some are so still they are crystal clear... he just wished that I would have got the ladies feet... I had a lot of that going on.

This next one is one of my favorites... slow shutter speed to make the car look fuzzy but quick enough to get the old man riding the bike.

The next shots were taking during our night session at the marina and they just happen to be practicing for National Day... check out some of the shots we got.

We knew there were going to be fireworks bc we could see them setting them up and then a lot of photographers (professionals) were setting up where we were so we knew we had a good spot. I had so much pressure to get the first firework bc he said it was the best one... bc the second one had smoke from the first... so we set up the tripod and then I had him set up all the dials and then take the shot with the remote control and since you had to time it just perfect I really wanted him to do it... and this was his shot... amazing.

A little trick he taught me...

The beautiful marina.

I had a great time learning... just need to practice... looking forward to taking the second course where we learn about composition.

Our little man is growing like a weed...

Our little man is growing like a weed... at 3.5 he officially wears 4 or 5T clothing... the shorts will fall off unless we roll them at the waist or put a belt on him but for length (to cover his knees or tummy) we need a size bigger. One of the things I will miss the most at our old condo other than the people is this growth chart that I had to leave on the wall. Since the walls are concrete all I could was take a picture of it... and I am sure the land lord painted over it by now (which makes me sad) but thanks to this picture I will forever remember how we watched our little baby grow to a big boy in such a short time. I can see that every 4 to 5 months he would grow about an inch... but no matter how big he is he will always be my baby.

Date Night... bowling!

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It has been a while since B and I have had a date night just the two of us.. and I have to say this might have been my favorite one... we have been in Singapore a little over 2 years and this was our first time to go bowling... we loved to go bowling before we were married and not sure why it has taken this long to go since we have arrived... but it was worth the wait... we played 4 games... and my history will show my first game is my best and Blake always has to warm up or let me win the first round and then he kills me... and yes I won the first game and he creamed me on the next 3 rounds...

Look at that... our 3rd game and Blake finished with 4 strikes... crazy... my first game was a 115 and I went down hill from there... we started playing around on the 4th game.... throwing with a lighter ball, granny style, etc... we just got crazy... the locals in the place thought we were a bit crazy... oh well... we left laughing... that is all that matters.

I am sure you will see this place again... but with Pierce in the pictures...

Are you still here???

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The hot question right now... "are you still here"... Yes we have about 20 days left in Singapore and people are starting to come back from early summer vacations and this is what I get "you are still here"... then that is followed with are you staying... and I say we have plans to leave at the end of the month and then they say "we have heard that before"... well yes they are right... we still do not have tickets but we are pretty sure we will be out of here by the 20th of July.

We are still in the midst of saying alot of goodbye's... I think we will for the next 20 days... we are having alot of last with people that we are adore... The pics below are all of me with my friends but Blake has also been having some guy nights but they never take the camera... so this is all I got for you...

These 2 girls have quickly become dear to my heart... Gillian and Jessica and I were made for each other... We have laughed together, we have cried together, we have also gotten on each others nerves (but that is what good friends do...) and I definitely see Christ in them... they each have shown me little pieces of heaven and the light we are to show the world. I love you girls and will miss you so much.

Blake was invited to a Gala last week by some c0-workers (yes that is Ron Lee)... we had to scrounge some clothes together to look presentable... but I think we turned out pretty nice.

Jamie (jackson, issac and miles' mom) have alot of common traits and it took us a while to become friends... bc we both looked up to each other so much... it came out later that we share with each other... at first I thought oh I want to be like her... she is so cute and so happy and such a great mom and she felt the exact same way (or that is what she said :-0)... we went to Disney Land together and Pierce loves her boys... wish we had more time... some people say we even look like sisters... what do you think?

My first experience at a proper tea... wow was it good... I had the best white tea with scones with jam and whip... yum yum... Jessica was leaving for the states the next day but I we will have a tea again... I know.

I owe Stephanie a lot... I got to say goodbye to Stephanie last week (with some tea) and I was able to thank her for getting me involved at IBC. I had been in Singapore for 6 weeks when she signed me up to teach at VBS and go to MOPS... When I think of God's army... I see Stephanie's face for sure...

House Guest turns into Best Buddy!

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For the past week we have had a house guest (our new pastor's son)... IBC is getting a new pastor that is coming from Houston and on their last trip here they left their eldest son here to enjoy Singapore and do some traveling... Austin has stayed with many families while here and we finally got our turn.... He has turned out to be a huge blessing to us and a great buddy for Pierce... they are best pals and Pierce loves having him around.

Our last outing... the Jurong Bird Park...look how happy this boy is...

We are going to be sad to see him go... it will be so quiet in the house, Pierce will be bored but the refrigerator will have food in it :-)...

Watching the world cup tournament...

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The World Cup is huge here... I can not ever remember a time being more involved in what is going on in the world cup tournament... every where you go that has a TV, they have it set up with the game and it is packed... the games come on at night time here and most of them are played at 2:30 am... Our neighbor is from England and he loves "football"... so we decided to get together and watch last nights game with him... Since he was routing for England and we were for USA and we were not playing each other.. we had to set up 2 TV's... now this was tricky... one TV was running on the cable box and the other (not as clear) was running from a sling box in the states hook up from the computer... it was awesome... and the best part was that everyone was happy... England won and USA won... I guess we will have to plan another night like this one..

We just need a bigger couch or more sitting room (you think someone could talk to our land lord)... ???

Heaven... must be heaven... Go USA!

I never want to see another one of these again...

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I never want to see another one of these again...
A note from daddy to family after he left Pierce and I at the hospital.. for a night stay:

"Just after a great Father's Day though I get the Bad Daddy award as Pierce slipped out of my arms from about 2-3 ft off the floor while playing this evening and hit his head hard on the granite floor. He screamed at first and then he went quiet for about 10-15 seconds in my arms where Camille saw his arms stiffen and wrists go backwards like he was going to have a seizure. We are not sure he had one and he could of just been quiet for a couple of seconds (there was no cut, no blood, no wound, no knot, etc.), but scared us nonetheless. We took him to the emergency room where he acts like nothing happened running around and playing, but they had him stay overnight as a precautionary measure (all of the doctors say he shows absolutely no symptoms of internal head trauma and should be discharged tomorrow with a clean bill of health) Camille is with him as we couldn't all fit in the room. We'll keep you guys posted, but again there doesn't appear to be anything to it."

Blake did a great job explaining what happened but he left out (probably on purpose) that I totally freaked out... When I came around the corner and saw my son with his eyes shut and stiff that I lost it... soon this orange/brown stuff started coming out of his mouth which I thought was vomit (later to find out it was a piece of chewed up caramel candy)... I scooped him up and off we went to the hospital.

As soon as we arrived at the hospital he had calmed down and was walking and talking... I do have to say that I was very thankful at this point... still worried but thankful that it could have been way worse and thankful as I saw all these other children with breaks, scratches and blood on them... God answered our prayers in healing whatever was wrong with him.

The protocol at the hospital we went to was for all head traumas for them to be admitted and watched over night... which we did... and Pierce did ok.. but by noon the next day he was begging to go home and that we did... discharged with a clean bill or health we headed home for some rest... which was much needed since Pierce was up until 12:30am the night before and I was awake from all the emotions until 3:45 am... we came home and crashed...

The next night we grabbed the camera to see if we could do a little reenactment for you... Blake started out with a blanket... put Pierce inside (this is usually an after bath game with the bath towel) and that is when the swinging began (with a piece of candy in his mouth)... Pierce slipped out and fell on his head...

Pierce looks happy in the pics below to show me what happened..

After some thought about the situation we now believe he had choked on the candy... and when he was crying he inhaled it and then I saw him and he was trying to get it out himself when he got stiff... and then when we put him on the bed it came out... later the candy was found on the floor by daddy when he got home... as you can tell we are still trying to process what happened but we both believe that God answered our prayers to fix whatever was happening, to heal Pierce, to have the cab hurry up and get there, for us to pick the right hospital and the doctors/nurses to make the right decisions... He did all of that... Praise Him.