Wedding Weekend in Albany (1)

We visited Albany, New York for the weekend to attend the wedding of Paul's cousin Kenny Zinsky to Tanja Sterling. The Zinsky's and Pyzowski's lived only 30 minutes apart growing up and were Paul's closest relatives outside of immediate family.


Waiting for the wedding to start


From left: The Pyzowski's, Scott, Gene, Debbie, Paulette, Loether, Renae


"Who you looking at?!?"


Before Katie turned one, Paul's aunt Cathy gave her a bear, which Katie named Bear-Bear and has had ever since


Nicholas getting warmed up on the dance floor


Sitting: Paul and his cousin Kenny, the groom


Nicholas with Paul's Uncle Gene


Nicholas with Paul's Aunt Cathy (sister to Paul's mom)

Wedding Weekend in Albany (2)

More pictures from the wedding weekend - swimming at the hotel, and then at the newlyweds house.


Katie and Emma, daughter of Paul's cousin Danny


Katie, Emma, Nicholas, and Whit


Diving for the camera


Waiting for checkout


Paul's Aunt Cathy with Nicole, four-year old daughter to Paul's cousin Paulette


The view from Kenny and Tanja's backyard


Paul's cousin Debbie reading to Nicole and Emma


Katie, Emma, Nicholas in the hot tub


The newlyweds

Cannon Mountain

Cannon Mountain is a 4,180 footer in Franconia National Park, New Hampshire. We took the tramway and then hiked the final leg to the top.


Katie sketching the mountain view in her notebook


Nicholas finds a bug at the top


Admiring the view


Whitney snaps a picture of her and Paul


Yes, it is a steep drop on the side


Climbing to the observation deck

Flume Gorge and Franconia Notch

The Flume Gorge at Franconia Notch (New Hampshire) is an 800 foot drop granite gorge with walls extending as high as 90 feet vertically.


Nicholas shows us the bottom of the gorge


All of us together along the way


Climbing through the gorge (1)


Climbing through the gorge (2)


In Bear Cave


A butterfly lands on Katie


The girls


Climbing through the Wolves Den

Sabbaday Falls (New Hampshire)

Storyland Photos (New Hampshire)

For those not in the know, Storyland is the funnest place in the world if you are a three to twelve year old growing up in Massachusetts. This is our sixth consecutive year visiting.


Nicholas manning the foam ball cannon at Loopy Labs


Milking the cow


"Am I getting too big for Storyland?"


Chilling

Alpine Slide at Attitash, New Hampshire

Another video: a first person view riding the Alpine Slide at Attitash, the longest such slide in North America. Paul was at the controls, with Nicholas as both wingman and video-man. Whitney was ahead of us, and Katie was ahead of her.

Storyland (New Hampshire) and the Bamboo Chutes

We replaced (actually, supplemented) our ten year old video camera with a Flip Mino all-digital video camera. What it lacks in image stabilization it makes up for in size, easy and rapid use, and convenience. Plus Nicholas figured out how to use all on his own.

Here is our first attempt at posting a video online - a first person view of the Bamboo Chutes at Storyland in New Hampshire:

Back from New Hampshire

We just arrived home from a short vacation in the White Mountains of New Hampshire - will post more pictures over the next week.

Ten Years Ago Today: August 17, 1998

Tom and I were finishing up our brothers vacation in Australia with time in Sydney, the Northern Territory, and the far north of Queensland, including Daintree.


The brothers Pyzowski


Tom in front of the Sydney Opera House


Paul on the beach near Cairns


The following pictures are from a several day stay in Kakadu National Park near the top of the Northern Territory. You can see my posing with aboriginal art.

EO Boston Family Event at Kimball Farm

Last night was EO Boston's annual summer family event, this year held at Kimball Farm in Westford, Massachusetts. Highlights includes mini-golf, bumper boats, all you can eat ice cream sundaes, mini-golf - did I mention all you can eat ice cream sundaes??

Kimball Farm has two interweaving 18-hole mini-golf courses, here we are on the first 18 holes:






Nicholas scores a hole in one


After dinner, Katie enjoyed the pony rides...




...and we all took turns on the bumper boats (bumper cars on the water)...




...followed by general silliness...




...a second round of sunset golf...






...and finished up with a second trip to the sundae bar - did I mention all you can eat ice cream??

Fun with iPhone Photography

The "special effect" in this photo of my church being painted was unintended. From what little I could research it was caused either by the slow CMOS in the iPhone's camera, or a bug in the iPhone 2.0 software that tried to change orientation from horizontal to vertical (based on the motion detector) while the picture was being taken.

Even More Drumlin Farm Pictures

Whit's sister Lindsey visited last week while Paul was away. Here are pictures she took while here, mostly at Drumlin Farm family night.

Ten Years Ago Today: August 11, 1998

My brother and I are enjoying remembering our trip down under from ten years ago. Here are some pictures from our week in New Zealand.


Touring Milford Sound, one of New Zealand's most famous tourist attractions, on a stormy day.


Geothermal mud baths in Rotorura


In the national park at the base of Mount Cook


Glacier fly by and landing

More Drumlin Farm Pictures

Nicholas on "weeding day":








Katie indoors on a rainy day:




Skits on Family Night:

Basel, Switzerland

We had 45 minutes before a meeting in Basel, Switzerland to catch a quick look at the public plaza around Elisabethenkirche.



Elisabethenkirche was the first new Protestant church to be built in Basel after the Reformation.


This kinetic fountain was inspired by Dada-ist and Basel resident Jean Tinguely.

Olympic Update of Sorts

With the start of the 2008 Beijing Olympics just three days away, I thought it would be cool to note that my hotel is only about 100 meters away from the International Olympic Committee headquarters in Switzerland. Here is picture I snapped on my way to the lake for a morning run.

View From My Window...

...overlooking Lake Geneva as the sun sets on a beautiful Sunday evening.

Flight Delays...

My flight to Zurich tonight is delayed two hours and counting. On the bright side, it is giving me a chance to try out MobileMe on the iPhone to see how quickly and efficiently I can get a picture posted on my website.

UPDATE: Three and a half hour delay, ended up not getting to final destination (Lausanne, Switzerland) until nearly 5PM Sunday afternoon.

Morse's Pond in the Rain

Katie is very much enjoying swimming this summer, and especially enjoys a visit to nearby Morse's Pond. We have been going at least once, sometimes twice each weekend. She enjoys it so much that she wouldn't let a forecast of thunderstorms stop her. Nor the start of rain on the way there. Nor the fact that there was no one else at the Pond once we arrived, and the lifeguard saying it was unlikely to reopen today. Nor the lightning and thunder in the distance. Nor the downpour. No, she and Nicholas will just play in the pouring rain until the lifeguards gracefully kick us out.

Ten Years Ago Today: August 2, 1998

Tom and I spent the day exploring Auckland, including a trip to climb Rangitoto, a volcanic island in Hauraki Gulf. The picture above is from near the summit, looking out into the Gulf (with Auckland on the other side.)

Ten Years Ago Today: August 1, 1998

Tom and I started our boys' vacation in Auckland, New Zealand.

Summer Camp Continues...

Summer camp continues this week and next at Drumlin Farm, a wildlife sanctuary and working farm located in Lincoln, Massachusetts.