2016 Family Pumpkin Carving Contest

This year's contest had an unexpected outcome.  My younger brother placed 1st with the minimalist approach.  His is the one on the lower left.  We made fun of him for taking longer than anyone else to do that.  I guess it paid off.   Second place went to my oldest son, that weird thing on the top row second from left was his.  Third went to my sister, who did the clowny pumpkin in the middle on the bottom row.  Its the one I would have chosen.  My pumpkin is the one on the top row, far left.  It came in 5th.  My wife did the tiny faced pumpkin on the bottom row, far right.  It was an idea she lifted from a friend who had received favorable reviews with a similar effort a few days earlier.  Despite our judge's clear lack of credentials, he was able to sniff out an obvious act of plagiarism, and he punished her with a 7th place finish.  The judge was a friend of my 12 year old son who is relatively new to the neighborhood.  Though he was in over his head with his assigned task, he's a good kid so we still let him come around from time to time.

2015 Family Pumpkin Carving Contest

This year's family pumpkin carving contest had some pretty good entries.  I am a little embarrassed to say that yes, I won again.  The bottom pic is from my household.  The bottom right was mine, 1st place.  Next to it was my oldest son's, 4th place.  Top left was my 7 year old son's.  It was 6th or seventh, who cares.  He got the point though, that he is going to have to man up and learn how to cut a pumpkin.  My wife's was the toothy one on the top right.  It got third.  The big mouth full of teeth is a recurring theme for her, maybe it will work out better for her next year.

The top pic has all the entries. The two on the farthest right that were not very well lit were not officially entered because they were produced by non family.  I think that a couple of others could have won just as easily as mine this year.  Of note, my sister did the 2 face one, top middle.  It looks way better lit up in the dark than it did in daylight.  My step mother tried to play on the popularity of the 70's rock band KISS, but the judges were of the wrong demographic to be impressed and she was appropriately given last place.  Happy Halloween!!!!!

Memorial Day Weekend 2015 in Chicago, Time-lapse

I made my yearly trip to Chicago with my children last week for Memorial Day weekend.  One of the things I looked forward to was testing out my new Brinno TLC 200 Pro camera.  It is made specifically for make time-lapse videos.  The great thing about it is that every thing you need is contained in this small camera.  It also has weather proof housing that can be purchased separately.  This is a compilation of some of the videos we made.  The first is from our hotel room at The Wit on State Street.  The next one was from the Ferris wheel at the Navy Pier as we made one revolution.  We also spent some time kicking a soccer ball at Grant Park while the camera was strapped to light poles and trees getting footage of Buckingham Fountain and the harbor.  The last segment was from the Lakefront Trail near Shedd Aquarium.  Overall I thought they turned out okay.  I think if I had attempted to use the camera's manual focus they might have turned out a little better.

2014 Family Pumpkin Carving Contest

This year the core group of contestants was reduced by one because my sweet wife was at home sick.  My boys both did their own pumpkins by themselves from beginning to end.  Our guest judge was a neighbor who is a college professor with a PhD so he knows a thing or two.  He correctly chose my pumpkin on the top far right as the winner.  My 10 year old's was on the top left and it came in second place.  My father got 3rd with his yearly standard pumpkin on the right in the middle row.  My seven year old boy did a little too much work around the left eye of his and ended up blowing it out.  It is the one on the left in the middle row.  He got last place but I thought it was still pretty good. 

An Antlion Capturing and Eating an Ant

My mother collected these "doodlebugs" a few days ago to show my children.  I got interested and decided to try to video them in action.  They are called doodlebugs because of the doodly patterns they sometimes make in the sand when moving about.  They are also called antlions because ants are a staple of their diet.  We have fed them so many ants and they always seem ready for more.  Antlions are the larval form of an insect in the order Neuroptera, which also includes the green lacewing.  They are classified in the family Myrmeleontidae, genus Myrmeleon.  I do not know which species this individual belongs to.

It is really interesting to watch them build and use their sand pit traps.  They move backwards burrowing into the sand in a circular pattern while tossing the sand out of the pits with rapid jerking of their heads.  When the pit is deep enough they sit at the bottom with only their jaws exposed and wait on their prey, usually ants.  If the ant is able to gain the footing to get out, the antlion showers it with sand causing it to slide back to the bottom.

Super Bowl XLVIII Prediction

Not much to say here but that I think Peyton will pull off a win to solidify his status as the best that ever played. Denver 35, Seattle 31.

2013 Family Pumpkin Carving Contest

This year I had a hard time making the effort because I was so fatigued after taking my kids camping. We had a good time though. Somehow we let my teenaged sister talk us in to letting 2 of her best friends judge the competition and believe it or not her kitty cat took the prize.

2012 Family Pumpkin Carving Contest

We had another good year for our annual family pumpkin carving contest. The smack talking was at an all time high, while the quality of work may be in question. We again did not allow the judge to know which pumpkin belonged to whom before judging in order to make it as fair as possible. In addition to the immediate family, we had 2 entries from relatives visiting from out of town. The top pic shows all entries. On the bottom are my household's entries. Mine is on the top right, it got 1st place. My wife got 3rd, it is in the top left spot. My oldest boy came in dead last. He actually made his design and cut it by himself this year for the first time, his is on the bottom. My youngest boy made the design and mom cut it for him, his is top middle and it earned the next to last spot. The judge somehow thought he was going for the R2D2 look and gave him a small break.