Over the course of the weekend, the light around the Big Sur River Inn (my in-laws' business) kept catching my eye. The weather was really nice, with hardly a cloud in the sky, and when you combine that with the tall trees throughout the property, what you get are these shifting pools of bright sunlight in between broad patches of shadow. This one was right outside our room.

Jason wasn't actually supposed to be climbing that rail, of course, but trying to keep him off of any climbable surface (or any unclimbable surface, for that matter) sometimes requires more energy than I have. Plus, you know, it is actually kind of cute.

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Nikon D40, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX
f/1.8, 1/2500, ISO 200

I think there must have been something in the air this weekend. It's not really hard to figure out, of course—a beautiful wedding, towering redwoods, pools of sunlight amid the shadows cast by the trees. Who wouldn't feel a little romantic?

Juliette always says that her older brother and sister-in-law have the best relationship, and, you know, I think she's onto something. I haven't seen many couples that fit together as well as they do. I remember telling them that once and they responded self-deprecatingly, saying something like "Oh, you should see us fight." But, of course, everybody fights with the people close to them sometimes. Not everybody has fun together, and not everybody is affectionate with each other, and not everybody is so obviously in love, especially after multiple decades of marriage. It's really something special, and I always like getting to spend time with them.

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Nikon D40, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX
f/1.8, 1/4000, ISO 200

We were up in Big Sur this past weekend for Juliette's sister's wedding, which, as I'm sure comes as no surprise to anyone who knows the area, was beautiful. I wasn't the photographer for the event, which meant I could relax and enjoy it as a guest instead of having to worry about getting every shot. (In theory, anyway. Jason kept me busy enough that I couldn't really say I "relaxed," but it was fun, nonetheless.)

For the most part, I just tried to stay out of the way of the photographer that they had hired, but I couldn't completely keep myself from taking pictures. After all, I was in the middle of a beautiful Northern California forest surrounded by people I care about.

This one is from the rehearsal, the day before the wedding. Needless to say, things went smoothly and we were all in a pretty good mood.

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Nikon D40, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX
f/1.8, 1/200, ISO 200

I set this picture as my new desktop wallpaper a few hours after I took it. I don't imagine that sounds like much to most of you, as most of the people I know change their wallpaper all the time. I've been using the same neutral background since I got my laptop in 2007, though, and this is the first time I've used a photograph as my wallpaper ever. But I think this might be the best picture I've ever taken, and I want to keep looking at it.

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Nikon D40, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX
f/1.8, 1/100, ISO 200

Why, yes, Jason is wearing two nametags. Your guess is as good as mine as to why.

Nikon D40, Nikkor 55-200mm VR @ 55mm
f/4, 1/125, ISO 200

This past weekend we drove up to Salinas for the Sakasegawa family reunion. One of my dad's cousins had recently lost his mother, and partially in tribute to her, he had a bunch of her old family photos enlarged and brought them to the event. There were a bunch of pictures of my dad's generation as children, and their parents as young adults. This one is my great grandfather, Seimon Sakasegawa.

It's such a strange and fascinating experience to see photos like this. When I look at this picture, I can see echoes of my grandfather's face, as well as his youngest brother's. I never knew Seimon—he died in 1948, before either of my parents was born—but, seeing his face, there's still a familiar feeling there.

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Nikon D40, Nikkor 55-200mm VR @ 55mm
f/4, 1/125, ISO 200

This week at Jason's daycare they are learning about pets, as part of which they've asked us parents to bring in a picture of our kids with their family pets. That seems like it should be pretty easy, but let me tell you, Cooper has a black belt in looking away from the camera at the last second. It's some serious Remo Williams*-type stuff. Between that and trying to get Jason to sit still, this photo is nothing short of amazing.

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* For those of you who, unlike my brother and I, don't have an affinity for cheesy 80's action flicks, this is a reference to a 1985 movie about a super agent who learns, among other things, how to dodge bullets by watching the muscles in the shooter's trigger finger.

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Nikon D40, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX
f/5.6, 1/125, ISO 200

We had some friends over on Saturday and when it was time to put the kids to bed* it turned out that Jason and his friend E had the same pajamas. This initially caused some consternation as Jason thought that E had taken his pajamas, but when it was revealed that there were actually two identical pairs, both boys became very excited. When we suggested taking their picture, they got even more excited. Which, as you can see, lasted about as long as it took me to retrieve my camera.

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* I always used to get so jealous of my parents and their friends when they got to stay up late and have fun. It's interesting being on the other side of that now.

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Nikon D40 and Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX
f/2.8, 1/125, ISO 200
On-camera Vivitar DF-383 @ TTL, bounced from ceiling

You see this face? This is the face of a boy who has gone an entire day without a potty accident.

Best. Day. Ever.

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Nikon D40, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX
f/2, 1/60, ISO 200
On-camera Vivitar DF-383 @ TTL

Usually when I think of Jason these days I think about how well he speaks or how much different he is from a year ago. I think about how he's not a baby anymore, and it makes me a little wistful. So I forget sometimes just how little he still is.

He had some trouble keeping up at his dance recital this weekend, but, perhaps because he's so little, he ended up getting the biggest cheers of any of the boys in his group. I got a little choked up at that, I admit.

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Nikon D40, Nikkor 55-200mm VR DX @ 70mm
f/4.2, 1/125, ISO 1600