Because Valerie is going out of town on business tomorrow, she has prepared Mother's Day lunch one day early

Coaxing a genuine smile out of these two can be tough, but getting them to laugh is easy

Today's lunch features Vietnamese asparagus-crab soup and Hawaiian-style ramen cabbage salad

Dessert is Thai mango with sticky rice

Mom and son

Since Valerie will also miss mom's birthday, mom gets to open her gifts early

Mom likes her new gift, but needs to learn how to use it (*cough* lens cap *cough* *cough*)

Sony NEX-3N with 16-50 F3.5-5.6 and 35 F1.8

On Mother's Day, Mom and I go on a hike so she can play with her new toy.

I first noticed Paseo del Sol fire road while running on Via Campesina, but have only been on it once before. This shot is looking back towards the trailhead, now just out of view.

I have equipped my Canon 5D Mark II with a 28-70mm...a lens of similar range to the kit lens that came with mom's Sony NEX-3N (though mine benefits from a larger aperture).

Mom already owns a case that can carry both her new camera and the additional lens. Considering she didn't bring her other lens, she could have left her case at home.

Mom's neighborhood is still under the marine layer. She refused to listen to me when I warned her how much warmer it would be on the hill. It is at least 10 degrees warmer when there is no shade.

The homes overlooking this trail must have spectacular views

This is one of the benefits of requiring every home in this area to have a red tile roof

You can see the gazebo by Malaga Cove Middle School in the bottom-right corner of this picture

Mom looks like she is getting serious

I far preferred the composition of the other shot I took of these flowers, but it had a tad too much motion blur

The color of these wildflowers pops much more nicely in the shade

This shot is still a little soft...needed a bit more depth of field and a higher shutter speed to lock down the motion

Almost to the top (from the trailhead to the top of Paseo del Sol is one mile)

Cactus