This page contains links to some videos created by our daughter.

You will need Microsoft Media Player, Real Player, or some similar program to view them.  Click on the title of the video to access the file.  Although the files can be downloaded and viewed using a dial-up connection, the results will be better with a broadband connection.  Most of the videos also have soundtracks.  Resolution (focus) may be imperfect, but I believe that you will find the videos interesting.

Jeremy's Journey
Here the old curmudgeon and grandson Jeremy hike up the North Bubble in Acadia National Park.  It's the first mountain hike for Jeremy, then approaching his fifth birthday.  We learn that nothing boosts a nearly five-year-old's esteem like making it to the top of a mountain under his own steam.  Grandpa was later to describe the hike in an essay entitled The North Bubble Trail: The Making of a Trail Hobbit.  You may want to read it before or after viewing the video. 

South Bubble Trail
On the same vacation as the one on which Jeremy conquered the North Bubble, the whole gang assaulted the South Bubble.  The "gang" consists of Christopher (age 7 at the time), Jeremy, and Matthew (age 2, going on 3), who never met a boulder too big to climb, accompanied by Dad (David), Mom (Kate), and Grandpa (the curmudgeon).  Grandma, who isn't into hiking, was back at the cottage, taking it easy.  For the accompanying essay, see:  The South Bubble Trail: Trail Hobbits, Onward and Upward!.

Generations
This is one of my favorites among our daughter's videos (and a long one, lasting six and a half minutes).  It begins with a brief look back to when our family vacations in Maine began, when Kate was "just a kid."  Then it segues into "Maine 2003," when she is the Mommy with three boys, and we all converge on Bar Harbor for two weeks.  The video is, I believe, a masterful synthesis of stills, videos, and music – something that everyone can appreciate, even if the pictures don't evoke the memories that they do for us.  It is an apt supplement to the photo essays in the Adventures in Acadia section.

Africa – May 1993
In May of 1993, our daughter visited wildlife sanctuaries in Africa – a field trip for her college zoology class.  Although the trip carried a whopping "lab fee," it was an opportunity not to be missed, with memories that will last a lifetime.  She did not have a video camera with her; this clip comprises a series of still photos taken on that safari, accompanied by appropriate background music.  It is especially poignant for me, as I was born and lived for twelve years in South Africa, albeit thousands of miles from Kenya.  (The video opens with this background.)

The Duck Story
Here's a clip that needs some explanation.  At my wife's family's reunion in Maine in 2003, our daughter prevailed on me to tell the true story of our encounter with a wacky duck.  My daughter and I were on our way into town for ice cream and were already in a silly mood because we had just had a "conversation" with a "talking" goose.  First, a cat ran across the street in front of our car.  It had been stalking a duck, which took flight to escape the cat.  This, in itself, was not funny – except that the duck flew down the middle of the road, following the yellow line for a considerable distance.  Never before having seen a duck behave this way, my daughter and I cracked up.  However, what is cracking everybody up on the video is not the story itself (which was less funny in the telling than it was at the time) but my brother-in-law's duck sound effects (which he does perfectly).  Of course, you need sound for this one.

Speedy Christmas
This is the way Christmas morning went at our daughter's house in Phoenix, Arizona, a couple of years ago.  I think this may have been the first year she had a digital video camera.  Though the original is obviously accelerated, it rather accurately captures the way Christmas morning feels when one shares it with three small boys.  (Grandpa was on the sidelines, but, as I recall, he later caught hell for constantly walking in front of the camera – footage that had to be edited out, though a "cameo" appearance remains.)  The music is a one minute and eight seconds rendition of the familiar "Flight of the Bumblebee," performed by James Galway.

Verde Valley
A combination video and slide show of a train ride through a colorful valley in Arizona – another of our daughter's productions.