Shower Fixer

This year Ethan has gone through many different phases...he started the year by claiming he was Quincy, his favorite character from the Little Einsteins.

At the start of the school year he even got all his teachers and new friends to call him Quincy...to the point where the teachers actually wanted to relabel his cubby and label all his artwork with his newfound name.  We even got him an afro and yellow and green shirt to wear for Halloween, but a week before the event rolled around he became Ethan again.

This was followed by a brief Mommy phase where he wanted to be me when he grew up because "Mommy's get to cook yummy food all the time" (which I don't actually think is a great blessing, but happy he thinks his meals are palatable).

Then, a HUGE obssession with Adele.  He heard one of her songs on the radio and fell in love.  He would sing all her songs ALL THE TIME, wear my cashmere coat around in the heat of summer (and to sleep) because she "wore black soft furs" in her music videos, helped create a spotlight (out of Bob's bicycle headlight and some plastic cups) to shine down on his couch platform, and claimed he wanted to be "a famous singer like Adele" when he grew up.  This lasted for months people, months.

And now a new phase is born. Yesterday, after school, we did something something crafty and decorated with foam stickers.  He put his name down all by himself - please welcome, Ethan, aka the 'shower fixer'.

We had a leak in our master shower and had some plumbers come investigate the problem.  Everyday Ethan now instead of going to school, goes to one of his "ten different workplaces" to help fix showers and save the day. 

Crabbing

 

A few weeks ago we went crabbing with some friends at the Municipal Pier (corner of Van Ness and McDowell) in SF.  Crabbing season this year was open from November to end of June, and only red rock crab over 4" are allowed to be kept if fished within SF bay.  The park ranger told us that the easiest way to tell apart the dungeness vs red rock crab was by looking at the pinchers - if the tip was black then that meant it was a red rock crab!   The views from the pier (open 24 hours) were beautiful...the only downside to this pier was that there were no close restrooms or eateries nearby.

 

View of the Golden Gate Bridge from the pier.

Setting up the crab nets.  We used chicken drumsticks as bait...

but the sea lions and seagulls attached them before the crabs could.  A nice fellow crabber gave us a metal cage to put the bait in which helped to eliminate that problem.

Snack time!

Pulling up the nets required lots of teamwork.

Our first crab!  We caught quite a bit of dungeness crabs which we threw back into the water.  We did end up with two adult red rock crabs and lots of baby ones (which were also let go).

Family pic!

Sungsim explaining the anatomy of the crab.

Ethan doing the yawn and around the shoulder move followed by a quick smooch.  J/k, that would give heart attack.  He is only three people!  They were whispering secrets into each others ear, which was pretty cute.

Excited to hold the crabs!

The Moskewiczs!

When asked if he had fun on the drive back, Ethan gave a resounding yes!  He talked a lot about his new friends on the way home...but had no qualms about eating them that night. Afterwards he said 'full of deliciousness' and claimed he only liked seafood for now on.

Cherry Picking

 

Our good friends recently came out to visit us and one of the things we ended up doing was take the kids to go cherry picking in Brentwood.  There are so many of wonderful orchards with lots of yummy fruit to pick - strawberries, blackberries, white peaches and so much more!  We ended up at a orchard that offered three different varieties of cherries.

A cherry for you!

It's so much easier when you can get a lift instead of walking around.

Reaching high for the ripe fruit.

Carrying the fruit of our labor.

Although dressed in red, that's not a cherry!

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We also found a birds nest in one of the trees.

Katie looking super cute on her Daddy.

This one cracks me up...she looks sooo excited about getting more fruit.  Nom nom nom.

 

A little girl carrying a ton of freshly picked fruit.

 And then afterwards we went over to visit the Shuis! 

The girls.

And the kids (minus baby J).

Oh there he is!  Staying cool at the water table.

Early Birthday

Ethan had an early birthday celebration at school...the teachers were super sweet and suggested that all the summer kids pick a date the last month of school to celebrate their individual special days before school lets out.

All the classmates helped to make a crown, throne and birthday card.

I wanted to surprise Ethan with Rocket (from the Little Einsteins)...although I was afraid to use too much food coloring so it ended up pink instead of red.  But all the kids recognized him immediately so I guess they didn't mind the color difference!

Cake time!

Getting a chair lift.

Happy early birthday to my sweetie!

Daddy's Nai Nai

Nai Nai came to visit and Ethan was very happy to have a new playmate.

We had so much fun - making ice cream, biking, and going to lots and lots of playgrounds!