The Farm

Ethan is learning his animals, and animal noises. This past weekend, to help bring his books to life, we took him to the Massachusetts Audubon society 's Drumlin Farm. This is a small working farm not far from our house. Ethan got to check out chickens, goats, sheep, cows, and pigs.

He liked the goats the best, probably because he could pet them.
And I think he was afraid of the cows--they were really mooing loud when we were there. But he is a pretty good moo-er now!

Cousin Cruz

Last week, we had (probably) our last Boston visitors. Our friends Sue and Ben, and their 10 month-old son Cruz came to visit. Since neither Ethan or Cruz have any siblings or cousins, we have made them honorary cousins.

Ethan did not know what to make of a 'younger' person in the house. He is used to being the baby, and was at first a bit jealous. We left them with Lilia one night so we could go out to dinner, and she had to explain to Ethan that her lap had two spots--one for him and one for Cruz!


We had a great visit together, and since Sue and Ben are libing in the Bay area, we will see much more of them and Cruz once we move!

One Year Anniversary

Well, we have completed a full year here. We moved in last July 9. Just looked back at the first post--wow has Ethan changed in a year!
In January, I thought that this year would never end, but now that the end is near, I think that it went really quickly!!

We are working until August 4, and then flying out on August 10....It will be a bittersweet goodbye. There were plenty of things that we did not like about Boston, but we have made some great friends while we were here and will be very sad to leave them.


Next weekend we are going to start packing. We luckily don't have too much to pack since this place was fully furnished. When we moved here a year ago, we shipped 12 boxes. I have a feeling we will have a few more than twelve to ship back!

We are renting another sabbatical home in San Francisco--a fully furnished 2 bedroom place near Laurel Heights. We hope we like it (we have only seen pictures--and had Jason's brother Jeremy visit it to make sure it was okay). I'll let you know in a few weeks!

Vacationland

Over the holiday we had the opportunity for a roadtrip. We had a few vacation days left over, so we tacked them onto the holiday weekend and headed to Bar Harbor, Maine--home of Acadia National Park.

Here are some views from atop Cadillac Mountain, the tallest in the park. Cadillac Mountain is where the sun is first seen to rise in the US. We didn't make it to sunrise though, as it was around 4:20 am!



While we had to change our pace to fit a toddler's schedule, we had a great time. Ethan is very active, and then he naps. Twice. So our days consisted mostly of: wake up, eat, chase Ethan around, nap and repeat.


Ethan wasn't too into hiking--we tried to carry him in a backpack carrier and he screamed the whole way:


But he did enjoy taking a bike ride one day. The park has miles and miles of old carriage roads--which are roads designed for horse-drawn carriages--they are gravel with no steep inclines or cars--and perfect for biking.



Ethan also enjoyed checking out the tidal pools and wading in the ocean.


July 4th was a festival filled day in Bar Harbor. It started with a Rotary Club blueberry pancake breakfast (Ethan's new favorite food is blueberry), and continued on to a big parade.


As a special treat, we took him to see fireworks. We weren't sure how this would go, since the latest he ever stays up is 7, but he did great. At first he was a bit scared, but he seemed to warm up to them.

All in all, a great getaway, and one of our last in New England.

Graduation

Last weekend, Jason and I attended graduation ceremonies for our fellowships. My fellowship had a dinner on Friday night, and Jason's was on Saturday.

We realized last weekend that these were our last ever graduations. We have now gone through six each (jr. high, high school, undergrad, med school, internship, residency, and now fellowship).
It feels good to finally have reached the end and accepted our last diploma!

(We didnt bring our nice camera, so the pics didnt turn out great...)

We still have a month of work left--we started late since we had a long move from the west coast--but the year sure has gone fast.

At the beginning of August, we are moving back to San Francisco. I'll be working back at UCSF, doing pediatric anesthesia, and Jason is working at another hospital in San Francisco, called CPMC. We have found a place to live that is about half way between our two hospitals, and most importantly close to Ethan's new day care.


Also noteworthy, we will be done with condo living. Though the building has been convenient, we are fed up with some of the rules. Last week, we put an inflatable pool in the grass outside our back door. Ethan had a blast splasing away. When we were done we dumped the water, and brought it back inside.


The next day, Lilia brought him out again. This time, the condo manager came up to her and said 'pools aren't allowed on the property'. Apparently one of our neighbors had complained! Unbelieveable!! So Lilia's new solution was to put the pool in the bathroom!

So, we are sick of the rules, especially since they dont seem to apply to our upstairs neighbors who are incredibly noisy and smoke like chimneys.
But we are almost out of here!

Happy Father's Day!

Dear Daddy,

I want to wish you a very happy and special second Father's day. Although I am still to young to say it, I want you to know that I love you very, very much! I love to spend time with you, we have a lot of fun together when mommy is at work. I am so lucky to have such a great daddy! Thanks for taking such great care of me.

Love, Ethan

Ethan's Vacation

Well, last week, Ethan had a vacation to Lilia's apartment, while mom and dad took a vacation to the Caribbean. We sure did miss Ethan, but had the opportunity to get away, and a great person to take care of Ethan while we went, so we did.

It was fun to do 'adult' things again, including having quiet, leisurely dinners, sleeping in, snorkelling together, and not coming back to the room for naptime.

We took a cruise in the southern Caribbean--and visited St. John, Dominica, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Anguilla. We enjoyed all of the islands, but St. John and St. Lucia were our favorites. Here are some highlights:

A snorkelling spot in St. John--we saw turtles, schools of fish, a stingray, and a nurse shark!

Swimming at Trunk Bay, St. John

Trafalgar Falls, Dominica

View of St. Lucia

Jason and the Ship

Our lunch spot on Nevis--an old sugar plantation with fabulous views

Swimming in Anguilla on my birthday.

Ethan did well without us, but was happy to see us when we came home!
On our next trip (coming up over the 4th of July, to Maine) we're taking him!