Happy Father's Day

I know that this is over a month late but Happy Father's Day! This is how we celebrated with Daddy - we took him to the zoo! Nice, right?

4th of July

So fine, we're doing a little bit of catch-up on the blog. Here's how we spent the 4th of July - at the beach! What did you do?

Happy Easter - and BIG news from Washington, DC

Happy (belated) Easter, everyone! Sorry we're so late with our Easter wishes, and apologies as well for our sporadic blogging lately, but there has been a very good reason for that. The reason for the sparse posting is that while Daddy often helps us with our blogging, he has been very busy the past month or so, studying for the Foreign Service Exam.

You see, one of Daddy's best friends has been a Foreign Service Officer for many years, and Daddy has always been intrigued by that career option, lately much more so than before. We think Daddy has been getting a little bit bored with his current job, and was looking for something new and exciting to do. But apparently, you don't just get to work for the State Department - first you have to pass a battery of tests. The initial tests are written, and after studying a lot, Daddy passed with flying colors!

Then, there is a final oral evaluation, which takes place in person at the State Department in Washington, DC - which is exactly where we went this past Friday. It was a really big event - Daddy prepared for a few weeks to get ready. He's been keeping the whole thing a big secret from everyone, since the test and oral evaluation are really hard to pass, and only a fraction of those who apply are selected. Daddy didn't want to disappoint everyone in case he didn't make it.

Of course we knew, and were particularly excited when we heard that we'd get to go to Washington with Daddy and Mommy, too! So, while Daddy spent all day Friday at the State Department taking his oral tests, we hit the town with Mommy. Luckily, it was a beautiful day, so we started out with a visit to the National Zoo.

Then Mommy took us to the National Mall, where the Cherry Blossoms Festival was getting under way. Unfortunately, because of the long winter, the blossoms haven't bloomed yet, but we got to participate in some activities anyway, like making traditional Japanese Torii gates - 

And watching the annual kite festival on the Mall -

We also visited the White House -

Met Mr. Beaver (random, we know...) -

And explored the underground tunnels near our hotel in Crystal City -

Of course, no trip to Washington would be complete without lots of rides on the Metro between all of our various destinations -

But the best part of the trip? Daddy passed his exam!!! Apparently, Daddy's combination of language skills, MBA degree and business experience make him the perfect candidate to be an "Commercial Attaché" in the State Department's Central European Trade and Comercial Affairs Division!

You know what this means, though, don't you? Yes - this is the really big news - we'll be moving to Washington, DC! It won't happen immediately - the US Government provides ample transitional time, so we won't move until the Summer ends and we return from vacation (the move will most likely happen sometime in early September.) That will be just in time for us to start in our new schools (Mommy and Daddy thought that would be perfect timing, since I'll be going into first grade, so it won't be as big a transition as it would be later, and Everett will be able to start Pre-K at his new school.)

Mommy and Daddy have already started some online house-hunting - it looks like Arlington, VA will be where we wind up (that's where Daddy lived for four years after college, so he knows the area, and apparently the schools and transportation are good, and there are also lots of non-profit career and consulting opportunities for Mommy.)

We'll miss New York, of course, but we still have a full Spring and Summer to spend there - and based on our experience in Washington the past couple of days, we think we're going to LOVE living there! 

We just hope everyone comes to visit us there, too, like you do in New York? Pretty please?

San Francisco Adventures

As Juno mentioned on Saturday, we're in San Francisco! We managed to escape Nemo - the blizzard that dropped a whole lot of snow on the East Coast. Luckily, Mommy managed to get us on a flight a day earlier. Good thing too because our original flight ended up being cancelled! 

We've been having a lot of fun running around with our cousins and celebrating Chinese New Year. We went to the playground and then, after working up a good sweat, we headed to Coufou and Couma's house to shower (all 6 of us in the shower together!) and get ready for dinner.













The next day, we had more time to play together. We went biking and scootering on the Embarcadero. We each got to go for a ride with Uncle James on the big bike. It was so much fun!





We worked up quite an appetite for brunch! What, didn't you know that french fries are a traditional dish on Chinese New Year? The older cousins busied themselves with books and iPhones while we waited for the rest of the food to arrive.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

Arts and Crafts

Oh, did you think that we were done talking about our Christmas vacation and adventures with Juno? Sorry. We have one last post for you! 

You see, since Juno, Yee-Ma and Uncle James were in town, we finally convinced Mommy to take us to the Children's Museum of the Arts. We've been wanting to go for quite some time but have never made it. This was the perfect opportunity!

The Children's Museum of the Arts is a great hands-on arts museum for kids (duh).  The entire museum is set up like one big arts and crafts studio. Lots of different media and materials were set out for us to explore. Like flubber and playdoh...

Dot painting...

Mixed media collage materials...

colored pencils and crayons...

and watercolors. Between the three of us, we made a lot of art!

There was also a clay bar where you learned out to make neat things out of molding clay. I wanted to make a fish. Jasper wanted to make a replica of Bunny. Juno decided to create a flower and vegetable garden. We stated our request and our teacher Joe showed us how to create the shapes out of different colored clay. I would show you the final products but they somehow got "lost."

But my favorite part of the museum was tucked away in the upper floor - A GIANT BALL PIT! And not just giant as in a really bit ball pit. I mean a ball pit with really big balls!!!

When we were finished, there was a convenient slide to take us back downstairs. How fun!

When can we go back??