Berkeley Photobooth

A couple of weeks ago, a professional photographer set up a photobooth on central campus with the goal of taking pictures of as many people on campus as possible. Of course, it happened on a day when I decided not to brush my hair or wear eye make-up, but it was fun to be a part. Although I had intended to keep it out of the photo, the photographer wanted the coffee cup in the frame, I suppose b/c coffee is a huge part of campus culture. "Hold the cup up. Yes, a little more. That's it love, fabulous" (imagine a British accent and the sound of the shutter clicking rapidly). I couldn't help but giggle. I imagine he took about 20 pictures, but what's above is as good as it gets. The photos will be a part of a huge billboard meant to celebrate Berkeley's 140th anniversary. The aim is to demonstrate the diversity on Berkeley's campus. There are photos of Oski the Bear (CAL's mascot), the chancellor and his wife, students, professors, children, etc. Check out more photos at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/devcom2080/PhotoboothApril

Baby Gets a Bob

Dahin got a new haircut. I really like it. Her hair looks a lot cleaner, and we don't have the daily hair brushing/styling struggle. I think she likes it, too. Oliver is convinced that, since nuna's hair is shorter, he and nuna now have the 'same' hair.

Lily

Lily the Guinea Pig
by Dahin

Lily, Lily, Lily
She is as soft as a blanket.
Her eyes are as brown as a tree's trunk.
She loves lettuce as green as a tree's hair.
Her ears are as flat as a pancake.
She loves carrots as orange as can be.

Down on the Farm with Dahin

The second and third graders at Dahin's school took an overnight field trip to Slide Ranch, a non-profit teaching farm on the Pacific Coast just north of San Francisco. The weather gods were very generous and the two days spent at the ranch were beautiful. The site for the camp was spectacular. I mean, just look at the gorgeous view at the campsite (below). For more information on Slide Ranch, you can go to this site: http://www.slideranch.org/about.html

Below is a shot of her very brave teachers. Taking 40 (Yes, that's right) second and third graders (2 classes of 2/3) on an overnight camping field trip means they deserve awards for teachers of the year. The one on the left (with the hat) is Dahin's teacher and we LOVE her. She is an amazing teacher who knows the children well, deeply caring for each one.



Dahin had a blast meeting all different kinds of animals. She met goats, chickens, and cows, and found starfish and sea cucumbers in the tide pools near the campsite. Nature hikes galore, the kids walked, and walked, and walked, and walked. Here they are walking to the beach.


Now, this (below) is some impressive milking technique. Just look at this style--she's a natural! Dahin talked for days about milking a goat. She also got to comb the wool and learned a lot about where some of the materials we use for clothing come from. Most important, she learned about sustainability and how, when we take care of our environment, we can all benefit.

Ronan Takes Chinatown

Ronan LOVES food. Shopping for it, talking about it, preparing it, and, of course, eating it. He is such a good eater and especially loves Chinese food, including this tasty soup that comes with meals at our favorite Hong Kong restaurant in Oakland's Chinatown. He's also begun an obsession with pancakes and insists on helping mix and pour them. Chef Ronan is the master of picky and refuses to eat fruit and veggies with bruises or other defects. "No! And den, it gwoss!!" ("and then" usually precedes any explanation) I'm sure he is destined for Iron Chef about 20 years down the road. Watch out Bobby Flay! He's already preparing for his closeup (see below).

Oliver Takes Chinatown

Apa and Oliver had fun drinking tea at a Chinatown restaurant. Oliver is so cuddly, we call him our "puppy." He's also obsessed with being funny. Accidents to purposeful stunt falls, he'll ask, "That funny?" His favorite joke at the moment goes like this: "How'd the chicken cwoss the woad?" "I don't know, why?" "Umm, to cwoss the woad and get some gum and stuff at the stowah."

Bike Riding by the Sea

Sand Mermaids

First Taste of Ocean '08

On the way back from the Marina, we decided to stop off at the beach accessed from the frontage road that stretches between Oakland and Berkeley. The kids played there for two hours. We found jelly fish, built sand sculptures and got our first sunburns of the season (yes, shame on me--note to self: must reapply sunscreen throughout the day). It was really tough rounding them up to head home.

Views at the Marina

Crazy kites, marine birds, and sailboats; Oh My! Oliver and Ronan called the gecko kites, "echo." Although they understood the difference between a gecko and an echo, they'd still say, "I want to see the echo!"

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

Dahin (left) and Ronan (right) really took to kite-flying. Dahin loved running with the kite up the hills and Ronan was quite methodical, pulling in and loosening the string to control the kite. The windy conditions at the Marina make kite-flying a perfect activity. Plus, the weather was just perfect. I've never experienced such warm day at the Berkeley Marina, where, even in summer, it's usually chilly.

At the Marina

Here we are at the Berkeley Marina at Cesar Chavez Park. You can see San Francisco and the Bay in the background. The weather was very warm, in the 70s in the morning and in the mid 80s in the afternoon. We were out all day long; kite-flying and having a picnic in the morning and early afternoon, beach-going in the late afternoon, and a potluck dinner in the evening. It was a very full Saturday! See more pics above.

Happy Birthday Apa!

We celebrated Jack's birthday way early in the morning. Dahin had a camping field trip with her school and would be gone for two days, so we decided to have the party in the morning (which explains Jack's bed-head :- o ). Yes, we had cake for breakfast, but it was fun!

Family Tree

Here's a picture of Ronan holding the family tree Dahin and I constructed for her class's immigration unit. We decided to focus on her dad's patrilineal line as well as mine (naming conventions make this way easier than tracing the matrilineal line). We couldn't quite get all the names in Jack's family all the way to the family's roots in Changnyeong, but found some cool information. One bit was about a famous relative who was a favorite scholar of King Sejong (which means Jack's family was, at one time, elite) and worked with him to create the Korean script. He also tried to kill King Sejo and for that is known as one of the "six martyrs." Oh well--can't all be good! Thanks to the diligence of Dahin's grandfather and great uncles, we have a complete patrilineal line of descent from our branch of the Finchum family's arrival in this country from England in 1740. The two Fincham brothers arrived aboard a ship in chains (having been arrested for poaching on royal property) and served 7 years of indentured servitude before breaking free and settling primarily in North Carolina/Tennessee and beginning a long line of mountain men and moonshiners. Yee-haw!! Who says history ain't interstin'!

Brother Love

If this is not proof that these little guys are best friends, I don't know what is. How cute is this!

Ok. My kids are just wierd. The things they do are just beyond explanation. I guess that's the fun of it. My friend Pam came over for Easter and, to kill time since my fabulous feast took FOREVER to cook, she led the kids in a quest to look up their names in a dictionary. Oliver and Dahin's names were not found, but they found Ronan's. It did not explore the meaning of his name, but rather descibed a medieval Irish king who murdered his son. Ronan, the king, it appears was fairly infamous for this act. Well, that led to a barrage of questions as to why the king killed his child and why, exactly, did I name Ronan after this king. Explanations, beginning with the phrase "ok, I didn't name him after that king," were not good enough in their eyes. They have since scripted a play, complete with dramatic soundtrack from the Casio, in which Ronan plays his namesake, Oliver plays the son, and Dahin plays the mermaid who helplessly watches on the sidelines. Thank you, Pam.