Kewish Cousins

We are happy to be spending the holidays with the Kewishes who drove over from Richmond. The cousins are in heaven and running rampant in one quivering mass of humanity. Here are some pictures hot off the presses:

The older kids in a submarine at the Children's Museum

On the carousel at the Children's Museum. Joey was a little excited.

Sammy was also excited, and rode it a few times.

Spontaneous cousin hand holding.

Inside a structure they built out of PVC.

Charles in the cockpit of a real Indy car.

Tori and Lexie have had lots and lots of fun playing together. Tonight they were shopping together.

And going through their cart together.

And holding hands after their jammies were on.

and saying goodnight.

Sammie and the boys have had a lot of fun, but it's been so cute to see Lexie and Tori together. They are only 7 days apart in age, and clearly have a lot in common.

VEK

We did this six months ago or so, but figured it would be good to update Tori's image in each of your imaginations (since you never come and visit!).

Dim Sum Party!

Imagine our surprise when we were at our very own Costco in Indianapolis and saw a tray of Char Siu Bao in the Costco deli. With my parents having lived in China for two of the last three years, and Liz and I having both made separate trips there, we had to grab them. We had both made the requisite trip to a fancy Beijing restaurant where they displayed all kinds of fish/eels/snakes/frogs/turtles in beautiful aquariums for you to order (this was also the same restaurant where my dad would make us try chicken feet), but the steamed buns there were the best. So we grabbed the last tray and had them for dinner that night with some homemade chicken fried rice. The kids loved them and Tori kept asking for "more bread please" even after they were gone.

Joe Cool

Heard only a few minutes ago at the Kewish household, from the mouth of one very precocious barely-5-year-old:

"some people are cool, other people are not cool, and it's not that they don't want to be cool--it's just that they're not. Girls can't be cool because they are princesses and don't like Star Wars."

I shudder to think what he will think when he finds out about these princesses:

Happy Birthday Joey

Saturday was Joey's 5th birthday, although he is well beyond his years in many interesting ways. We decided to dedicate the day to him by starting out at the Indianapolis Children's Museum--the top children's museum in the world! Then we went to his favorite place, Gameworks. He got to pick a restaurant in downtown Indianapolis for us to eat lunch, where they surprised him with a giant piece of ice-cream cake. We came home and went fishing, where he caught his very first fish all by himself. Then we had his favorite dinner--macaroni and cheese--and followed it up with a nice family birthday party, where he got two cakes. His first cake request to Liz was "a box jellyfish, the most dangerous animal in the world. Then, he said he wanted a "worm" cake. Liz usually lets the kids request a cake for their birthdays, but in this case she went ahead and did both. Here are some pictures:

building a gorgosaurus at the museum. I didn't get a picture of when you finish it and the wall lets out a giant roar, which makes Tori scream and run away crying. Mean puzzle!


Tori "in the sea"


Let's just say Tori LOVED the glass exhibit. This is a little reclining seat that spins around to watch the glass ceiling (irony noted).

And she wanted to take some of the glass home with her.

Joey's birthday dessert--bigger than his head. We couldn't even finish it between the five of us.

Tori was stoked on her "My Little Pony" from the birthday clown.

Joey was excited about his fighter jets.

And even more excited about his globe.


Here is the worm cake


And Charles "ewwww" face.


And, of course, the jellyfish "cake."

But his favorite present, which he hasn't let go of since Saturday, was a real STAR WARS light sabre (or "lifesaver" as Joey calls it). He was crushed when Liz didn't let him take it to school this morning.

Home fishin'

As shown in a previous post, our new house in Indiana backs up to some water. In fact, the shore of our pond is about 50 yards out of our back door. A few weeks ago we dropped some bait in the water and found out that it was very easy to catch some of the biggest, fattest, strongest panfish I have ever seen. It's super easy bobber fishing for the boys and they are in heaven. I thought back to when I used to steal frozen corn from my mom's freezer and ride my bike to the "pit" in Anaheim with a spool of fishing line and a hook to see if I could catch one of the gross carp that lived there. Then I watch the boys and think this is reason #1,456 why they are spoiled brats. But of course, if you thought that it was really all just a ploy for me to go fishing, you would be right. Everyone wins (except Liz I guess, who can't go out there with Tori since Tori insists on running directly into the water the minute her feet touch the ground). On Saturday we were out catching some panfish and I saw another guy across the way fishing for bass. I threw a big lure on my line and on my first cast...WHAM!--a huge bass that I didn't quite get to shore. We caught a few smaller ones that were still pretty big in their own right, and lots of fun to catch. Here are some pictures:








Random bonus picture:
A great shot from the most recent Barcolana in Trieste.

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