Johnny Appleseed

It's hard to believe but after work and school I think we all enjoyed some time at home today.

I bought every apple flavor I could find and did a little taste test.

We can't throw boxes away until we thoroughly explore their potential for amusement.

One of my favorite games is to see how many balls I can stuff into Ernie's clothes.

The Wonder of the Journey

Ernie is very interested in who different objects belong to. He'll pick up a shoe, say "dada", then bring it to me. Even if we aren't going anywhere. He does this with our clothes and cups a lot as well.

With Ernie it's easy to fall into the sadness of him growing up and missing the previous versions of him but I'm starting to realize the magic of the growing up process. Each new word or new expression is a fun little surprise gift. If he stayed a baby forever we would would miss out on the wonder of the journey.

Surprise Tree

We put the Christmas tree up while Ern was taking a nap so he was very surprised and excited about it.

At Tot Lot Park I had time to consider that this was not the sort of swinging I thought I was going to be doing all day, but I'm satisfied nonetheless.

Fairest Isle

Ern is a super fan of Ms. Nancy, local kids entertainer. She reads books, she plays guitar. What can't she do? Well for one thing she can't seem to return voicemail inquiries concerning her availability to perform at children's birthday parties despite her website indicating she offers that service. ANYWAY, this time she was doing her thing at Island Books on Mercer Island.

Next Ern wanted to unwind at some breweries so we first toured Urban Family Brewing. We're really more of a Suburban Family at this point but the bartender said we could still drink there.

Cutie man or cutiest man? You decide.

Fair Isle was one of my favorite breweries until I had a child. They annoyingly had a no kid policy. Well they've seen the error of their ways and turned their lives around and now we're back. My recollection is that there were one or two other kids in there even so I'm glad they figured out who their costumers are.

Alexandra - Saison with fireweed

Montgomery - Saison gin casks with foraged larch tips

Oba - Montmorency cherries and red leaf shiso leaves

Cherry Paulie - Dark saison with cherries

Ernin Around

Ernin around at school.

I don't know why we bother buying toys. Old tupperware lids will suffice.

I think that this was Dong Ting Chun in Redmond Town Center. I remember it being pretty... authentic Chinese. Like it was difficult for us to order. We haven't been back.

The massive Christmas tree was up.

In my textbook flipping days, I did a lot of business with Chegg. I still remember the first phone call I had with someone in their corporate office... I felt like I had really hit the big time. So seeing them getting wrecked by AI has a personal significance. RIP!