As a prize for finishing neurosurgery residency, Kenny had a full month off before having to go back to start fellowship. I took advantage of the rare opportunity to head up to Oregon for three days on the coast with his family and friends. The last time Kenny had time off between phases of life (med school and residency, it was), I convinced him to get SCUBA certified and come to Palau with me, steps which set into motion my career as an underwater photographer. The Palau trip marked my first time in the water with a camera, and I came back with a bunch of craptastic images, which are still online as an exercise in humility. :)

I really enjoyed spending time with Kieran, who is now two and a half years old. He’s old enough to have conversations with, which was novel. The baby I spend the most time with is still just babbling (mostly) in his own language. I’ve been quite enjoying seeing babies and toddlers at different stages in development, and it’s also been interesting to see differing parental approaches to raising children.

me, with kieran. i specialize in hanging out with other people’s babies.

We stayed in a house on the beach in Manzanita, which was absolutely gorgeous. There wasn’t much to do there but hang out and go for walks, and aside from a terrible allergy attack, it was just the thing I needed.

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Two weeks ago, I stopped by Peter and Karine’s place to say farewell and wish them a happy move back to New York. It was sad to see them go, but only because I empathize with the pain of moving so often. The truth is that I will probably see them just as often in New York as I did in San Francisco.

baby ella with wetpixel quarterly

Peter has been telling me for some time that the first issue of Wetpixel Quarterly is Ella’s favorite “book.” When I arrived, Ella quickly associated the “Eddic Chen” whose photo is in the front of the magazine with the dude standing in front of her, and then proceeded to happily name every underwater critter in the magazine [video]. I was really impressed — at 20 months of age, she can probably identify more animals in Wetpixel Quarterly than can nearly every adult who has flipped through it!

Olivia, Jane, Linnea, and Ben came over as well to say their goodbyes (thanks, Olivia, for the pizza!). I hope the Kims return to San Francisco soon.

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