Less than Twelve Parsecs

Mara is about to turn 6. Just a few more weeks until the happy date, but she's already there mentally and physically. This summer she went: Kayaking at camp - first in her age group to kayak on her own without an adult during this whole summer, according to her camp instructors Biking on mountain trails - yes, she started biking with no training wheels after several months of sparse strider bike rides, and is so smooth at it now! Stand-up paddleboarding ( SUPing at Shoreline Lake ) which I've personally never even attempted. Greg got his opportunity to try it for the first time just this week, same location, with his coworkers. Horseback riding on Wizard who is a 30yo mare at Garrod Ranch . She can read piano music and play several songs with two hands on it - whenever she's patient and rested enough :-). She figured out the notes of "Doe, a Deer" and wrote them on sheet music one afternoon. Can swim end-to-end in the pool at swim class in a bunch of dif...

It all started with a Dow-and-Darrow . What??! ... you might ask, and rightly so. It is something likely unheard of, before Gaius's stories. He started talking one night about how a Dow-and-Darrow is so, so much stronger than a Bow-and-Arrow. We tried to tease out details - is it a crossbow? a longbow? does it even shoot out arrows? (no, it doesn't, it shoots out Darrows, thanks for asking). But it's strong... so much stronger than all other weapons you could think of, except maybe Najinatas which still retain their sweet spot in Gaius's heart. Though you'd use them for different tasks; Dow-and-Darrows are still much better at a distance. Gaius's portrait of DinDin (3.5yo) As far as we can tell a Dow-and-Darrow is sort of like a rifle. Weeks passed, with us hearing a consistent repeat of this theme of Dow-and-Darrows, without us emphasizing it much or drawing it out. Others likely dismissed it as a speech quirk by a 3-year-old. Until DinDin came...

Gaius is talking a lot more! Coming back from a short visit to Crystal River with his grandparents, Gaius talked constantly through the 2h drive back. He has a new way to say "Twuck!" and is quite determined when showing & telling you all the parts of an airplane. But sweetest of all, on his first day back to school after our Florida vacation, his teacher Amy described the highlight of his day beautifully: We were using clay outside and he talked non-stop about the things he was creating (mostly marshmallows and dragons).  Yes, that sounds like him alright. Afterall, he's had dragon-filled dreams this summer.

In the past 6 months we've travelled over 27,000 miles, if we were to add up all of our trips with the kids. That's more than the Earth's circumference of 24,901 mi, so we could technically say we travelled around the world. On one of the last trips, our two seasoned travelers Mara and Gaius were so self sufficient: they knew how to handle the security line, and even carried all the luggage in the airport. Elena: Do you guys need us anymore? You carry your own luggage, and Mara already knows how to give the tickets to the airport people. Maybe next time you could just go on your own without us. What do you think? Mara: But I will still need your money. Way to be pragmatic; I guess parents are still good for something. Here's some highlights from our trips (non-chronological):  Seattle Zoo, USA  Space Needle, Seattle, USA Chisinau Airport,  Moldova  Bucovina Monasteries, Romania Palace of Culture, Iasi, Romania - wi...

Early morning, in a hotel room in Seattle. The kids are sprawled on the floor with a sheet of sea creatures stickers, having a very serious conversation with each other. Excerpt: Gaius:  Quid. Mara:  No, is not quid, it's Squid. Gaius tries again:  Quid . Mara:  No, it's Squid. SQUID! ... It starts with a  C . Gaius has a pensive moment; then, finally:  Octopus! Mara concedes:  Yes, it's an Octopus, that is wearing a birthday hat. Ha ha ha. See that pointy thing?

Paper plate craft that our friend Kristi sent us! Original  how-to is here ; make sure to watch it! It took just a few minutes to make because luckily we already had a paper plate that was blue, from Mara's birthday party. We also replaced the wool tentacles with a paper napkin, and Mara decided to use the red napkin for eyes as well. Here are the pieces: Mara

Gaius just woke up in the car, and started gently telling me with a smile: Gaius: Open door. Gaius: I saw an open door. Me: You saw an open door? Nice. Was it in a car or in a house? Gaius: Dragon house. Gaius: Door was in a dragon house. He follows this with a long, quiet, contented smile. What's not to love... P.S: Here's what we had been up to, that morning around 6am: reading the numbers off of trams in a Romanian tram station: