Camper

With Zara away at sleepaway camp for the next month, Amity is the only camper in the house. Here she is on her first day of Camp CBI (3rd year running).

Happy 9th Birthday, Zara!

Zara, 9 years old, and celebrating over ice cream with her sister and her friend Lolo. What a cool, confident, courageous, clever, creative, capable, captivating, cuddly, curious kiddo you are turning out to be. We love you!

Last night with an 8 year old

In the first picture, Amity is quite pleased with her new nightgown. Thanks Grandma! In the second picture, Zara excitedly reminds us how she feels about her birthday tomorrow. I think those may be spirit fingers. Or jazz hands. Unclear. In the third picture, Zara remains elated while Amity becomes petulant over the fact her sister is having a birthday and she is not.

More visits with Big Grandpa

2 years ago, we stopped in to visit Upstate NY family on our way up to see friends in Montreal. This year, we dropped by for a visit on our return trip. We're pretty lucky to still have my grandfather here to regale us with stories from his radio broadcasting career and his many travels on trains. In these shots of Ted we feature not only me and 2 of his 5 great-grandchildren, but also my fabulous Aunt Mimi. These pictures was taken a few weeks before his 96th birthday.

Locks

Back of kids overlooking locks. You'd never guess there are 7 years between the leftmost and rightmost subjects in the photo. You might guess that the middle two are less than 3 weeks apart.

Circus Galore

Amity had a blast with Kiera and Claire during our visit to see the MMs in Montreal. She's become especially skilled at a version of the jedi mind trick wherein she convinces a kid barely larger than herself to carry her kilometers and kilometers (we are in Canada after all), uphill, both ways, in the snow (again, Canada). Dunno how she does it, but all involved seem happy with the arrangement. Here she is on Claire MM's back, posing with a giraffe at Tohu on our tour du Circus Open Houses.

Coming Soon: New cousin!

An outtake of the kiddos saying goodbye to Auntie Gabi (and new cousin who will be arriving in about a month, give or take).

DIA

4 kids transfixed on a display of modern art. And sculpture of bones in the background. Totes modern.

Kitchen the Chicken

Zara and Amity (and their parents) spent a few days in Michigan visiting with family. Uncle Dean and Aunt Dianne and the cousins keep chickens. One of them is a sort of rescue chicken, who lived inside the house (in the kitchen) for some time, and was known as the chicken in the kitchen. Apparently that was shortened to "Kitchen" at some point, and now that's her name. Zara liked Kitchen quite a bit and could often be seen snuggling with her.

Last Day of 3rd Grade

This picture was taken on the last day of 3rd grade. It also marks the end of Zara's tenure at Johnson Elementary. She'll be attending St. Anne's-Belfield (aka my school) for 4th grade in the Fall. Which here is actually still summer.

This also marks the end of Amity's 2nd year in preschool. As you can see from her sartorial choices, this is a very fancy occasion!

Amity's Moving Up!

It's Super Amity, preparing to charge bravely forward into another year of preschool. Thanks for a great year in Levana, Steve and Ellen!