Scissors

Amity is not entirely checked out on the use of scissors at home, but at preschool, it's a whole different story...

First Day of School - Levana Edition

Amity Craig, preschooler. Pictured here solo and with her intrepid side kick, Zara (3rd grader).

First Day of School - Third Grade Edition

Zara Craig, third grader. Pictured here solo and with her intrepid side kick, Amity (3 year old).

DC by Train (Business Class!)

Zara's only previous adventure on anything but local mass transit was a trip between Glasgow and Edinburgh (Scotland, in case there's also a Glasgow, PA) that happen to coincide with a Stag party (which involved a considerable amount of cross-dressing, which was obvious to Zara, and a considerable amount of alcohol, which was maybe less obvious). So, Marmee, who loves trains (takes after her dad here), decided it was high time Zara had more train adventures. So the two of them set off on a (business class!) train adventure to DC the day before Zara started 3rd grade. I should probably have Zara dictate some of the highlights of their day (or type them herself, even) but instead I'll leave you with a couple of pictures.

Ears Pierced!

I could actually go on at great lengths about the saga of Zara getting her ears pierced, and it kinda goes all the way back to the very early 80s when I got my ears pierced at an age where I was really too young to take care of them... but there is too much, so let me sum up: Marmee took Zara to get her ears pierced, Zara was super tough and brave, and (since I'm writing this in October even though it is dated August) she cleaned her ears and rotated her earrings diligently (with very few reminders from us)and they never got infected once. So for Zara, at least, 8 seems to have been a good age for ear piercing.

Unrelatedly, it was also open house day for both kiddos' schools. The second picture of Zara here was taken while visiting her Art teacher, Ms. Ryan. It is of note because a) Zara's got pierced ears now and b) she's wearing a dress that would not fly during the school year due to dress code issues. She's livin' large!

Poser

Even though she's a big 8 year old now, Zara sometimes just wants me to take pictures of her doing silly things on the playground. Since bits are pretty much free, I oblige.

Marmee Puppy Pile

Marmee came to visit! It was awesome, as always. Here she is in a puppy pile with her two littlest bunnies on her second day with us.

Olivia's Braid

Amity's BFF these days is Amaya. Amaya's mom is Rachel (a midwife), and her partner midwife, Olivia, braided Zara's hair like this. It is Olivia's (only, she says) matrilineal skill, this super cool braid in particular though I hear she's a genius with braids in general. In addition to an impromptu braiding party, Rachel, Amaya, Olivia and Olivia's daughter Zora all joined us for Irish music and hard cider at Albermarle Ciderworks. As you cam imagine, a good time was had by all.

Another Day, Another Play

Yup, we send a lot of time at the playground, in the summer or otherwise. Here the children show off their adorable monkeyness.

BRIMS Camp 2013

A quick little sampler of things that Zara learned at BRIMS camp this year. Kesh Jig on fiddle, some soft shoe reel steps and her first jig steps in hard shoe!

Conference at the (Jason) Cabinet

One of the many cool things about our (Jason of Builder Beast) cabinet is that these rolly cubes (which function as storage as well)can also be used as seats so the kids can use the space as a "desk." Of course you can't actually trust Amity yet with writing implements and nice wood, but she can play on it and Zara's mostly reliable in that area. In any case, however, it makes an excellent conference space.

Blackrock Summit

We live pretty close to some very nice mountains. Coincidentally, we also seem to see and hike a lot of the Appalachian Trail (as evidenced by first photo of kids standing next to said trail marker). Blackrock Summit was a short (1 mile-ish) and fairly easy hike, and added bonus there was some rock scrambling to got to the actual top. Highly recommended for the early elementary ages. Also good for the intrepid preschooler, which ours is, sometimes....