It's February, so, Happy - belated - New Year?

This year for your holiday present,
We didn't get you a stuffed pheasant,
Nor something equally unpleasant.

Indeed for your celebratory gift
We didn't get a fiery serpent out of a rift,
Or an old-timey ghost wearing a shift,
Nor did we bury gold in sand for you to sift,
Or anything else that would leave you miffed.

For your Hanukkah boon
We won't put you on a crazy giant hot air balloon
Blasting skyward to the moon
Steered only with a hand-carved wooden spoon,
Or force you to listen to a screeching loon croon a never ending tune.

For 2017's token of appreciation
We won't ship you off on a dreary vacation
With a third-class ticket from the bus station
To an unknown foul-smelling location.
Instead, we made you this stop-motion animation -
Please enjoy our heartfelt creation!

A Perfect Day

We strolled around the city on Sunday, enjoying the weather and each other.



Such a lovely day.



Still looking for that elusive picture of the four of us together.



But these are pretty magical anyway.

What surprisingly awesome thing happened on a regular and mundane day for you recently?

What Will Dinosaurs Destroy Next?

Are you into painstakingly and meticulously arranging tiny objects? Do you find yourself with a free day that you'd like to spend uncomfortably perched over a large flat surface? Do you want to herd small children into doing something that requires the kind of extreme patience and extreme dexterity that they most likely don't possess? Do you relish the feeling of being deeply frustrated for prolonged periods of time only to experience tiny "a-ha!' moments every now and again? Then you, my friend, are just the sort of person who should be putting together jigsaw puzzles.



Luckily, we are a family of such people, and we spend our New Year's assembling this amazing 3-D version of Neuschwanstein, a replica of a castle in Bavaria built by King Ludwig II:



You know what's even more awesome? We've seen the real thing! It's built on top of a hill and thus has ridiculously beautiful views. We really caught it on the perfect day too - look at that sky.



I will say that it is hilarious to see pictures of ourselves standing next to this thing we just spent hours putting together. It's got kind of a Charlie Kaufman feel to it.



Anyway, our jigsaw castle is just like the 3D puzzle of the U.S. Capitol that was attacked by dinosaurs, which means this baby might just be the next setting for a rollicking stop-motion adventure!Until then - nice, right?

For Dad

With love always



I miss you every day



A new year without you in it weighs heavy

Jack Pumpkinhead

Yesterday was a glorious day - one of those breezy, sunny fall days when the sun is still warm enough to satisfyingly heat up the back of your jacket and pants if you stand in one spot long enough.



We made the best of it by going pumpkin picking at Terhune Orchards, which I love for its just-right level of crowdedness. Not so empty that you feel like you're bothering actual working farmers, but not so mobbed that it is basically an outdoor supermarket. Sure, they throw in things like a giant corn maze -



But while you're making your way through, they also ask you to collect the ears of corn for animal feed.



I suspect that the pumpkin patch is really more of a pumpkin drop-off area, since there are not too many actual vines there, but there is nothing like the feeling of lugging a bunch of those bad boys around purposefully on a wagon.



So what did we make out of these?



This morning, we took turns designing, cutting, carving, and shaping, to end up with a motley crew of monsters and victims. Strong plug here for linoleum carving tools for edging the finicky details! Check out the sunlight coming through that chomping one in the back! I don't think the puny light that lights them up at night is going to be nearly as awesome.



Can you guess which one is Jake's and which is Lara's? It's very hard to figure it out...

Summer, Summer, Everywhere

Another summer, another amazing summer vacation! That's right, folks - the tradition of the annual family road trip continues! And continues to be an unquestionable success. What did we do this year? I believe the question you should be asking is actually what didn't we do!

We started with a few days in and around DC, where besides the always welcome delights of my mom's pool,



we checked out a re-enactment of one of the battles of the War of 1812 (you remember - that's the super opportunistic war a very young America decided to fight against England while most of England's resources were dealing with the small matter of Napoleon conquering half of Europe). And by checked out, I of course mean that the kids got a crash course in how to man a 19th century 3 pound cannon. Here's Lara being a rammer (the one who rams the power and ball in) and Jake on ventsman duty (the one who sits with his thumb on the vent hole preventing fire from catching until the ball is ready to be shot):



From there it was on to Shenandoah National Forest, with its amazing mountain views:





We hiked;







we camped next to a grove of bushes that was home to a doe and her fawn (the deer there have no fear at all of humans. They're basically overgrown pets at this point, really);



the kids got to explore nature trails as Junior Park Rangers (which is a fantastic program that everyone who goes to a National Park should totally sign up for. It's amazing - for $5/day, you get to borrow binoculars, activity books, maps, guides to flora and fauna, and a cool backpack to tote it all around in);







and we drove over to Luray Caverns to check out this utterly otherworldly and unbelievable cavern and its uncountable myriads of stalactites and stalagmites. By the way, in this picture? There are no stalagmites - the bottom is actually a completely mirror-like reflection of the top in the world's clearest underground lake:



Whoever designed the lighting in this place needs some kind of award, by the way:



Later, after a few failed attempts, we built a satisfyingly big fire and then watched it burn late into the night. Do you have that same primordial fascination with fire? I could stare at it for hours... and did.



On the way out? We saw a bear. A BEAR!!! We were in our car, but still: BEAR!



From Shenandoah to Asheville, NC, to the gorgeous house and lovely company of Misha's aunt Jane.



You guys, Asheville - or at least the way we lived it via Jane's amazing hosting abilities - is idyllic.





We swam in and boated on this beautiful, clear lake. By the way, have you noticed the sky in every picture? We had ideal weather during our whole trip. Amazing.



In the city itself, we ate delicious tacos at the White Duck Taco Shop (definitely worth a stop) and yummy Nutella and berry crepes in the serene garden of the Creperie Bouchon.



And then this crazy thing happened: Lara's splash pad joy got her onto the front page of the Asheville Citizen-Times! The onrush of fame and fortune may then have slightly gone to her head...



The next day, we had some fun at the huge and generally awesome North Carolina Arboretum:



Jake got to be an entomologist for the day (there is a great kids program there which lets you borrow one of several types of naturalist kits)... but maybe not the world's best one quite yet, since he would mostly run away from any bugs he saw rather than catching them in his net and looking at them under the magnifying glass:



Lara made a more successful ornithologist, what with her already abiding interest in all things bird. Honestly, I have spent 36 years of my life not paying the slightest attention to birds, but she has somehow made them totally fascinating for me with her explanations of their behavior - and her ability to identify them!







And finally, for the last bit of the trip: the beach! No summer vacation would be complete without it. We spent a wonderful day in the very warm water in Virginia Beach, which I have to report was delightfully - and surprisingly - not at all Ocean-City-like. Just very soft sand, lots of relaxed families, and an ocean that no one wanted to leave.





Good bye, summer vacation! We'll miss you!

Jake-a-saurus Rex Turns 5!

Well, I don't know how you spent your weekend, but around here we dinosaured ourselves out celebrating Jake's birthday! Everyone had a totally dinoriffic time, and we as always out-dinoed ourselves!



First up? Some amazing skeleton shadows that Misha just free-handed (of course) on black poster board. I love that this was both thematic decor and also a potential rainy-weather activity - scared-face photo op. Lara demonstrates:



Misha then carved this watermelon-saur which we eventually surrounded with delicious blood-red "meat" chunks. Can you believe the tongue in that thing's head? Bonkers!



Luckily, the weather cooperated and we had a glorious day in which to pursue all of our paleontological plans. Following the internet's advice like I always do, I made fossil dig things out of plaster of paris and dirt. Pro tip: if you ignore the ratios that the plaster box tells you to use for mixing with water, and just mix however in small batches that you then just pour over each other, you will end up with multi-colored striations! Just like real rocks! Even more pro-tip: only do this if you don't mind cleaning up a ton of not-entirely-properly-set-plaster.



To keep the kids somewhat clean and also somewhat protected, I whipped up some paleontological aprons and loaded them up with small rock hammers (read: tack hammers), protective goggles, brushes, and magnifying lenses. Whatever they dug up could also go into the pockets. The aprons and finds would also serve as the party favors, avoiding the "bag of plastic crap" dilemma. Did the kids stay clean, you ask? Well, let me counter with another question: what do you consider "clean"?



Inside the fossil blocks were dinosaur skeletons, geodes that could be smashed apart, and polished semi-precious stones. Hammering them apart was the best part of the fossil hunt:



Followed closely by brushing them off:



Followed by some serious appraisal and classification decisions. (Also, check out our thematically appropriate plants - ferns! We have them all over the back yard much like the dinosaurs did back in the day.)



I think you can see from these pictures that the plaster gradually covered our entire back yard. And everyone's shoes. And then the interior of our house. Pro tip: mixing plaster with dirt before adding water makes for easy cleanup later! Vacuum your house and hose down your patio.



We also had another kind of dig in the back of our yard. After pulling up a bunch of the bricks (necessary because I will eventually level and re-brick that whole thing), we realized that the resulting dirt pit was the perfect place to bury some more dinosaur figurines.



Check out Jake's pile of tiny found dinos:



And of course, there would be no party without a dinosaur-shaped pinata. Nothing was funnier than watching all the kids whack this thing with a bat trying to crack it open. I think at some point, Lara figured out its weak spot and her very directed hitting strategy was the winner. Everyone else just went for the head though, which was probably more psychologically satisfying.



Happy Birthday, Jake! I cannot believe you are already 5! I also cannot believe you are only 5!