Easy Photos Day

"Take picture in my EAR!"

Ian's first fireworks experience.

Name-writing with sparklers.

Important fire safety techniques.

Guest cat.

Memory Day: Snapshots

This picture was taken 31 years ago, on July 4, 1992.

Could I be any more entertained?

Birth Day

Maia is 6! Happy Birthday!

In this picture, she is pretending to be a Great Fairy in a Great Fairy Fountain and she wants to enhance your armor.

Easy Photos Day

Burning match houses in Taylorstown on the 4th.

Bootleg fireworks in our neighborhood were surprisingly tame this year.

Enthralled with her new strategy guide for Tears of the Kingdom.

Maia's watery birthday party on July 8.

A great picture of the siblings, courtesy of my dad.

Blowing out candles.

Science!

Chad Darnell's 12 of 12

12 pictures of your day on the 12th of every month

5:43 AM: Showered and ready for the day.

6:02 AM: Bagel for breakfast.

7:53 AM: A rare morning in the Herndon office.

11:01 AM: The couch reading crew.

11:13 AM: "I want a snack!"

12:39 PM: Patiently waiting in line to pick Maia up from "Sonrise" camp.

1:32 PM: Art time.

2:13 PM: Queen bee cosplay.

2:56 PM: Time for Zelda.

3:58 PM: Tea party with Nana Char.

6:21 PM: Troubleshooting the Honda Civic's AC system.

7:11 PM: Toothbrushing.

Maia's 12 of 12

Maia's perspective on life (pictures taken between December 2022 and April 2023)

"Do the moves I do!"

"We are at Massanutten"

Cartwheel practice

Anny with sign language

Other posts in this series: Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX | Part X

Easy Photos Day

Maia tries out her new watercolour pens (Gift #4 of 7 from the Uri grandparents).

Heat wave boy.

Heat wave girl.

The Smithsonian's newest docent.

Maia returns home from a weekend at the grandparents'.

A day at the Cove with the Edwards family.

Maia's Art Day

Notable artwork from Maia's kindergarten portfolio

L: I see a cat. (me, cat, rap?, path, stepping stones)
R: I see a bunny. (me, bunny, tree, grass)

L: I like pie.
R: I see the tree. (star, tree, dad, me, mom, cat, pillow)

L: I like my dress.
R: I like my shirt.

L: I see a cat.
R: I see a bunny.

L: The black cat sat on the wall.
R: I see a bunny.

Review Day

There are no major spoilers in these reviews.

Hasan Minaj: The King's Jester:
This latest comedy special from Hasan Minaj is great, as good as the previous, Homecoming King. On Netflix.

Final Grade: B

Man Seeking Woman, Season Three:
The final season of this surreal show about dating and relationships goes out well, with the main character working through a single relationship across the arc of the season. The fun supporting characters seem a little underused, but I enjoyed the whole season.

Final Grade: B

Scrubs, Season Nine:
We gave up on this fake final season of Scrubs pretty quickly when it originally aired, but gave it another shot. It's not great, but not completely horrible, and does a good job of capturing the feeling of Scrubs even without most of the original actors. On Hulu.

Final Grade: C+

Project Hail Mary:
This book from the author of The Martian pairs a science-heavy plot with a lighter "buddy movie" tone that mostly works. It feels like a less serious Michael Crichton book immediately intended to be turned into a blockbuster movie. The book has a fun tone of naive optimism but often gets bogged down in exposition dumps.

Final Grade: B-

Ian Year 2 Month 3 Battle Report

At 27 months, Ian is about 25 pounds heavy and 35 inches tall. He has a very sharp memory. It's no longer sufficient to say we'll do something "later" then never get to it because he'll remember that we mentioned it the next day. He can recite entire books by rote and remembers events that have happened in the past. He keeps saying that he wants to go back to Massanutten and return to the water park. (He also had two local water park experiences recently, Volcano Island and Claude Moore indoor pool).

Ian likes sharing Maia's toys but is working on being okay with sharing his own toys with Maia. He enjoys doing whatever she's doing and we sometimes enjoy that sweet spot where they flee the dinner table and end up lost in side-by-side activities for a few minutes. (Eventually though, he remembers that Rebecca and I exist and he comes in to involve us in his play).

He understands pretend play (he uses the magnifying glass as a camera) but doesn't like it when I call him something other than Ian (like little bear or little cat). He needs to work on his adjectival expertise because when I said, "You're silly", he replied, "No, I no silly. I IAN."

It's really hard to get him to wash his hands and sit down for dinner. He'll try to delay meals with snacks and playtime until he's crazy-hungry, and then he'll try to skip washing hands because he's so hungry. He currently likes pouches, Belvita crackers, hummus, and yogurt.

He sleeps well and takes a 1.5 - 2 hour nap around 2 PM each day. Nights are 7:30 - 7:30 although up to 2 hours of that is spent talking to himself much the way that Maia used to do.

Ian loves to sing, loudly and proudly, and the ABC song continues to be his primary practice song. He recognizes songs by their melodies and continues to be accurate with sequential pitches, although the song as a whole often goes down by major seconds.

Maia's Art Day

Notable artwork from Maia's kindergarten portfolio

L: I went to Massanutten. (mom)
R: I went to the water park. (waterfall, mom, water slide, dad)

L: I had a big party! (featuring Aunt Carol and Uncle Dave)
R: I like my bunny.

L: I see two cats taking a nap. (mom, tree, cat, nap, me)
R: I see six cats. (cats one, two, three, four, five, six)

L: I see the Cat Town Castle.
R: The caterpillar turned into a butterfly. (me, jar, butterfly)

I see a flower. (grass, me, flower, tree)
I picked the flower. (grass, me, flower, tree)
I put the flower in a vase. (flower, table, vase)
I gave the flower to my mom. (me flower, mom)

L: I see a rainbow.
R: I see a rainbow.

Review Day

There are no major spoilers in these reviews.

Swarm:
Donald Glover's newest show after Atlanta tells the story of a woman superfan of a popular singer who goes off the deep end in her attempts to get closer to her idol. The series is serious, uncomfortable to watch, and not a good way to wind down at the end of the day. The lead actress, Dominique Fishback, delivers an Emmy-worthy performance that will keep you on edge for the duration. On Amazon Video.

Final Grade: B

Night Agent:
This is a by-the-numbers government conspiracy thriller with good concepts but weak execution. The banter shines while the emotional moments fall flat. I like that the suspense is maintained by gradually revealing new information instead of having characters shift allegiance in support of the plot direction. It all kind of tumbles down into a muddle by the last episode, but it's pretty entertaining throughout if you don't take it too seriously.

Final Grade: B-

The Bear, Season Two:
The second season of Bear finds Chef Carmy trying to rebuild a lowbrow sub shop into a fine dining experience worth at least 1 Michelin star. Each main character gets some time to shine and the relationships are well-explored. It's worth getting through all of the shouting in the first season to enjoy this excellent one. On Hulu.

Final Grade: A

Animal Control, Season One:
We gave this shallow sitcom about three episodes before realizing that it wasn't going to get any better. It's probably fine if you want to watch Joel McHale be Joel McHale, but there are so many better shows (Community, Santa Clarita Diet) that offer that opportunity. On Hulu.

Final Grade: Not Rated

End-of-the-Month Highlights Day

New photos have been added to the Life, 2023 album.

• Events
  • My parents came over for dinner (pork chops) on S 7/1.
  
  
  • Marc and Nicole came over for dinner (one pot chorizo) on S 7/2.
  
  
  • Maia turned 6 on H 7/6. After a trip to Volcano Island was thunderstormed out, we reconvened at Claude Moore's indoor pool with her friends.
  
  
  • Maia went to the musical, Rainbow Fish, at Wolf Trap with Miss Laura on F 7/7.
  
  
  • Maia's 6th Birthday Party with family and neighbourhood kids on S 7/8.
  
  
  • Dinner at Tammy's (fajitas) on S 7/9.
  
  
  • Maia had Sonrise Camp with Riverside Church the week of M 7/10.
  
  
  • Maia stayed with my parents for the weekend, F 7/14 - S 7/16 and went to the Natural History Museum.
  
  
  • Dinner at Burton's with Rebecca and Ian on S 7/15.
  
  
  • Rebecca and the kids went out to the Cove for Sam's birthday on S 7/16 while I stayed home and organized the house. Dad dinner at Local Provisions.
  
  
  • Went to the HOA meeting on W 7/19.
  
  
  • Rebecca took the kids back to Volcano Island with their rain check on H 7/20.
  
  
  • Rebecca took the kids to visit Jessika on S 7/22.
  
  
  • Appetizers sans kids at Local Provisions on T 7/24.
  
  
  • Went to Lake of the Woods with the Smiths, W 7/25 - S 7/30. Thursday was boating day with lunch at Fairways Cafe and dinner from 2 Brothers Italian. Friday was lake beach day. Saturday was another boating day with dinner from Clearwater Grill. We came home on Sunday just as the heat wave broke to find all of the peaches from our peach tree missing in action.
  
  
  • Family dinner at Chuy's on S 7/30.


• Projects
  • Continued learning Spanish with DuoLingo (100 day streak / #1 in the Diamond League).


• Consumerism
  • Still playing Diablo 4.
  
  
  • Enjoyed watching season two of The Bear and season one of Silo.
  
  
  • No amazing new music, movies, or books.
  
  

July's Final Grade: A-, fun but hot