Vincent Van Gogh’s self portrait, or portrait of an American husband with 3 kids on his anniversary trip to Paris? You decide.

We made it to Paris! Tommy and I have snuck away for the long weekend – we booked a cute little AirBnB with a balcony overlooking the Eiffel Tower and have 4 days to see this wondrous city. First on the agenda? Tommy’s bucket list item the Catacombs! The tour really exceeded expectations – there are just piles and piles of very well organized bones of 6 million Parisians 60 feet below the city. I’ve never stuck so close to the tour guide before, and was very glad there were lights down there. One time a drop of water (bone juice?) dropped on my head. Definitely an awesome experience and I never want to be down there alone.

The summer felt long and joyous this year, and we were all a little shellshocked to get up early and put Kaya on the bus for her first day of second grade. Her bus comes at 6:28am, and it is already dark outside when she gets on. It is so early that we were already running for it on day one. So, this is a picture of her second day of second grade, when we got out early enough to take a picture. I’m confident Kaya is going to rock second grade – she tells me so far it is awesome, because the second grade bathroom is right next to the water fountain. Wish I was that easy to please!

Yoya, Dylan and our family attended Princess Night at the Bulls game. A baseball stadium filled with adorable little princesses. Laney was so excited to meet the “real Elsa” and we got to walk in the Princess Parade before the game (Kaya with Miss Greater Sampson County). Maggie LOVED dressing up like her sisters and spent the whole game on the move. Too bad the Bulls lost miserably.

Tommy and Yoya took the older girls to the local “.262” race. This local Durham tradition is a .262 mile race for those that can only run 1/100th of a marathon. Basically, you dress up, run for a couple minutes and then drink some beer. Maggie and I stayed home and took a nap instead, but the pictures suggest there was some fun had.

Like most of the pictures on the blog, I found this picture among Tommy’s archives – I think it is from June or so, based on the length of Maggie’s hair and her hospital bracelet. This is our new swing set, which is perfect for her. She can now climb up the ramp and go down the slide all by herself. And I am secretly looking forward to the first frost so she can do so without getting 16 bug bites every time she wants to play.

Kaya went to dance camp this week, where she had entire days filled with lip syncing and dancing. I unfortunately had to miss the show at the end, but I got some video which was insanely cute. Her song was “Timber” which we now play on repeat in our house. “You better move, you better dance.”

Laney can’t quite read yet, but I am predicting she might be quickly addicted when she learns. And her math skills are pretty phenomenal – her favorite activity currently is “doing minus,” which means getting quizzed on subtraction problems. This one’s going to be a real thinker.

I was out of town to give a talk this weekend, but Tommy and the girls went to pick up Kaya from her very first week away from family. She had a FABULOUS time and can’t wait to go back next year. I didn’t know it was possible for a 7 year old to learn 146 songs/chants in one week, but it is.

I’m not sure if the Camp Kanata counselors are coaching the kids on how to write letters home, but I am very impressed with Kaya’s communications. We all got individual letters to brighten our week without Kaya. Here’s Laney with hers.