Happy everything!

2023 is marked by a lot of firsts for Carina and Vela.

Carina started 1st grade. She got her orange belt in karate. She went to wizard camp in Maine. She started swim lessons again and passed the 9-foot test at the community swimming pool.

Vela flew for the first time when visited California and Seattle in April. She started swim lessons and can now float in the pool. She has started scooting and learning how to ride a balance bike.

For Halloween, we were a coven of witches. Carina is a classic witch, Vela is Elsa (ice witch), Beth is Ursula (sea witch), and Ian is a sand-witch. Ian's costume was inspired by a dad joke he told to Carina while we were on a beach in Maine: What witch likes going to the beach?

We each got a wand that light up with string lights. We wore our costumes to several events: Zoo Lights at the Franklin Zoo, Halloween night at Carina's school, a karate class, the lantern festival at Jamaica Pond, and, of course, trick-or-treating on Halloween.