Maia receives a free soccer ball and a medal at the end of her 6-week free soccer program at Forest Grove.
Maia and Ian play their first VS Mario Kart race (Maia got the gold trophy and Ian came in 12th).
Trunk or Treat at Forest Grove. Ian was a spooky ghost but the costume was too big for walking around in.
Maia and Rebecca at an all-day Girl Scout event at Lake Fairfax.
Ian eating a burger at Miller's with me during the Girl Scout event.
Maia puts her new fire-starting skills to work so we can carve our pumpkins on the chilly patio ("This kindle tower is called 'the hashtag'.")
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There are no explicit plot spoilers in these reviews.
The Scarab Path is the fifth book in Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt series. This book is easily my favourite so far, with Book 3, 4, and 5 each becoming better written and more intriguing than what came before.
Following the uneasy peace treaty between the Empire and the Lowlands, word reaches Collegium of a distant city, Kanaphes, where the Beetle-Kinden appear to be intentionally holding back at an early level of technological advancement. Cheerwell Maker travels there as an ambassador in hopes of understanding why she has changed since her exposure to the Shadow Box. Her path unexpectedly crosses with two people from her past, one trying to escape their precarious rise in station and the other bitter about Che's perceived indifference in the past.
Book 5 focuses narrowly on the characters in Kanaphes with a minimum of the expected jumping around to other plots. This gives the characters plenty of room for introspection and development that was missing or just surface level in earlier books. For readers wanting more action, the plot converges steadily on Kanaphes, a mysterious city where the Beetle-Kinden revere "the Masters" even though they haven't been seen in centuries. Even if the selected characters aren't your favourites, the constant military maneuvering, subterfuge amongst the Scorpion-Kinden, and the mystery behind the Masters will entice you to keep reading.
Book 5 is an excellent start to the back half of the 10-book series. What initially appears to be a side quest in this universe gradually reveals itself to have direct impacts on the ongoing plot and continues to hint at the earliest history that will hopefully tie everything together in the end.
Final Grade: A-
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This picture was taken 10 years ago today, on October 23, 2014.
We were visiting the Sea Stacks at Ruby Beach, down the 101 in Washington state. I loved how simultaneously vivid and flat the colours and textures were in the area -- I felt like I was in a painted diorama at the Natural History Museum as I walked up the coast.
We stayed on the beach a little too long and couldn't outrun the tide getting back, resulting in soaked shoes for the rest of the day. From here, we traveled to Lake Quinault Lodge for our final full day of vacation.
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Ian and Grandpa go to the Firehouse Open House in Alexandria last weekend.
Heading into DC to the Natural History Museum.
The kids invent a unicorn-themed treasure hunt at the Sterling Community Center playground.
First fire pit and s'mores of the season this past Saturday night.
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There are no major spoilers in these reviews.
Miguel Wants to Fight (PG):
This is a coming-of-age story about a high schooler who's about to move away and realizes he's never gotten in a fight. It has Reservoir Dogs vibes mixed with the stylishness of Scott Pilgrim VS the World. On Hulu.
Final Grade: B+
Line of Duty, Season Two:
The second season improves on the first, introducing more morally grey habits in the characters and having less "smelling the fart" acting. On Hulu.
Final Grade: B
Barry, Season Three:
The third season of Barry is slightly less weird than the second and goes in some interesting directions. The show's at its best when juxtaposing seriousness with clever sight gags, like Gene Cousineau being chased through a backyard by dogs.
Final Grade: B
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning (PG-13):
This movie is 2 hours and 45 minutes long and it's only PART ONE of the whole story. It takes 30 minutes to get to the title sequence. It epitomizes the "big budget by committee" problem that these movies have today: fun stunts that go on for three times too long until they're just exhausting interrupted by extended exposition dialogue and cliched one-liners that are intended to be comedic. Skip it. Or fast forward to the two or three big set pieces and enjoy the stunts.
Final Grade: C-
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