Dragon Diplomacy

Here's a little explanation of the origins of Inara's name: Inara is an old Hittite (ancient Middle Eastern culture) goddess of wild animals who once slayed a dragon. We felt this would be a great name for the smart and beautiful little girl our daughter was bound to be. However, Inara now wants to make it a point that she harbors no ill feelings towards dragons in general. That's why she decided to be a dragon for Halloween.

It should perhaps also be said that the name didn't appear to us in some moment of supernatural clarity, but in a geeky sci-fi show.

Dressing Inara up and carving pumpkins was the extent of our Halloween celebrations this year. Next year it might be a little bit bigger deal depending on where we're at and how Inara feels about it then. This was the first time I tried this kind of fancy carving, but hopefully it at least resembles an owl. Andrew made a pretty awesome ghost and a scary monster. It was my mom's idea to put them in a tree outside her house, and it looked really cool, but it was hard to get a good picture at night. 

Other than that we haven't been up to too much. Andrew came to swim class this week and I think Inara enjoyed having both of us there and was a good sport even when her dad accidentally sprayed her in the eye or let her inhale water. Below are just a couple of random videos and pictures taken this last week. 

Inara loves "standing"