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As November arrived, we found ourselves without photos for a Christmas card. So, Jen scouted locations in Old Ellicott City (very close to our house) and we tried to get as many pictures as we could before the sun went down.

As the sunlight disappeared, we hiked up to the courthouse to catch the last bit of light peaking over the horizon.

The best pictures are when Leah gets a little grumpy.

Here are a few more of my favorites. Lots more available on our Flickr page.

Happy Halloween everyone! Both our girls decided to do group costumes with their friends this year. Leah and her friends are characters from My Hero Academia, and Molly and her friends are penguins (and King Kong). Costumes are fun!

Molly went to her first Homecoming dance. I set up a a little photo studio to get a few pictures before Molly left.

Molly then went to a pre-party with some friends.

She had a great time!

Back when Molly turned 11, we put on an All-out Hogwarts Party for her, including special effects and hand-made wands. We'd planned to do one for Leah when she turned 11, but the pandemic got in the way. This year, however, we made it happen. And given that she's a September birthday, she wouldn't have started Hogwarts until this year anyway, so it all worked out.

As the kids arrived, they had their mug shots taken so we'd be prepared in case they escaped at any point.

Once everyone had arrived, they went through the brick wall into Diagon Alley

to Olivander's of America.

I again played Gerald Olivander, maker and seller of wands. I trained under my cousin Garrick Olivander before setting up my own shop in America. I even had an intern this year - Molly, who was very helpful during her summer break.

We had a very enjoyable wand choosing experience. As always, the wand chooses the witch or wizard, and a wand chose all of them. Every wand was unique - each from a different wood. More info on that in this post.

Once everyone had chosen their wands, I left them in the very capable hands of Molly. Having been recently named a Hufflepuff prefect, she was the perfect person to guide them on their journey across the ocean to Hogwarts.

This included taking a port key to King's Cross Station,

running through a wall to get to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, and riding the Hogwarts Express to school.

After arriving at school, they met up with Professor Chitsom and Professor Cordelius. Of course, the first order of business for these first years was to be sorted into their houses.

After being sorted, we had a quick-start Introduction to Magic class to give all of them a taste. We practiced the Locomotor Charm, the Summoning Charm, the Stunning Spell, the Severing Charm, Repairo, and Meteolojinx Recanto.

We also traveled to a nearby door to practice the Unlocking Charm as well as the Locking Spell.

After sorting and magic introduction, it was time to head into the Great Hall for a feast. This included a very fancy Hogwarts House drip cake (funfetti) made by Jen, as well as homemade ice cream (Roasted Strawberry Buttermilk and Buckeye Peanut Butter Chocolate).

After cake and ice cream, the houses competed in some fun games. First up was Harry Potter Trivia led by Professor Cordelius. It was a tight competition, but Ravenclaw managed to squeak out a victory over Slytherin.

Then 2 houses played Tabletop Quidditch

while the other two houses played Harry Potter Pictionary.

All students left with treats from Honeydukes including Harry Potter cookies and Butterbeer fudge.

A good time was had by all. Even more pictures are on Flickr.

Happy birthday, Leah!

I made a bunch of wands for Molly's Hogwarts party and really enjoyed it. Knowing that Leah was going to have one of these parties as well, I started planning for hers right away. I thought I'd have 2.5 years to prepare, but ended up with 3.5.

I've learned a lot about wood working in the intervening years, so my process has improved. Also, I've been collecting small pieces of different woods over the years, with a goal that Leah's party would have a unique wood for each wand. I succeeded in that for the wands that were given out, and am very happy with the wands.

Here are all the wands I made for Leah's party. From left to right, they are Mahogany, Ash, Red Elm, Douglas Fir, Walnut, Purple Heart, Hickory, Cherry, Curly Maple, Red Oak, Bradford Pear, Poplar, Douglas Fir, and Cedar.

Ahd here's all the wood I started from.

The star of the show of course had to be Leah's wand. A couple years ago I mentioned that there was a purple wood called Purpleheart, and Leah requested a wand made of it for herself. She also requested this spiky handle, which was challenging to make but came out well. This was the only wand made with an exotic hardwood, and it really does look awesome. Purpleheart, 14 1/4", Phoenix feather core.

We used to always get a live Christmas tree, but switched to artificial in 2019. In 2018, I cut off pieces of our last live Christmas Tree and dried them for a couple years for use in wands. I actually made two of them, though did not give any of them out to the guests. The first was for Molly, and was my first time painting a wand, which came out quite well. Douglas Fir, 13 3/4", Unicorn tail core.

The other wand from that Christmas tree was an experiment in making a wand without using my lathe. I took a branch, cut it to size, and hand carved the end. It actually came out quite nicely. We kept this one for sentimental reasons. Douglas Fir, 12 3/4", Phoenix feather core.

This Maple wand looked very cool thanks to the wood figuring, and I decided to keep it for my own. Curly Maple, 14", Phoenix feather core.

Walnut, 13 3/4", Dragon heartstring core.

Mahogany, 12", Dragon heartstring core.

Ash, 12 1/2", Phoenix feather core.

Red Elm, 13 1/2", Unicorn tail core.

Hickory, 14 3/4", Phoenix feather core.

Cherry, 14 3/4", Dragon heartstring core.

Red Oak, 13 3/4", Unicorn talk core.

Bradford Pear, 13 3/4", Unicorn talk core.

Poplar, 13 1/2", Unicorn talk core.

This last one was also not given out, as we had one person unable to attend. Cedar, 10 1/2", Dragon heartstring core.

All wands but one (as mentioned) turned on my lathe, finished with SealCoat dewaxed shellac and General Finishes High Performance polyurethane.

Leah is 12! This age may not have been a milestone before, but this year it's become one as it means she's old enough to get a Covid vaccine. She did get that vaccine (the day after her birthday for the first dose), but first we celebrated her a bit.

For lunch on Leah's birthday, we went out to a fancy meal at Stanford Grill. Leah was very excited to have sorbet for dessert.

For dinner, Jen made beignets for the first time as a special treat.

And there were of course presents.

Molly is now in high school and Leah is now in middle school. Hard to believe. We're glad they're back in school full time this year, and excited for the new adventures.

We went tubing with friends on the lazy Shenandoah River, and had a great time.

I opted to skip the tube and get a kayak instead.

After tubing, we had a delicious meal at the Guide House Grill, our favorite place to eat around there.

We went to Ocean City! G'Mom and Grampa came in town, and we took a vacation to Ocean City with them. We arrived Sunday evening, and walked out to the beach as the sun was going down to check it out and throw some surfer dudes.

The next morning it was time for some mini golf followed by beach time.

We hit the Ocean City boardwalk the next morning and rented a bike surrey from Bike World. It was a more serious workout than we were expecting and very crowded, but it was fun still fun.

We spent lots of time at the beach.

G'Mom brought a new game for us to play - Sequence.

And we had lots of treats.

There was a Dodo edible cookie dough and ice cream shop right near our beach house, so we had to try it out. Not bad.

Candy Kitchen

Leah saw this Thai style rolled ice cream place off the boardwalk in Ocean City and kept begging to go. Finally we did, and had rolled ice cream for the first time ever. It was awesome. Highly recommended.

And of course got Boardwalk Fries.

This year, the Summer Strings Institute put on by the National Philharmonic was back. Leah was accepted into the Prep week (elementary school week) and Molly was selected for their Junior week (middle and early high school). Then Molly was also asked to serve as an intern during Prep week, so for that week both girls were at camp together.

This video is of the end of SSI Prep, including both Leah and Molly.

And here's video of both the chamber music concert and full orchestra concert at the end of SSI Junior.

Both sets of grandparents even came to see the final concert of SSI Junior.

Great job girls!