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DOORS OPEN AND CLOSE: Apologies for the dearth of posts as of late. We've been a little busy. 

Last Thursday, we shut the front door (and every other door!) for the last time on the original home of Magnolia Preparatory Academy.

We sold the place, and it was the deadline for vacating. We walked out about 6:20 p.m. on July 13. Moving on was a bit bittersweet, of course. We said good-bye to each room, and spent a little extra time lingering in the kids' rooms, admiring their 360-degree murals for the last time.

(Christian videoed the process. I'll have to see how those turned out and post, if possible).

The final few days in our former place, we marked many lasts. For instance, there was the last bike ride down our alley.

And I had to chronicle the last breakfast on the last morning in our home, prepared on the beloved vintage stove we had to leave behind. We had to go borrow a pan from a neighbor, because we'd already packed all of ours!

I loved that amazing appliance so much!

Of course, the sweet part of bittersweet is the excitement of moving on to a new adventure, in a new location. From Magnolia, we moved straight into a new place in Skyway, a neighborhood atop a hill at the south end of Seattle. 

From night one, the new place felt like home, so yay for that!

Kirby was happy to find a place to perch to survey her new kingdom (or queendom).

If you know us, you know we're makers and doers, and there is a lot to do at this new place. It was built in 1962, and hasn't changed a whole lot since then. In the midst of moving in, we've already started on some projects.

For instance, we've already been haunting our favorite remodelers' resale store, Second Use, in hopes of scoring some needed items for this home's update. I was tickled pink to find a pitch black toilet for the bathroom off our work-in-progress new game room downstairs. I'm definitely a fan of toilets that dare to be anything but white, so this black one looked like a beauty to me. 

Isn't it lovely?! :)  (Rest assured, I will try to keep my posts about toilets to a minimum going forward.)

We also scored some new seating ... Safeco Field seating!!! Imagine how happy we were when we saw these surplus seats from our beloved ballpark on sale at Second Use!

Amidst all the moving activity, CJ has been attending a Monday-Friday computer programming class at The Academy of Interactive Entertainment from 11 to 4 at Seattle Center. He's learning Java Script, among other things.

I found a photo on my phone of the "class." It looks suspiciously like the food court at the Center. Hmm, I'll have to ask him about that. ...

MEANWHILE, NEAR JUPITER: We haven't been as plugged in to NASA or any news the last few days due to our transition, but I have seen spectacular shots of Jupiter popping up
in my social media feeds here and there.

Spacecraft Juno has been returning stunning images of our solar system's largest planet. Specifically, on July 10, Juno passed right over the giant's Great Red Spot.

Per a NASA press release, "Images of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot reveal a tangle of dark, veinous clouds weaving their way through a massive crimson oval."

Below, the enhanced-color image of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot was created by citizen scientist Jason Major using data from the JunoCam imager on NASA’s Juno spacecraft.
And this enhanced-color image of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot was created by citizen scientist Gerald Eichstädt using data from the JunoCam imager on NASA’s Juno spacecraft.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt.

As of April 3, 2017, Jupiter's Great Red Spot measured 10,159 miles (16,350 kilometers) in width, making it 1.3 times as wide as Earth. 

The spot is actually a storm, and it has been monitored since 1830. It is believed to have existed for more than 350 years. Presently, scientists say the Great Red Spot has appeared to be shrinking. 

Fascinating!