Bike Hikers is a great local bicycle club with a reputation for being fun, social, and welcoming. Through Phyllis and her long-time friend Kathy – a former Bike Hiker club president – I met Becky who asked me to speak to their club about traffic safety from the point of view of an LCI. 
I also talked a lot about Project Ride Smart and invited anyone interested to volunteer to ride in the next session I’m teaching.
Fun evening! And I ran into Clara McCoy, a friend from my teaching days – that was plenty of incentive to join Bike Hikers myself.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Happy Birthday Justin!
But we didn’t get to have any kind of a get-together. Justin went to the races in Chico with a friend and I had something scheduled. The best card came from Thais and family:
So true!
Nicolaus Labor Day Parade
Dave, Phyl, and Adrienne:
Nooooo!
A loader for a cropduster:
Here comes our favorite group! First, Justin’s good friend, Justin Walker in a brand new $330K field tractor:
Justin’s neighbor and friend, Steve:
And Justin:
Heron School bonus
Look who was here helping with a Kindergarten tye-dye project on Friday, 
Pastor Kirsten from Calvary Lutheran Church!
Project Ride Smart
Thursday and Friday at Heron School in North Natomas. 
The leaders are Elle
Classroom instruction.
ABCQuick Check
Before leaving the right lane position, bicycle drivers must scan, signal, scan, and merge if there is no car coming. It’s hard at first to turn your head far enough to make that judgment call, so practice is important.
Meanwhile, over to the side, I worked with the weakest riders. 
Oh Kenneth. Here is the condensed version of his indignant Thursday speech: “If there were only two forms of transportation in the world, walking and bicycling, I’d outlaw bicycling. This is just too hard.” On Friday: “Bicycling is fun!” This after actually riding 100 feet independently back and forth about 5 times before insisting on a break. In fact, he had great balance, he just needed to keep pedaling! I would call that a hard-won success story.
The following must have been a fifth-grade poem-writing project, poems were on display in every classroom.
CELDT testing ends
Jeanne and I worked at Morey on Monday then moved on to Regency Park – one of my favorite schools because I usually teach Project Ride Smart here in May/June. On Tuesday, we were joined by Georgene Cooper, Rich Schmidt,
and Val Sills.
Two of my favorite fifth grade teachers, Jim Young and Joni O’Connor (I taught Joni’s son Shawn at Westside Charter School):
Yesterday I met Mr Young’s class and challenged them to remember my name until next May for Project Ride Smart. Today, every once in a while I heard someone say, “Hi Miss Arlete.” Then after recess, the whole class called out, so proud they still remembered. Smiles all around!
This week I learned the Punjabi word for elbow is pronounced “COH-nee.”
Avery’s soccer practice
To be perfectly clear, I do not like trying to put soccer socks on Avery. They are super tight and there’s a hard shell which covers the front of the calf.
A few big gulps of water then he runs back, always the first one ready for practice to resume.
Meanwhile …
Lauren’s 11th birthday party
Sophia and Avery’s cousin Lauren turned 11 today. Her party was at Natomas Racquet Club. A great place for a large group of kids and adults.
Lots of girls and one mermaid from Lauren’s class at St Ignatius.
Coffee with friends
It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to get together, so today was great for catching up. Linda and Adrienne:
And thanks to certain blog followers who ask about friends not seen in the blog for a while. Although you’ve never met, there is still a friendship connection!
Sophia and Avery
More fun after work this week. I got to watch Sophia and Avery after school every day (except Tuesday) until Thais or Lenin got home. A couple of days, cousin Lauren was with us also! Sophia taught me how to fish.
I successfully caught a Sophiafish, but my pole broke when I tried to reel her in.
Some days, Carter doesn’t even hear me come in. Usually he’s sound asleep somewhere in the house.
Front flips on the couch – enough to make a grandmother’s heart flutter!
Avery is very interested in dinosaurs and watches dinosaur battles on the iPad a lot.
Yay! Mom and Carson are home.
Soccer practice happens two days/week.
Meanwhile, Sophia went over to a row of trees and picked up a t-shirt-full of “chalk rocks”. She said it was a “second grade thing.” She took all the rocks to a farther-away location, dropped them on the ground,
and covered them up with pine needles.
She is now the only second grader who knows where the secret stash is. Time for Sophia’s practice.
arletelouise 