Martin Luther King Jr Holiday. Lenin dropped off Sophia, Avery, and Carson mid-morning. Sophia and Avery immediately went to their winter nest:
Carson and I put together a puzzle:
Then he watered plants.
All the plants.
We went to Chipotle for lunch.
Basketball x 2
In the morning:
Then the Chiefs and the 49ers won their respective football games, followed by Avery’s basketball game:
Lenin practicing with Carson:
Swimming and gymnastics
I hadn’t been to one of Carson’s swim lessons in a long time and I was amazed at the progress he’d made.
It was a short drive to Carson’s next activity. Avery asked if he could “ride with Grandma.” Of course! As soon as we left, I began to hear subliminal messages coming from the backseat. Slowly the messages became louder – Starbucks … Starbucks … Starbucks. Avery, should we go to Starbucks? “Yes!” But you have to finish it before we get to gymnastics, I don’t want anyone to feel left out and it’s only a couple of miles away. “I can do that!” So we got his favorite, a caramel ribbon crunch frappuccino, and he began drinking it very fast. Avery, don’t drink it so fast, you might get one of those ice cream headaches. I’ll drive slowly. “That’s a good idea.” Maybe I should put some gas in the car? “Yeah, you should do that.” LOL. We parked, but didn’t go in right away so he could finish. I love these Avery moments!
Carson graduated from the Mini class to the Kinder 1 class and he got to ring the bell.
Pretzels Beer and Brats
This morning I made a third batch of Bavarian salted pretzels, 48 in total.
In the afternoon, I grilled brats and made the beer cheese sauce. At 5pm, my neighbor Lorraine and I met with Jessica, the activities director to learn (again) how to set up for a TGIF.
There was a wonderful variety of dishes. Some brought German dishes, like German potato salad, red cabbage, sauerkraut, German chocolate cake. Everything was delicious.
We also did a blind beer tasting:
Lorraine with her beer-drinking vessel
Then a few people told beer stories.
Phil Jackson
Michael Woodcheke
Another interesting beer story came later through the community email group, from Stan. Today, January 17 2020 is the 100th anniversary of the beginning of Prohibition.
Winner winner chicken dinner
I met Jim and Lucy at the Legion for Trivia Night. The winning team: Doug, me, Jim Reed. Doug’s wife, Sherry, creates and presents the trivia game every month on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays.
Reading and basketball
Carson is really enjoying Alphabet of Alphabets by Allan Sanders. On Tuesday, I got to read a couple of pages with him. Each page took a fairly long time. For example, on the K is for Kitchen page, you look for 26 items from A to Z plus one pair of underpants.
On Thursday, I picked up Sophia and Avery from St Ignatius and went to Sophia’s basketball practice.
When Carson got home, the first thing he told me was N was the next page in his book! He was ready to read more.
Coffee with friends
Adrienne and Linda:
Football and friends
Just about a perfect day. Two football games on Saturday. Val and Maria came over! Good food. The 49ers won!
Meanwhile …
When I was in Deer Lodge, I looked at lots of Phyl’s crochet pattern books, looking for inspiration. I practiced with a bit of yarn, a hook, and a basic instruction book. When I got home, my neighbor Kathie gave me some leftover yarn from her finished projects and I kept looking online for something interesting. 
Social Thursday
#1 – I met Jim and Lucy at the Legion for a drink. Friends I haven’t seen in a long time began showing up.
Jim Williams, Lucy, Bob Bastian, Jim
Then, Allie showed up. She was Dave and Phyl’s neighbor when they lived in Rio Linda.
#2 – As soon as I got home I walked across the street to Lorraine’s. She was having a few neighbors over for wine and snacks.
I’m making progress. I knew the names of every person who was at Lorraine’s. OMG!
arletelouise 