I said I would help with Vacation Bible School, but missed the first organizational meeting. As it turned out, I was in charge of the Bible part (Uh-oh). The storytelling part – that I might be able to pull off. Barnyard Roundup was the theme.
The Man:
The day began with an opening led by Pastor Kirsten.
Then there were three 45-minute rotations: crafts, games, and Bible storytelling. Today’s story, The Good Shepherd who takes his sheep to good pastures and fresh water.
The sheep won’t go with the robber
or the stranger.
Then the wolf scared off the farmhand and scattered the sheep. The kids loved this part, running away and hiding in the pews.
The Good Shepherd found all the sheep and called them by name.
As soon as the story was over, everyone wanted to do it again but take a different part. We probably repeated each story 2-3 times. The closing at the end of the day:
From the sewing cave
Golf lessons
Funderland
We rode the Yuba Mundo to Funderland in Land Park today. A quick stop at the turtle log:





On the way back, Avery fell asleep!
A stop for ice cream at Turtles in Old Sac. We had to leave Funderland a bit early due to a scratch Avery got while waiting for our second turn on the Flying Dragon. Despite the smallness of the wound and lack of blood, it was important to go home right away so he could rest and he had to hold up the hem of his shorts and he limped a bit. LOL!
Thursday at Merrilyn’s
Wild blackberries
One of Justin’s neighbors, Jack Montgomery, has been gathering the tiny wild blackberries for the past 2 weeks or so. The amazing part is he also just had arthroscopic surgery to open a 90%-blocked artery. Doctors went in through small incisions in his wrist and groin, kept him overnight, sent him home and told him to rest. But Jack has a hard time sitting still, so he gathered the blackberries for short periods of time every day. His slow-but-steady method has yielded 100 pounds so far. Next on Jack’s agenda: jams, jellies, and pies! And he wanted me to know, he does all the canning and baking, not his wife.
Sophia and Avery
Since the temperatures were cooler this week, we rode the Yuba Mundo today to the local library. It was also the first climb for any kind of a hill – which was a walkway/trail over the freeway. Being helpful, Avery and Sophia wanted to get off and walk, although they actually ran … fast. Time to pedal!
The library provided more than books to look at. Avery spent about a half hour focused on sorting all the colors into the correct jar using a magnetic pen.
On the ride back, we stopped at a park on Bannon Creek Parkway. Very big climbing rope structure with a trampoline in the middle.
There are button at the leg joint which starts the water spraying for about 5 minutes.
Later in the afternoon, Sophia had her ukelele lesson.
Afterward, we walked around the block searching for squirrels and
the friendly cat. No cat today, but they did find a great hopscotch walkway.
4 of July
Last night, Justin and I went to a fireworks show about 2 miles from his house (in the middle of nowhere, from some points of view). We parked along a walnut orchard along with more than 50 other vehicles.
Across the road and plowed field, ringed with trees is Lake Minden, a popular rv and camping resort.
It was quite a good fireworks show.
















