Thais, Sophia, and Avery came out to help gather walnuts.Both kids got to drive Uncle Justin’s big truck up and down the driveway!Avery was a very good de-husker.A visit to see the pigs was a must, especially since they won’t be around much longer.We gathered 36 pounds! Thanks for help!

After work on Thursday, I took Sophia and Avery to their soccer practices. Avery is a really fast runner. He’s quite competitive. He keeps an eye on who’s behind him and is willing to put out an arm to stop someone from overtaking him. Sophia’s practice:On Friday, Avery had his first game. We got the the soccer field early, so there was time to try out the swings.Making my heart flutter as I say to myself, “Hang on tight.”

A morning walk to the river.Phyl would NOT take one more step onto the rickety dock. That’s the Kern River, by the way.A tour of the shop.Carol’s painting studio:Upstairs a movie-watching area: Lunch at a Basque restaurant:My third “first” of the weekend: I drove Jerry’s Prowler! Yee-haw!Next, an art show featuring 33 cast pickups painted and embellished by local artists to celebrate Bakersfield.The main purpose for this weekend was to celebrate Carol’s birthday. Four birthdays from the 11th-22nd!

This was a first for me – a ride in Jerry’s plane from McClellan to Bakersfield with Dave and Phyl.This is the way to fly! No long security lines, no waiting, drive your vehicle up to the plane to load luggage, and take off within 15 minutes. Love it! Jerry and his 6-passenger Duke.We flew at 17,500 feet and arrived in ONE hour thanks to a terrific tailwind.Evening activities:Feeding cats,Bonnie the mule,and quite a few raccoons.Another first for me:That was my first and, most likely, my last 1/4 of a cigar.

At Thais and Lenin’s. Carson can sit up really well now and crawling is next.

I also helped out this week getting Sophia home from soccer practice.And kept an eye on Avery while he looked at Pokemon Go cards with friend.

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!

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 …

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.

School started and car-pooling schedules with after-school sports and various other activities have created a need for another driver – hurray! – that will be me! On Tuesday, Avery had soccer practice, his first team sport experience.On Thursday, it was Back to School Night for Mom and Dad.