School is in session, and I'm loving my teacher Ms. Holman. I'm working on getting quicker at reading, and am still loving my Magic Treehouse series. I'm doing soccer this year, but I think this will probably be my last season - I like playing with my friends, but soccer isn't my favorite. I'm going to start Fencing soon, so I can't wait for that! Current favorite hobbies still include light saber battles, collecting EVERYTHING, rocks and archaeology, and learning everything about tornadoes!
Uncle Ben & Auntie Aubree came to visit for two days - all the way from Jordan! They came to my soccer game, and got to experience daily life in Napa!
Mama, Dada, Uncle Ben, Auntie Aubree and Keevah Nyx at my soccer game
Silly sister with Uncle Ben & Auntie Aubree
Once they had to leave to attend a wedding, we drove to San Francisco and enjoyed a perfect sunny weekend there. We spent several hours at Chrissy Field, digging in the sand, watching the kite surfers, and trying to identify as many different rocks as possible. We also enjoyed a yummy steak dinner and went to the California Academy of Sciences the next morning. I love that museum! The Aviary/Greenhouse, the Aquarium, and the Planetarium are always so awesome, but my favorite this time was the nature & fossil library, where I spent a lot of time sketching an ancient human skull that was found in Africa. Mama & Dada promise that we will go to Tanzania within 2 years to the site that this skull was found!
Please don't eat us T-Rex!
Mesmerized by jellyfish
Tropical Reef
Ancient human skull - so awesome!
Keevah & I put on a (very long!) "show" for everyone!
October also means it's time to get ready for Halloween!!! We went to the pumpkin patch, again with my best buddy Haines, and picked out a whole wagon-full of pumpkins, gourds and Indian corn - and even some bales of hay. Keevah and I helped decorate the front yard - and Spirit kept stealing the bones from the skeleton decoration to hide them!
King & Queen of the hay pyramid
I did a pretty good job hanging the cobwebs!
All decorated!
Even Spirit has matching Halloween jammies now!
October also means that it is the PERFECT season to visit Tahoe. The Aspen leaves are changing into beautiful gold and red colors, and the Kokanee salmon are running in Taylor Creek! We had a lovely weekend up there with Gee & Grandpa and my friend Haines & his family.
My favorite climbing tree
Big enough for everyone...
...even Spirit, the happiest doggie on the Lake!
Example of the salmon running in Taylor Creek.
Gee, Keevah & Mama at Taylor Creek Stream Profile Chamber
Gee & keevah
Smokey the Bear at the Salmon Festival
Haines and I cut down a HUGE 30 foot tall tree (that was already dead)!
Spirit requested his own seat in the car...
Hiking the Power Line Trail with Spirit
Me & Haines
Selfie with Gee
Sending 40th birthday love to Uncle Ben in Jordan - he's famous for his bizarre knee-high socks. Even Spirit got in the action, and poor Dada had to cut the toes off to make them fit!
We LOVE to put on "shows" - me singing my Engineer song that I learned from Cousin Alexia.
And Keevah Nyx loves making up song lyrics...
And October also means one more thing! HARVEST! After 9 years in Napa, Mama & Dada finally decided to get in on the wine-making action. We bought over 1 ton of Napa Valley Cabernet grapes, and started making wine with friends of ours. We went to the vineyard to pick up the grapes, hauled them back to the garage, and unloaded them into the crusher/de-stemmer. It was so super duper cool! At the end, we all got to stomp on the grapes too! I wanted to soak down in the grapes, but the grown ups wouldn't let me - they thought the wine might taste a little too funky!
Unloading the grapes from the truck
Loading the crusher
Mama & Miss Heather working the de-stemmer
Smashing those grapes!
Keevah Nyx taking a grape bath
OK, and finally, we basically always have to do "Keevah's Korner" because that girlfriend is so nuts most of the time, that we take a ton of pictures of her antics!
She does not lack self-confidence..."I'm so good at this!!!"
And this is how Mama found her sleeping one night - completely passed out on her head
During the power outage that lasted a few days, she dressed herself and Spirit up in capes and hats to be the superheros
Wearing slippers with a swimsuit - and apparently reindeer also needs slippers...
no fear - somersaulting off the bed
she still likes gymnastics
And every once-in-awhile, we get a cute photo with a real glowing smile instead of a devilish smirk!
We have our Halloween costumes all ready to go and I can't wait for you all to see them! Trick-or-treating is coming SOON!
