Saturday, July 17, 2021

Declan Hercules: Blog backlog...Cousins from Jordan & a trip to Bodega Bay

So, Mama's been pretty busy recently and hasn't had time to write down our thoughts!  We are going to talk about May & June in this post, but more to come (very) shortly about our July adventures. 

So much has happened recently...  Most importantly, my cousins from Jordan are here for the Summer!  Uncle Ben, Auntie Aubree, Rinnah, Providence, and Antalya are here for three whole months and we were so lucky to spend time with them in Tahoe already.  We spent a ton of time having fun at the house - but had the most fun on some walks and time at the beach.  The water was actually warm-ish for a change!  Paddleboarding and kayaking was definitely a highlight, and we also put on a little "show" for our parents in the amphitheater. We also all went fishing and caught a bunch of rainbow trout.  Father's day happened when we were up in the mountains too, and we made some homemade sunshine cake & ice cream to celebrate Grandpa, Dada & Uncle Ben.  It was pretty awesome getting to know our cousins better! 

Providence, Keevah, Declan, Rinnah & Antalya

With Gee & Grandpa - we have to sing "God bless America" every time we pass an American flag in the car

Rinnah & Keevah decided to open their own restaurant

complete with "cookies"...
...and a drink station

Providence and Rinnah accidentally matched with Keevah!
Me & the cousins at the playground
enjoying the jacuzzi in Napa
Hide & seek in Tahoe

Getting to know Antalya!  The last time I saw her, she was only a few weeks old!
We enjoyed fishing in Tahoe - and both Keevah & I caught fish!

Uncle Ben supervising...



me with the "big whopper"

our haul
Spirit and Chaos couldn't get enough of playing fetch at the beach

My beautiful sister!
The dads (Dada, Uncle Ben & Grandpa) with Rinnah, Providence, me & Keevah.

Dada's Father's Day gift - socks with the beautiful faces of his kids on them

We loved the trampoline in South Lake Tahoe

Touching the clouds




Paddleboarding!  Spirit and Chaos got in on the action too! 

I got my own boat, and pretended to be a pirate taking over Keevah & Rinnah's boat
Chaos is the lookout for my boat


We put on a "show" for our parents at a small amphitheater that we found near Kiva Beach



We also spent a lovely weekend in Bodega bay with just our family of four.  I ate muscles, oysters and all kinds of fish!  So yummy!  We hiked along the ocean and played in the sand.  We ran down sand dunes and went on a nature hike.  Dada and I also played in the ocean, but Keevah Nyx (rightfully) thought it was too cold!  Our hotel had an awesome heated pool and really large infinity jacuzzi, so we spent a lot of time goofing off there as well.  And each night, we got to light an awesome fire in the fireplace inside our room and fall asleep by firelight.  Such an awesome weekend!  














Keevah fearlessly jumping off rocks


I practice sword fighting everywhere!




view from our room


We also enjoyed the Napa County fair - it was a bit scaled back this year, but we enjoyed  it nonetheless.  I did a bit of research on carnival games by watching a Mark Rober video (he's a cool science guy on YouTube).  Dada and I walked around the fair until we found a game that was not completely random; one where there is actually a technique that can skew the odds in the player's favor.  And...I WON THE BIG JACKPOT!  The dude rang this big cowbell and shouted "WE GOTTA BIG WINNER!!!!"  I picked out an enormous dragon.  Keevah won a few smaller things as well and we also had some fun on the rides.  The favorite for both of us was these huge balls that we got inside and spun around on water - like a hamster in a ball!  




Declan won the big prize, but keevah had a matching dragon costume waiting at home





Other random updates:  
I'm still doing piano and fencing - and still really liking both.  
Keevah is doing Martial Arts (specifically taekwondo) - and is unsurprisingly good at the kicking and punching bit!  

We both love swimming a lot - and though I'm not in lessons anymore, Keevah is still enjoying hers. 
I'm loving computer coding and have made quite a few games on my own.  I'm not allowed to play video games unless I code them myself!  I'm using the computer language Scratch mostly.  I've started my own YouTube page (Coding Demon) and also a second page (Science Monster) to upload some of the cool science projects I do with Dada.  I'll put a few here, but check out my YouTube pages for more! 

click for Science Monster videos: 




Chaos the wine dog...

Spirit's preferred sleeping position

Our prank on Dada while he was napping...








bunny rabbit got left in Mama's car, so he went to work with her! 


Stay tuned for our July adventure to Alisal...coming soon! 























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