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!
Holy Macaroni! We just had an amazing family road trip that I have to tell you all about!
First, though, I wanted to show you our special jammies for the Fall!
Spirit loves his jammies too!
Shenanigans when getting ready for bed!
We had an amazing trip to Lake Shasta for a three day houseboating adventure with our friends the Hagerman-Fisher family & the Sciandri family. No one had ever done house-boating before, and now we are already planning to do it again next year! We rented a house boat and a ski boat, but my favorite part of the whole trip was the PARTY BIRD that Mama bought. It was one huge big sucker flamingo, and I spent so much time playing in it with my friend Lucius - turning it into our own personal kiddie pool! We pulled anchor each night to discover a new cove, and during the day we enjoyed the on-board JACUZZI, water slide, and all the floaties that Mama brought. We also jetted around in the ski boat - watching Dada on the water skis and knee board, and doing some tubing ourselves! I crashed every night, happy that I got to sleep with Mama, while Dada and Declan slept on the top deck under the stars. I wanted to do that too, but apparently I am not to be trusted since I like to climb all railings... Declan Hercules also loved finding "treasures" in the water, like old fishing lures and golf balls, playing with his buddies Levi & Indy, throwing rocks into the water, and fishing (they caught a TURTLE on accident, which Mr. Ryan then had to release).
This was our set-up; 3 story houseboat, ski boat, and 13 foot tall PARTY BIRD
Dada was a great captain, but I helped some too
My Mama and my Dada
Hercules even got to drive too!
Mama, me, Ms. Nicole, and Lucius in the Party bird
Declan giving Party bird a hug
Mama and me just chilling...
I loved jumping off the bird into the pretty warm water
Lucius and me just being crazy kids
Love my Mama and Dada - enjoying the ski boat
Tubing with Mama and Declan
Mama and Ms. Nicole going 50mph on the tube
Declan Fishing with Dada
Mr. Ryan teaching all 5 kids to fish: Levi, Lucius, me, Declan, and Indy
The whole gang (minus Levi who took the picture):
Mama holding me, Ms. Nicole, and Ms. Heather
Declan holding court at sunset
Me and Lucius loving the jacuzzi
Me & Lucius on the alligator
We got one short video before bedtime since we had to go to bed before the big kids
Enjoying sunrise at the lake
Indy, Declan & Levi showing muscles while throwing rocks into the lake.
Dada showing us some impressive moves
Declan & friends going down the water slide into the inner tube
After an awesome three days on the boat, our family of 4 continued our journey into the far North West corner of Nevada (a 5.5 hour drive!) to visit the Royal Opal Peacock Mine. This was mostly because brother LOVES digging in the dirt and wants to be an archaeologist when he grows up, but I like getting dirty too. This was basically a campground in the middle of nowhere (over 100 miles to the closest grocery store) - but they had one tiny cabin that we rented. It was super comfortable, complete with tiny kitchentte and a bbq. We were the only people visiting and got to roam to our heart's content. We spent an entire day at the mine, chipping away at the rocks in search of opals. We learned all about the many kinds of opals and how they are formed. We found SO MANY OPALS! I found many all by myself by "raking the tailings" - basically combing through the rocks by hand to find opals missed by the people "digging the bank". I also picked out a tiny turtle necklace with an opal shell for a souvenir, and Declan picked out a small vial of fire opal pieces and an obsidian needle.
Dada, Declan and me at the Opal Mine
Our little cabin...
Me and brother at the Mine - beautiful high desert
Hard manual labor!
Mama got dirty too!
Declan laying on his belly combing through the rock pile for opals
Mama and me searching for opals - I found many!
Me lugging the bucket up the rock pile
Declan holding one of his opals
Short family hike
Mama, Declan and me in the high desert
The boys
Dada and me! I love hitching a ride on his shoulders!
Declan found an arrow!
Getting ready to BBQ dinner
Dinner at the firepit!
The last stop on our journey took us 5.5 hours South to Virginia City - and Old West town where there were a lot of gold and silver mines. We spent several hours exploring the old shops, especially the rock shop! We got our "old time" photo taken - and I chose the bank robber scene! We also got to go down into an old silver mine, and learn all about how old-timer miners used to do their jobs. I wan't scared at all, and absolutely loved it when they turned the lights out!
Our old time photo- sorry we can't figure out how to flip the image
Posing on a camel!
Old silver mine - Chollar Mine
Me balancing on a rock
Inside the mine
Checking out the silver veins
We finally drove home and took our first shower in a week! Phew! It was an amazing trip with lots of memories and a few fun souvenirs. I spent the next few days telling my teachers and Gee & Grandpa all about the trip. I can't wait to do it again!
We also celebrated Grandpa's birthday in Napa, complete with a sunshine cake and a pinatta!
Grandpa with me and Declan
Sunshine cake!
Random picture of me with my "Elsa castle" in the background, and wearing my "Elsa dress of toilet paper and crown of aluminum foil...
And finally - this picture perfectly represents me...fiercely independent and full of trouble!
