Another Beach Hike and Gualala Images

So many favorite people (and dogs, too!)

The side of an old sheep herder's cabin

Rhododendrons in exuberant bloom everywhere!

Gualala Fire Department Memorial Day Weekend Barbeque

Super, silly, fun; thanks, Uncle Mike and Aunt Terry, for inviting us.  :-)

Three-legged race

They are off!

Great photo, Mom!  (Ha!)

Tug-of-war; women versus men.

Beach Hike

Perfect weather; perfect company.

K *would* notice that this driftwood looks like a baseball bat...

Memorial Day Weekend Trip Day 1

Lovely, windy Pacific overlook.

Track Championship 2018

Proud of my awesome girl.  She was so disappointed in her performance, but congratulated the other competitors before giving way to her sadness.  Her worst throws of the season were still enough for second place in the championship, with girls at least a year older than her, and her best was still four feet further than anyone else's best this season.  She's not sure what went wrong - probably not the wrist she sprained sliding bases a few weeks ago, she says, nor the finger she jammed playing basketball the day before, but maybe the knee injury she got sliding back to first when she hit the winning run at her baseball game the previous day.  Or, maybe it was just a gloomy, "off" day.

In any case, that's the value of sports:  to work hard individually and with a team, to try hard no matter what, and in the end to be generous in defeat as well as victory.  (Not that this was really a defeat, but she knew it wasn't her best by far and that's hard.)  It's a challenging lesson and though I felt for her I was super proud of her too.  I hope that she wants to continue with this one - she's naturally so good and it is such a joy to watch her do it.  She thinks that the sport is dull, which is hard to argue with, except that to watch her never feels dull to me.

We stayed the rest of the day, cheering the other athletes.  Track always moves me, with so many mini-dramas of victory and defeat.

Maker Fair 2018

An afternoon of exploration and idea generation.  The flight simulator was everyone's favorite, but G came home with enough making ideas to keep her busy for a week.

Making a purse

Making jewelry out of bottle caps

Giants Game

Super-great seats, super fun time; the best part was seeing K on fire with enthusiasm, fueled by her love for the sport, by her love for her team, and by the presence of a good friend who was celebrating his birthday by coming to the game with us.  Cold, late night but incredible fun, even for those of us with slightly less enthusiasm for the sport.  :-)

Caps inside-out, hoping for a rally late in the game

Botany Presentation

She came up with the topic, created the experiment, tabulated her results, and wrote up her presentation.  Yay!