Fall Back

Aunt Peg made a welcome visit to the west coast in late August. Although she went by "Short Pencil" Peg in her writing lessons, I'm glad to see plenty of room was left between Summer's hand the the business end of the paint brush.


Peg also shared some fascinating information about Laura's ancestry that will be espeically appropriate with Thanksgiving approaching.


We spent an early Fall Sunday at Abalone Cove in Palos Verdes with friends Dash & Mazzy.


Carson poses in front of his combined Acceptance Letter/School tuition payment.


To my knowledge exactly zero St. Louis hockey players began their career in El Segundo, notwithstanding the shared team name.


Grandma and Grampa visited in September.


As usual, with Grandma in town the mixer and cookie sheets got a workout.


With neither Bill nor Laura in running shape the ponies rides turned out to be the only racing associated with the old hometown fair in Manhattan Beach.



While the ponies set a good pace, it's nothing an experienced cowboy couldn't handle.


We were fortunate to have one of the nicest Falls since we've moved to California a decade ago.


It's led to ocean immersion much later than our normal October 1st deadline.



The big athletic event of the fall for Bill was the Bike MS Century in ventura. While he would cover 160 miles over two days, he let Carson take the first leg.


With this kind of encouragement Bill was more than ready to ride.


The best part of all this support at the halfway point of the century was definitely the crouching.



It takes a long time to cover 100 miles, so the kids needed a little pumpkin themed entertainment to pass the time.


Thankfully this wasn't attached to the back of the bike for all 100 miles.


Due to their respective habitats, tigers are not typically a natural predator of chickens, but Summer will make an exception.


Another day on the bike, more post race crouching.


With all the weekend bike riding complete we were once again able to take a trip to the Long Beach Aquarium.



Upset by the earlier treatment of their chicken cousins, the birds extracted a little revenge. Either that or they were really in the halloween spirit and this one was dressing up as a vampire.



Carson had a more reasonable offer than his jugular vein.



The kids then took their revenge by blindfolding a penguin statue.