Quick Trip

 Joshua and I made a quick trip to California at the end of September so he could present a couple papers. He started school on Monday, then we drove down Wednesday and had dinner in Modesto with the family. Thursday we had a quiet morning and lunch with Dave and Gayle, then Joshua gave an invited talk at Stan State. Dave, Mom, and I went to the talk and Joshua did a great job. Then I returned to Visalia with Mom while Joshua went out to dinner with members of the philosophy department and presented another paper at the PACT conference in San Francisco on Friday.

Saturday, he joined us in Visalia where we were spending the morning watching soccer games. Evan is number 2 above, speedy little guy.

Micah's game was next.

Thanks to the Nickells and Trevinos bringing shades, we were able to relax and enjoy the games without getting too hot.

Natalie's was the last game of the morning. It was fun to see how much all three of them have improved since we saw them play soccer last.

Picture at the games with the Nickell kids, then all the nieces and nephews. Gotta love being squished by such good kiddos!

We headed to Michelle and Jonah's house for lunch and to tour their new house, which is great. Good layout and plenty of space.

Emery's game was early afternoon and pretty cute, and chaotic. After the games, we headed to Mom and Dad's house for the rest of the afternoon and family dinner. The Nickells and Trevinos left after dinner and Joshua and I returned to Modesto.

The next morning we enjoyed Mr. T's donuts for Solace's birthday breakfast. It was fun to be able to be there and celebrate with her. After breakfast, we hit the road and headed home.

Cabin Time

The third weekend of September, some friends of ours invited us to join them at their cabin and we were happy to accept. We drove up Friday afternoon and met Chuck and Arlene at the cabin, arriving in time for a late lunch, a walk around the area, and a delicious dinner.

Saturday morning, we went for a hike with Arlene to Lucky Lake. It was about a mile to the lake, which was beautiful and peaceful.

We stopped for a small picnic lunch, then walked around the lake chatting about all kinds of things from childhood injuries to travel.

I loved that we were hiking in the Three Sisters Wilderness. There are three mountains in the area: North Sister, Middle Sister, and South Sister.

After another small lunch at the cabin, we went with Chuck to Newberry National Volcanic Monument. First we drove to the top of the crater and admired the view.

Then we walked along part of the Big Obsidian Flow Trail. It was easy to see why it's called the Big Obsidian Flow, there was obsidian everywhere.

Joshua wanted to take a picture of the piece of obsidian he found to show Micah, who always likes finding obsidian.

We returned to the cabin in time for another delicious dinner, followed by sitting around enjoying a fire in the fireplace.

The cabin was right by the river, which was perfect for sitting and reading in the mornings with a cup of tea.

Sunday morning it was foggy, which made it seem even more quiet. We had breakfast together, then played a couple rounds of pinochle before Joshua and I headed back to Eugene. It was a great, relaxing last weekend of summer before school started the next day.