Belated Holiday Post

 Don't you just love April Fool's Day?

The health club was offering classes like how to relax by the pool. Did you know Johns Hopkins is joining the Ivy League? Hat tip to A for that one.

The connections puzzle was entertaining.

My very favorite was WorLdle.

Guess the flag

Humor is healthy!

Bad News, Good News

 Fortunately, our family likes to experiment (although we did not try avoiding the letter L on December 25. No L Day, get it?). Today we went twelve hours without using screens.

After landing a trick on the skateboard, giving me a haircut, and feeding the neighbors' cat, there was not a lot to do so we went for a drive. The fortunate part was thinking to look to see when A.'s driving permit expires. Unfortunately, it expires next week.

One of the first things I did when I got on my computer was to read about how to renew a driving permit. What a pain! Fortunately, the DMV extended the expiration day for all permits expiring before December 31, 2020. Unfortunately, it expires in January 2021.

Fortunately, the DMV extended permits expiring after December  2020, too.

So lucky! I thought it would be a good idea to make an appointment right now, even though A. has not finished all the behind-the-wheel training. 

Unfortunately, the DMV is not doing car driving tests
(and I am not planning to help A. get a motorcycle driving license).

Stay tuned for the next round of Fortunately, Unfortunately.

More Time Getting Filled

Soccer practice! Trying a low-key fall with AYSO.

Delivering brownies to the high school for a teacher luncheon the day before school started.
Lucky seniors who got a parking space were busy decorating them.

We tried something new in Pasadena.

Pay a flat fee and play all the arcade games you want.
Initially they had the place to themselves, but it filled up a bit later.

I left them there and headed over to the public library.

What a great place to hang out!

Today was the first day of school so only our international student and I went hiking.

I was amazed to see water.

Not shown - taking our student to the botanic garden, thrift stores, and Palomares Adobe in Pomona.  Also not shown, our student got to experience a California earthquake centered five miles from the house. Soon we will try a real American diner!

As time goes by

We were going to go to a movie as a family and then we talked about watching one and home and then we just played a game.

Ex LibrisD. creamed us but we still had a good time.

On Saturday A. had an all-day state-qualifying tournament for speech and debate. He did not break (break through, or qualify) but was fine with that. While he was gone D. and I got out and about before the heavy rain came and in the afternoon we walked to campus for a concert.

I am not sure I have ever seen Messiah Part 1,
but it did not prevent me from understanding parts 2 and 3.

We are lucky to be able to walk to concerts on campus

and to hear performances in a great facility.

On Saturday night we had planned to see a documentary by Ai WeiWei as part of a fund raiser, but we had not realized that it was over two hours long. With the time change and with alarms set for 5am we decided it would be better to pass and were in bed by 9pm.

Sunday was A's second bike race of the season and course was narrower and hillier. A. enjoyed the competition and teammates cheered each other on.  He doesn't mind the rain, but it is nice for the spectators to have a dry day.

I spent the day at Wilmer Amina Carter High School, named for a former school board member and California Assembly member. She still lives and works in the area and, according to her alma mater, she, "Is the first living African American woman in the Inland Empire to have a comprehensive high school named in her honor."

I was judging the final rounds of the state-qualifying tournament. As A. pointed out, it would be hard because these were the best people, making it harder to rank them. The good news is that instead of the typical one judge per event, there were three of us at each one.  I wish I could have given them all first place!

What we did not do was go to the LA Lakers game to see Cleveland play, but I really like this jersey!

New games

This game caught my eye because it was made by Danes (klask means smack).

I like that underneath is a small wall that prevents
one player from reaching over to the other player's side.

I received this game, based on Sagrada Familia, for my birthday.
The person who has most recently been to a cathedral gets to go first.

I had this game tucked away and found it as I was unpacking.

The object of this game is to build a library.
Bonus points for having books in alphabetical order.

This was found at the back-to-school sale that has things students
discarded the previous spring, but has not been played yet.

Must be time for a game day!