October 2018

We took both kids to Circus Vargas at the Galleria for their “combined date”. They had a special 30 minute session for kids before the show started. They taught the kids how to juggle, then did a Limbo “dance”. The show had a pirate theme and was pretty doggone good, although it is hard for Rog and I to see a circus without one single animal in it. It is more an acrobatic show now. But still very good!

We took Max out for his special breakfast at Huckleberry’s and he actually ordered huckleberry’s for the top of his french toast. Pretty good stuff.

The kids came for a project and we made candles for Halloween. We dripped hot glue from the rim of black PVC pipes, brushed it with some black shoe polish, then put some newspaper inside to hold small votive candles. We each made 3 and they turned out great.

Michelle had another great school quarter so it was time to have a celebratory breakfast. We went to Mimosa House.

Rog tested for 4th kyu in his Aikido class. He passed with flying colors.

Mid-month was Karatefest. This is a huge event that his dojo hosts for Northern California SKA members. They bring a senior in for the weekend and the dojo has a dinner with him on Friday night. There is .training on Saturday, followed by a BBQ lunch and an informal wine/appetizer dinner. On Sunday, they have a breakfast followed by a senior training. They had a terrific turnout this year and were happy with the event. It is always hectic but goes smoothly.

Meanwhile, I went to my 50th class reunion down in Pleasant Hill. It was a luncheon on the Saturday of Karatefest. It was strange….like meeting a bunch of people I didn’t know who had familiar names. I got home in time to get the house in order for the 5 people spending the night for karatefest.

The day after Karatefest, Rog and I took off for Austin. Texas. Rog is finally going to get to a Formula 1 race. It took us 4 days to get to Austin. We got into town on Friday around 10, stopped at the store, then met up with Beau and Arleen for lunch. Great to see them both and AMAZING to see how good Beau looks. Paleo Plus really worked for him. We went to McKinney State Park and got checked in, then headed to The Circuit of the Americas to check things out. It has been raining heavily in the area for 4 days and the parking lot was a mess. Sure enough, Tess got stuck. We waited an hour to get towed, then headed out without ever stepping foot in the Circuit. We were able to glimpse at cars running practice laps while we waited in the van. We headed to a Starbucks by the airport, then headed over to pick up Ryan and Beth about 5pm. We headed to their hotel and after they checked in, we headed out to eat at a BBQ place close by. Fabulous food.
On Saturday, we spent the day at the Circuit checking out the venues and figuring out the shuttle. We even snuck into the main grandstand across from the pits and were able to see both Hamilton and Vettel doing practice laps. We watched the F3 and F4 races and stuck around until about 5:00.
Sunday was race day. After so much rain, the gods smiled and let us have a pretty clear day. So clear that we all got sunburned watching the big race. We roamed around the circuit and waited for the the 6:00 Britney Spears concert. We lasted about 30 minutes at that, then headed “home”. Exhausted but happy...a great weekend.
We picked Ry and Beth up the next morning, dropped them off at the airport, then headed home.