TUESDAY, JULY 7

TUESDAY, JULY 7:

      A fun-filled family day. Hannah and Pasqual and all 4 kids (Kaleb & Autumn, and Pasqual's 2 boys, Abel and Eli) arrived around noon. Fired the grill up, and threw on burger patties and hot dogs.

                                                                          

 

Just in time to take them off, and enjoy, Rachel drove up with both girls and a little friend of Lupe's from Rachel's pre-school group at church. Everyone enjoyed!

                                                                   

                                                      Kids' table:

No surprise how the kids had grown – but still, it's a shock to see Kaleb a full-blown adolescent, nearly as tall as his Grandpa, with no vestiges of little boyhood left. A very nice-looking young man; I'm wondering if Hannah will have her hands full in a couple of years with girls competing for his attention!

       After a while, we all headed to one of the lakes – the one where they rent canoes, kayaks, & paddleboats. Hannah & Pasqual & the girls & Eli in 1 paddleboat; Bill & I and Rachel & Elise in another, and Kaleb & Abel in a kayak. Just enjoyed an hour or so of paddling around, feeding the ducks, enjoying the sun and nature and peaceful scenery. 

 

                                                              Little boater Elise:

 

      Hannah & Pasqual and the older boys left; Kaleb had basketball practice. The rest of us walked the mile or so back to the RV. Nice and warm and sunny . . . in fact, the shade felt nice. It was a lot of fun walking in front of Eli, Lupe, & Autumn and eavesdropping on their conversations, which ranged from the reality of Santa Claus (Autumn: “I know that he's real because Kaleb woke me up one Christmas when I was little, and I saw him!” Eli: “How do you know it wasn't your dad?” Autumn: “Because my dad has brown eyes, and Santa Claus had blue!”) to their knowledge of the various Greek gods (apparently they'd all studied Greek Mythology recently in school) to their recollections of Disneyworld. It was just so interesting observing their dynamic – kind of a tacit agreement that they'd all take turns being the leader in the conversation.

       Shortly afterwards, Eric arrived, and they took all the kids swimming up at the pool while Bill & I rested and read. Bill drove up to pick up some KFC for dinner . . . getting dark by now, so we all ate inside . . . the 4 grown-ups at the table, and the kids scattered over the floor, which they evidently loved, judging from their contented murmurings and laughter.

      Eric & Rachel are coming out again tomorrow – driving both cars, so that we can borrow one to drive up to Laguna on Thursday, since our truck is still in the shop and they can't figure what's wrong. When Bill talked to them earlier in the day, they said, “It wouldn't start last night, but now it does.” “Yeah, I know. That's my problem!” replied Bill. Surely hope that they'll be able to diagnose & correct it by Friday, as we leave here on Monday.