Chicken pot pie and rollercoasters

Well, a few leaves are falling out here. Even though it's more due to dry weather than cold weather it does make us reflect on the fun outdoor stuff we have been able to do this summer. Randy was able to drop in for a surprise visit due to his new job shuttling him all over the country. Crystal had the camera in Montana (see last post) so I don't have any photos from our hike, but we hiked to the top of two huge waterfalls on a beautiful day. Randy got to sample some of the neighborhood's Lebanese and Cuban cuisine, which was everyone's favorite.


Crystal and I managed to get away to the Pacific coast which still runs old-fashioned steam engine trains for sight-seeing tours. We didn't take the tour, but the train looked neat with the off shore rock formations in the ocean behind it.


Olive is growing up so fast and has really taken a shine to Jelly. They like to jump on each other and sometimes Olive even rides her like a bull. It's hard to get a picture when that magic happens, but this one is pretty cute.


Every year thousands of people gather to our nearby volcano for an exciting soap box race. They move very fast and are hard to take a picture of, but it was fun to see so many people come together for something so ridiculously fun and childish.


Speaking of childish delight, for my birthday we celebrated retro-style. We found an old drug store that has an original soda fountain where they still mix your soda by hand. They still make Green River and serve ice cream. Then we were off to one of the oldest operating amusement parks in the country. We never went until now because we assumed it was expensive, but it turns out that it is run by a non-profiut for historical preservation. It's free admission and $2 a ride. You can even bring your own food and picnic on the river for free! We rode the bumper cars twice and this mini-rollarcoaster nearly gave us whiplash.


My first homemade chicken pot pie. Yum!