OctoBEARfest in Eureka

Black bears in Eureka made the news (local and national!) last week!

A young, small 150-lb black bear was found at our local Sequoia Park Zoo observing the current black bear residents, which are rehabilitated/rescued animals from the west coast. No one really knows how the bear got in, as the zoo is secured but does abut popular forest and many walking trails in Sequoia Park, but the visiting bear was fairly easily escorted out by zoo personnel and did not bother/harm any of the zoo residents! 

A different (larger) bear then caused some drama and a lockdown at the nearby elementary school a few days later! 

We see a lot of deer around these parts, as well as some foxes and racoons, but I've not seen any bears wandering around McKinleyville, although we know people who do have their trash cans disturbed by them. There also have been mountain lion sightings locally (in our neighborhood in 2019 and recently in Arcata's forest in August), which would freak me out more than seeing a black bear. 

We definitely share our spaces with wild animals and thankfully none of these encounters have been dangerous. Thank goodness for our "polite" wildlife :) 

SF Date Overnight!

Kelvin's parents planned to drive up and visit us this month and, after Kelvin saw an advertisement for the play "Kim's Convenience" in SF, they stayed through the weekend to help watch the kiddos. We haven't done it often, but we got away for a quick ~24h date to "The City" which was fast but enjoyable. 

Kelvin is a "maximizer," and while the play alone was enough entertainment for me, he found and bought tickets for a comedy show on Saturday night featuring Sebastian Maniscalco, who he likes and I don't know, in Rohnert Park (just outside of Santa Rosa, about 4 hours from home).

We left Iver's soccer game at halftime (he scored a hat trick in the first half and ended up with five goals, leading his time to a 14-0 shut-out and continuing the Grim Reapers' undefeated season!) and headed south. 

We stayed at a Hampton Inn hear Graton Casino, which hosted the show. Sebastian was definitely funny, irreverent at times (but not as much as some comedians), and we both laughed a lot. Even though the show started at 8 p.m. with an opening act by Mike Young, I stayed awake until bedtime! 

On Saturday morning, we headed an hour south into San Francisco and after having a bit of a panic of where to park the RAV-4, which, with the cargo box, wasn't able to enter some of the nearby parking garages (and street parking was full!), we found a different garage with a handicapped side near Union Square.

We ate dim sum for brunch in Chinatown at Hang Ah, the oldest continuously operating dim sum restaurant in the U.S., dating from 1920.

All the dishes were made in house and were delicious.

We did a bit of shopping before heading to the Toni Rembe Theater for the performance of Kim's Convenience, which opened as a play (by Ins Choi) in 2005 and became a Netflix series in 2018 (I really enjoyed the show when I watched in a couple of years ago). 

The show features a Korean-Canadian family who runs a family convenience store in Toronto, and exhibits many funny and heartwarming moments and storylines. Many themes (including the emphasis on hard work, achievement, filial duty, and saving money), are very relatable and quite hysterical, especially if you have immigrant Asian parents (or in-laws :)).  The play's author (Ins Choi) starred as "Appa" (the patriarch) in our performance; in other theater productions, he has starred as Jung (the son). He was incredible and I found the 90-minute play really well done. Kelvin, who watched a few episodes prior to the play to get "the flavor," also enjoyed it.

We then busted out of the city to head home to Humboldt, seeing many "Waymo" (driverless) cars along the way.  We ate some delicious Thai food in Ukiah and made if safely home with enough time to tuck in the kids, who were happy to see us! 

It was a whirlwind 24 hours but a fun one! We appreciate Kelvin's parents for holding down the fort at home! 

The (XC) Finish Line 2025

The kids competed at the county Cross Country Championships this Thursday. After some heavy rain earlier in the week, it was a beautiful fall day to cheer for the local kids around Arcata's Community Center.

Fuente is a small school with a lot of great runners! We're thankful to have had Coach Kristin lead the team for another year!

The little kids (K-2) ran almost a mile, a longer distance than the other races this season.  Niall kept to the front of the pack and finished sixth overall and fourth for his grade, but I think he misjudged the finish line, slowing down rather than sprinting past the clock. He finished in 7:17:23, a minute faster than last year, and just eight milliseconds behind his friend and rival Ivan, who passed him right at the end.

 Pippa, Finn, N

Iver was pumped to take on his rivals in the 3-5th grade race of the distance of two miles, including some hills. He avoided snacking before the race because he's thrown up at the finish line at both of the last two years' final meets (2024 and 2023)! 

He always looks so comfortable (think: effortless) when he runs but got outsprinted at the end by Jules, the kid who beat him at almost all of the other meets this season. He finished the two miles in 13:00 (shaving 20 seconds off last year's time) and in fourth place for his grade (fifth overall with one extremely fast third grader taking second place)!

The top ten finishers per grade (split into boys and girls) got an award (ribbon or medal).

Niall

Iver

I had no interest in running long races when I was a kid (or now, for that matter, even thought I've gritted my way through some!). I'm really proud of our small, skinny kids for their athleticism and grit in a hard mental (and physical) sport. I'm not sure they'll still want to race next year, but they truly had a great season (even if the additional races/practices made our schedule crazy).  It is so fun to see so many local kids competing and being celebrated (and because I delivered many of them!). Until (possibly...) next year. 

“Camaraderie in cross-country isn’t just about cheering for each other—it’s about pushing each other to be better.” – Paula Radcliffe

Ba/Ong hold down the fort!

 

Kelvin's parents have been in town for the past couple of weeks. They've helped immensely with kid drop-offs, pick-ups, and are watching the kiddos so Kelvin and I can have a date overnight this weekend (they also did the soccer shuttling a couple of weekends ago so we could attend a day-long, local Saturday provider resiliency retreat). Kelvin's dad does all sorts of house projects when he's here, like replacing deck boards and cleaning mold out of our bathrooms :). Kelvin's mom cooked for us daily, which is a treat.

They've also gotten to enjoy the kids' soccer and XC meets, taking more photos than I know what to do with!

Soccer practice

Church

Getting ready @ home

Kitchen play time

Yard play

We took them to Huddie's (Arcata's) pumpkin patch this past weekend for some nice fall photos.

Fall in Humboldt has some of the best weather around. We've had some replenishing rain but a lot of beautiful sunny days. If only my energy could match all the work and required activities, we'd be doing great!

Shemp!

 

Iver (10) has been liking the long-bangs, middle-part look for some time. I have to say I don't love the cut but it's his hair, and his choice!

I was trying to think of what his haircut (now shorter) reminded me of... and I felt like it was one of the three stooges (which they're too young to know).

It wasn't Larry, Curly, or Moe...

... and then I found it!

Shemp! 

New, shorter 'do at present: