Emma learned to ride her bike today.

At the beginning, she expressed an interest in hopping on Sam's old tricycle, but we somehow got all three younger kids down to the park.  Berry and Duncan put on their training-wheel enabled bikes and were off.  Emma took a bit more work.

Still, within five minutes, she was starting by herself and stopping by herself.  The in-between part of riding around had already been mastered, so she was golden.  I was very proud of her tenacity and she was very excited to have a new, grown-up skill under her belt.

For some reason, Emma struck me as a 50s housewife this morning.  She'd gotten all prettied up with makeup and Joanna helped curl her hair.  Emma has a love for Chanterelle mushrooms, so she was chopping them up and sautéing them with garlic and butter and olive oil.  It was delicious.

Emma's been great today.  She played with Duncan and Berry.  We played baseball in the backyard, with Berry as our catcher.  During the library run, she stocked up on books like The Teen's Guide to World Domination and The Teen's Guide to Helping Our Oceans, Rivers, and Other Aquatic Things.  Emma, who is watching over my shoulder, tells me I should add The Girl's Guide to Style.

You can add "chicken wrangling" to her list of skills.  She had this giant brussle-sprout stem that she was waving around, trying to get the chickens to behave.  It was a sight to behold.

It was a whirlwind morning today.  We bid farewell to Sam, who had one final day of summer, and headed out to the various schools.  First we dropped off Duncan, who fortunately thought his teacher was pretty, and thus acceptable.  Next we drove the three blocks to Emma's school, and finally we dropped off Berry at hers.

Emma was looking a little flustered, trying to figure out the instructions for their first assignment that were displayed on the overhead.  We all gave her hugs and kisses and let her be.  I'll call her tonight and see how things go.

We left Berry in the care of Barbara, who was Emma's teacher many years ago.  A friend immediately ran up to her, so I think all is good there.

Emma was truly great on the trip to Sadie's wedding.  The plane rides were grueling and long, but she managed reasonably well.  When she woke me up when I tried to sleep, she apologized later.  Only a couple times did I get the "how much further?" question.  More often than not, she was cheerful and pleasant and I'd be happy to travel with her again.

She had a great time on the trip, and the farm was the perfect place for an eight year-old to be.  Frogs, butterflies, and grasshoppers were caught.  She picked carrots and ate them raw.

Emma had a great time with her cousins, especially Isa.  The two of them look so much alike these days, and they were both into very similar things.  Isa thought it would be a fine idea for her to come visit one summer and hang out more with Emma.

On the last day of the trip, she ate lobster in Portland, Maine, and then later ate corn chowder in the San Francisco airport.  She seems like such a seasoned traveler to me now.