Author: Yolange Renaud

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Yoli’s California getaway

Yoli poses at the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias.

Yoli writes about her getaway trip to California in October, fulfilling several longtime dreams of hers.

In 2002, when I was staying in Harrisonburg, Va., my friend Solange shared with me her travels — how she would watch videos of national parks and then visit them. One of the videos she shared with me was about the giant sequoias, and that started a desire in me to one day visit them.

More than 20 years later, my friend Munaba invited me to visit California with her. Our trip was short, but we squeezed in a lot.

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Tracking down a hot-air balloon in Ferguson

Finding the hot air balloon at Walnut Gove Elementary.

Editor’s note: The following post is synthesized from accounts by Yoli and Jadzia.

One day after Josie finished her guitar class, we saw a lot of hot air ballon passing over our heads. One of them was getting increasingly larger and closer to the ground, so we decided to chase it. After trying to find where it was going, we saw it land behind the field at Walnut Grove Elementary. The balloon had come from the Forest Park race, even though it’d been cancelled.

The kids helped the pilot, Mr. Mike Wade, disassemble the balloon and put it away. That was quite an adventure, and exhausting to say the least.

The kids help Mr. Mike Wade, the pilot from HI Flight, Inc.
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Video: Meet Muncher, our baby Monarch caterpillar

A monarch butterfly sits on one of our milkweed plants. Photo by Jadzia.
A monarch butterfly sits on one of our milkweed plants. Photo by Jadzia.

(The following story and video are by Yoli)

Our milkweeds have attracted a lot of butterflies. It’s given a lot of joy to my kids, especially Jadzia. But a few days ago she found a dead Monarch butterfly. She was devastated. I had never performed a butterfly funeral or prayed for them, but it comforted my daughter’s tender heart.

Enter Muncher. Wednesday morning, Jadzia found a Monarch caterpillar. She had been looking forward to finding some. We looked for more caterpillars, or perhaps eggs, but found only this one. She named it Muncher.

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