An Era's End

After 31 years on the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, my dad has hung up his handcuffs and put away his baton, badge and boots.

This week was his last as a sworn deputy, and next week marks his first as a retired law enforcement officer. On Thursday, his facility ushered him into retirement with a farewell barbecue, replete with plaques, commendations and kind words.
Congratulations, Dad. We are proud of you and love you very much!

 The above photo was taken of me and Dad when he graduated from the Sheriff's Academy; with his retirement approaching, he wanted to recreate the photo. We all went to the photo place in the mall earlier this month, and took some family photos we'll treasure in the coming decades.

Since we had the opportunity, I had the photographers take a couple of shots of the girls.

Golfing, and Shrek

To celebrate my dad's birthday, my parents took us all miniature golfing at Mountasia. Now, you might think a man who golfs, like Stacey, would enjoy taking his little girls out for a bit of fun like this.

You'd be wrong. This was our first time playing the game with the girls, and it may well have been our last. Poor Stace was getting quite agitated that the game wasn't going as he wanted, and his littlest daughter couldn't remember how to hold the club from one swing to the next.

I had tooth marks on my tongue as I tried to keep my laughter under control.

 We then had dinner at Rattlers, where we gave Grandpa tickets to an upcoming Dodgers game. We haven't gone for a couple of years, so it's about time. My mom got my dad a new Dodgers jersey for the occasion.

 A couple of days later, we went out together to see Shrek the Musical in Simi Valley. My family is friends with the man who played Shrek, as Melanie has performed with him in numerous shows. The musical was a lot of fun, and very well done.

 Melanie also is friends with the man who played Donkey, who also did a great job.

Since the girls have never seen Shrek, we then rented the movie and had a good time watching it Monday evening.

Sleepovers, Salad and Soil

 Our Friday was full of fun - after picking Cora up at noon, we went to a Mom2Mom playdate at a park. Then, we went home for a bit, before heading off to Vivian's birthday party at Scooter's Jungle. From there we went to Cora's school Variety Show. She wasn't in it, but several of her friends were, and it was fun to watch. Then, Cora's friend Sophia came over for a sleepover, which went very well. The girls stayed in jammies playing with Legos till past noon.

Later on Saturday, Cora made a salad from a recipe she found in her Lego Friends magazine. She was very proud to do it all herself, washing and chopping all the ingredients and making her own dressing from olive oil and minced garlic.

She says she is eager to make more meals for us, and we're happy to have her do it.

 Also over the weekend, we bought some vegetables and flowers for the back yard. Here, Stace and Cora put up the cages around the new tomato plants.

Violet helped with the plant food, spreading it all over, and not necessarily near the plants.

Fun with friends

The weeks are flying by. Hard to believe that we're nearing the end of March, and spring has officially sprung.

This week, my church small group held a movie and dinner night, and Stace and the girls came with me. We watched the movie Soul Surfer, about a young surfer named Bethany Hamilton, who lost her arm to a tiger shark while surfing Hawaii's North Shore.

Bethany will be coming to our church to speak next week, so we watched the film together so we understand her (amazing!) story in advance. Violet and another younger girl in our group got hold of my camera, and I found many photos of Violet. This one was pretty cute.

 I helped in Violet's class Wednesday, which was her last preschool class of the session. She now has a break, before going back to class when Cora's spring break begins.

After class, Violet and I drove down to Los Angeles for an eye appointment for me.

 Then, we met up with JT, Callie and Jonah at the Farmer's Market/Grove shopping area. After lunch together, the children enjoyed the little tram ride, and then some playtime in the fountain.

 After our time at the Grove, we went by Dodger Stadium on our way home to buy tickets for an upcoming game. It was a big day out for Violet and me.

 On Thursday, after a shopping trip and the library, we went to Rita's to get a free Italian ice, as the shop was celebrating the start of spring with a giveaway. It was a fun (and silly) time for Liana and Violet, as the sugar quickly took effect.

Animal Fun

We love Spencer and Sebastian so much. They are so perfect for our family, accepting  affection and love from the girls all day long. Violet wants Spencer to be a part of her rest time every afternoon, and he usually complies.

They also make us laugh, like when Spencer climbs into funny places like the cupboards or the top of the sliding shower door.

 The cats have been eagerly watching this pair of Western Bluebirds that lives in our yard. The birds are so cute, diving and darting together in their hunt for insects.

Tidbits

 The other evening, Violet wanted to help me make the Hawaiian pizza. She was excited to handle the pineapple placement, putting them in a ring. She then spread the Canadian bacon around the middle, making it look like a flower.

 On Friday, we went to the park after Cora got out of school at lunchtime, and Cora got Violet to carry her backpack for her. What are little sisters for?

On Saturday morning, Stacey and Cora took a long bike ride, from our home to his work, to pick up his car. Cora made it the whole ride - probably seven miles!

We then met up at a friend's birthday party, where we got to hang out with Maya, Natalia, Juliana and Daryl. It was nice catching up with them, as always. Violet loves playing air hockey, and cheered loudly every time she got the puck into her own goal.

Over the weekend, the girls and I worked together to thoroughly clean the playroom. Cora completely cleared the train table, wiped it down, and turned it (briefly) into a Lego table.

Then she and Violet got the Calico Critters back out, with a nice bare surface to start over with. They played here for hours on Sunday; both girls have such great imaginations.

On Monday afternoon, we went to watch Christopher's baseball game, and we got to cheer as he got a couple of nice base hits. Cora and David enjoyed their sunflower seeds, and Violet had fun playing in the dirt. It was definitely "bath night" when we got home.

New Fridge

About a week ago, Stace and I were walking through Sears past the appliances, and I mentioned that we should have a new refrigerator on our radar. After all, ours was 12 years old.

Four days later, I spent some time cleaning out both the fridge and freezer. Some 90 seconds after I'd finished, I smelled the distinct odor of a burning electrical part.

Stace pulled the plug and found the culprit, but replacing it would cost $100 (not too bad) and take at least a week to arrive (very bad). I did some online research and found that for about $500, we could get a new fridge comparable to what we'd had. I then looked through dozens of Craigs List postings to see if I could take that same money and get a much better refrigerator.

Someone in the San Fernando Valley was posting a nice Samsung bottom-freezer model with a few nice bells and whistles for $550. They'd owned it 18 months but had moved and needed a smaller one. The same model was still selling on the Samsung Web site for $1,300. Bingo.

Our friend Rigo met us at the seller's house on Friday afternoon with his big truck (and his strength - there was no way I could have helped Stace get this 70-inch fridge into a truck!).

As you can see, it was a tight fit through the doorway. I should have taken a photo of the back porch it was on when we bought it - it took quite a while for Rigo and Stacey to figure out how to safely get it from the tiny porch to the truck bed.

This was all quite a process for us, and we're so thankful to Rigo for giving up his evening. Stace and I left Valencia at 4:30, got home after 7, and weren't able to leave for dinner until 8, after getting the new fridge in and old one out.

Thankfully, my parents had already planned to take the girls that day to Disneyland, so they were tagging along in boredom. They were big helpers, especially Cora, with getting the fridge cleaned and filled with food Saturday.

On Sunday, we went to The Container Store in Pasadena to buy a new trash/recycling bins for the kitchen. Afterwards, we found a fun sushi place for dinner, with a long list of $2 and $3 items.

We shared dumplings, a barbecue beef bowl, a shrimp taco, some sushi rolls, chicken udon noodle soup, and a beer, all for about $20. Yum!

I will have to make udon noodle soup soon! Both girls loved it, especially Violet. She loved trying to pick up the noodles with the chopsticks.

Ash Wednesday, Doctor Thursday

Our Tuesday morning started off with a bit of fun. Chick-Fil-A is offering free breakfasts on Tuesdays in March, and my friend Sara planned to take her kids early, before school started.

I presented the idea to the girls, who were very excited and eager. So, they were up and at 'em by 6:30 so we could leave a little after 7. We enjoyed our chicken biscuits and a little play time before school.

Also this week, we attended the Ash Wednesday service at Valencia Methodist, which took place right before Pioneer Clubs this week.

Since our church doesn't observe Lent, this was my first Ash Wednesday experience since I was in college, visiting my Grandma at her Lutheran church.

I explained to the girls what would be happening, and true to form, Violet was excited, and Cora said flatly she didn't want ashes put on her forehead. But when it came time to go up front, and she saw that her friends and their parents were all lining up, she was happy to go.

Our own church did talk this weekend about giving up something, or fasting, through to Easter to free up time for prayer. I decided to give up Facebook, and Stace is giving up eating junk food after dinner. When we told the girls about this, Violet shouted happily, "I can give up my money!" (She has several dimes that Cora gave her, and believes them to be quite important.)
Cora said, "I don't want to do that!" Later, we joked that she could give up school.

On Monday morning, grumpy from losing an hour due to the clocks moving forward, she said, "I don't have to get up! I'm giving up school for Lent!"

 On Thursday, Cora had her seven-year well-check appointment. She is growing well: she's now 47.4 pounds, in the 32nd percentile, and 46 inches, or the 15th percentile. Since her well check last year, she's gained three inches and six pounds.

On Saturday evening, Cora and several of her school friends went to a birthday party for one of their classmates. It was held at the Swim Academy, and Cora had a great time swimming for the first time since September. Here she is with her sweet friend Cami.

Placerita "River"

 On Sunday, after a very rainy few days, we ventured out to Placerita Canyon to take a nature walk and play in the newly formed stream.

The girls had a great time, as you can imagine. They collected pieces of bark to float downstream, played in the sand, and tried and failed to keep from getting "too" wet.

As Violet tromped through the water in her wellies, she kept saying she was walking on the water. I reminded her that Jesus actually did walk ON water. Then, she repeated a few times, "I'm walking on the water, like Jesus!"

 Stacey packed some paper and color pencils in with the snacks, so the girls could try their hands at drawing.