Santa Barbara Zoo

Lions, leopards and lizards, oh my! We made a family trip to the Santa Barbara Zoo on Saturday, starting up our family membership we won in a raffle earlier in November.

Violet's too old for a stroller (except for at Disneyland!), so we were packing our lunches, sweaters and Beanie Boos into backpacks. This backpack features wild animals, and was a recent hand-me-down gift from Michelle and Brooke. Thanks, guys, it was perfect!

It's always fascinating to see the gigantic California Condors, which once were on the verge of extinction but have been making a comeback in recent years.

Cora's armspan pales in comparison to the condor's 9-foot wingspan. She's a lot cuter, though!

The girls drew all the animals we looked at, including gorillas, lions, meerkats and a pair of gorgeous snow leopards.

I loved Violet's artwork. (Cora's is fun, too, but she filled many pages in her notebook, and that's harder to show here.)

This lovely zoo has some great play areas, including this hill where children slide down on cardboard. Cora was talking about this on our car ride up from home.

Our drive home along the 101 was gorgeous, right as the sun was setting. Yes, this is from my car window! What a view.

On the way home, we stopped by Colleen and Rigo's house, where they had invited us and some of our other Mom2Mom/Pioneer Club friends over for dinner. A great ending to a great day!

Thanksgiving Week

 Cora likes to be our activities director, and having a week off school makes her think hard about all the fun we could be having.

On Monday, we had plans to play with Juliana and her girls, but we were fighting colds and so were they, so we put that plan on hold. Lucky for Cora, Sue texted to ask if Cora could come over and play, so she had an impromptu daylong playdate with Sophia. Meanwhile, Violet and I went to Costco with my dad to shop for Thanksgiving.

On Tuesday, Cora begged for another playdate, and it worked out for Sam and Riley to come over and play. We went up for a walk on the hill; Violet and I stayed behind a bit, because Miss Independent was eager to be out with her friends without her mama around.

 It was a gorgeous day, and the colors on the fall trees were stunning.

 Later on Tuesday, we met up with our church small group to help out with an organization that feeds the hungry. Help the Children takes food donations and is set up like a grocery store, where those who need assistance can come in and shop for little to no money. We all helped out, carrying groceries and bagging them.




After helping together, we went over to Baskin Robbins for ice cream. We noticed that it might be before Thanksgiving, but the shopping center was beautifully decorated for Christmas.

We returned the next evening for a nice hot drink together, the start of Stace's four-day holiday weekend.

 On Thanksgiving Day, we went up to Ventura to celebrate with the family. It was a fun day of family and food...

... a lot of family! Joining us were some of Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty's friends from Washington, and their extended family. It was a great day.

Disney Days

With the children off school Friday, a lot of our friends were heading to Disneyland, and Elaine offered to take Cora with her and Vivian. After discussing it with Stace, we made a quick decision to buy me a ticket, so Violet and I could go, too.

Elaine and I got our girls on the road a bit after 10, and it was a surprise to all three until we passed some telltale landmarks on the 5 Freeway. It was fun listening to them try to guess where we were headed, and see their expressions when they  found out (though Violet looked sad - she was hoping we were going to the beach!).

We found all our friends - Jen, Sue and Nicole, and all their kids - and ended up with a huge party of 15!
We all went together to Tom Sawyer's Island, a perfect place for this number of bigger kids to run around together.


While there, Jen got us Fast Passes for Splash Mountain, one of the rides that Violet is now tall enough for. It was her first time, and I was a little nervous about how she'd handle the big drop.

But she did great! It even helped her conquer her fear of Space Mountain, which we went on later.

Cora went with the larger group on Indiana Jones, while I took Violet on the Jungle Cruise next door. At 40 inches, Vi is now tall enough for a lot more rides, but Indiana isn't one of them.

Our day was so much fun, and we got on lots of rides together. Thanks to a Disney app that Jen had on her phone, we were able to quickly get on some rides that usually have long waits.

We saw Santa, had dinner, got Dole pineapple whips for dessert, and headed over to Tomorrowland. This has become Star Wars-centric, and the children got to meet Darth Vader and Chewie, along with seeing props from the movies.

Our day was perfect, ending with the Light the Night parade. We all can't wait to go back - and I can go again, too! We decided to get me the lowest level annual pass, since Violet is tall enough to make it more fun for all of us.

Thanks again to Grandma and Grandpa for paying for passes for the girls for years now, or my fun day with them wouldn't have been possible.

Week In Review

Following Violet's final baseball game Saturday, Stace worked on cleaning the playroom roof so he can recoat it with waterproofing material. We've been in a long drought, but we're supposed to have a rainy winter.

Then, he took the girls out to the mall for frozen yogurt. It might be only mid-November, but the Christmas trees were out already.

Meanwhile, I went to a friend's house for a Mom2Mom moms' night. We had a great group of gals, yummy food and a lot of fun. Sara's husband even played taxi, picking up four of us and driving us there and back. What a nice treat!

Also this weekend, Stace took Violet out for a breakfast date. He tries to do this every few weeks, alternating the girl. They always look forward to their "Daddy date."


















On Sunday afternoon, I went to my mom's house, where Melanie had organized a bridal shower for her friend Mariana. It was a lovely afternoon celebrating Mari and her upcoming wedding in January.

A highlight of our school week was Wednesday night, when we went to Scooter's Jungle with school friends who raised a lot of money for the the Triathlon. The night of playing was a reward for those students, and we all had a great time.

Also this week, we found out we won a raffle from a charity boutique I attended with Violet on Saturday. We put raffle tickets in lots of boxes, and one was chosen for a basket from the Santa Barbara Zoo! We won a family membership, and some fun items like a plush giraffe, children's book and leopard-print throw pillow. We're excited to head north and see the animals.

On Thursday, Violet's kindergarten class celebrated Thanksgiving with a feast, complete with adorable homemade Pilgrim and Indian headgear.

Violet feasted upon a turkey slice, cornbread muffin, pumpkin pie and "friendship fruit salad," made with one piece of fruit from every student.

Thursday was a half-day for the whole school, and the start of our Thanksgiving break.















After playing at the park for a couple of hours, the girls went with Christina, Cami and Melanie to their AWANAs in the evening. AWANA is a Christian church-based club, like Pioneer Clubs, and Cami and Melanie needed to bring a friend to earn a badge. Because it wasn't a school night, with Friday off, it worked out well for Cora and Violet to attend.

They came home saying they both had a lot of fun, and would like to go again.

Meanwhile, Stace and I took advantage of the kid-free evening to have dinner out. We went o Bonefish Grill, a newer place at the mall, and just caught Happy Hour for drinks. My glass of wine and Stace's gin and tonic were each only $3.50. It was fun, of course! A great start to the school break.

Violet's last fall game

Grandpa came to take photos at Violet's last baseball game on Saturday. She caught an inning, and some of the soft pitches from the opposing coach made their way into her glove! Go, Vi!

She also played an inning at first. You know you're concentrating hard when your tongue's hanging out!











Look, Ma, I can hit it with my eyes closed!

Run, run, run, and SCORE!

True to her form all season, Violet refused to slide into home. Granted, there are no outs at this level of the game, and absolutely no reason to slide. But that didn't stop her teammates from sliding into home every chance they got. The dirtier, the better, right? But not for Violet.

A team shot, courtesy of Grandpa.

A final cheer for the Phillies.

And, a nice family shot. Great season, Violet!

A full Friday

On Friday morning, I went to the monthly school PTSA meeting (Parent Teacher Student Association), and later I joined many other parents in Violet's class for "math games."

The children do lots of games to better understand counting and simple addition and subtraction, and we got to participate in four different fun activities.

Then, since it was Friday, we all went to the park with friends for lunch. Violet enjoyed being the "little" one with Cora's big friends.

After the park, the girls got haircuts. Both wanted to go short, and the result was adorable. It's so much easier to brush through, too.

We also went to the optometrist for Cora, who's been complaining about headaches and fuzzy vision. Turns out her vision has changed since her last appointment in May. We've ordered new lenses to put in her glasses.

Later on Friday, we had Violet's last baseball practice and her team party at a pizza place.

The practice was fun, featuring a kids-against-parents game.

Coach Rich gave each player an award certificate. Violet's named her the team's toughest player, thanks to her fielding a ball off her face a few weeks ago.

Violet had a great experience with her team and coaches this fall season.