England 2025: Arrival

 

Stace started his birthday out while we were on our long flight to England, so we gave him his gift before we got in the car for the journey to LAX. He's always interested in Lego and was very happy to get this Williams Racing car. 

Our traditional start-of-trip photo...

We again flew with Norse Atlantic, the low-cost carrier we used last year for the first time. With proper planning, it's a good way to save hundreds/thousands of dollars. The girls sat together, and Stace and I sat apart from each other and them. 

When we arrived in London, it was hot! Sitting outside waiting for our train, and then the long hot train ride to Yeovil, weren't our favorite things to do, but all's well that ends well and we ended up in our cozy beds at Nan and Pop's house soon enough.

On Sunday, we walked to lunch at the Rusty Axe, and had a nice meal together, the six of us.

The girls loved playing billiards together in the back room. Violet has an *interesting* technique, which mainly involves silly moves and lots of laughter.

Thankfully she didn't mind losing to her big sister.

Later, Auntie Doreen came over and brought a yummy birthday cake for Stace. We were all very appreciative.

Last Hurrahs

 We have reached the last few days of Sue and Gord's time with us in SClarita.

They had a shopping day on Monday, and used the bus system to get around town. 

Stace, Vi and I went to Quigley Canyon for a sunset walk. 

It was glorious!

We took a little stroll at Bridgeport and saw dozens of turtles.

We went to Castaic and took a lovely evening "golden hour" stroll, and picked up L.A. Indian food to take home.

On their last night with us, we played Jackbox games together - hilarity ensued.

We got to celebrate Sue's birthday together, in person! 

We went out for breakfast at the Way Station Cafe in old Newhall, and then went into some boutiques. Violet, with her funny schedule, go to go with us for the meal, and Stace easily drove her the mile or so to school.

In the evening, went to Handel's Ice Cream for a birthday treat.

We were thankful my dad volunteered to come over and take a few photos of us.

And we're grateful for the time we all spent together this time around.

Violet's Beachy Birthday

Our beautiful, funny, creative and talented Violet is 15! Solidly in her teens, and enjoying life.

Her birthday wish was to go to Santa Barbara with us and Liana, and we were able to make it happen.  

Cora would rather not go far from home but since it was Vi's birthday, she agreed to come. It was lovely to spent time with her too. 

We started the day in Santa Barbara at Lilly's Tacos - cheap, delicious and filling.

We then went to the seafront, where Cora found some dead creature to inspect.

We asked the girls to pose for a photo, and this was the result. 

They were laughing because the distance between them and Cora was on purpose. 

I asked them to get closer together, not getting the joke, but they went further away. 

Poor Cora! 

We then suggested they pick up Violet, but she wasn't up for that, so they tried picking up Cora. This wasn't really what we meant.

We then went to the marina, and Violet's favorite bento boxes there from Sushi Go. It's become a thing for her, she loves eating it out by the waves further down the marina.

A cool car leaving the marina...

We then went to get boba and coffee at a place in the outdoor mall on State Street, closing out a lovely Santa Barbara birthday.

Tidbits

 

The work on the new room furniture continues. Lots of sanding.

My parents brought dinner and dessert to our house Sunday evening for a celebration of Dad and Mel's birthdays. 

Speaking of birthdays, Cora went to the ice rink for her old friend Maxine's birthday on Saturday.

Violet and I got in a hike/walk at Quigley Canyon on Wednesday after her school day. 

So pretty!

The girls have been getting ready for Ren Faire - Cora 3D printed some tiny animal skulls to hang from her belt, and both girls are making chain mail jewelry.

I've been busy shopping in person and online for rugs and window treatments for the new room. So many little details, and it's only one room! I can't imagine building your own new home...

This silly guy! He was rolling around in Cora's laundry basket.

On Thursday, Cora unexpectedly was asked to perform with the school Improv Team in their show in the theater. So, Stace, Vi and I packed up after dinner and headed over to watch.

For someone who loves watching improv but doesn't have a ton of experience, she did great! Very funny. 

(To be fair, all her stage experience involves a certain level of improv, when things go awry or people forget lines...)

Also, this guy!

He is in the house 95% of the time, but sometimes we let him out and he chills in the flower beds.

Kitties - and Seb's Birthday!

 Ohhhh the kitten cuteness! This tiny guy (not that we ever saw him that tiny, even at four months old) is now 14 years young!

What a lot of life has gone by in those 14 years, and Sebastian has been there for all of it. We love him so much.

He is my lap buddy in the morning when I read my Bible, and Stace's purring friend when he relaxes in the evening. He still seems to be in very good health, though he definitely puts more thought into his jumps onto higher places or the cat tower. We pray his health continues for many more years!

I bought a second harness so Cora tried to take both of the young ones out at the same time. What's that phrase about herding cats??

The catnip spilled and Evie found it! She was rolling in it. Oh, so fun. 

This guy...

He has a thing for Cora. Every morning he loudly demands to be let in her room, so he can aggressively purr and force pets and kisses. It's kind of crazy.

She will be asleep - he doesn't care. If she sleepily pets him, then dozes off again, he nips her. All while purring loudly. 

Oh, though, how I wish he had chosen Violet for this. She lost Spencer, and now generally doesn't have a cat sleeping with her. 

Violet's room has become something of a staging area and Evie needed to check out the huge boxes our new solar tubes came in.

Cora is 18!

 Cora decided to have a few friends join us for go-kart racing at MB2 Raceway, where she also had her 12th birthday gathering.

Joining us where her school theatre friends Mackenzie, Rowan and Lucas. Stacey is joining them in this photo, as they were the group that did two races.

In one of the races, Stace had the fastest single lap time among the nine racers (although is overall average time placed him fourth, just a hair behind Cora). In the other race, with 10 racing, Cora placed best of their group, though behind a few other racers we didn't know.

The kids also played laser tag, and unfortunately Lucas fought a wall, and the wall won. Hence the ice pack and bandage (not shown).

It was actually really affordable to rent the axe-throwing bay, so they had fun with this while they waited for their turn on the racetrack.

Cora does very well at this.

Violet and Stace had a turn on the air hockey table after Cora and her friends.

We then took the kids to In-n-Out for lunch.

In the evening, the family came over for dinner and gifts.

Lucas had given Cora this Disney doll, but Ellie was a more appreciative recipient.

Cora loved these beautiful Celtic-style earrings from Nan and Pop.