Holiday Happenings

Magic Mountain hosted their employee family Christmas party on Thursday, and Stace and I took advantage. The employee we knew was actually working the party, so we visited with her for a minute as she walked out of the photo-taking cabin to take her break.

The lights are so pretty at the park, and we party guests get tamales, chips and salsa, s'mores kits, cookies, churros and hot cocoa, if you want. Several rides were open, with very short lines. 

We had a very nice mini-date night together.

 

On Saturday, Vi and I joined Colleen and Liana at the Placerita Nature Center annual holiday craft day. 

Beautiful work, ladies!

Vi and I took a nice hour hike/walk down the canyon trail.

On Saturday evening, we got the decorations up in the house, and our Christmas tree.

And on Sunday, Stace, Vi and I took a nice walk down our nearby canyon to see the decorations the neighbors there put on the trees. I love this walk year-round, but especially in December!

Can you hear the crunching??

On Sunday evening, Stace and I went to see the SClarita Symphony present their Christmas concert, with the Nutcracker songs filling the first half. It was a nice night!

Cora was busy much of the weekend shooting a short film with Jarod, who played her father. It's set in the Old West, and directed by a college film student for a class project. Can't wait to see it - it has quite a dramatic premise.

Pretty picturesque Placerita

Violet has a new DSLR Canon (because a certain mother of hers was borrowing her camera and allowed it to fall with the lens open.) We went to Placerita Canyon and she enjoyed using the special settings.

 

Tidbits

 We enjoyed a three-day weekend, and on one of the days we went to see a funny musical set during WWII featuring songs by the Andrews Sisters. Colleen and Rigo went with us, and we later went to their place for dinner. Liana was sick (and stayed in her room), so the girls didn't go with us, but the adults had a great time.

We also recently enjoyed Arsenic and Old Lace at the Canyon Theater Guild, with our long time friend Coach Greg, who was the girls' teacher in Pioneer Club and is a big supporter of Cora's theater pursuits.

Switching gears, the monarch caterpillars on our back yard milkweed are spreading far and wide to undergo their transformations. 

This guy really did go a long way from his home plant!

And i was standing in the yard when a little Skipper butterfly landed on my knee. That's got to be good luck!

Also over the long weekend, Violet, Stace and I went to Placerita Canyon Nature Center to take photos right after a rainstorm. I'll make a separate post about it... but here was our yummy dinner on the way home, from a fried chicken restaurant we'd heard about from foodies on Facebook.

Sunday Stream Adventures

 

Nick and Melanie brought Ellie up on Sunday so they could see the new Marvel movie. Stace and I took her to Placerita Nature Center for the first time, where we walked through the center and then had a walk and stream adventure.

"Come on, Auntie Lisa!"

Uncle Stace helped her walk across the stream on the rocks. So fun!

Eloise had a lot of fun throwing sticks and watching them float away, and throwing rocks and watching them splash.

When we got home, Cora and I took Ellie to our little park. 

Waterfall Hike

With all the rain we'd had the week after Christmas, we thought it would be fun to go out to Placerita's Waterfall Trail to check out the creek tumbling over a rocky precipice. 

Saturday, we went out with Colleen and Rigo, and also our friends Christina and Eric, and all the kids.

Yep, we even forced Cora to come along.

It was a perfect hike - a nice distance, great weather, pretty scenery.

And, water! 
 

New Year's Eve, Part I

 Stace and Violet took a New Year's Eve walk at Placerita Canyon Park, to check out the river since we've had so much rain lately. 

They had a great time together.

Meanwhile, Cora and I helped Melanie with a wedding in Malibu.

Cora was on napkin-folding duty here.

Weekend Fun

 

Violet and I made a little trip to Placerita Nature Center over the weekend. This is one of her happy places.

Violet is in the tree, but it's nearly impossible to see her.

Saturday evening was unexpectedly fun. We went to an event at the park, ran into Jeff and Jenn and the boys, and then got dessert together and had fun at their house until very late at night. We got to see their new batting/pitching cage at the bottom of their yard - it's awesome! Zach's a lucky boy.

Violet also got to do her mounted archery again.

And on Friday night, Cora's friends came over for D&D. I love seeing them use our new "game room."