Weekend Fun

Stace and I helped our friend Dinorah celebrate her birthday Saturday, as she hosted a lovely brunch.

The ladies - Mary, Jen, Dinorah, me, Dinorah's sister and Sue.

Stace tried his first Bloody Mary, and I had a try of his. Definitely an acquired taste!

It was a nice "date" morning.

We then went over to Cora's karate Dojo to see her awarded her yellow belt! We're so proud of her.

On Sunday, we went to gorgeous, amazing Rincon beach in Carpinteria again. It was the final game of the regular season, so I brought my trusty mini radio to catch the play by play.

We wanted to come to Rincon because we knew we could take both the boogie boards and the surfboard; surfing isn't allowed at every beach.

And, she's up!

And she's up, and celebrating!

Just kidding... she's about to fall backwards! But I love the photo nonetheless.

And, this might be when her fall coincided with the fins hitting her in the head, ending her surfing for the day.

Stace was happy to get some riding time in, too. He's still got it!

Week in Review

Violet had her latest appointment with Dr. Lavin, her endocrinologist, and she's still growing very well. It's really fabulous!

She's now over 47 inches tall, and up to the 5th percentile. When she started the treatment in November, violet was just 43.5 inches tall, and off the charts on the smaller end.

We met up with friends for Taco Tuesday specials at a restaurant at the mall - you can get a giant margarita for $2 if you wear Hawaiian. Stace came by after work, and the girls hung out with the other children.

Violet also started a GymFit Tumbling class at Hugo's. She and Cora took this class together a year and a half ago, and she was interested in doing it again. She's having a lot of fun, and she's definitely showing some aptitude.

On Friday, our friend Liz had us over to her home for a pool party, as they celebrate their brand-new pool. It's beautiful, and the kids all had a great time.

We had more pool fun Saturday night, with Geoff and Patrice and their kiddos.

Lucky Violet - it was feeding day for Charlie's snake, so we got to watch him eat a (thawed) frozen mouse by swallowing it whole. It was fascinating! Then we watched the second half of the movie Avatar, which we'd started watching with them a few weeks prior.

On Sunday, we went back to Rincon Beach to soak in the waves and sun.

Stace bought a new board in the week, and he was eager to take it out. Everyone had a great day!

Weekend Apart

For a while, we've had the idea kicking around the back of our heads to have Stace and Cora take a camping trip away together. We figured they'd have a ball, and it'd strengthen their relationship.

I looked up campsites a few days ago, and saw one lonely space open at Carpinteria State Beach, where we'd joined our friends for a night back in April. Bingo!

Stace and Cora took off around lunchtime Saturday for their adventure together.

After setting up camp and surfing a bit, they went out for Thai food for dinner.

Of course, they enjoyed s'mores!

In the morning, Cora handled the bacon...

...which they ate in bacon sandwiches.

Then, it was off to the waves. The surfing/camping duo had a great time together.  And I'm so very glad.

Meanwhile, Violet and I went to a Mom2Mom leadership meeting at Colleen's house, meaning Violet had a long evening of playing with Liana. She had a great time.

We went to church in the morning, spoke to our family in England, and then went to Placerita Canyon Nature Center for a talk about the wildlife in your own backyard.

The docents brought out some cool animals, including an opossum and a de-stinkified skunk. Either of these, or a raccoon, could have been the animal that took care of a mourning dove the cats killed and left on our lawn the other day. (The next morning, there was nothing but a mess of feathers to sweep up.)

Barn owls and great horned owls, shown here, also hunt in our area at night.

Labor Day Fun

 While the girls were having fun at the fair, Stace and I took advantage of the freedom to celebrate our anniversary a little early.

Thanks to generous gifts from our parents, we enjoyed a nice meal out, even springing for wine to share.

With the girls gone overnight (thanks, Mom and Dad!), we even rented a movie and could have the volume up high while we watched it.

We took advantage of a kid-free morning by taking the MGB out for a drive down the pretty roads, ending up at a classic breakfast joint.


















We enjoyed a yummy breakfast of eggs, hash browns and biscuits 'n gravy.

We then ran a few errands, and started dreaming about future house projects at Lowe's. Married 12 years, of course our dates involve Lowe's or Home Depot!

 On Sunday, we went back to Ventura - yes, we've been blessed to spend a lot of time with Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty the past month.

They had a Labor Day barbecue for us, my parents and another set of family friends. We spent the night, and spent our Labor Day off at the beach with the girls.

 Violet had fun boogie-boarding, and enjoyed pretending to surf by standing on her little board.

 There were times she had a ride standing up, when the wave came up, lifted and carried her forward.



















Cora continued her surfing education, and had a blast.




















Here's a video clip of her standing on the board, and one of both girls having fun...

Surfs Up!

Last weekend we spent Saturday afternoon at the beach in Ventura.

It was a lovely day and the water was nice and warm. So warm in fact that even Lisa ventured into the surf to play.

Violet enjoyed boogie boarding, or floating around on a boogie board in the water, as it lapped up and down the beach. I tried to take her out a bit further but she is still scared of the breaking waves and preferred "surfing" her way. She had a lot of fun.

Last year we bought a 5ft 8inch soft top board for the girls to learn to surf on. Cora showed interest but did not enjoy getting knocked around by the waves and being dunked.

But this year has been a different story. On our beach trips this summer she has ventured out into the deeper water and bigger waves on the boogie board and hasn't seemed bothered with the water crashing over her.

We took the board last weekend for another try. She practiced on the waves after they had broken. Popping up was slow to start but Cora kept persevering and got quicker and quicker until...

... She's Up!

After she had got up once she kept trying and continued to ride the waves into the beach.

I was so proud of my little girl.

Cora has now got the bug. She wants to go surfing all the time and has been asking when our next beach trip will be.

After our long beach afternoon we walked to our beach house, otherwise known as Bill and Patty's, where Bill make us a gorgeous pizza. Just what was needed as we were all very hungry.

It was a really enjoyable day. I'm glad the sea was warm enough that Lisa would get in and have fun with me and the girls.

My Little Surfer Girl

When we got ready to walk to the beach Saturday, Stacey unveiled a surprise for Cora: this 5'8" softtop surfboard. She's expressed an interest in learning to surf, an interest Stacey is eager to encourage. 

Uncle Bill found this board at a great price at Costco, so on our way up the coast, we stopped at their house and picked it up. The board stayed hidden in Rigo's camper until the right time came to get it out. Cora successfully laid on the board and rolled off, the two things Stace wanted her to learn on this first time out. Cora was disappointed she wasn't riding waves on Day One, but she's on that path.

Of course, Stace wanted to try it out too. He found it quite short - he was used to longboards when he surfed in England - and slippery. But he sure looked good!

Meanwhile, the little girls worked together to carry water to play in the sand. Then, they did some "boogie boarding," with Rigo pulling them through the water.On Sunday, after we ate another yummy breakfast and pulled out of our campsite, we stopped at the beach again. This time, playing on the rocks was the planned activity.