Days Out

Violet and I had a day out on Thursday, heading up to Leona Valley to pick cherries. Last summer, we enjoyed several adventures out of SClarita, and we want to continue the tradition this year. 

We went to an orchard we'd never been to; it was a great experience. 

Very yummy!

We also went to a little art gallery in the tiny town of Leona Valley.

On Friday, we went to a college in Van Nuys where Cora and Melanie are planning to take an acting class with a favorite teacher of Melanie's. Cora drove, getting some good experience on the freeways. 

After speaking to people in the admissions office, we went to a Japanese BBQ restaurant for lunch with Melanie.

On Friday night, I went to an old movie theater in Fillmore to watch an old movie - a classic film noir called Double Indemnity. I went with Colleen and Rigo. It was a great film, in a cool setting; I'm guessing this theatre showed the movie when it was new in 1944.

(Stace played soccer.)

Also this week, Violet has been having creative fun with henna. And on Monday, she got together with her friend Sofia at the boba place, and then they came here and made cookies. Their friend Lea was overseas visiting family.

Mt. Pinos Camping

 Wheeler Gorge was (again) booked up, but we made our annual (much belated) birthday camping trip over the weekend with our favorite camping friends.

McGill is up past Frazier Park on Mount Pinos, only about an hour from home. It's a big tree area that I know as a cross-country skiing region in the winter.

It was beautiful, and we had perfect weather. 

We four adults took a nice hike on a trail that connected to the campground.

The wildflowers were amazing!

Colleen looked them all up, and this one was called a snow plant, which is like a fungus.

Our home away from home!

We played campfire games, and laughed a lot.

Marshmallows and s'mores - you can see how huge the sites are, with how far away our campfire was from their trailer, and then our trailer behind again. The large sites made for very quiet mornings, which was so peaceful and relaxing.

Packed up and ready to go! It was nice having such a short drive back home.

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.

Spring Break

It's Spring Break week!

I was happy to have tea with Christina - with her working nearly full time, we don't see each other often enough. It was great catching up at a new tea room on Main Street in Newhall.

In the evening, I had dinner with Christina, Tiffany, Liz and Melissa.

Meanwhile, Stace has caught the cold that went around our family, and was sick enough to need to stay home! Very unusual.

Thankfully he recovered enough to be able to attend the Stereophonics show he and Jim had tickets for, also at the Wiltern.

We spent part of a day on a tour of New York Film Academy, an acting conservatory and college she's considering for the future.

It was a great afternoon, followed by some shopping in a part of Burbank with a lot of vintage stores - and Porto's! - an L.A. favorite Cuban bakery. I picked up goods for dinner and a nice coffee.

 NYFA had an amazing library with film scripts and movies - you can take out a script, and there were hundreds, and watch the film after reading through the script. Great way to see how things come together, and what changes are made.

Violet got a pair of pants she'll wear to Ren Faire at a thrift store in Burbank. The girls are spending this week getting their outfits ready - while watching shows, they're creating their own chain mail jewelry.

On Thursday, Colleen and I got together with the girls and went thrifting. We ended up going to a few stores, and also to San Fernando Coffee Co. 

Stace and I got out to see Cats, the Musical, at the Canyon Theatre Guild. Our friend Jill was one of the lead cats. 

We also went to the Cowboy Festival for a couple of hours, getting our favorite peach cobbler and watching a bit of music.

I also went through some of the stuff that had been under Violet's bed, and discovered my collection of cloth diapers. The ones that were in good shape, I was able to send to a mama who covered the shipping cost. Hopefully they can get some more use.

Stace got the cat treats out, and, surprise, found himself popular.

JT and Jim and the kids stopped by on their way home from Yosemite on their spring break. Callie had fun with Winston.

Camping in Paradise

 We went camping at one of Violet's favorite spots, Paradise in Santa Barbara County, over the weekend. This time, joining us and the Rosaleses were two other families, including Eric and Christina, who Stace helps when he has worked on the tiny house.

We were so blessed to stay in Colleen and Rigo's new vintage tent trailer! It is so roomy inside, and in such great shape. 

You can see the setup with the kitchen outside, and we had two large beds.

The men above, and the ladies here.

Rigo promised cold hard cash if Violet would bring back stones that he could take home to his garden. Vi was game.

Violet has said she'd like a dog like Koa someday.

Stace was nervous about backing up while towing the trailer, but all went very well.

We have a new way to camp!