Memorial Day Weekend

 It was Memorial Day weekend, so Stace had Monday off. We all slept in after the theatre banquet, and on Saturday afternoon, Stace and I went to Rancho Camulos. I'd read about a special screening of a documentary on California history, combined with tours of this beautiful historic landmark. Stace hadn't been in years, so we headed over.

Our tour guide was one of the main docents, so she had all the knowledge of the 1850s rancho and the families who lived there.

While we were there, Cora went to Logan's house for D&D, and then Stace and I met her there so we could drive together to Mel and Nick's. They wanted Cora to babysit, and we wanted to ride with her while she got the freeway driving experience. 

We then left Cora at their place, and went to the sweet Americana shopping center for our own date night.

On Sunday, Violet went on another whale watching cruise with Grandma and Grandpa, and saw a huge pod of dolphins, along with whales. They've had great luck this year on their cruises!

Stace and I went to see a comedy play about Jeeves and Wooster.

On Monday, Ellie came over to hang out for a few hours, and we played some board games. She got sleepy in the afternoon so I set her up with Violet's sheepskin and the couch blanket. 

Later, Stace took a break from yardwork to teach Ellie about cricket. We had a great time playing with her.

Also, Violet mowed the lawns and Cora washed the Vibe.

We finished the weekend with patty melts, made on the new Blackstone grill. A good weekend!

Week in Review

I was blessed to attend the memorial service this week for a very special man, a Godly teacher and coach at Saugus High who touched the lives of thousands of students and baseball players. 

Mr. Worley taught a life skills class called Strategy that I loved when I was a freshman, and he also was a longtime baseball coach at Saugus. Just a wonderful man! 

On Friday evening, the theatre students held a preview night of the scenes they'll present at the district theatre festival in a week. 

Cora has been working hard with Mackenzie on this Hamlet piece, where Cora plays the Prince of Denmark and Mackenzie plays the mother.

Here, Hamlet pulls off stage the body of the man she killed. Oops!

On Saturday, Violet went on her Christmas present whale watch with my parents. They saw the Channel Islands...

...and a huge pod of orca, or killer whale!! It was amazing. Included in the pod was an albino orca, extremely rare.

Stace put the girls to work in the yard, cutting down what was left of the bush/tree by the side of the house. Since the construction work involves re-stuccoing the whole side of the house, it makes sense to get it out of the way. Plus, it wasn't an especially amazing plant we loved.

Stace: "This is why you have kids."

Violet Fun

While I was babysitting Ellie on Friday, Grandpa took Violet to her mounted archery lesson. 

We always appreciate it when Grandpa brings his good cameras out!

And on Sunday, Violet went with them on a whale watch, as her Christmas gift. They saw hundreds of dolphins and they even saw a whale!
 

Watching for Wildlife

Continuing the fun of Cora's Big Birthday Weekend, we met up with my parents and Bill and Patty in Oxnard on Saturday for a boat trip off the coast to try to spot whales.

The whale watch was a Christmas gift from Grandma and Grandpa, who've taken the girls the last couple of years. It was the first such trip for Stace, and my first in decades.

Not long into our four-hour voyage, we spotted a pod of dolphins surfing the wake of our boat.

Sadly, it was darn near impossible to get decent photos of their antics. Suffice to say, they were adorable.

We also saw a sea lion and an otter.

Eventually, some people spotted a humpback whale, and a grey whale. It's pretty incredible to see such large creatures in their natural habitat, on their seasonal migration from the frozen north, to Mexico, and back again.

It was also nice to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty. Getting an up-close look at the Channel Islands was pretty cool, too.

The girls took breaks inside, where Grandpa bought them snacks.

Back at the harbor, the Tall Ships were in town for a couple of weeks, replicas of 18th century ships. If we'd arrived early for our whale watch, we might have gotten on board for a look around. Next time!

Cora's Whale Watch

 I went on a whale watch with my Grandpa and Grandma last Saturday.

We saw so many animals. 9 animals!
Last time I only saw dolphins and seals. Well I will tell you what I saw on the whale watch.

We saw 2 baby great white sharks. One we only saw it's shadow but the next we saw the whole body. It was very big!!!
I was not scared but glad to be in a boat! 

I also saw a oil tanker out to sea I even took a picture of it.

Look how small the boat is next to the oil tanker!

Oil tankers get oil from the bottom of the sea.

 Next we saw dolphins leaping up and out of the water. One even swam under the boat!

The water was so clear so I got to see the dolphins swimming under the water!
It was so cool.




  

 This is me standing on the deck with my Grandma.

This is were we saw all of the animals, sharks and all. we also saw sea lions,seals,and some different kinds of sea birds
pelicans,seagulls,even baby ducks!

I also put my hand out to catch the water that was at the side of the boat spraying up out of the water.










We saw 9  whales! We saw their fins and we also saw their spouts. One was so close to our boat that we saw the body!  The waves were so clear, and one swam under water and then jumped back up! One was really, really close to a little boat that was next to us, but we had to stay 10 yards away. I wanted to be a little bit closer.

There were lots of mountains behind, so it made a pretty scene with the whales jumping up. We saw the barnacles sticking to the whales when they were close to the boat. We also got to the islands out to sea. Last time, we got to go all the way around them, but this time we went halfway. We also saw caves in the rocks at the islands. The way the water sprayed out of the rocks was so cool.
The whale watch took three hours - two hours to go, one hour to get back.

Day at Sea

 Cora's birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa was a whale-watching boat ride. They bought a ticket for Violet, too.

Sadly, when the day came, Cora was still sick and unable to go. They'll try to pick another date and go again, but this weekend, Violet got to see the whales on her own.

Here, she and Grandma are checking out some baleen, which a volunteer from the whale-watch crew showed around.

Violet got to see sea lions and even Pacific Gray Whales, on their migratory path south to Mexico.

 Look! Is that a whale?

Two beautiful curly-haired ladies!

Some day, Stace and I will have to make this trip, too!

While Violet was out at sea, I went to see Melanie for a gathering of the bridesmaids. We ate, drank and made merry, and we also made the cutlery bundles pretty for the wedding. Mel has a number of projects she's working on for the wedding, and she's organized enough to be getting quite a few of them completed early.