Birthday Flight

My dad turned 60 Sunday, and to mark the occasion, we sent him up in a Cessna 172.

We had the idea from a few years ago, when Gord's 60th birthday gift was a ride in an old Tiger Moth.

This Cessna had room for four - the pilot, Dad, Stace and Uncle Bill. They went for a 45-minute ride around Ventura County, taking off from Santa Paula Airport.

Dad had been up in a larger planes and in helicopters, but he hadn't ridden in a small plane before and had always wanted to.

Stace served as the official photographer for the ride, which was smooth from start to finish.

Dad took the controls for a few minutes, and all went well.

Such beautiful scenery! Unfortunately, the ocean was clouded over, but to the east were gorgeous views of the Ojai Valley, Lake Casitas, Ventura and Santa Paula.

We ladies waited patiently with books in the lounge area. When the men returned, the pilot - Paolo, from Milan - lifted the girls onto the nose and wing for a photo.

After the ride, Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty had us over for the birthday dinner - barbecued pizza and a yummy cake. The tea lights each represented a decade of life.
We love you, Dad, and are all so grateful to have you in our lives!

A Full Saturday

 Our Saturday morning started early, with an 8 a.m. game for Cora's softball team.

Here's one of those occasions where being married to an early bird ROCKS! Stace has no problem getting up and out, with a sleepy 9-year-old, for a 7 a.m. start time (for warmups).

We went from the game to the Mom2Mom Easter Egg hunt at the park, where the girls gathered eggs with our friends.

Cora is pretty close to outgrowing egg hunts, but she  still enjoys the candy inside. Violet loved the whole experience.

 We then went to a birthday part for Norah and Sophie, at their house. Morgan and Adam rented a huge bouncer, and the kids had a great time. We had lovely food and drinks, and a nice time catching up with our friends.

 The party was "Shopkins" themed, for the tiny plastic toys that I don't understand, but are apparently all the rage for the primary set.

Violet wasn't very familiar with Shopkins before the party, but she was enthralled. She went home with the two in her goodie bag, Cora's pair, and one more from Sophie. We'll see if this new favorite toy lasts into the next week.

 From there, we went to Home Depot for a couple of more things Stace needed for the headboard project. Cora and Violet were in a very good mood, getting along well and even holding hands a lot of the time.

I tried to get a cute picture, but Violet kept looking back at me, trying to pose. This was my best effort.

 Oh, to be 5 years old, when picking out your very own color swatch to take home is an exciting treat.

On the way home, we stopped at 7-11 for a special promotion - for $1.50, you could fill any size container with Slurpee. Thankfully, we brought a pitcher!

Plenty to share for the whole family. And, no, there wasn't enough sugar at the birthday party and egg hunt...

Week In Review

When we returned from taking Andy and Marisa to LAX, we went to Colleen and Rigo's house for dinner.

It had been way too long since we'd had a meal together! Luckily our evening plans had fallen through (Cora's game was canceled because the field was flooded from a thunderstorm) and we were able to make it work.

Colleen and Rigo recently purchased a new travel trailer, which came complete with a bed in one end and bunks in the other. (They had sold their older, smaller trailer last year.)

Hopefully we'll be able to tent-camp alongside them this summer.






On Sunday afternoon, Cora went to a birthday party for a classmate, and ended up being invited to hang out after the party with the family, to have dinner and watch the gift-opening. It was a nice afternoon for Cora!

On Monday, Violet's class went to the science lab and made mini tornadoes in water bottles, with glitter and colored water. Violet was VERY excited about shaking her bottle, one hand on hip, watching it swirl. She swirled and shook it for the whole time that we waited for Cora to be dismissed.

On Tuesday, Violet had her last tennis class of this session. Violet enjoyed tennis, and hit the ball hard. In fact, every week I was told by a fellow parent (or grandparent) of one of her classmates that she has a lot of natural ability.

We'll see if she picks up the sport again in the future. For now, she is saying she wants to play soccer and softball.

Thursday was St. Patrick's Day, and the girls enjoyed dressing up in their green, and drinking green milk in their cereal. Those silly Leprechauns!

We took a walk after taking Cora to school, and Violet asked sweetly if I'd take her photo on "bendy tree."

How could I refuse this face?

Violet turned in her Leprechaun trap at school, the one she'd been planning and working on for weeks. Her writing says "don't get the gold" and "don't go up."

The leprechauns weren't fooled by all the trips Violet's classmates brought in. Durning recess, they turned the classroom upside down! They also left a green drink for the children to drink - but when the teachers tried a sip, it turned their feet green!

I remember this day so fondly from Cora's kindergarten year, when I happened to be the parent helper on St. Patrick's Day.

Softball success, Vasquez views

On Thursday, Cora's team won its first game! Cora pitched and fielded well, and was so happy to get a "game ball." Her buddy M.J. also was awarded a game ball, and the whole team was gifted Icees from Coach Cory.

This was one of the first times I've seen Cora pitching and looking happy, rather than extremely nervous. It was so great to witness!

 Andy and Marisa can't go home now; they must be good luck for the Ducks!

 After the girls' short school day on Friday, we took Andy and Marisa to Vasquez Rocks. Andy had been on his trip here in 2007, and Marisa loved the gorgeous scenery.

We got there in time for a half hour or so of walking around before it began to rain.

 A final American "must do" was a cheap lunch at Costco; can't beat those $1.50 hot dog/soda combos.

On Friday evening, we went out to our favorite restaurant, Stone Fire, and then over to my parents' house to say hello. Andy needed to meet Benny.

On Saturday, we left around lunchtime for the return trip to LAX. We had a fabulous time with Andy and Marisa here, and look forward to seeing them (and Jenny and Lola) back in Somerset this summer.

Touristing

Part of the fun of having friends over from out of town is getting to play tourist with them.

On Thursday, Andy and Marisa took a tour of Hollywood, and we took them to the L.A. Farmer's Market in the evening. Cora and Violet enjoyed doughnuts for dinner, before we walked around the Grove shopping area.

On Friday, Stace got off work early and we headed toward the coast  - Marisa needed to see Malibu and Santa Monica.

The girls took a moment to play on a playground at a Malibu shopping area.

Then we went down to the beach, where we spotted several dolphins frolicking as the sun sank into the sea.

















We dined at Duke's, Hawaiian-styled restaurant right on the water.

After dinner, we headed down to Santa Monica, first to the pier and then to the Third Street Promenade area.

On Saturday, after Cora's game, we drove the other direction north, to the wineries of Santa Ynez. We first stopped at Bridlewood, a fancy winery with a pond and horses.

















We then met up with my parents at Kalyra winery, a very enjoyable experience. We then had dinner in Solvang before making the drive back home.

What fun!

On Sunday we had a calm day, as Andy and Marisa had an early morning trip to Vegas to make on Monday.

Week In Review

Over the weekend, Stace worked hard on a headboard project he's making for Melanie and Nick.
Photos coming, when it's finished.

We rewarded ourselves with a fun Saturday night bowling, with our Mom2Mom friends, while the girls played with their Mom2Mom friends at the church with free childcare (!).

On  Sunday evening, we picked up our friends Andy and Marisa from LAX. Andy was Stace's golfing mate in England, and we've stayed in touch since Stace moved here.

Andy wanted to take Marisa, his daughter, on a special daddy-daughter trip to the SoCal area, and we were more than happy to see them and have them stay with us.

We took them to Menchie's on Monday night, after dinner at Lazy Dog with our favorite waitress.

On Tuesday, Cora had softball practice. She warmed up and started practicing pitching with Coach Cory. After a few balls, Cora got the hang of it and put most of the balls in Coach Cory's glove








After that, They started batting practice. Cora hit almost every ball and missed a few. They tried a wiffle bat.

(Cora wrote the above two paragraphs...! The wiffle bat is very thin, like a stick, which is harder to hit with. It's a great practice, paired with the wiffle balls, which don't go so far and are therefore easier to gather.)

Cora's team has had a bit of a rough start in terms of their end results, losing their first several games.

But on Saturday morning, down 3-0, they battled back in their final at-bat and tied the score. The game ended with a tie, a huge accomplishment for the Ducks.

Cora played well, pitching two scoreless innings and (finally!) getting her first two base hits of the season. She even got an RBI (run batted in) in the big three-run inning. We were all so proud of her, and pleased that she went home happy and encouraged.

School Days

At the girls' school, first grade has its Wizard of Oz production, second grade an in-class play, and third grade features a Wax Museum project, with dozens of intriguing characters brought to life.

Here's Cora's class in costume, for the living biography presentation we enjoyed Thursday morning. From Martin Luther King, Jr., to Abe Lincoln, Harry Houdini to George Lucas, Walt Disney to Mary Lou Retton, the kids did an outstanding job presenting the famous person they chose.

Cora, as pilot Amelia Earhart, is framed here by Pocahontas, track great Jesse Owens, U.S. Flag creator Betsy Ross, and soccer star Mia Hamm. Behind them, you can see Michael Jordan and Teddy Roosevelt.

Each student had a prop with some sort of "button" to activate, to bring them to life and tell their brief biography.

Stace and I loved listening to them all, and we only wished we'd had enough time to hear more of the students. (And, we do wish we could have heard them better. With so many talking at once, the MPR got very loud!)

We were so proud of Cora, who did a great job. Her teacher awarded her an A, 95 points out of 100, and she did especially well on the presenting side, with volume, expression, posture and eye contact.














Violet, meanwhile, is loving school, too, and I'm so pleased to be able to volunteer every week for over two hours.

Here, she and her classmate were chosen to touch the smartboard, to bring up different shapes for the class to name.









 Violet is never lonely at school, not with ALL of those Beanie Boo clips to keep her company!