Sequoia Part II

We headed back into Sequoia on Monday morning, and on the way, we spotted two deer in the brush along the side of the road in Three Rivers. I know they're hard to see in the picture, but there's one on the left, looking toward the hill, and another on the right side.

The Kaweah River in the foothill area on the way into the park is very pretty.

We drove past the General Sherman Tree on our way to Kings Canyon, and pulled off when we saw a sign for a meadow. Meadows can be great spots to see bear, but no luck this time. However, we did get to use a clean parks restroom - a big plus on a road trip!

Once in Kings Canyon, we stopped at Grants Village, not far from the famous General Grant sequoia tree and home to eateries and a gift shop and visitor center. 

We moved on another mile to the Grant Grove Stables, where we had an hour horse ride booked. This was a highlight of the trip! 

Riding among the sequoias... what a memory.

Our horses were all sweet, and easy to ride.

We then continued driving further into Kings Canyon, to the bottom of the valley along the big Kings River.

We stopped near the river so Violet could try fishing.

We then drove the final few miles to the end of the road, to show Violet beautiful Zumwalt Meadow. 

This is where we saw bears on our first trip, when Cora was a baby.

No such luck today, but we did see a beautiful 11-year-old.

The quick and easy path to see the meadow was blocked, so we had to take the long way around, which included this rocky trail.

On our way back to the motel, we had to make a side trip to Hume Lake, where we were relieved to find open gas pumps. We'd realized that we didn't have enough fuel to get to the motel, and we were a long way from a real town. 

But we'd stopped at the Hume Lake Christian Camp earlier in the day, to show Violet where I'd gone to camp as a teenager with my church. We'd noticed the general store had pumps out front, but failed to notice that we had less than half a tank - and would be burning the fuel going down and back up Kings Canyon.

After dodging that bullet and filling the tank, we decided to have dinner at the camp. We bought a pizza, and enjoyed the view of the lake and the chatter of young people enjoying their camp experience.

I hope this girl might someday attend a camp here, maybe with Liana. Lucas will be attending camp here in a few weeks.

Our drive to the motel was long, hours long. It was pretty though, and we stopped once to grab this photo after the sun had set.

Sequoia Part I

We started Violet's summer vacation with her long-awaited trip to Sequoia National Park. This was her main Christmas wish, so we had promised her a mini trip, just the three of us. (Cora doesn't love nature the same way, so she went to Grandma and Grandpa's.) 

We left Sunday morning, and after resting in our sweet motel room in Three Rivers, drove the next hour into the park.
 

We made the General Sherman Tree our first big stop, since it's the biggest tree (by volume) in the world! (It's the one in the middle background.)

Another view of the Big One. It's a nice easy paved walk down to the tree, though it's a bit steep coming back up to the main parking lot.

In the same area was this tunnel-walk-through tree.

Behind Violet here is Moro Rock, a HUGE chunk of granite you can actually walk to the top of, on a trail with more than 350 steps.

We had to do it!

The views were incredible, of course!

Somehow, this tree is growing in the granite.

On our return to Three Rivers, we were happy that the Gateway restaurant was still open on a Sunday night. It had a fancy, fabulous setting, right on the Kaweah River. Violet had fun counting the ducks right below us; our server then showed us video on his phone of a bobcat carrying one off a few weeks ago! He also showed us a photo of a bear right below, also!

Day One was a success!

Class Party!

Violet's fifth-grade year drew to a close Friday. She is so glad to be done with school; I'm sad about her attitude, because she used to like school, and I know she had a great teacher. I finally got a photo with her and Mrs. Dallaire! 

With such an unusual year, I never saw inside the classroom, even as the room mom. Parents weren't allowed on campus at all. No field trips. No class parties. But, at least they finished the school year with the last two months in class, full days. 

And, at least, I was able to plan a year-end party Friday after school, at the park. After eating lunch, the kids had a kickball game and a fun water relay, perfect for a hot afternoon, and ate popsicles. 

I was so very grateful Mrs. Dallaire was able to join us! The kids listened to her way more readily than they would listen to me, especially since most of them didn't even know who I was! 

Lunch - kids brought their own, and a couple of moms brought pizzas to share.

Go, Teacher, go!

Violet flying through the air!

Cora came to join the fun - she loves kickball (and popsicles). 
 

Here was the water relay - two lines of kids, four buckets of water (with water brought from my house, in a big cooler!), and two sponges - with the kids soaking the sponge in the first bucket, then passing it overhead down the line, and then squeezing it into the other bucket. First to get past the line wins!

Not the whole class - a few kids couldn't attend the party, and a few had left by the time we thought to take a group pic. But a fabulous turnout and a really fun afternoon. I wish I could have gotten to know these kids and this teacher better! She spoiled me with a lovely thank-you gift for being the room mom, even though I feel like I did so little. 

Praying next year is more normal for Vi's last year in elementary school!

And now, on with SUMMER!

Tidbits

Violet wanted to take Spencer with us to Wheeler Gorge.

Best cats ever!

We had a last bit of cool weather to enjoy this week, with reasonable temperatures Monday and Tuesday before the heat arrived for summer.

Cora and I joined my mom, Mel and Nick at Magic Mountain for Eloise's first trip, and first time on a ride.

She didn't look very impressed, but must have liked it because she started crying when it ended!

I think she enjoyed walking around more than anything else. 

On Tuesday evening, we had a blast from the past as we enjoyed a visit from John, Genia and their kids! Haven't seen them in five years, and the kids hadn't been back to SClarita since their move eight years ago. 

It was great catching up, though the kids definitely seemed to not remember each other as well as the adults did. 
 

We had lunch with Kelly and Yass the other day, and returned to the little Colombian place in Chatsworth we enjoyed last year, pre-Covid.

Well, because of distancing rules, the restaurant coule only have a few tables open inside, and they have zero outside space. We were told it would be a 45-60 minutes wait, but because we'd LEFT SClarita to eat there, we decided to wait it out, and tailgate with snacks and drinks in the parking lot. Thank goodness our camping chairs were still in the car!

Wheeler Gorge

We made our annual return to Wheeler Gorge with Colleen and Rigo over the weekend, and enjoyed another great weekend camping by the creek. 

These two were so excited about this trip! (Violet's wearing her head lantern while they eat their s'mores.)

After a great dinner, we enjoyed charades and singing campfire songs Saturday night.

Cora showed Liana some staff techniques.

Nothing more relaxing than reading by the creek!

Love this couple!

Stace wasn't too thrilled to see this California Kingsnake! Thankfully it was a ways from our site.

Violet took this lovely artsy photo of the fire with her good camera.

Stace helped make breakfast Sunday, while Cora and Violet folded up their tent. They're still sharing the tiny orange tent, and are very self-sufficient with setting it up and packing it away.

The only downside to this trip was that across from our site was a group of families with at least 15 kids under 10, and they were LOUD. Even at 6 a.m. Saturday. It made for a tiring trip!

On Sunday, we walked around Ojai after packing up. This is a local landmark, Bart's Books, a used bookstore that's all outside. The kids also played at Ojai's lovely playground.

Violet took this photo of one of the lovely scenic overlooks on our way home. It was a great weekend!

End of Junior High

Annnnnd, that's a wrap!

Junior High is in the books for Cora Rose. What a strange experience for her - two years of junior high, but only six months in normal school, with six periods a day, hanging out with friends at lunchtime. We're certainly glad she was able to return at all this year - two months of hybrid school, with two half-days per week on campus, was better than staying online for all of eighth grade. But really, we're all glad this situation is over, and we can only hope the fall is much more normal for our older students.

In a normal world, Cora would have had an 8th grade awards night, a Magic Mountain trip with all her classmates, and an "8th Grade Bash" after school one of the days this week. (And, Stace and I would have been able to go to an Open House sometime in May and meet her teachers and see some of her work.)

As it was, the awards night was a YouTube link. We had to force Cora to watch - she was a bit down about the whole thing. Regardless, we're proud of her - she got awards in several classes for earning all As in both 7th and 8th grade. 

On to better times! She's excited for high school, and she'll be a part of Show Choir and a member of the fall musical. She also will take two advanced classes, and has, ahem, a good amount of homework to do this summer for them!