Week in Review

On Tuesday, we had a nice treat, and went out to a fancy lunch with Stace. Gotta take advantage of the girls being home and Stace working so near!

We went to a newish place called Slaters 50/50, where their burgers are half beef, half bacon. This restaurant does Kids Eat Free on Tuesdays, so that came in very handy!

Violet was fighting a cold the second half of the week, so we didn't do much of anything. 

Cora worked on her summer assignment for the Advanced Placement Environmental Science class she's taking in the fall, and her science-expert sister helped her out.

On Saturday night, Stace and I met Keith at a charity car show at the mall, where the funds benefit the high school district's foundation. There were some amazing cars!

We've had a definite down year with our garden. For one, we didn't plant a summer garden, as Stace is trying to get rid of the insidious weeds that are ALWAYS there. 

For another, our nectarine tree out front appears to be dying, and the squirrels or whatnot got whatever was growing. And lastly, the local wildlife got nearly every grape on our grapevine! Look at what I was able to "harvest" off the vine!

We got this lemon from a friend - ummmm - not such a helpful lemon!

 

Week in Review

JT and Jim and the kids came out Saturday afternoon, so we could all go to our Concert in the Park. A U2 cover band was playing, the one we enjoyed at the Canyon club a few years ago. Hollywood U2 is excellent! So worth seeing, especially for free on a beautiful warm evening.

Our friends spent the night, and we were able to watch the England/Italy Euro 2020 final together. Keith came over, too. Sadly, the game didn't turn out so well.

The littles went to play Exploding Kittens at one point.

 

When Liana came over this week, she had the idea of creating a maze for the mice. Gosh, I love this girl! Watching them plan, cut cardboard and hot glue it all together was amazing.

And, Jade and Copper had fun, too!

We also made two beach trips this week. On Monday, we went with Jenn, Zach and Dylan to Oxnard, and on Friday, Violet and I went with Colleen and Liana.

Nice shot, Colleen! The girls, including one of Colleen's friends visiting from out of state, set up a long-jump contest. 

We ended the day with snow cones from an ice cream truck. 

Gotta love summer!

Oh, and I had breakfast with my girlfriends Friday before the beach! It's always great being back at Egg Plantation.

We were partially celebrating Sue's birthday...and summer!

Back Home

We all were home together for Independence Day, where we enjoyed the return of the city's fireworks show from the mall after a Covid hiatus last year. 

Violet was very pleased to be back home with her kitties! She missed them.
 

I had Sue and Jen over to catch up one evening this week, and Cora came out to say hello and fill them in on Florida. Jen's family has been to Disney World several times; she loves it there!

We had Lucas and Liana over to swim, and Violet and Liana spent quite a bit of time together. 

On Monday, we took Cora to a wedding that Melanie was providing flowers, so she could help out. It was off Pacific Coast Highway, so we carried on up the coast a bit, enjoying the beautiful drive, before ending up at Rincon,Violet's favorite beach.

(Stace was off Monday because July 4 fell on a Sunday, so Monday was a holiday for nearly everyone.)

We had a standoff one morning on the wall! 

Spoiler: the squirrel got away.

Violet noticed a bee was struggling on the cushion next to her, so she brought out a tiny bit of jam to try to help it out.

Florida!

The family didn't just go to Disneyland while in Florida. They also did two cool side trips - the NASA's Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, and an airboat ride in Kissimmee to visit the alligators.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit had numerous hands-on activities.

After going to the space center, they stopped at Cocoa Beach, to put their feet into the Atlantic. It was another cloudy day, so the beach and ocean weren't as picturesque as they might have been.

Violet's favorite part of the trip was the airboat ride, through Boggy Creek Airboat Adventures.

The girls loved this mama moorhen and her baby, which they likened to a black puff.

Another friendly local - look at that big smile!

Fun whooshing across the water... 

The girls and the pilot - Violet said she would love to return to Florida, not for Disney, but for another airboat ride.

 

Such a good week! I'm grateful, in this very strange past year-plus, the girls and my parents were able to enjoy these adventures.

Disney World!

This trip was in the works for many months - Grandma wanted to do it in summer 2020, but we know how that turned out. But with things opening up - and Florida being open since last August anyway - planning began in earnest. They told Cora quietly on her birthday, and told Violet about it on her birthday. 

And Saturday, we made a VERY early trip to LAX so the four could fly off to a week at Disney World!

They stayed "on property" at the Cars-themed resort. 

On Sunday, they went to Blizzard Beach, one of the two Disney water parks. They had a GREAT time.

Cora did this crazy steep slide, and they all had fun on the family rafts, lazy river, and wave pool.

On Sunday evening, they went to the Magic Kingdom, where they had reservations at a nice restaurant. Check out Violet's crazy dessert! Yum!

The Magic Kingdom at night

They went to Hollywood Studios on Monday, where they visited Star Wars Land.

These stocks were near the Mark Twain riverboat in the Magic Kingdom, apparently to imprison teenagers. 

In Magic Kingdom, they went on Haunted Mansion, a ride Vi had avoided at Disneyland in Anaheim. There are many rides in Florida that California has, but many more that are not in California. Cora said that Florida's Thunder Mountain was better than Anaheim's, but California's Space Mountain was way better than Orlando's.

See those clouds? They had a beautiful day on Sunday, perfect for the water park. Then the rains moved in, and it was showery the rest of their trip.

The Test Track attraction in Epcot was amazing, Cora said. You could make your own car and then put it through a series of tests, to see how well it would do in real-life conditions.

Cora thought Epcot was pretty cool, but would be better when she's an adult and can drink alcohol, because there were lots of interesting options for adults in the various country areas. Here, they were in the Italy section.

Here was an all-too-frequent view. A tropical storm was moving into town towards the end of their trip, and at points, it was coming down in sheets. Sadly, they never got to use the resort pool, because it was raining too often when they were at the hotel. And some attractions they might have done were closed, too.

A non-raining moment, with a beautiful view of Epcot. They visited five parks - Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Blizzard Beach.

Violet's favorite park was Animal Kingdom, no surprise. They got to take a "safari ride" in big jeeps, and see lots of animals, including these zebras.