Weekend Apart

For a while, we've had the idea kicking around the back of our heads to have Stace and Cora take a camping trip away together. We figured they'd have a ball, and it'd strengthen their relationship.

I looked up campsites a few days ago, and saw one lonely space open at Carpinteria State Beach, where we'd joined our friends for a night back in April. Bingo!

Stace and Cora took off around lunchtime Saturday for their adventure together.

After setting up camp and surfing a bit, they went out for Thai food for dinner.

Of course, they enjoyed s'mores!

In the morning, Cora handled the bacon...

...which they ate in bacon sandwiches.

Then, it was off to the waves. The surfing/camping duo had a great time together.  And I'm so very glad.

Meanwhile, Violet and I went to a Mom2Mom leadership meeting at Colleen's house, meaning Violet had a long evening of playing with Liana. She had a great time.

We went to church in the morning, spoke to our family in England, and then went to Placerita Canyon Nature Center for a talk about the wildlife in your own backyard.

The docents brought out some cool animals, including an opossum and a de-stinkified skunk. Either of these, or a raccoon, could have been the animal that took care of a mourning dove the cats killed and left on our lawn the other day. (The next morning, there was nothing but a mess of feathers to sweep up.)

Barn owls and great horned owls, shown here, also hunt in our area at night.

Back to School!

Sixth Grade.

SIXTH GRADE!

How on earth???

But it's true. Cora has started her final year of elementary school. We've had her last "first day" at the school she started at six years ago, as an eager 5-year-old kindergartner.

She has changed, slightly but noticeably, over the two months since fifth grade ended. She is more interested in clothes, and was happy to wear dangly earrings and a necklace on Day One.

She's growing into a beauty, and we know she'll conquer 6th grade, and beyond!

Meanwhile, Violet is now in third grade - final year in the lower grades, top of the playground when the first-, second- and third-graders are out. She's the age Cora was when Violet was in kindergarten - and of course, Cora, being older, seemed so big and old in third grade.

Ready for the year!

Here's Cora on Thursday with Sophia, Violet and Vivian - these girls were all in Mrs. Hawthorne's kindergarten class, and they're still friends.

And here's Violet with her friend Kat, who was in her class last year and will sit at her table this year.

And here are Miss Lotito's newest stars - Jake and Cora.

Best wishes, kiddos, for a fabulous 2018-2019 school year!

Summer Tidbits

Summer vacation is winding down; here's a peek at how we spent the last week or so of it.

Jake and Char came over for a playdate - they watched movies, created clay creations and generally had fun. Jake loves Spencer and is trying to encourage Spence to love him back.

Cora's swim team held its year-end party Saturday night. Her coaches this year were such great teachers! We really lucked out on the coaching front with Justin and Katie.

We then took the girls to Jake and Charlie's house, where Kelly and Yass kept them feed and entertained while Stace and I went out to watch the latest Mission Impossible film.

On Sunday after church, Cora volunteered for about an hour at Shelter Hope, a pet shelter in the mall. She went through a training last week, and loves playing with and caring for the kitties.

Cora also had a playdate with her buddy Violet, while I enjoyed some one-on-one time with Violet. We went out to lunch at Lazy Dog.

And on Wednesday, our final, final day of vacation, we spent a few hours at Universal Studios after I had my prosthesis polished a few miles further in Hollywood.

We hadn't been back to Universal with our season tickets since Cora's birthday trip. Violet is now tall enough for the big Harry Potter ride, so we waited in the long line so she could check it out for the first time. She loved it! It's gratifying to watch her grow taller and have those new experiences.

Gotta check out the wand store!

Much of our day was spent waiting to find out which teachers the girls were assigned to for 3rd and 6th grade.

Cora was happy to find out she has Miss Lotito, with her good friend Jake. They were really pleased to be in the same class.

And Violet will have Mrs. Breneman, and she was happy about that, too. Kat will be in her class, and Mrs. Breneman likes Pokemon, so Violet was very pleased with her assignment.

My mom had to take a minute on our way out of Universal to chat with her buddy. Cora was SO embarrassed that Grandma would want to do this! It was horrifying to her.

We got back home and got ready for Back To School Night, where we got to meet the teachers and see the girls' classrooms. It was a good evening.

What a great summer!

Friday Fun

 We had Violet's friend Caitlyn over to swim on Friday, and Caitlyn brought a super-fun mermaid tail to play with.

 Violet also had fun at Caitlyn's house earlier in the week.

I'm happy to have been able to finally get Violet together with her girlfriends; it's been easier to plan things with Cora's friends because they're older and I've known the families longer.

 Meanwhile, Cora went to the beach with Jake and Charlie. Thanks to Kelly for these photos of their fun day together.

Later on Friday, we went to Christina's for a party with dinner and a movie. We introduced all our kids to E.T., which we hadn't seen in decades.

It was a fabulous summer day!

Huntington in the Heat

It has been a year since my Pepperdine friend Melanie and I last met up. Such a shame! Living less than an hour away, but kids in school makes it hard.

We set this Monday on our calendar many weeks ago, as even summer can fill up quickly.

We had made plans to meet up at the Huntington Library, a beautiful collection of artwork and gardens. It was forecast to be 100, but we stuck to our plan and made it work (just barely!).

 My mom was able to come - Melanie is an honorary daughter to her, too. We all enjoyed seeing Andrew again - he's now 2 years old.

 One of the gardens had some great interactive displays that Cora really enjoyed. Here, she's getting a vey up-close look at the inside of a flower.

 We checked out the giant bud of the infamous corpse flower, which was about to burst into stinky bloom for the first time in several years.

One of the highlights of the library is a Gutenberg Bible, one of the first ever published.

The gift shop was lovely (and well air-conditioned!). The girls liked finding these two fancy jellies, with each of their names, next to each other.

We then went back to Melanie's house, to see their renovation and have a popsicle to cool off before heading back home. It was great catching up with my long-time friend!

Weekend Fun

We spent a lovely Sunday afternoon with Rob, Michelle and Brooke, in gorgeous, cool Camarillo.

The girls had fun making slime - no food coloring this time, no stains!

We also admired the new pond Rob built - great job!

We also had fun playing wiffleball out front. Thanks to Michelle for these photos!

We always have a great time with these friends!

On Saturday, we helped Melanie and Nick move a new-to-them refrigerator from SClarita to their Glendale apartment. The girls had fun watching television and playing on the Nintendo. See Gibby up high, overseeing all?

Fun Beach Day

Summer was made for this!

On Friday, we ventured to Rincon, a new-to-us beach, on the recommendation of Colleen and Rigo.

We met up with Kelly, Yass, Jake and Charlie. Cora was very glad to see her friends again - she missed them while they were gone on vacation throughout July.

Stace taught Yass and Kelly the differences between rugby and American football.

It was a great beach day - we were all in the water!

It's a dog-friendly beach, and several loose dogs came over to visit us. Jake was happy to see them.

Week in Review

On Sunday afternoon, we watched the musical Beauty and the Beast at COC's Performing Arts Center. Melanie's long-time friend Georgie was starring as the Beast, and he was amazing, as always. I should have gotten a photo with him, but it was another horribly hot day and we were tired after the show.

We did get a photo of Violet with her classmate Peyton from last year; Peyton was one of the children in the chorus, and Violet loved cheering her on.

My parents took the girls for the evening after the show, so we could have a date night. Stace and I got a nice dinner at a Greek place in town, and then caught a gorgeous sunset.

On Monday, I got the girls up and out before the heat struck. We walked/scootered down to Granary Square for breakfast.

Bagels at Dink's - always a good pick.

Later, we had a sad discovery - the deep purple slime Violet made with Kat was embedded and hardened into her carpet. Oh dear.

We worked hard, using many different carpet cleaning methods, but there remains a lavender circle on the carpet.

On Tuesday my mom and I took the girls and Cooper and Wylie to Hurricane Harbor for the afternoon. Later that evening, we went to Patrice and Geoff's for dinner. It was great to reconnect with them. We enjoyed food, their pool, and half of the movie Avatar before it was time to head home.

On Wednesday night, my parents and I went to a Dodger game - our first of the season! This was my Father's Day gift to Dad. It happened to be $1 Dodger Dog Night - hence the lapful o' dogs.

The Dodgers won in the bottom of the 10th inning - exciting finish!

And on Thursday, Cora went to her final swim practice of the season. She had great coaches this year and learned a lot!