Tidbits

Cora normally rides her bike to and from school, but on this day she walked, because we were going to Disneyland from school.
Just look at that sisterly love! Or is it a headlock? You decide.

Cora and Jake worked together on this clay shark sculpture, and Cora painted it the other night and gave it to him to keep. Their friendship is so sweet; it's been a while since Cora had a best friend.

Violet is still enjoying her tumbling class. She's making progress on front and back handsprings, and the other day she climbed all the way to the top of the rope, to the cheers of all the parents.

Watch her go!

We celebrated our friend Jen's birthday the other day at Brewery Draconum. It was a warm afternoon with lovely friends.

Fun at the Fair

If Disneyland wasn't enough amusement on Friday, we met up with Kelly, Yass and the boys at their church carnival on Saturday afternoon. The kids had fun on all the rides, and ate enough sugar and junk to last all week.

Kelly's dad runs the carnival at the Catholic church near our old condo, and Yass and Kelly handle emcee duties for the entertainment stage near the food area.

We cheered them on while we had our dinner, which I promise consisted of more than blue slushy snow cones.

Violet and I tackled the giant Ferris Wheel after dinner - last time I was on a Ferris Wheel must be the London Eye in 2001! And this was Violet's first time.

It was great! This girl is so loving and sweet. She has no problem sharing her affection and warm feelings.

The views were awesome from the top.

After another set of rides, the kiddos were starving... for spun sugar. And then popcorn. And for Char, fried butter. Because it wouldn't be a carnival without deep-fried things you've never imagined could be deep-fried.

It was a ton of fun!

Another Disneyriffic Day!

We took off Friday afternoon for Anaheim, to one of our happy places.

This trip, the girls were most excited about riding the Guardians of the Galaxy ride, since they now have seen both Guardians movies several times. It all makes so much more sense now!

Instead of getting them one charm each as a souvenir, they each picked out something from the Guardians shop. Violet chose a baby Groot, while Cora got a cool new Iron Man pin. She loves Iron Man the best.

A Bug's Land is being transformed into a Marvel area, which Cora is of course super excited about. She has really embraced the Marvel Universe, since watching the films this summer. This partition wall blocked off the construction site, and Cora loved the Stark Industries logo - that's Iron Man's company.

A Bug's Land is being transformed into a Marvel area, which Cora is of course super excited about. She has really embraced the Marvel Universe, since watching the films this summer. This partition wall blocked off the construction site, and Cora loved the Stark Industries logo - that's Iron Man's company.

We then met up with Sue, Sophia, Jen and Trent in California Adventure.

I love Disney days with these ladies!  It was a hot afternoon, so we relaxed with a cold one in the Redwood Creek area.

It was a hot afternoon, so we relaxed with a cold one in the Redwood Creek area.

We next went into Disneyland, where we rode Indiana Jones - Violet's first time! Yay! And we also got onto Pirates of the Caribbean. After dinner, we rode Space Mountain, which has been rebranded as Ghost Galaxy for Halloween, with spooky ghostly images flashed around throughout the darkness.

We hit California Adventure once more before we left, so that the girls could do the Animation Academy. This is a favorite activity, too. 

Then, we chose the single-rider line for the Cars ride, which we hardly ever do because of the lines. 

It was a fabulous day, as usual! 

Tidbits

I am helping in Mrs. Breneman's class on Thursday afternoons, and this week I was lucky enough to be in class when Violet gave a PowerPoint presentation on herself. (All the kids created one about themselves - Violet isn't that egotistical!)

She said her favorite foods were pasta, ice cream and bacon; her hobbies are Legos, Roblox and reading; and her favorite vacations are to Hawaii and England. Good girl!

Cora's class led the school's Morning Ceremony this week. When she told me it was her day to help lead the flag salute, I texted her 5th grade teacher to ask for a photo, since I wasn't going to be on campus. Thanks to Ms. Packer!

Cora said that very few of her classmates were interested in leading the ceremony, and she was one of a small handful to volunteer. Big kids! Too cool for school?

On Friday afternoon, the girls went with my parents and Nick and Melly to the L.A. County Fair. The girls had fun, and here are checking out an exhibit on Route 66, which goes right through Pomona, home of the fair.

The girls spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's, which was nice because Friday happened to be our 15th wedding anniversary. Yep! 15 years! Pretty cool. We had dinner at Piccola Trattoria, a nice Italian place tucked away in Canyon Country.

The food was delicious, and since it was a special occasion, we splurged  with dessert (even though we already had half our dinners in boxes to take home since we were full!).

On Saturday, Cora had her first flag football game with her new team, the Panthers. They battled to a scoreless draw, and Cora had several key flag-pulls.

Later, Jake and Charlie came over to watch Infinity Wars, the newest Marvel movie. Thanks to Auntie Mel and Uncle Nick for adding their latest addition to our collection of their Marvel DVDs!

Meanwhile, Violet spent Saturday evening with Caitlyn, for her 9th birthday party. Here are the handful of kids left at the end, when Cait opened her gifts and the girls went wild with the tissue paper.

Labor Day Weekend Fun

We had a great three days together for Labor Day weekend - it's always nice having Stace home for three days!

We spent Saturday evening at Kelly and Yass's house, but forgot to take photos. It was great though; we enjoyed dinner and watched movies.

On Sunday, we met up with JT, Jim, Callie and Jonah at the Halfway House Cafe on the edge of Canyon Country. We celebrated Jim's 40th birthday, albeit a month late. This cute cafe has been featured in countless commercials, TV shows and films.

We then went up the road a bit further to Vasquez Rocks, to introduce Callie and Jonah to my girls' all-time favorite place.

The interpretive center gives a great overview, and provides air conditioning on warm summer afternoons!

JT and Jim later took part in a favorite post-Vasquez treat, Dunkin Donuts and iced coffee. They then came over for the evening. We so love our time with these looooong-time friends!

And on Monday, Sue and Pauly had us over for a barbecue. Yes, it was a full weekend of fun and friends!

After dinner, we walked down to the park and Sue and I checked out the new swing set with our 6th graders. You're never too old for the swings!

Sue brought chalk and a ball, so we created a foursquare court and also had fun with the chalk.

Week in Review

We had a power outage Monday afternoon, for several hours. While the power was out but it was still light, Cora worked hard on tidying up the playroom and rearranging it, so she could build a mega hideout. 

This lovely encampment became her home for the next week, and she was quite cozy inside.

She even made Sebastian his own section, and he loved it. He'd sleep in his nook often, if he wasn't right next to Cora.

While the power was out, we obviously had to eat out! Darn! Thankfully we had free kids' meal certificates for Chili's, so we took advantage of the opportunity.

This is how I found Violet and her sleeping partner one morning this week. My girls are so incredibly fortunate with these kitties!

The sixth-graders at Cora's school created footprints to represent their next steps. The school's theme this year "Step by Step, We Can Achieve Anything."




Here's Cora's entry - she's a cat lover, who is thinking of being an explorer, architect and chef, after going into the Air Force.

And here's our resident dog lover - we checked in on Benny and Jake the other evening, and Violet had fun playing with the boys. Jake is now 13, and slowing a bit, but he's still in good health overall.

Week in Review

Violet had her latest appointment with Dr. Lavin, her endocrinologist, and she's still growing very well. It's really fabulous!

She's now over 47 inches tall, and up to the 5th percentile. When she started the treatment in November, violet was just 43.5 inches tall, and off the charts on the smaller end.

We met up with friends for Taco Tuesday specials at a restaurant at the mall - you can get a giant margarita for $2 if you wear Hawaiian. Stace came by after work, and the girls hung out with the other children.

Violet also started a GymFit Tumbling class at Hugo's. She and Cora took this class together a year and a half ago, and she was interested in doing it again. She's having a lot of fun, and she's definitely showing some aptitude.

On Friday, our friend Liz had us over to her home for a pool party, as they celebrate their brand-new pool. It's beautiful, and the kids all had a great time.

We had more pool fun Saturday night, with Geoff and Patrice and their kiddos.

Lucky Violet - it was feeding day for Charlie's snake, so we got to watch him eat a (thawed) frozen mouse by swallowing it whole. It was fascinating! Then we watched the second half of the movie Avatar, which we'd started watching with them a few weeks prior.

On Sunday, we went back to Rincon Beach to soak in the waves and sun.

Stace bought a new board in the week, and he was eager to take it out. Everyone had a great day!