In Montana!

Monday was an exciting day for the girls and me - we packed up and flew off to visit the Roberts in Montana. Stace took us to the Van Nuys Flyaway shuttle bus to LAX, which was a real treat for the girls. Violet was so excited to sit in a big seat without a booster.

A few hours later, we were airborne, and the girls immediately fell asleep. (!?!) Yep, what takes them five hours to do on our flights to England, took less than five minutes.

We got in at dinner time, and went out to a great local pizza/salad place.

On Tuesday, the children played for hours around the house. In the afternoon, we headed over to a summer family festival at the university where John teaches.

The children enjoyed free games, cotton candy, face-painting and bounce houses and inflatable slides.

It's been a year since the Roberts moved off our street, but thankfully they've remained part of our lives. We've seen John and Genia in SoCal since our visit in November, but not their children. It was great to have the five friends together again.

Here, the girls show off their painted faces - Ave chose a blue star, Cora a butterfly and Violet is a kitty.

We'd had a late night Monday, and after the festival Tuesday evening, Violet crashed hard on our way to an outdoor concert. She slept in the stroller for an hour while we listened to the music and played in the playground.

It was a gorgeous evening, with a lovely sunset. After the concert, we went to the home of some friends of Genia and John, and all the children played for another hour, well past dark.

Our Week

After being away from home and our friends here for a couple of weeks, we made up for it by having some play dates.

On Monday, we went out to Camarillo to visit with Michelle and Brooke. Cora brought her Furby, since it was playing with Brooke's Furby in January that initiated her desire for her own. The Furbies talked to each other, and fun was had by all.

On Tuesday evening, we got back to ice cream night. To our happy surprise, who should turn up but Rigo, Liana and Lucas?

Violet and Liana were very happy to see each other, as you can tell by their smiles. VERY happy.

On Wednesday, we had our Mom2Mom friends over for a pool play date. We had a really nice turnout, and it was fun to catch up with everyone.

Violet had had her first swimming lesson the night before, and her confidence in the water swelled. For the first time in as long as I can remember, she wanted to wear her swimming vest, and go out into the water on her own.

Yes, that's right, folks, Violet is OFF THE STEP! She was so excited about her vest, telling all the mommy friends about it (over, and over, and over...).

We then had Morgan and Colleen over for a couple of hours, with their children. Cora, Lucas and Sophie played with the Furby with the Furby app on Stacey's tablet, while the little girls played in the play room.

Amazing how time goes by - now, the little siblings are as big, or bigger, than the "big kids" were when we had the littles. They're all so grown up.

On Friday night, we went to a free Movie in the Park at Hart Park. We saw the Lego Movie, and everything was awesome, as the theme song goes.

Natural History Museum - Butterflies and Dinosaurs!

On Thursday, my parents and I took the girls to the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles. My parents hadn't been there in years, and the girls and I hadn't been since we went with Nan and Pop in 2011.

Soon after our arrival, we sat in an exhibit hall for some sort of dinosaur show. We weren't sure what it was going to be. Then, a woman in period garb and an English accent began speaking about her life, and we realized she was presenting the story of Mary Anning. Anning was the English paleontologist and fossil collector who worked along the Dorset coast in the early 19th Century.

Cora and I couldn't believe it - we had just been fossil-hunting ourselves less than two weeks earlier, in the same area. The museum we'd been in featured Mary Anning's work and life, and here "she" was. We spoke to the actress afterwards, and she was excited to hear of our little adventure.

We enjoyed exploring the North American mammal exhibits, and then moved on to the bird "wing" of the museum.

Violet and Cora like owls, so I thought a photo of them in front of the owls was appropriate. Cora wanted to put her arm around her sister, but Violet disagreed. Just keeping it real, people!

A special treat in the summer is the butterfly exhibit, with loads of winged beauties from many regions all together in one screened enclosure.

The Mexican Bluewings were especially friendly to us visitors, alighting on the girls and staying put, to their delight.

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa, for getting our tickets into this special exhibit!

After the butterflies, we had a quick look through the dinosaur hall, before jumping on the freeway to head home for Violet's swim lesson. More on that in the coming weeks!

Happy 4th, back home

Our flight home Thursday went super smoothly - actually, it was easy. The girls were amazing on the airplane, and even went to sleep for four hours with hardly any encouragement.

We got home very late Thursday night, just in time for the Fourth of July festivities on Friday. After a typical jet-lagged early morning for the girls, we made our way to the parade.

We then rested and unpacked in the afternoon, went to the pool, and later checked out the fireworks.

On Saturday, to escape the July SClarita oven, we went to visit Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty. They've made beautiful progress on their yard renovation.

We then headed down to the beach, which we all enjoyed so much. The girls and I all had fun playing in the waves, which actually felt warmish. It was magical, watching them laugh and frolic with such joy. Wish I had some photos, but I was in the water with them!

Then, as per our Ventura tradition, we had homemade pizza for dinner. This time the girls got to help make their own. Yum!

England fun

Aside from gorgeous days at the beach and seaside holidays, we spent time with the family and friends we love to see when we're in England.

We spent one drizzly afternoon at Karen and Martin's home, and the cousins all had a great time playing pirates and football.

We also spent a lovely evening with Andy and Jenny, though poor Cora was fighting a virus and fever.

We went out for a lovely lunch at Perry's Cider Farm in Dowlish Wake on our our last full day together. Great food, cider and company - what a lovely afternoon!










On our last evening, we went up to Ham Hill for some fun with Euan and Olivia. Cora was asking about Ham Hill the whole trip, much to Stacey's joy. It's one of his favorite places, and he loves that his girls love it, too.

 We had dinner in the field, rode bikes and scooters, and played hide-and-seek around the stones.

And we blew raspberries at each other. At least, two of us did.

Here is the one photo we managed to get of the four cousins together! We'll have to try harder the next time we're all together.











A beautiful Somerset sunset, from Ham Hill.

Until next time!

A Dartmoor Day Out

After our weekend in Brixham, we decided to drive through Dartmoor on our way back to Somerset. It's a gorgeous national park, with lovely views and cows, sheep and ponies wandering freely.

On our way, we needed a bathroom break, and stopped at Buckfast Abbey. What a fantastic place to stop - gorgeous grounds, a quiet reflective abbey, and a garden showcasing edible and medicinal plants used by the monks in the Middle Ages.











We then drove onto Dartmoor, down tiny lanes, avoiding the sheep in the road.












At a few spots, we came across ancient stone bridges, and at others, beautiful bridges from more recent centuries.

Toward the end of our excursion, we saw ponies in the road, getting up close and personal with other drivers.

When safe, we drove up to them, and one was close enough for Stacey to pet. Then, the pony's friend walked over to my open window, stuck his head in, and started nosing around for something to eat!

His head was completely in the car, and he was nuzzling my knees. And in the back seat, the first pony had walked around to Violet's open window behind me, and was interested in the apple she was eating.

Meanwhile, I wasn't sure how to get my new friend out of the car. So, I reached back to grab Violet's apple, and threw it out onto the grass.

As we drove away, Violet was sobbing - not out of fear, but sorrow over her apple.

That minor trauma aside, we thoroughly enjoyed our day out, and made some great memories. England is one amazingly beautiful country!

Dartmouth

On Sunday, the weather seemed alright, so we took a ferry to Dartmouth, a beautiful town with a harbor where the River Dart hits the sea.

So pretty!
Unfortunately, the rain was coming down when we got off the ferry, so we spent most of our time in the town under a tent in the market, having a cup of coffee and a piece of cake.

The weather eased up and, while Sue and Gord stayed behind with Olivia, the rest of us took a little motorboat ferry to Dartmouth Castle.

We had a good time showing the girls their first genuine English castle, parts of which were built in the 1400s. Another large section was in use during the Napoleonic era, and into the two World Wars.

After touring the castle, Dean and Stacey took the children down closer to the water.

To catch a return ferry, one only needed to turn a colored sign over, down at the tiny dock.

It is so much fun to take the girls to places like this, and begin teaching them more of their English heritage.