Active Fun

We went to visit Rob, Michelle and Brooke over the weekend, and Rob has a toy that Cora was super excited to play with.

She'd never ridden a 50 cc motorbike before, but she took to it as you'd expect Cora to. Cora had been disappointed that Rob got rid of his go-kart, but she had a ton of fun with this.

Even Violet had a go! She wasn't sure at the start, but gained confidence as she went.

Motorbikes, AND a tree to climb? Heaven for Cora.

 After dinner, the girls went to a nearby open area with a big-kid swing. Kids with phones - we don't need to be there to document the fun.

 More fun with Leo the bunny.

 Wiffle ball with a tiny ball the size of a golf ball - hard to do but fun trying!

 Good core workout.

Giant skateboard, big enough for two.

We always have a great time with this family! Thanks for another delicious meal, cold brew coffee, sourdough bread! Michelle has become an expert, and helped set Stace up for his own sourdough baking enterprise.

Fun with Friends

Charlie came over Sunday afternoon, and the kids rode bikes to Granary Square for a snack. It's so different having older kids, who can have this kind of fun - and take pics on their own phones to share with Mom later.

We had a few hot days midweek, so Char came back and we had a pool day on Wednesday.

Melanie was in SClarita for an appointment, and brought over pizzas for an easy poolside dinner.

Now it feels like summer!

On Friday, we got together at a friend's house for pool playtime. I was so, so happy to have my girls playing with friends again, and they were happy too. Here are the girls...

And a few of the boys. After swimming, they played a live-action game of murder mystery, before moving to video games. They (and the parents) had so much fun!

Fizzling End to Fourth Grade

Oh, how I wish Violet had enjoyed a normal school year with this fabulous teacher!

The last official day of school was to be Friday, but the last day of work and final all-class online meeting was the prior Friday.

On Tuesday, we drove through the school to retrieve Violet's things, which had been collected and bagged up. We also dropped off the class gift for Mrs. Zamperin, which included gift cards and the t-shirt she's wearing here.

On Wednesday morning, Vi and I went back to the school to say good bye, and it was nice to see that the shirt fit!

Written in the style of the TV show Friends, it says "Teacher 2020 The One where we QUARANTEACH."

Also in the gift were gift cards and this awesome card, that Christina designed and printed.

It was great being a room mom this year, sharing the duties again with Sandy.

Here's Violet saying goodbye to her class during the final online meeting.
Ugh! No Gold Rush Day, no miner project, no GATE Musical, no year-end party in the park with water play. So many missed moments!

But, at least Seb was happy to be along for the final meeting.

Cherry Picking

It's cherry season! And it's been a few years since we last visited Leona Valley to pick our own, and I had to get these couch potatoes out of the house!

So off we went Monday, our first official full day of summer vacation (though it's felt like summer break since mid-March).

The trees were full of bright red cherries!

Should she share her tree? Hmmmmm...

It was a fun midday thing to do, and the girls enjoyed it.

Weekend Fun

 After three months of not touching this adorable baby, we've made a conscious decision to no longer follow the government's idea of only associating with people who live in our household.

All the research we've seen reiterates that the coronavirus is dangerous for the elderly with preexisting conditions, and is most often very mild in the young and healthy. I'm not going to let my niece grow up right in front of me without holding her. So, when Melanie and Nick stopped by Friday, we washed our hands, and cuddled this 5-month-old!

Stace had driven his MG to work, so he put Ellie in the passenger seat - but he did NOT take her for a spin! I think she looks a little suspicious.

 And, in our continued progress toward getting back to normal, we had Kelly, Yass and Char over on Saturday night. Char brought his projector, and the kids watched Jumanji on the garage door.

It was so good to hang out, after so many months! And it was nice having our new furniture to enjoy

Kelly really enjoyed seeing Cora's art board and her story-boarding area for the novel she's writing.

On Sunday, Stace and Violet had a daddy-daughter lunch date at Vasquez Rocks.

Week in Review

 Our new patio furniture arrived!

We took a while deciding what to order, and in the end, went with a Plow and Hearth eucalyptus set, because we have had a great experience with our other Plow and Hearth purchases. Cora and I treated it with protecting oil, and hopefully we'll have this for years to come.

 Our new, grown-up back patio!

We ordered red cushions, but received navy blue by mistake. After talking with an employee, they told us to keep the blue cushions until the red are back in stock. I actually really like the navy, but I do want the whole yard to go together, so I'd rather have red.

Cora is done with seventh grade. Her final few months were stress-free and easy - she sat on the couch each morning and did schoolwork for less than an hour, and managed to earn five A+'s and another high A. Three of her grades were over 100% because of extra credit. She's a smart girl, but her distance learning work was definitely too easy.

She earned a spot in her school's chapter of the National Junior Honor Society, and on Friday night, the school released a link to a YouTube video induction ceremony. 

With school over, Cora is spending lots of time on screens. It's hard to know what else to have her do - at 13, she's not really playing much anymore. She's been playing Fortnite with her cousin Euan in the UK. One day last week, while playing, Spencer ran in and dropped a mockingbird at her feet. 

Cora wasn't super impressed with her gift.

We had a few hot days midweek, so I took the girls to Ventura. While they boogie-boarded, I entertained myself watching this brazen ground squirrel, who nearly jumped into my beach bag in search of snacks.

 Sisters, friends.

Weekend Water Fun

 I've said it a few times - one of the few good parts of quarantine is the growth in this sisterly relationship. Since they're not seeing their normal friends every day, they're happier to hang together.  On Sunday, along with obvious screen time, they rode their scooters around, and decided to have a water fight.

Cora filled the water balloons... Violet accidentally dumped the first batch on the grass, breaking most of them.

Besides balloons, they had some sprinkler fun. Good, old-fashioned fun.

Then, on to the pool.

Meanwhile, Stace got creative in the garage, and created surfboard storage in the rafters.

Super Saturday

It was so nice to eat inside a restaurant for the first time in months! Restaurants have reopened for dine-in, with much fewer tables and masks when you're not at your table.

Yum!

Stace and Vi stopped in a bike shop, and Cora got bored in the car. Thankfully, there was a tree nearby to climb.

It was a gorgeous evening for a bike ride...

...especially one that ends at a favorite boba shop.

Our pool reopened! Stace was so excited, he jumped in with his shorts on.

Violet and I went out to see our neighborhood baby skunks, as they came down the hill for their evening foraging. We've had so much fun watching them the last few weeks.

Back at home, a grownup skunk in our yard! So much excitement for one day!