Ventura Boat Parade

Stace, Violet and I went with Colleen, Rigo and Liana to Ventura Harbor on Saturday evening for the Christmas Light Boat Parade. It was our first time going, and it was a nice evening out. We waited in a long line to get dinner, but it worked perfectly as a window table opened up as the boat parade started.

O Christmas Tree, Our Christmas Tree

We didn't just bring kittens home this week - we also picked out a Christmas tree.

It had been a few years since we bought a real tree, so it's a bit of a treat for our family.

Discussing the pros and cons of various tree options - serious business!

Our winner winner. Not too tall, not $499 either.

Stace had the urge to recreate a family Christmas photo from 2015, so he insisted we bring the Vibe for tree transport.

Awww!
 

Evie and Winston Move In

Saturday was a big, happy day for us, as we brought home two new family members. Cora is holding Evie, and Violet is holding Winston, as we picked them up from the home of their foster, who bottle-fed them as tinier babies. 

The foster, Cheri, was fantastic, so helpful and knowledgeable. And she sent us home with food for several days and lots of their favorite toys!

We had a bit of a drive home and the little guys were silent in their carrier.

We had them spend their first couple of nights in the bathroom, as they adjusted to the big move. They were very good about everything - used the litter box (placed in the bathtub) perfectly, didn't start meowing early in the morning, etc.

They are so tiny! None of us have ever had kittens this small. I always had adult cats move in with us before Spencer and Seb, and they were 4 months when we got them. These two are a month younger and a good deal smaller. 

By midday Monday, we moved them into Violet's room. They had fun exploring, racing around like crazy. They both purr easily and like cuddles, with Winston being a bit more of a lap cat than Evie.

He also is a maniac at wet-food feeding time, eating super loudly and growling if you get near him. He also insists on eating out of Evie's bowl, so they switch bowls throughout feeding times. It's pretty funny.

They are so cute together. Evie was born Sept. 14, and Winston was born around Sept. 25. I love getting a pair of kittens, so they have each other to roughhouse and be crazy with. We could just sit and watch them all day!

So far, we've spent the first week with the kittens locked in a room, so that Seb can slowly get used to their presence. They make noise, so he's aware, and we've exchanged scented items like blankets so they can get used to each other's scent. Thankfully, he seems chill so far - no hissing at the door! 

And this perhaps is the one time where Violet's odd window situation is a positive - the cats have all now seen each other through the window. Seb was staring, wide-eyed, the first day, but got used to seeing them.

Relaxing with a kitty is pretty awesome. And a pair of kittens? Perfection.
 

Week in Review

Stace, Vi and I went to our church "Christmas Kickoff" fun event Friday evening, while Cora played D&D. 

I love that Violet is more willing to go places and do things the past month or so. I'm attributing it partially to her schooling change, and and an overall happier attitude.

Also this week, I had a theatre boosters meeting for Cora's old school, since I'm still the treasurer. Very happy to report that my dear friend Christina has agreed to fill my shoes!
 

Stace's coworker brought in a big bag of guava from his tree - what to do with these unusual tropical fruit?

They taste good, but have lots of tiny hard seeds inside. I looked up recipes and decided to turn them into nectar.

I cut off the ends, pureed them in the blender, and strained out the seeds/pulp. It was quite thick, and the recipe called for adding another cup or two of water and cup or two of sugar. 

I didn't want that much extra sugar, so we left the juice thick, and mixed it with orange/pineapple juice to make our own version of POG we'd get in Hawaii. 

That Hawaiian POG is passionfruit/orange/guava juice, but pineapple/orange was easier to get at Ralphs. It was yummy!

Stace and Violet got the house decorated outside...

...and December is officially here, with the girls' sweet Advent Calendars up on the mantel.

Desert Camping - by Stace

 Rigo had wanted to get a group of chaps together to go camping for some time, so on Friday, I finished work early, met up with Luis, and we set off into the Mojave Desert in search of our weekend camping spot.

After we left the main road, we headed into the desert, where we camped in the middle of nowhere.

The nights were very cold, after the fires had gone out, and the winds picked up as the sun went down and hammered the tents. 

The sunrises in the desert were stunning, as we woke on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

During the day, we went on some short hikes, did archery, pistol target shooting, and ate and drank.  

I also saw my first tarantula in the wild. And no, this is not my hand shown here, giving the size reference. 

Rigo's Bronco was made for this kind of adventure. Late Sunday morning, we headed back across the desert to the main road and made the 90-minute journey back to Santa Clarita. A good time was had by all. 

Seasonal Fun

Other than cat news, two Christmas things happened this weekend. My dad and I went to Magic Mountain's employee  Family Night, though the girls were party poopers and didn't want to go.

Mom was working as Mrs. Claus, so Dad and I waited in a short line to get a photo with her and Santa.

We enjoyed our free tamales, chips, cookies and s'mores. Seeing all the little kids enjoying the activities made me reminisce about the girls being younger and coming to this event over the years, playing the man-made snow.

It was cold enough that I didn't feel like riding the rides. Maybe next year!

On Saturday, Violet and I went to Placerita Nature Center for the annual Christmas Craft Fair. I was so pleased when she had asked me a week ago if we could go again, after creating yule logs last year.

Colleen and Liana were free and interested in joining us, which was fun.

Nice!

Kittens

It's been a rough week, especially for Violet, and me as well. 

We've been giving Sebastian so much extra love this week, and at one point we found him inside the tunnel, where Spence was hanging out a few days ago. But truly, Seb has been acting fairly normally, for which we're grateful.

Along with our sadness, we're thinking ahead to getting new kittens. Violent went through a phase a couple of years ago of desperately desiring kittens, as she's never really had the experience. She was only 1 when Spencer and Sebastian were babies.

It's helped her to feel a bit better to look at Petfinder and find kitten pairs we might take a look at. Plus, we don't want Seb to get used to being an only cat.

One afternoon this week, we went to play with the adoptable cats at our Petsmart.

I contacted a rescue with a lot of kittens, and on Saturday, the girls and I went kitten-looking. 

We went to two different Petcos and to the home of a woman who fosters cats, and saw three different pairs of bonded babies. Playing with them all was good for our hearts!

Here's Lucy, who had the most beautiful eyes.

Violet is holding Flower, Lucy's littermate. Flower liked to nuzzle right up in our neck area.

And here, Cora is holding Winston and Vi has Evie, a sister of the two above. Winston isn't related, but was raised with Evie and they're very attached. He was found all alone at a few days old, and Evie and her litter were also found without their mother, so all these were bottle-fed from a few days old.

We also visited with these brothers, named Ben and Jerry (photo taken from the web site). I would have taken them home, but to Cora, they were too much like Seb and Spencer when we got them (and she DOES remember their early days with us). 

We've decided to adopt Winston and Evie, and we're excited for them to move in.

Spencer: 2011-2023

Monday marked a day our family will always remember but would like so badly to forget.

We had a knock at the door from a man who lives on the next street over, gently reporting that he had found our dear Spencer in the corner of his yard, with a bobcat standing over him. 

Spencer's days of longing to be outside had caught up to him, though I'll never forgive myself for being the one to have let him out the final time.

Stace and John, our neighbor who loved Spence as well, went back and brought him home in a box so we could give him a proper burial.

He was the best friend a little girl could ask for, and Violet loved him so. She slept with him every night for so many years, and we'd all dreaded the day that would come to an end. But we thought it would be several years away still.

Spence and Seb were 12, going on 13. Spencer still seemed young enough, jogging everywhere he went.

We made sure Seb was able to see and smell Spencer in the box, so he would know, and not wonder where his brother went. He seemed scared, and his tail puffed up. We think he could smell the bobcat.

So many good memories - we all loved Spencer. He knew what he wanted, meowed to get it. He liked being in and out of the house all day long, and in and out of the garage to eat his "garage food," as we've had Seb on weight-control food inside.

He was quite a puzzle helper.

Violet took this in the spring.

The girls took some time off school as we all mourned together, and we gave Seb lots of extra attention.

We will always love and miss you, dear Spencer.

Telestrations Fun

Over the weekend, Grandma and Grandpa came over for dinner since Grandma had missed out on Thanksgiving. We ate turkey soup she made, and played Telestrations. 

Then, on Sunday, Stace and I went to a play together with Colleen and Rigo and had dinner, and then returned home to play more Telestrations. Lots of laughter!

Check out that smile! Love seeing her laugh.

Here are a couple of examples of some funny Telestrations rounds: First, a person was given the word "football player," and drew this. (American football, not English.)

The next player guessed it was "foosball, so the the following player drew this:

The following player (Violet) guessed "smoked herring," because she thought the above drawing looked like the old process of preserving herring she saw on a TV show with Stace.

So, the next person had the word "smoked herring," drew this, and the final player wrote the word "shark."

We went from "football player" to "shark." 

And with this one, the initial word was "Double decker bus," so the first player drew this:

The next player saw the drawing and wrote down their guess "yearbook," so the following player drew this:

The following player saw this drawing and guessed "WWII Morse Code," which wound up leading the next player to draw this:

And the final player guessed, "morse code." So, we started with double-decker bus and ended with morse code. As I said, lots of laughs.