Baptism Day

A few weeks ago, Violet began asking some good questions about Jesus and our Christian faith. As we talked, she decided she would like to be baptized.

She took a children's baptism class at church, and we found out that one of the next dates would be when Sue and Gord were with us. We were so pleased that they would be here for this momentous day!

Our church doesn't practice christening, or infant baptism. Rather, we encourage older children (and adults) to be baptized when they are old enough make the decision for themselves.

Stacey decided that he would be baptized, too, and then stay in the tub and help baptize Violet.

(Like Stace, I was christened as a baby but baptized as an adult. For babies, our church offers a dedication ceremony, which is similar to a christening.)

The baptism ceremony is a public symbol of a person's decision to believe in Jesus. We are all so pleased that Violet has made this choice, and pray that she continues to grow in her faith.

The pastor on the left, Kevin, helps with our homeless ministry, and we've worked with him before. He's a great, down-to-earth guy and we were happy he was the one doing the baptizing Sunday.

It was a cold, drizzly morning; thankfully, the water was heated!

JT, Jim, Callie and Jonah came out to watch, and to spend time with Sue and Gord. We had a lovely ham, potatoes and salad meal, and Cora organized a tea party for the children with home-grown mint tea.

After dinner, we walked over to the big park. Grandpa and Violet played catch, while the others played football.

It was a truly a special day, spent with many of our favorite people.

See the fireplace? After eight years, we finally had our chimney inspected and swept, and got the all-clear to have a fire.

If you look close, you might notice that we're missing a child in the photo. Cora had Spencer on her lap; Violet tried to pull him onto her own lap by yanking his tail. That resulted in scratching, a reprimand, and a tearful, unwilling photo subject.

More Vasquez Fun

While Cora flew sky high Friday afternoon (and Stace finished his workday), all of Violet's grandparents took her to the zoo. They had a nice afternoon together, though a lot of the animals they'd hoped to see were in hiding.

In the evening, we all met up together at my parents' house with our dear friends Linda and Steve. 

On Saturday, we introduced Nan and Pop to one of our all-time favorite spots, Vasquez Rocks.

It was a stunning afternoon - I've never seen it so green among the rocks! There was even running water: it was a trickle, mind you, but there it was, a stream in the desert.

If you blow this one up, you can see Stace taking a photo of the girls on the rock.

We had a nice hike, and rewarded ourselves with coffee and doughnuts at Dunkin Donuts on our way back home.

When we got back, I took Cora out for some mommy-daughter time at a neat cultural experience put on by Compassion International.

Compassion, a relief organization like World Vision, arranged an interactive learning event simulating life for children in Guatemala and Uganda. We walked through several rooms, listening to an iPod with the girl telling about her daily life.

Because we sponsor a girl Cora's age through Children of the Nations, a similar organization, I was eager to take Cora. She and I both learned a lot, and we're grateful we can help improve the life of one child so far from here.

Cora: Big Win, Big Flight

When we returned from the Central Coast, we found that the big rainstorm had felled one of the pine trees at Meadows Park, one of the ones the kids loved to climb. So long, shady friend! Sad to see you go.

On Wednesday was the Science Fair, and Cora spent part of her morning presenting her project to the judges, who were mainly Master's University science majors.

In the evening, we all went to the awards ceremony, where we got to check out all the projects.

None of us have ever seen Cora's face quite as joyous as it was when she was called out as the 2nd place winner for her grade.

So proud of this girl!

On Thursday morning, we took a before-school trip to Chick-Fil-A, where we all got a free breakfast sandwich.

On Friday afternoon, Cora and I took a birthday field trip to CityWalk with Sophia and Sue and friends. Thanks to Sue and Pauly, Cora and the other kids got to experience IFly, a skydiving simulator.

She went so high! It was so much fun to watch, and also to experience.

After the flying, we all went and had pizza. Cora and I shared one, and I thought it came out so pretty.

Central Coast, Part II

The Central Coast is well known for its wineries all over Paso Robles, and we could scarcely come up here and not hit at least one!

I asked around and got a couple of suggestions, and on Monday, our first stop after leaving San Simeon was at Tooth and Nail. This lovely place was the first I've been to where I actually loved the wine, and would have bought several bottles if they weren't at winery prices.

Instead, Sue and I contented ourselves with one bottle each.

 Meanwhile Stace, Gord and the girls entertained themselves by the fire.

Our next stop featured underground wine caves and a grassy area for the girls to run around.

Eberle Winery was a lot of fun, and we enjoyed the wines, too.

We took a couple of hours to see San Luis Obispo, where we had lunch and walked around the mission complex.

Like all California fourth-graders, Cora is learning about the state's missions this year. We also stopped by the Ventura and Santa Barbara missions on this little trip.

Both girls excitedly pointed out the bells whenever we saw them. As a sign of the missions, we saw them quite often on this trip.

It was a great time, despite the rain, with lots of good memories for us all.

Central Coast, Part I

With Nan and Pop here for the girls' four-day President's Day Weekend, we planned a Friday-through-Monday trip up the coast. But then, the forecast called for a huge rainstorm Friday. We canceled our hotel rooms and rebooked a shorter trip up the coast.

Good thing we did - the storm was real! We got four inches of rain and high winds that knocked down trees all over the place. Here's Stacey's photo of the Santa Clara River, in its most mighty of rages.

 Both the 5 and 101 were closed for periods Friday because of mudslides - any travel on Friday would have been tough.

But Saturday, the roads were reopened, and we got on the road on a cloudy, drizzly day. We made stops in Ventura and Santa Barbara, and made it to Pismo Beach in time for a gorgeous sunset.

I can understand why so many friends love Pismo. It was our first time stopping by, and what a cute town!

We then carried on to our home away from home, a motel in San Simeon. After checking in, we went a couple of miles down the road to Cambria, where we had a lovely meal at Linn's.

On Sunday, we started our day by checking a nearby stretch of beach that serves as the winter breeding ground for a huge colony of elephant seals. 

It was fascinating - they were huge, loud, smelly, and the males at least were pretty ugly! But wow, seeing that many wild animals in their natural environment was something we won't forget. There were lots of babies, and breeding pairs of adults - there's a lesson for the kids in our midst!

 We then moved down the coast to Moonstone Beach, where we didn't find any iridescent pebbles, but something even better, if you're Cora. The recent rains had washed tons of driftwood down the nearby river. The girls had a grand adventure constructing a teepee from the sticks.

 Nan and I went out for a look, but spent more time resting in the warm car. The weather was cold and drizzly.

 We went further south to Cayucos, another great beach town where Stace and I spent one night of our honeymoon. We had fish 'n chips and clam chowder at Duckies, and explored the coastline again.

 We had to make a stop at the Brown Butter Cookie Company, too. Yum!

 A few more miles south took us to Morro Bay, where we braved the drizzle to get a close look at a cuter ocean mammal. Sea otters abound in the protected bay, diving for shellfish and returning to surface to feast.

 This guy wasn't eager to share with his feathered friend.

We were just in time to see the art colony of Harmony, where we perused pottery and handblown glass in the former dairy village, before the galleries shut for the night.

After stopping back into Cambria to see the shops, we went back to our motel for bed.

Tidbits

  After the ear-piercing extravaganza, I took Violet to the school's family dance. Cora had no interest in going, but Violet had a ball. She is a dancing princess! And she loved showing off her new earrings.

Saturday night was a Mom2Mom couples bowling night - since we had a "couple" of parents staying with  us, we took them along. All of our friends had a great time with Sue and Gord.

On Sunday, after visiting the trains, Nan and Pop hopped on a plane for a short trip to Las Vegas. They loved using small Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, and had a great trip. Besides the thrills of Vegas, they took a day trip to the Grand Canyon.

Cora used some of her birthday money on a school for her Calico Critters. She found a great deal at Toys R Us and had a coupon, too.

I'm thrilled that at 10, she still loves these adorable, high-quality playthings.

Tuesday was Valentine's Day, and I got to help with both girls' parties.

For Cora, I went in early to help with the food, but I wasn't there for the actual party. Mrs. Shafarman doesn't often require parent help.

Instead, at the same time as Cora's party, I went into Violet's class. I led the first-graders in making Valentine's cards for their families.

The firsties then played tic-tac-toe with conversation hearts on graham crackers.

Earlier in the day, when their kinder classmates were still in school (they get out an hour earlier than the rest of the school), they exchanged valentines.

On Wednesday, Cora had her 10-year well check. She's doing well! Her weight and height (52 1/2 inches) put her in the 25th percentile of both categories.