Redmond, Part II

 On our first full day, Stace and Uncle Bill went to the Boeing Museum of Flight, something Stace has always wanted to do when we visit. He enjoyed it very much - lots of historic and modern planes.

Meanwhile, Aunt Patty, Violet and I went to a neighboring town to get Violet art supplies at Hobby Lobby. She's been creating print stamps out of linoleum.

We went to a cool coffee shop and did some shopping at a neat area with eclectic, independent shops.

On Saturday, we met up with Will, Anna and Miles at a natural area for a walk. We got there first, had a little walk around and got a photo.

Later, we went to Cottage Lake, where we went kayaking in 2020. Violet was hoping to fish, but signs reported that the lake was closed for fishing for the season.

Stace helped Uncle Bill sand part of his Pontiac.

Week in Review

Melanie and Ellie came up on Saturday and Sunday to work on her brakes. She brought dinner both days, so that was nice. My parents came over on Saturday evening as well, as they had taken Ellie to a pumpkin patch.

On Saturday afternoon, Vi and I went to a craft fair at our church parking lot, and on Sunday, we went to an art festival in Newhall. 

Violet took part in one of the booths, drawing from one of the item prompts in front.

The art fest featured some amazing chalk art, along with booths from vendor artists, including our friend Qiana.

Stace and Mel were able to wrap up early enough Sunday to leave some daylight for Vi ad Stace to shoot arrows.

In the week, Stace continued working on getting a broken bolt out of the caliper bracket, and eventually had success. Then, finishing the brake job was simple.

Cora had to have a TB test for her to get hired by the school district as a theatre technician. Stace went with her when she had her skin test examined, and he took this humorous photo. 

Also related to work, Cora went bowling with her Fright Fest coworkers after the close of Sunday's event. They were bowling at 2 a.m., with an arrangement with the bowling center. She had fun!

Labor and Art

 Over Labor Day weekend, Stace did a lot of laboring! He worked on my car (brake booster) and Mel and Nick's car (air conditioner), and also went into the factory on Saturday morning. 

He made the interesting decision to use his bed pillow, with its ivory organic cotton pillowcase, as a cushion while balancing on my car engine bay. It had oil spots all over, along with engine grime. I wasn't thrilled. Thankfully, OxyClean did the trick.

Violet and I also worked Saturday, helping Melanie with a big wedding at a beachside resort. My car was out of commission for long drives and Cora had the Vibe, since she was housesitting for my parents AND had an audition in L.A. to go to. So, we actually transported flowers in the TT. Pretty funny.

The Terranea resort is beautiful, and we enjoyed being there, and watching the sun dip into the ocean.

On Sunday, Nick and Ellie came over with their car; we had fun in the pool and got Vincenzo's pizza besides the car repair work. 

Cora came back from Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner with us, and then took Violet back with her for the night.

They returned Monday afternoon for lunch, since our HOA was hosting the annual barbecue. 

Later on Monday, Cora returned to Grandma and Grandpa's, and we went to Quigley for a sunset walk. We saw four deer!

Violet continues creating henna art - she's had a lovely nature scene with deer on her upper arm, as well.

She gave Cora some art...

...and drew this on herself. Check out her pretty (fake) nails, too!

Violet made this.

She bought this butterfly ring; looks nice with her nails.

Cora is 18!

 Cora decided to have a few friends join us for go-kart racing at MB2 Raceway, where she also had her 12th birthday gathering.

Joining us where her school theatre friends Mackenzie, Rowan and Lucas. Stacey is joining them in this photo, as they were the group that did two races.

In one of the races, Stace had the fastest single lap time among the nine racers (although is overall average time placed him fourth, just a hair behind Cora). In the other race, with 10 racing, Cora placed best of their group, though behind a few other racers we didn't know.

The kids also played laser tag, and unfortunately Lucas fought a wall, and the wall won. Hence the ice pack and bandage (not shown).

It was actually really affordable to rent the axe-throwing bay, so they had fun with this while they waited for their turn on the racetrack.

Cora does very well at this.

Violet and Stace had a turn on the air hockey table after Cora and her friends.

We then took the kids to In-n-Out for lunch.

In the evening, the family came over for dinner and gifts.

Lucas had given Cora this Disney doll, but Ellie was a more appreciative recipient.

Cora loved these beautiful Celtic-style earrings from Nan and Pop.

Catching Up

Exciting Saturday night around here: a trip to Walmart to replace all our cars' windshield wipers!

Stace, Violet and I went to Placerita for a nature walk Sunday, as we continue to try to catch her up on her PE hours. On Saturday, Stace and Vi went for a nice bike ride.
 

Cora helped Stace with some car tasks over the weekend, and washed a couple of cars, too.

Winston, why do you like putting soft toys in your water bowl???

It does make sense why Evie would like to lie on a heating pad.

And, in a cat way, it makes sense that she'd like to lie on the fabric Violet is cutting out.

Violet made this sleeveless mock turtleneck! She's recently turned her artistic interest to fashion.

She also made his hat, which she gave to her friend Sofia.

Violet and Stace fixed a bunch of her arrows, and I took her to the archery range for some more PE. 

And she and I went to Towsley Canyon for a walk.

Well, as long as Winston is comfortable...

Final Week of Summer

 I tried a new French bread recipe the other day that came out beautifully - using store-bought flour.

The girl are now registered for school. Here's Violet on Tuesday at Hart, where she'll take two classes. She also went to registration at LPA, where she'll take the rest of her classes, on the online/at-home platform. 

Cora got registered for her senior year Monday, but I forgot to take photos since I didn't go in with her. She'll have a weird schedule, taking a full three classes every other day, and only one class on the opposite day. Her school uses a block schedule, with three longer classes each day instead of 6 shorter ones. She'll also take an online class at the college.

Also on Tuesday, Nick came over to watch the latest Ghostbusters film with us during the day, continuing our tradition.

Stace and I went over to Central Park to watch the Creedence Clearwater Revival cover band entertain the Concerts in the Park crowd Saturday night.

After Cora's registration, we had dentist appointments, and then went to Liz's house for a summer's end pool party.

The seniors!! Cora and Chris, in the green, were kindergarten classmates and now are graduating! And all four were at the same elementary school from first grade on, when Cami came to the school.

And these were the little siblings, now high school freshmen.

It was a fun time reconnecting with everyone and eating well!

Violet went to her friend's house, and when I went to pick her up all the lights came on and the car wouldn't restart. Stace later determined it's the alternator. 

He bought a new one and sought to replace it, and in so doing, part of the brittle plastic radiator disintegrated. So I ended up getting a new radiator from Stacey's House of Mazdas. It was a frustrating job, because the radiator he initially bought leaked from a bad seam, and he had to do the whole job over again, in the heat. Eventually, he got it all done.

I took my parents to the airport, and Dad made it clear I could use his car, while mine was out of commission as Stace worked on it. So I drove Cora to Logan's house for D&D and got rear-ended as I exited the freeway. It wasn't bad, and the guy stopped and we exchanged information, so all will be fine in the end. But it did bring back a lot of emotion, being the first situation like this since my big accident. Cora was amazing in helping calm me down.

Also this week, JT and her kids came by, and finally met the kittens! And we had Colleen, Rigo, Lucas and Liana over for dinner and some pool time, on our final night of summer break.