Once Upon a Mattress

Cora played Lady Merrill in her college production of Once Upon a Mattress, a musical take on the Princess and the Pea fairy tale.

She's front right in this photo. 

And she's in the center front, here. 

It was entertaining, with great singing. We could hear Cora in many places! A family-friendly musical, Ellie especially enjoyed watching it.

 

For the Friday night show, Violet's friend Sofia came with us, and Lucas and Mackenzie came as well.

These forever fans also came - Mrs. Hawthorne, Jen and Sue! Auntie Mel, Ellie and Grandma also were there. And on Saturday, Christina and her girls attended.

And this was from Opening Night.

Cora's (Belated) Birthday!

 We aimed to celebrate Cora's 19th at MB2, with the go-karts and laser tag, but when we arrived, it seemed most of SClarita was already there. So, we ended up at the bowling alley, and fun was had by all. 

Lucas and Mackenzie, and their moms, joined us, along with Grandma and Grandpa.

Behind Mackenzie, you can see Stace putting his spin on the ball.

Cora bowled pretty well.

After we finished bowling, we went across the street to the big park, which has been redone recently. I had a feeling this group of teens would actually enjoy playing at the park...and I was right. 

And, we mamas here got one more (last?) time as being mamas at a park with the kids playing! At her next birthday, Cora won't even be a teen anymore.

And while I have your attention, here are a few screenshots of the video I screen-recorded of Cora's Taming of the Shrew scene at ACTF last week.

Waves Weekend

I graduated from Pepperdine University in 2000, so this year marks 25 years. JT suggested we attend Waves Weekend, the annual celebration of all things "Waves" (the ocean-front school's mascot). It's a Parents' Weekend (for current students), Homecoming and Alumni celebration all in one.

 

The guys came too, getting a good look at the campus that meant so much to us. And, in a way, brought me and Stace together - without JT, I wouldn't have met Stace.

The alumni were treated well - we paid for tickets for Saturday, and with that, were given lunch and a dinner banquet later.

After lunch, we watched the Pepperdine Improv Troupe performance, and then checked out the art museum. We were sad to see the bookstore and on-site Starbucks closed rather early, but found drinks at a little store in the student center. We checked out the exterior of the dorm we lived in, and looked around the large library, seen here.

Pepperdine is a Christian university, and the chapel features this beautiful stained glass window.

With Cora's theatre experience, we sneaked into the shop behind the theatre - it was huge! Strange for me to think that Cora could be here now, taking classes and living on campus!

After the banquet, we enjoyed one last look at the Pacific, with the lights of Santa Monica, to the south.

It was nice to be on campus again, especially with getting to see JT and Jim.

Meanwhile, Violet spent the day with Liana and Family, as they went to Carpinteria to the Avocado Festival. (And, Cora worked!)

Same ocean, just a bit further north than we were! Many thanks to Colleen and Rigo for keeping Violet entertained while we were gone all day.

Days Out

Violet and I had a day out on Thursday, heading up to Leona Valley to pick cherries. Last summer, we enjoyed several adventures out of SClarita, and we want to continue the tradition this year. 

We went to an orchard we'd never been to; it was a great experience. 

Very yummy!

We also went to a little art gallery in the tiny town of Leona Valley.

On Friday, we went to a college in Van Nuys where Cora and Melanie are planning to take an acting class with a favorite teacher of Melanie's. Cora drove, getting some good experience on the freeways. 

After speaking to people in the admissions office, we went to a Japanese BBQ restaurant for lunch with Melanie.

On Friday night, I went to an old movie theater in Fillmore to watch an old movie - a classic film noir called Double Indemnity. I went with Colleen and Rigo. It was a great film, in a cool setting; I'm guessing this theatre showed the movie when it was new in 1944.

(Stace played soccer.)

Also this week, Violet has been having creative fun with henna. And on Monday, she got together with her friend Sofia at the boba place, and then they came here and made cookies. Their friend Lea was overseas visiting family.

Spring Break

It's Spring Break week!

I was happy to have tea with Christina - with her working nearly full time, we don't see each other often enough. It was great catching up at a new tea room on Main Street in Newhall.

In the evening, I had dinner with Christina, Tiffany, Liz and Melissa.

Meanwhile, Stace has caught the cold that went around our family, and was sick enough to need to stay home! Very unusual.

Thankfully he recovered enough to be able to attend the Stereophonics show he and Jim had tickets for, also at the Wiltern.

We spent part of a day on a tour of New York Film Academy, an acting conservatory and college she's considering for the future.

It was a great afternoon, followed by some shopping in a part of Burbank with a lot of vintage stores - and Porto's! - an L.A. favorite Cuban bakery. I picked up goods for dinner and a nice coffee.

 NYFA had an amazing library with film scripts and movies - you can take out a script, and there were hundreds, and watch the film after reading through the script. Great way to see how things come together, and what changes are made.

Violet got a pair of pants she'll wear to Ren Faire at a thrift store in Burbank. The girls are spending this week getting their outfits ready - while watching shows, they're creating their own chain mail jewelry.

On Thursday, Colleen and I got together with the girls and went thrifting. We ended up going to a few stores, and also to San Fernando Coffee Co. 

Stace and I got out to see Cats, the Musical, at the Canyon Theatre Guild. Our friend Jill was one of the lead cats. 

We also went to the Cowboy Festival for a couple of hours, getting our favorite peach cobbler and watching a bit of music.

I also went through some of the stuff that had been under Violet's bed, and discovered my collection of cloth diapers. The ones that were in good shape, I was able to send to a mama who covered the shipping cost. Hopefully they can get some more use.

Stace got the cat treats out, and, surprise, found himself popular.

JT and Jim and the kids stopped by on their way home from Yosemite on their spring break. Callie had fun with Winston.