Week In Review

On Monday evening, we went to the archery range at dusk, and Violet did the walking course, where you shoot at animal targets placed up in the nearby hill. 

Since we were in Saugus, we stopped by my parents' house to meet Maverick, their new golden retriever!

He's super sweet - classic golden. He'll be 5 years old soon, so he's about Summer's age. They're getting used to each other, and she is much happier now, having another dog friend.

 

On Tuesday afternoon, Cora drove (I rode shotgun, and helped with directions) to L.A. to film a little advertisement for a weighted stuffed animal designed to help with anxiety. She's a professional commercial actor! She did great driving, too, through the traffic on the way home.

Also this week, I drove out to spend Friday with JT at her house, and we walked to lunch and shopping.
We didn't get any photos. But I do have a photo of Winston playing with the cat toy she gave us, one her cat wasn't interested in.

 That evening, Stace and I watched a murder mystery play in Old Newhall.

On Saturday evening, we celebrated my Mom's birthday with an escape room - we escaped! - and dinner at BJ's.

For some reason we asked Violet to take a few photos, instead of my Dad. Dad, you're back in charge next time!

On Sunday, Stace and I went to a British classic car show at the Gene Autry museum in L.A. A couple of Stacey's coworkers were there and had invited him. 

This MGB seems to be the original color of Stace's model.

Stace was excited to see this Ford Escort Cosworth, a very fast Ford from the 90s. Not sold in the US, this car was one of the most stolen cars of the decade in Britain.

Stacey's coworker friend Brian was there with his dad and the MG TC that they restored and hot rodded by putting in a V8 engine. Their car won a show award.

Summer Fun

I heard about a new outdoor "escape room" taking place in Old Newhall, and since we have a lot of free time this summer, signed us up.

It's put on by an outfit called City of Mischief, and we were met by a young man who gave us a backpack full of goodies, including locked boxes. 

We figured out the clues, going up and down Main Street to do so. It helped that we are pretty familiar with the scenery here - some of the clues came from wall murals and window signage. 

The storyline in the pamphlet had a mystery that we solved by finding the final clues. And we did so, in record time! 

Liana came over and the girls made nectarine sorbet with our crop.

On a different day, we made a nectarine crumble. So good with vanilla ice cream!

Our friends Liz and Max invited our friend group over for a pool party. So fun! Here, you see Cora holding up Violet for a game of chicken.

Great Weekend

One good thing to come out of the pandemic shutdowns has been return of the drive-in movie. If you have room for a bunch of cars and a giant screen and sound system, you can have a fun night out.

On Friday, we watched Back the the Future with Colleen and Rigo - we adults in one car, the kids in the other. The entrance fee was a donation to Circle of Hope, a local cancer charity. It was a lot of fun!
 

Violet went home with Liana to spend the night, so she could then celebrate Liana's birthday with them on Saturday. They started their day with a walk to a local farm for strawberries and a look at the animals.

They then did an escape room - they almost made it out!

Then, lunch out and frozen yogurt for dessert! 

Sunday was Mother's Day, and our church had a nice photo area set up, with the added bonus of a free print.

Church as reopened indoors, but they girls enjoy sitting outside together as a family.

I love watching them have fun together!

As long as they're listening, too!

Stace picked this lovely bouquet of roses for me, and after church he and the girls gave me some nice presents and cards. 

Who needs gifts though, being the mama in this family is blessing enough!

Stace and Cora worked more on their project, and then we visited my mom and the family at Mel and Nick's, to say Happy Mother's Day to the mamas. 

We then went to Ikea, and ended up having dinner there for the first time since they reopened their dining room. Gotta love Swedish meatballs!

Cora's 13th Birthday Party!

Cora has turned 13!

We celebrated with her girlfriends Saturday afternoon, with an Escape Room, and then a SLEEPOVER birthday party!

The girls didn't escape, but they had fun. I was able to watch through a monitor, and it was great to see them working together.

We returned to our house for dinner; Stace picked up Cora's favorites from Stone Fire. He also was busy making sausage rolls and cheese and onion rolls for the girls.

Cora then opened her gifts, which was fun, of course. She received a lot of candy! 

Her three most-artistic friends collaborated, and all drew their version of Shadow, the character Cora created in the book she's writing. They are talented girls. 

We then sang Happy Birthday and enjoyed brownies and ice cream, before Stace and Violet went over to Rigo's house. Violet had a sleepover with Liana, so our little house could better accommodate seven junior highers overnight.

The girls played Jackbox games together - this is a set of quizzes and assorted games that you play using a phone or other device, and a television. It's a lot of fun, and Cora has done this at several friends' houses over the past couple of years.

Then they got into jammies and did some drawing and opened Cora's little gifts to them... before getting a second wind and running around the house in the dark playing some sort of noisy hide and seek game.

I told the girls that I didn't mind as long as I couldn't hear them after midnight... and I didn't. Cora said some of them were up until 3, but it was quiet, so we were all good.

Stace was amazing and made pancakes and eggs in the morning. This is a great group of young ladies and I'm really glad Cora has found them!