Family Time and Milestone Birthdays

 My Dad is turning 70 this weekend! To celebrate, we're having a small party on Sunday, and Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty have come down to attend. With our new Murphy bed, they're staying with us! 

On Friday, we had charge of Ellie, and it was warm enough to enjoy the pool (though the water wasn't heated, so it was *very* "refreshing"). 

Here, Ellie is leading Aunt Patty in a water ballet dance. 

Stace and Cora did a bit of soccer in the yard, and then they started hitting the punching bag, with Uncle Bill. 

We bought this beautiful tomahawk steak, which Aunt Patty handled masterfully on Saturday.

Also Saturday, Liana and Sofia came over to play D&D in a campaign with Violet that Cora is DMing (being the Dungeon Master, or game leader).

THIS was a dinner worth savoring!

We enjoyed dinner and the evening outside, talking and thinking about a possible trip to the UK for Bill and Patty. They'd love to see where Stace grew up, so we told them all of our favorite places.

Stace pulled up a Martock visitor's guide on the TV.

On Sunday, it happened to be the annual Queen's English car show, so we four went together.

Once back in town, we got a coffee and walked around Newhall. We noticed an old payphone stand on Lyons - funny it's still there. No phone, though.

Later on Sunday, the big event! Dad's 70th birthday party!

We had about 17 people at my parents' house for food and fun. 

Posing with our dog, Maverick. (He insisted on being in the photo!)

Here is the photo card I made Dad. Lots of love to a wonderful father and grandfather, Dad! 

Violet's First Concert

 A couple of months ago, Violet mentioned she loves a folk band called The Oh Hellos, so I looked them up and saw that they had a tour coming up in the fall. We bought tickets, and on Saturday, Stace and I took her to her first real concert!

The venue was down in L.A., at a smaller club with a capacity of about 1,500. 

If you're curious about the numbers at the corner of this photo, and a few others below, these are photos I took off the Internet because they're better than the ones we took on our phones.

The whole concert was general admission, and standing, with a balcony ringing the perimeter. We were upstairs at the restaurant having pizza, and walked out and realized we'd have a pretty good view from right there. 

Violet took this photo on her phone.

This was from the outside patio - we were pretty close to downtown L.A. 

These next pics are from the band's Instagram page. We bought a few CDs in August and listened to them nonstop on our Sequoia trip, so we were familiar with the music. It's lively and fun, with a nine-member band on stage! Drums, guitars, banjos, fiddles - very high quality musicanship throughout. These are the two lead singers, sister and brother Maggie and Tyler Heath.

Violet had SUCH a good time; it was wonderful to watch her sing along, enjoying herself so much. And for a girl who can't stand busy cities, she loved the experience enough to mention she'd like to see other bands she enjoys, when they are on tour.

There's just nothing like live music!

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.

Tidbits

On Friday, I went over to the girls' elementary school, where they were celebrating the school's 50th birthday.

In the multipurpose room, yearbooks, photos and other memorabilia from over the decades was on display. People were invited to sign this big poster.
 

I caught up with my friend Rose, and we saw Mrs. Vasquez, Cora's 1st grade teacher!

On Saturday, I watched Ellie for a few hours, and she brought her new doll, The Bride of Frankenstein. She saw the doll at the store and just liked her; she hadn't seen her on TV.

When we went to the park, she asked me to buckle her up, too. I love this age!

Ellie had a lot of fun at the remodeled Valencia Glen Park, and I enjoyed having a reason to check it out, too. My kids would have loved this! We spent many hours here when they were in preschool.

End of Year Things

We met up with Grandma and Grandpa for breakfast Saturday morning to give Cora her gifts - she was too worn out to do it Friday night. You can see she's still a bit tired here. 

She later went to Logan's house to play D&D, and went again on Sunday.

Stace rewatched the Star Wars movies on Saturday, while Violet was unfortunately getting sick. 

On Saturday afternoon, Dinorah invited over several of us moms with graduating seniors, to catch up and reminisce. 
 

It was lovely, especially with catching up with some ladies I hadn't seen in a while.

On Sunday, Stace and I went to Glendale to Ellie's dance recital, and after, we all went to a nearby Foster's Freeze for a snack. I was excited to get a chocolate-dipped cone, since they're now hard to find up here in SClarita.

On Monday morning, I met up with a number of parents and graduating seniors at their elementary school. Other schools do this, and this is the first year it's happened here - the graduates are invited back for a special ceremony, to honor them and to give the elementary kids an example to aspire to.

We're holding signs with our kid's 6th grade photo! Such a sweet gesture.

 The students were introduced to the whole school at the weekly morning ceremony, and then got to spend some time playing on the playground. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if they were wearing their caps and gowns, as I've seen happen at other schools. But, Cora's old high school hadn't graduated yet, and the students didn't actually have their gowns!

It was great seeing these ladies again... 

...and these students, all grown up! I knew many of these kids so well just six years ago.

*Don't bother looking for Cora in there - she didn't go. She isn't nostalgic or social, and she was well into her summer schedule of sleeping well past the 8:00 meeting time here.

Also this week, Violet's freshman year came to an end! She did very well in her grades and is glad to be on break, too. Especially since she spent much of the week feeling ill.

Our Graduate

Graduation Day!

In America, high school graduation represents the culmination of 13 years of education, along with entry into adulthood, as most graduates have turned 18, or are turning 18 soon.

There's the cap and gown and speeches and well wishes and bouquets and Pomp and Circumstance playing (over and over) as the students walk into the event and find their seats. 

There's a stadium full of people, the National Anthem, a long list of names and the traditional moving of the cap tassel from the right side to the left, as the ceremony ends. 

It's a milestone, and I'm so grateful Cora took part in this monumental senior year event. 

She got to walk in and sit next to her friend Carys, which was special. Carys's mom serves as an unofficial school photographer, so she was on the ground getting some amazing photos.

We were in the stands, cheering and yelling for Cora when we could finally spot her in the line coming in. Grandpa brought his good equipment, and got the below photo when she looked up and caught our eyes.

Here is Cora, getting her diploma and shaking hands with Dr. Cherise Moore, a school district board member.

And here she is, high-fiving Mr. Fisher, the school's amazing principal. I wish I'd gotten a photo of them together after the ceremony - I really enjoyed working with him these past two years.

Melanie took this sweet pic of me and Stace.

The ceremony was great - with several speeches and all the graduates' names, it was still finished in an hour! 

I watched the online ceremony for Cora's old school, since I know so many families there, and it was an hour and 40 minutes - glad ours was more succinct.

Favorite teacher, no contest.

Cora and Rowan, and Lucas, who has one more year of high school.