LOTR at 25

 When we got back home, Cora and I jumped into Middle Earth. With the 25th anniversary of the first Lord of the Rings film coming up later this year, the trilogy was rereleased on the big screen.

Cora, of course, is a huge fan. She's read the books and seen the films multiple times, but never in the theater, since she is so young. I was so pleased when she agreed to come with me to watch them, as she normally doesn't enjoy seeing things in theaters.

Each film started with about 10 minutes of greetings and recollections from director Peter Jackson, which were fun to watch. 

And these were the extended editions, with many minutes of extra footage. We hadn't seen these scenes before, so it was actually cool to see them on the big screen - Cora and I would glance at each other whenever we noticed that we were watching something for the very first time.

The combined lengths of all the deleted scenes over the three films would be as long as a normal feature film! 

The trilogy is truly a masterpiece, and I'm grateful she and I experienced it together like this. 

When we continue to see evil daily in our world, watching this sort of epic, with Good ultimately triumphing, is uplifting to the soul. I'm thankful to know that Good will indeed ultimately win out over evil!

Week in Review

Violet and I had a summer adventure day on Thursday. She's taking a summer school class online, so she's not free all day, but we snuck out in the morning to Quigley Canyon and saw two deer. Then, in the afternoon, we went northeast to Agua Dulce, to a market I'd heard about to get drinks.
 

We took our drinks to Vasquez Rocks, where we sat at a table by the nature center to rest and enjoy the view. 

We also chatted with the park employee who cares for the animals there (tortoises and raptors). She was very encouraging to Violet about volunteering at Placerita Nature Center, to gain experience for a future parks job. Vi is very interested, and started looking into it online. She'd enjoy working at Yosemite someday.

Ellie came over for a few hours on Friday, and we played at the little park, along with Legos and Calico Critters.

Also Friday, we had our new air conditioner and furnace installed. I'm very pleased with the company; after several quotes, I know we got a great deal. The air is blowing so cold now!

Also this week, we celebrated Colleen's 60th birthday with a little gathering at their house. I don't have photos, but it was a great night together.

One of the installers, after removing the old one outside, found this clutch of gopher snake eggs! Yikes! He took them home to try to keep them warm and hatch them.

When the A/C guys were done and Ellie had gone home, I met up with Christina and we went to Havana Savannah for coffee and pizza for a late lunch.

On Friday night, Stace played soccer, and Violet and I went to Placerita Nature Center, where the animated film Rango was being shown in the amphitheater. We hadn't seen it (it came out when Vi was tiny), but it was well worth seeing. Johnny Depp plays the main character chameleon; if you like old Westerns, you'll like it.

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.

Cora's in HIGH SCHOOL!

 Cora started school on Tuesday, and Stace took Monday off to hang out together as a family. We went to see the Jungle Cruise at our new Laemmle theater in Newhall - my new all-time favorite theater! Small, comfortable, clean, affordable. There weren't many in since it was early on a weekday, and everyone wore masks.

The movie was a fun watch, too.

After, we went to Big 5 to get Cora a new backpack and double-walled water bottle to keep her drinks cold. She didn't want to get any new clothing or shoes - my little minimalist - so a backpack was a natural purchase.

The big day arrived! First day of high school for our Cora Rose. Very hard to believe, yet here we are.

Cora went to school in her Critical Role hoodie, one of her favorite articles of clothing, and a gift from her dear friend Violet. The hat is her souvenir from Disney World, and it's from Pirates of the Caribbean.

The traffic was awful - stop and go for blocks. Cora hopped out and walked when we reached the park two blocks away. 

By afternoon when I picked her up, the sweatshirt was off. Cora was upbeat - her day wasn't as awful as she'd feared, and she'd found her friends and they ate lunch together in a shaded grassy area. She has three academic classes - AP Environmental Science, Honors English and Algebra - along with P.E., Show Choir and Theater III, the class which will produce the fall musical. 

High school is one of periods of life we all look back on - memorable for many reasons, positive and negative. May you make many more positive memories than negative, my dear Cora!

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!

Christmas Break Tidbits

The day after Christmas, we decided to go ice skating. Cora's friend Violet was free and able to join us - yay!

They still had the Christmas music playing, so Stace fit right in with his Santa hat.

We'd had a cold storm in the region, dropping the snow levels low. Our valley was even more beautiful than normal!

We happily received and purchased several board games for Christmas. With the girls getting older, we're hoping for some new family activities we can do together, and we had a lot of fun playing games at Thanksgiving with my Washington family.

With a new Star Wars movie out, we rewatched the 7th and 8th installments at home, and then watched the 9th movie in the theater. We all loved it.

Stace and Violet went on a long bike ride, played tennis, and visited the ducks at Bridgeport.

Cora tested for, and was awarded, her orange belt in karate.

Moving on up! We're proud of you, Cora!

We also took the girls back to MB2 Raceway.

Go, girls, go!

Here was our Winter Break Bucket List - we hit most of them.

Week in Review

Violet got her big back-to-school wish fulfilled this week, when she rode off with Cora to school.

She's been wanting to ride to school since that day last spring when I was sick and they had to ride together.

They rode together to school, and then Cora left her and moved on to the rest of her ride. Then, at the end of the day, Cora picked up Violet and they got home safely, in one piece and on two wheels. Four wheels.

Cora loves her school library, and checks out interesting reading material for her quiet moments at school. History is her favorite subject.

One day this week, Cora lost her electronics privileges. That afternoon, spent hours working on a new story she'd crafted in her head.

She pulled Violet in to draw some characters.

Clearly, we should ban video games and mindless YouTube watching more often.

Violet's class created their 3-D clay maps of California Friday, and for the first time, I got to help in her fourth grade class.

Later Friday, I took Violet and her friend Victoria to their school's movie night. They watched Secret Life of Pets 2.