Week in Review - and Mean Girls

 Violet has taken an Advanced Placement art class this year, and on Wednesday, she turned in her portfolio for grading. To celebrate, we shared a steak sandwich at RJB Cafe for lunch after school.

On Thursday morning, Tiffany and I took a walk and climbed the Stevenson Ranch stairs. This is a long outdoor staircase, installed just for exercise, and this is the view from the top. 

My calves were sore for days!

Also Thursday, Cora's Shakespeare classmates all performed monologues from Hamlet. After, the students voted on their favorite, and Cora won the most votes again.

Stace and I went to the garden center on Wednesday and then stopped at Maginn's for happy hour, and dinner. The girls were busy at the final dress rehearsal for Mean Girls.

We then went home and spent the rest of the evening researching RV rentals for a trip we're hoping to take in June to a national park in Nevada.

And on Thursday, Mean Girls began! Cora was stage managing, and Violet was the stagehand. Here, they are getting the microphones ready for the actors following the opening night show. 

I helped Thursday and Saturday by running the box office - this was the most well attended show in the school's history, with over 250 attendees on Thursday and 300 on Friday night!

 

These are the notes Cora created for the actors and crew, saying what needed to move, when, and what the cues were. She spent hours on it, and is such a hard worker.

After the closing show Saturday, we all stayed an extra hour to quickly break down the set and get it cleared from the stage. It was a lot of work and it was late, but this meant the director didn't need to come in on Sunday/Mother's Day.

Week in Review

 

Violet and I checked out an equestrian center in Newhall on Tuesday, and were very impressed. It was huge! Some 60 horses, spread out in lots of areas, including the barn above. 

One of the instructors, Becky, gave us a tour. Some of the horses are boarded there, while many are owned by the ranch owners.

The mini horses were so cute! We will plan to start lessons soon.

While on a nature walk with Violet's school, near the Iron Horse Bridge, we saw a dead King snake. These snakes, with their distinctive black and white bands, are called that because they can eat rattlenakes. 

Cora and Violet stopped at the bridge at sunset one night this week after the Mean Girls rehearsal.

It was a long week for Cora, between her college classes, set strike for Once Upon a Mattress and Mean Girls work. At least she'll be making some good money with the last one!

Our blueberries are ripening! So many!

And we always have monarch butterflies in our yard. One is here on the milkweed, circled in blue.

I revived my sourdough starter and made a loaf this week.

Not too shabby.

Also this week, I woke up Friday to find the screen popped out of the dining room window, Evie in the yard, and Winston gone. Thank God, he was in the yard behind ours, and I was able to go grab him, though I don't love the thought of him knowing how to jump onto/over the wall.

And also Friday, Nick's car broke down, and he was towed to their mechanic near us. I picked him up, and picked Ellie up from school with him, and dropped them both off at their home.

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.

Weekend Work and Play

Melanie had her biggest wedding of the year on Saturday, and Stace, Violet and I helped. 

The wedding was at a Simi Valley venue we've worked at before, but this time it was only warm, not hot, so that was a blessing.

All done!

Stace worked on hanging the blue trumpet flowers. 

I loved this venue, more than the super fancy beachy venues we've helped at. (Not that this wasn't equally fancy or expensive...just more to my taste with old world charm.)

On Sunday, Stace and I went to the annual Cowboy Festival, and made sure we saw more music than we have been able to watch the last few years.

In the vendor area, we watched this artist burning a design into a hat. Violet would have enjoyed that.

Below, we have part of the living history area.

A new corner of the festival at Hart Park featured the Western town set Violet and I saw during a Halloween event in Newhall. It was a perfect addition, and many people were taking photos. This was one of the great things about former festival host Melody Ranch: you were walking around a replica Old West town.

Also over the weekend, I saw two plays with Christina. We saw an amazing musical called Ride the Cyclone on Friday night, and a psychological thriller called Wait Until Dark on Sunday, after the Cowboy Festival. Both were great!

Weekend of Beauty

 On Saturday, Stace and Violet took the MG out for a beautiful ride down Placerita Canyon and Sand Canyon roads. They even found water.

On their way back, they stopped at Loaf for treats.

They also did a photo shoot with this gorgeous car!

Otherwise, it was a relaxing Saturday. 

Cora had rehearsal for her musical, and then played an online murder mystery game the rest of the day with her old elementary/high school friends.

Stace, Vi and I watched more All Creatures Great and Small in the evening.

On Sunday, we made more sourdough whole wheat English muffins, and went to church and Home Depot. Cora played D&D online, but later didn't feel well and went to bed early.

Stace, Vi and I got poke bowls, and later went to Ventura to walk around and enjoy this stunning sunset. Truly outstanding!

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.