Moved In

Well, we packed up, moved out and moved in.

Moving all the little things and cleaning the condo took twice as long as moving all the big heavy items. I was very suprised.

It was a sad day for me. On top of moving out of our first home, I threw away my surfboard. For some strange reason I had kept the two halves after they were smashed to pieces during our last move.

We are now living in an appartment in Newhall, just down the road from the condo.

Cora and Somer have both settled in well. Cora has slept through both nights we have been there. We had a nice lazy day yesterday, did some shopping and generally took it easy.

The complex we are staying at is on top of a hill and has great views of the Santa Clarita Valley.

There are three swimming pools and a play area that we went to yesterday.

In the evening Cora and I installed a toilet lock on the lid to stop her from chucking stuff in the water.

Packing up...

Stace and I are excited to say, we are selling our condo! May the house-hunt begin! You might remember, we were in escrow initially in April, but that fell through. Our new buyers came to look in July, and we are set to close tomorrow (Friday). We have been busy all week, packing and moving loads of boxes to my parents' "storage facility," the lean-to on the side of their garage. Thanks, Mom and Dad! We will be moving into a small apartment Friday and Saturday, which hopefully will be a brief stay until we find the right house. We are really looking forward to having a third bedroom, a back yard (garden) and a garage where Stace can set up a workbench.
As you can see from the photos, Cora and Somer are helping a lot with the packing. In the second photo, Cora took it upon herself to move all the toiletries we've set aside in boxes into a suitcase. She's also (tried to) pack the cornstarch and baking powder into a box Stace was putting the VCR and DVD player into, and she's removed all my shoes from my shoe storage unit. We noticed Wednesday she was much more affectionate and huggy than she has been recently - a welcome change, but most likely evidence that she's a bit unsure of what's going on. I have told her that we'll be saying "bye bye" to the house, and she will look around and wave.
The last photo shows our treat the other night after an evening of moving activity - ice cream at McDonalds. It was Cora's first time, and she of course enjoyed it greatly.

Last L.A. Hurrah

Nan and Pop are now back in England, and we've been busy packing for our upcoming move out of our condo. More on that in a post in the near future.
Here, I give you photos of our trip Thursday night to Dodger Stadium, or 'Blue Heaven on Earth,' as Tommy Lasorda and I like to call it. My dad called Thursday morning with the gift of great tickets (and a parking pass, worth a small fortune these days) from a co-worker of his. As it was Sue and Gord's last night in Southern California, he was thoughtful to share them with us.
Believe it or not, it was our first trip to the Dodgers this season. Cora was a very good girl, and made it through very well for the seven full innings we watched in person. She ate some of our Dodger Dogs, enjoyed doing the wave, and cheered for the new fan favorite Manny Ramirez (even though he went hitless). The Dodgers won, sweeping the Phillies, making the night even more enjoyable.

Days at the Lake

We've just returned from a two-night stay in the local mountains (Crestline to be exact), where we spent several hours around Lake Arrowhead (top photo) and half a day playing at Lake Gregory (second photo). We played in the water and took some nice walks through the trees, up at 5,000 feet above sea level.
All in all, it was a fantastic trip. Cora has not always been a great traveler, but overall she did very well. She slept great the first night, to our relief. She didn't do very well the second night, but since we were operating on a full night's sleep, it wasn't so bad.
We stayed in a little cabin in the woods, which worked very well and saved us a lot of money on food. The front deck had a low wall around it, so it made a perfect playground for Cora to practice her running (bottom photo). She managed to feed herself without a high chair, too. She has begun saying "More, ta," when she wants more of something to eat. "Ta" or "ta ta" is Cora-speak (and England English) for "thank you." Today, she also was saying, "Hi."
Back in Santa Clarita tonight, we went out to dinner. Cora, as per her new normal, did well for about half the meal and then decided she was done. We took turns with her outside. She is not the easiest little girl these days when she decides she is "done" with whatever it is she is done with! In addition, she still seems to be cutting several teeth, and often has a finger in her mouth while she fusses.

SClarita Summer Fun

We been having a very nice time with Nan and Pop here, soaking in the SClarita culture. This week, we went to the mall Tuesday evening, where Sue made a furry friend to take home at Build a Bear, and Cora took a ride on the fire engine. We had dinner at Souplantation, and took in a free concert outside the mall.
We had more free music Saturday, at the Concert in the Park. We took a picnic lunch, and Cora gave her daddy some love.
On Sunday, Sue and I watched Grease at the Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center. Afterwards, we went back and met the cast, and the lovely young woman who played "Marty" was nice enough to sign our program and pose for a photo.
Also Sunday, we had a snack at McDonalds, where Cora had her first experience at the on-site playground. She absolutely loved it, shrieking with laughter.
In other Cora news, she is getting good at making various animal noises. Besides cat and dog, she can do a mean horse impression, along with lion, tiger and bear (yes, they do sound similar, but if you listen carefully there are differences), and mouse, and sometimes, cow.
This evening at dinner, she also was trying to say, "Whoopsadaisy!" She's been having a great time in the pool the last few days, and we took a nice trip to the SClarita Aquatic Center Thursday.
Cora also is getting 2-4 teeth right now, and she's been quite cranky off and on.

98 Red Balloons

Nan and Pop are here! They arrived Thursday night and are enjoying the heat. On Friday evening we went to the mall to hear the live music across the street at the Hyatt, where someone gave us a balloon for Cora.
You can see the progression of photos - she was playing with it, and then it popped. She immediately turned to hug Stace for comfort - that was her first balloon popping and it frightened her. Then she began to cry, and cry.
At the moment, Cora is asleep and Sue, Gord and Stace are up at the pool. This evening we'll have a picnic at the Concert in the Park (with a $5 Walmart sub that is big enough to feed all of us!). On Sunday we'll look at some houses for sale with our realtor, and in the afternoon Sue and I will see my sister in the Santa Clarita production of Grease. (She's playing Marty).

Like, totally L.A.!

Here are some photos from Saturday's Concert in the Park - below is our friend Mark, his daughter Kelsie (foreground) and Cora.
So you probably have heard about (or felt) our little earthquake Tuesday. Cora, Grandma and I were down in Hollywood in the cool Larchmont area for an eye appointment, on the seventh floor of a tall building, so we felt it pretty strongly. It was a bit of a worry, and we decided to take the stairs down instead of the elevator. Of course I had brought the heavy jogger stroller instead of the lightweight stroller, so I carried Cora and my mom carried down the stroller, with some help from a nice man who was leaving the same office as us.
Once we got down to the street, we immediately noticed a low-flying police helicopter circling overhead. Cora pointed it out, too. Then we saw several LAPD cars pull up in front of the Wells Fargo bank right across the street from us,and officers got out with their guns drawn. Great! An earthquake and now a bank robbery? You've got to be kidding! But we then learned that the earthquake most likely set off the alarm, and it was a false alarm. (Thanks Grandpa, sometimes it comes in handy having law enforcement in the family!)
So we made our way to the Starbucks, to get some nerve-calming caffeine, and I'm pretty sure it was Topher Grace (That 70s Show) with two guy friends coming out as we were in the doorway.

You don't get much more of an L.A. experience than that!

In the afternoon, Stace, Cora and I went to Hurricane Harbor, and Cora was even more fearless than on our previous trips. She loved the wave pool, and didn't mind the waves lapping into her chest and face. She also went on the baby slides by herself, and marched around in areas she didn't love on our prior trips.

British Car Show

You may be wondering why the blog has not been updated for a while.
Last Wednesday Lisa was ill and took a few days to get back to full fitness.
I had to come home and look after Cora for the day while Lis stayed in bed.Cora kept me in line with what I had to do. She is really good at saying "all done" when she's had enough to eat.

On Sunday, Cora and Lisa dragged me off to Oxnard marina to attend the Central Coast British Car Clubs annual show. There were Jags, Austin Healey's, Mini's, Triumphs and many other great classic British cars. There was a Spitfire with an American V8 in it. Crazy!
It made me realize how much I miss owning and working on these old cars.
It was a gorgeous day at the seaside, the temperature was about 80 degrees.
Here's Cora showing me what's what under the bonnet of a heavily modified Spit.
Here's some good humour on the back of a nicely done Triumph GT6.

A Walk in the Park

This weekend we had fun at the parks. On Saturday night, we attended one of the free Concerts in the Park, where we had a picnic lunch and Cora made friends...
...and played with the buckle of her new friend's helmet (after wearing it around).
On Sunday, we took a long walk through some neighborhoods we really like, looking at a couple of homes for sale in our price range. We ended up at the park, where Cora had fun playing with Dad.
They also enjoyed the slides.

Cora really didn't want to leave. She does this whenever we leave a park. Thankfully, it generally is short-lived, and she's giggling again in a couple of minutes. This video is for Duncan.

Also, Cora has developed a less-than-thrilling little habit. When she hits me, I firmly reprimand her and move her hand firmly away. She then kisses my arm, or whatever part of me is closest to her, because a few months ago I would remind her to "gentle touch," and to not hit. So now, when she is upset, she (sometimes) will hit me and then immediately kiss me. Oh dear!

Chasing and running

Here is a video from our weekend in San Luis Obispo that I couldn't get to load right a few days ago...

And here is how Cora occupied herself for 10 minutes or so yesterday while I ate my lunch.

Back and forth and back and forth she went. She will truly be running soon!
This week, Cora has been practicing using the words she has learned. When she spots something she knows the word for, she says it. We were at a store and there was a poster with a dog, one that I hadn't spotted. "Doddy" she said. Then, a poster with children playing in a lake. "Wawa." She saw a picture of a lion and growled, and when she hears a dog barking, she will start panting.
When she wants to get down and walk, she points to the ground and says "Wawa." We're hearing "all done" frequently. "Diddy" for "kitty" and "Sada" for "Somer." Also, she is using a couple more signs - for eating food, and for drinking, when she is either hungry or thirsty. It's fun having her better able to communicate!
Also - a few minutes ago Cora pointed to her high chair to say she wanted breakfast. We went in to the kitchen, and I got the box of cereal out. She went straight to her drawer and pulled out her bowl and handed it to me. Another first!

San Luis Obispo for the weekend

We spent the weekend visiting with Christy, Mitch and William, meeting them in San Luis Obispo. Our friends moved to northern California a few months ago, and it was nice to reconnect. Cora and William got on well, like the old friends they are. We had lunch in our motel room, and the toddlers explored the entire room.
Cora decided it would be fun to follow William around, holding onto his shoulders. He didn't seem to mind, at least for the first few minutes.
The phone also proved to be a fascinating toy, occupying several minutes.
Is it for Cora? No, it's for William.
We then took a hike at a nearby state park and beach. Both babies enjoyed the water and the sand.

That night, we went to a great Italian place in Pismo Beach. Cora was shortchanged on her daytime sleep, and wasn't in the best of moods. She was very happy when she was walking around the restaurant, or pacing out front, but did NOT want to be in her high chair. (These photos are actually from the next day, at a more casual lunch spot in San Luis Obispo, but they illustrate the story pretty well!)

Cora has added "all done" to her repertoire of phrases, complete with the hand motion you see below. At dinner Saturday, she ate a couple of yummy rolls while we waited for our food. Then, when her meal came, she had a bite or two and decided she was finished, and ready to resume exploring the restaurant. Stace and I really preferred to eat our meals, and didn't rush to let Cora loose. She then started repeating again, and again, and again, "All Done!" "All Done!" "All Done!" with hand motions and frantic pointing to the ground. We had to look away to keep her from seeing us laugh. She just couldn't understand why we weren't responding properly, when she was so very clearly communicating her needs!
William, meanwhile, was perfectly well behaved at both meals. He is a great kid, and he'll be a great big brother come October!

On Sunday we shopped in SLO's fantastic downtown, and then had lunch at the above barbecue restaurant. Another yummy meal. Then we drove to Avila Beach, with the idea of getting out the towels and swimsuits, but both babies were asleep. So we changed plans and went our separate ways, allowing our little ones to get their needed naps. Still, a great weekend away!