Playing Catchup - Spending time with Dean and Jenny

I normally don't let a whole week go by without blogging, but we've been too busy having fun with Dean and Jenny! It's great having an excuse to take a week off from normal life to just have fun around L.A. and SClarita. Above, Cora loved seeing Universal CityWalk for the "first" time, at least for the first time since she's old enough to be really aware of her surroundings.

Cora loved the lights, the sights, and dancing to the piped-in rock music. We managed this excursion with no stroller, only monkey on her back, and all went well. Dean and Jenny spent Thursday at Universal Studios, while Stace worked and Cora and I rested at home. We met them in the evening for dinner and a walk around.

Below, my parents took Cora on Wednesday evening and the four adults went out for a meal.

Later Wednesday evening, Cora enjoyed the chocolate strawberries my mom dipped for us. Yum!

Some bouncing time in the spare room. Cora will miss having the guest bed out for bouncing, and she'll definitely miss having Dean and Jenny here to play with.

Below, Jen and I were lucky enough to spend much of Wednesday at Glen Ivy Hot Springs, the day spa in Corona. We had a great time, and the weather really spoiled us - super warm but not too hot. Then it was home for our meal out - I was Cora-less nearly all day, such a weird feeling! Uncle Dean and Auntie Melanie had Cora duty for the day, and did a great job. It's nice that she's old enough to really enjoy her time with people who love her other than me, and not cry about my absence.

The photos below are from Monday, when we went out to visit the Americana shopping center in Glendale for a few hours.

It was another beautiful Southern California day, and we had our beautiful Southern California two-year-old with us...

...she is too cool for words.

After our big outing to Disneyland on Saturday, we stayed around the house on Sunday, with Stace and Dean working on some more house projects. More on that in a future blog posting. So on Monday, we wanted to make sure to do something outdoors to enjoy the sun.

On Tuesday, when Stace went back to work, we went out to Malibu for the afternoon. Again, we're really loving Cora's ability to enjoy these sorts of things more. She was excited about seeing the water while we were driving down, and when we got to the newly reopened Malibu Pier, she kept talking about getting in the water. After lunch on the pier, directly over the water (gorgeous!), she got her chance. The rest of the day, she kept telling us how the water was cold, and she ran away.

On another afternoon, we all went to the park for tennis, football (soccer) and some sliding on the slides. Cora got a kick out of trying to drink out of the fountain.

And, we simply enjoyed the sunshine, having as many meals outside as practical.

We said our sad good-byes at the airport Friday evening, and can't wait to see them again when we return to England in May. If only there were a way to bring England and California a lot closer together!

See Eee Eee!!!

Saturday was the big day - Cora's first trip to the Happiest Place on Earth!
It was my sister's 21st birthday - Happy Birthday, Mel! - and Dean and Jenny are here, so it was a great time to introduce Cora to Disneyland.

Since we aren't a family that goes to Disneyland several times a year, I'm so glad we waited until now for Cora's first time. She is definitely old enough to really enjoy it, and to even look forward to it.
She's been talking about seeing "Eee Eee" for weeks now, and asking about when we were going to go. (She still refers to some animals by the noise they make, and "mouse" is one of them. When we would ask her who "Eee Eee" is, she would clarify - "Mee Mouse!")
She even woke up a few times in the middle of the night Friday night, and when we would go in to comfort her, she would stop crying immediately to say, "See Eee Eee?"
The park was quite crowded, since it was a Saturday, but Cora had a great time. She went on the carousel, which she loved, and the Roger Rabbit ride, which she deemed a "stary ride." (Oops - hope we don't regret that, with future nightmares!) We also took her on the Winnie the Pooh ride twice. After the second time, she said excitedly, "Wee Pooh ride fun!" That made me melt! I hadn't heard her use the word "fun" before.
She also liked the classic "It's a Small World" ride, and I caught her clapping her hands during the song. Cora also loved running around Tom Sawyer's Island, and later, she was amazed at the fireworks show.

We also went into Disney's California Adventure park, and Cora enjoyed watching three shows. During one of the shows, which she watched with Grandma and Grandpa, Stace, Dean, Jen, Melanie and I went on the Tower of Terror ride - just the way to end our night!

Other than one meltdown, she did amazingly well on her very long and exciting day. She took a 45-minute nap on Daddy's lap when we stopped for a bite to eat and watched the "Billy Hill and the Hillbillies" show.

There is something special about taking your child to Disneyland for the first time, especially if you've grown up in SoCal going to the park on a regular basis. I was as excited as a little girl on Friday night, looking forward to Saturday. And, just like when I was little, I was sad when our day was over.

The top photo shows Cora on our way to D-land Saturday morning, with her breakfast and her Minnie Mouse doll. And the last photo shows her napping on Dad's lap.

We saw lions, tigers AND bears

Stace had a day off on Friday so we took Dean and Jenny (and Cora of course) to the L.A. Zoo. We hadn't been since Cora was two months old, back when the Partridges came to visit.

It's so much fun taking Cora to these places now, since she is old enough to really enjoy them. She liked seeing all the animals, and did very well considering she didn't have a nap.
Though she's expressed some fears of lions lately, she wasn't scared in any way of the real lions. I pointed out how lions are nice, and she said that she wasn't scared of them, but she was "scared of Mummy." Hmmmm.

We ended up buying a family membership, so I think we'll be making some more trips to the zoo this year.

Let there be light!

Dean and Jenny are here!
Cora loves spending time with her aunt and uncle, and they are enjoying her and enjoying soaking up the sun.
Today we met Stace for lunch at Chipotle, a piece of SoCal we now feel is a must-eat for English visitors. We stopped at Bridgeport, the manmade lake, for a walk afterwards, and visited the ducks, geese and turtles.
The next photo shows Cora eating her dinner sitting at the dinner table, in a booster seat. It's a big step, especially in our family, as we still put Cora to bed in her crib, change her diapers on her changing table and have her rear-facing in her car seat for safety reasons. Since she has been happy in her high chair, and I've appreciated the convenience, we didn't make the switch. But, tonight, she asked to sit at the table and how could we refuse?
Then we have Cora playing with Jen in the playroom, with her new puzzle that Nan and Pop sent over. Thanks! Every time Jen sits down, Cora brings her a book to read. I'm so spoiled when we have family staying with us!
We're also spoiled to have the hard-working Dean on duty. Stace has been at work this week, but they have installed a fan in the dining room (see photo) and the new over-the-stove microwave in the kitchen. It is such a great improvement to have a main light in our dining room! One of those things you don't really appreciate until you don't have it. It took a lot of work to get it wired in, because there is no loft or crawl space above the vaulted ceiling. But, it's in perfectly and we have a remote control to work the light and fan.
Stace will now be taking a four-day weekend, so we will have some fun now, around the house projects. (On tap next are three more ceiling fans! They all need to be wired in properly to the wall light switch, and Dean is a qualified electrician in addition to his car mechanic skills, so that's why we're tackling that set of projects while he's here.)

On the Cora front, her favorite phrase of the moment seems to be, "This hurts," or "It hurts." She says it multiple times a day, pointing to some body part or another. Ninety percent of the time, I can find no discernible cause for her "pain," so I've started humoring her about it.
She also (unfortunately) has picked up the phrase, "It's mine!"
She has become very good at naming her colors, and today I caught her counting to 20, minus one or two of the "teens." She loves running in circles ("I run sudu, Mummy!!!!") and spinning.
On Saturday, we plan to make our first family trip to Disneyland. Wish us luck!

Enjoying Old Stuff

We had a busy but fun family day on Sunday, starting out at a British classic car show in Van Nuys, about 30 minutes from our house. Stace had two classic sports cars (Triumph Spitfire convertibles) when I met him. He sold them both, along with his main car, a beautiful Mazda convertible, to move here and start our life together. Whatta guy! Someday, when our house projects slow down (????), we hope for him to get another fun project car.
There were tons of cars and a lot of visitors, and Stace had to feel right at home with all the English accents. There also was a pair of London double-decker buses, including the one above, which was for sale. I doubt our HOA (homeowners association) would be pleased if we were to park this baby permanently on our cul-de-sac though!
After the car show, we traveled to Simi Valley to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The library is hosting a special exhibit with one of the few remaining copies of the Magna Carta, the 1215 English document on government that is the basis of our Constitution.
We decided to check it out on Sunday because the Library was also hosting a Medieval Faire. Cora and Stace watched the jousting before we headed to the inner courtyard, where there were programs, arts and crafts and music. We then went to buy our tickets to enter the museum and see the exhibit, when we spotted fliers promoting another special event at the end of March: Colonial America Day, with a "town square with artisans exhibiting their skills; military camp life demonstrations; 18th Century crafts and games; and colonial attire encouraged."
Since Cora had skipped her nap and we were kind of playing with fire (paying an admission fee to a museum with an un-napped 2-year-old), we decided to just enjoy the Medieval Faire and return in a few weeks for the Colonial Day, with a hopefully well-rested Cora. (This kind if thing is right up our alley - I minored in history in college, after all, and Stace can recite random historical trivia as if he had a degree in the subject.)
Above, Cora is doing a handstand and learning about somersaults. Two older children were practicing their tumbling, and Cora was very intrigued, and started throwing herself onto the ground. With some help from Dad, she actually did pretty good with her tumbling.
Cora thought she would take the easy way out when it came to be her turn for the bean bag toss.
She really liked the music, and kept asking Stace to pick her up and dance with her.
After the faire, we went to our friends Jason and Stephanie's house for dinner since we were close by. We had a very nice evening and didn't get home until Cora's bedtime, so it was a very full day! Now we are getting ready to pick up Dean and Jenny from the airport tonight!

Below, you can get a feel for the music. Cora was having a great time dancing, and was giggling away, but I don't think you can hear it very well.

In the Garden

Here is the "before" picture of our vegetable garden-to-be. Stace worked his butt off Sunday and Tuesday afternoons, clearing out the area you see here. It was full of dandylions, crabgrass and a few flowers. We bought a big book on gardening and will make a trip out to a nursery Friday to get our soil amendment and some advice. This weekend I hope to put in some carrot and spinach seeds. Apparently in our area, those are winter crops so it's a little late to be planting them, but hey, it can't hurt. I'm hoping to grow tomatoes, bell peppers and zucchini (courgettes) as well, in upcoming months. We also have planted a single grapevine.
Here is the ornamental plum tree outside Cora's window, in full bloom. It is really gorgeous. Our apricot tree (visible here) is budding too, with two or three beautiful flowers already. I'm looking forward to having fruit from our own tree!
But alas, so far, my herb garden isn't working out so well. First (no photos of this), I planted the seeds of parsley, sage and thyme in these three pretty ceramic pots with a matching tray. It was a housewarming gift. I also bought basil seeds and a pot, and planted them as well. Over the weekend the weather was so warm, I set the pots in the open doorway in the sunshine. The wind slammed the door shut, breaking one of the matching pots and the tray, and marking up Stace's newly painted red door. Then, today, while I was researching gardening in the other room, Cora was busy ... transplanting ... the sprouted basil seedlings ... to the floor and windowsill.
And we put in a few pansies in the back yard...

Harvey, pansies and some jumping around

Here are some photos from our full and fun Saturday afternoon. It was Harvey's 2nd birthday, and lucky for him, it was a gorgeous day for a party at the park. Elissa and Frankie put on a nice spread of food, including the ice you see Cora and Harvey having fun with. Elissa made "ice cream cone" cupcakes, and Cora loved the frosting and sprinkles (or, hundreds and thousands, for our UK readers). Oddly though, Cora was just as unhappy hearing us all sing to Harvey as she was when the "Happy Birthday" song was sung at our party. She started carrying on, right there in the middle of the song.

I enjoyed dressing Cora up in one of her pretty dresses, since we have so little reason to get dressed up. On her own birthday party, the weather was cold and wet, and not fit for pretty dresses...

And, no surprise, Cora spent the majority of her time in the sandbox, happy as a clam with sand piling up in the lap of said pretty dress.

The last photo shows Cora reacting to me holding my friend Brooke's four-month-old son. How very short are the months that they are so little! It's been two years but it feels like a lot longer. I can tell that if we are blessed with another one, it will really feel like starting all over.


After the party we went to Lowes to pick up another ceiling fan. Uncle Dean and Auntie Jenny are coming next week to visit, and to work on our house. Well, Uncle Dean will work. I think Auntie Jenny and I will work on our nails, our tans, our shopping...

Prior to the party, Stace and Cora took care of some painting. Stace finished the inside of our front door; it is now a bright and shiny white.

Cora painted the ground and steps outside with plain water. It kept her busy for quite a while. I think this is a trick we can pull out of tool box for years to come!
I should say, it kept her busy until she decided to pull all the flowers off of three of our new pansy plants. She then brought them all to me as a gift. (Sigh.) She looked so thrilled with herself, it was hard to keep a straight face and harder to attempt to explain that she shouldn't pull off any more flowers.













And lastly, the video shows Cora jumping for the first time, this afternoon. Sure, she's tried to jump for months, but this is the first time she's gotten air under both feet at the same time. I said, excitedly, "Cora, you're jumping! Good job!"
She stopped, got very serious (as she had been giggling), and said, "No, Mummy. Bounce."