Lombardi Ranch 2011

It's October - time for our trips to Lombardi Ranch! Yes, "trips." We went as a family Monday afternoon, and our Mom2Mom group went together Tuesday morning.
Here is Violet, smiling her happy cheesy smile. I love it!


On Tuesday, we rode the train with Genia and Colleen and most of our kiddos, minus Ave and Lucas. Going to school all day, five days a week, is rough!
Here I am with Liana. She is getting so grownup, just look at the pony tail!

"I like this one."

"I'll take two."

Violet loved looking out of giant pumpkins. Cora had fun inside making bird nests, using a spoon to scoop together straw, dirt and pebbles.
These two play so well together, at least when Ave is in school. When she is in the picture, Cora and Ave play together doing girly things, sometimes including Johnny and other times, not.

The Whole Foods Experience

Today, Cora's preschool class took a field trip to Whole Foods Market.

It was a fun event, full of yummy samples. Cora really enjoyed it; she was laughing and smiling most of the morning.

The first stop was the peanut butter and almond butter station, where the nuts are freshly ground when you push the lever. The children (and we moms!) had apple slices to dip; Cora preferred the almond butter.

Next was the produce, where you can see Cora and the others offering their pinky fingers for the store tour guide to place a raspberry.

Then, it was on to the seafood counter, where the guy (fishmonger?) showed them the sharp teeth of a red snapper.

He then passed out samples of "salmon candy," a smoked salmon treated with a lot of brown sugar.

Yum! I was pleasantly surprised that Cora loved it, and she also liked all the other samples, even the odd vitamin juice that we moms thought was a bit strange. Other bite-sized treats included chicken strips, pizza, cereal and a mystery smoothie, which tasted great even though it was green.

The kids had a great time and were really well-behaved.

Since the parents aren't asked to volunteer at this preschool, it was nice to get a peek at how Miss Lorrie and Miss Kayla run things. It's clear they have a very good handle on their 4-year-olds, who walked happily together as a train, hands on each other's shoulders, throughout the store.

Tehachapi orchard fun

On Saturday, we drove up to the orchards of Tehachapi, about 100 miles away, for a family day of apple picking. We last made the trip two years ago, when I was pregnant with Violet.

Cora, veteran fruit-picker that she has become, was looking forward to the trip for days. Her pronunciation of "Tehachapi" was especially cute.

Violet also enjoyed picking the apples, a word she can say very well. She excelled at picking up the apples from the ground beneath the trees, however, so we had to give a close look at all the apples in our pint bag.
Tehachapi is a beautiful place, very serene and peaceful, with rolling hills surrounding the orchards.

Apple inspection time. Stace threw out ones with bad bruises and worm holes, while Cora knocked and listened for that special sound. Or something like that.

We sure love these girls. They mean the world to us!

Just look at that sweet face!

Determination.

Violet really wanted to carry the bag by herself, all 11 pounds of it. There was a bit of fussing when we needed to help her with it.

At a neighboring orchard, we bought some apple juice, and since it was such a special occasion, we let Violet have a try. It was her first time having juice, and she loved it.

After our long drive home and a quick dinner, Cora wanted to make the apple teeth shown in an issue of her Highlights "High Five" magazine. You cut thin apple slices, spread them with cream cheese and place mini marshmallow teeth in between. Charming, huh?
At the Apple Shed restaurant, we bought an apple pie to take home. It was as yummy as we could have hoped, especially with some freshly whipped cream.

All in all, a very fun family day out! I love my family and we are so thankful for days like Saturday, when we can enjoy each other, being together, learning and having fun.

Happy with School

Stace and I have been so pleased with Cora's experience so far with Growing Hearts Preschool.

The lessons and weekly themes are well-planned, and Cora loves telling us about what she is learning. These photos are from the week/month focused on space, and the projects were great. I love the astronaut Cora. The day photograped was "Clifford the Big Red Dog Day," And all the children (and teachers) wore red and later wore hand-crafted red ears and had black paint for noses.

Each week the children focus on a different letter, and do a lot of practice writing that letter, along with their names. Miss Lorrie wrote on one of Cora's pages that because she knows how to write her name well, they are working with Cora on writing the letters inside the lines.

The first few weeks, the class focused on friendship, by working on crafts together. One day Cora came home with a bracelet made for her by another student, while Cora made a bracelet for someone else.

And you can see here the drawing Cora made of herself with a little boy named Owen. I thought it was cute enough to show here, for memory's sake. Cora is much bigger than Owen, and Owen has spiky hair because she said she doesn't know how to draw boy hair, except for spikes.

On Friday, the class cut open a pumpkin, learned all about them, and made a book showing the different layers to the pumpkin (stem, pulp, seeds, flesh). The children also tasted roasted pumpkin seeds. Cora told me that she learned that some pumpkins are not orange, but rather are white or even blue. She is learning so much!

Also this week, the children went on a fall nature walk, collecting leaves and pine cones.

Next week we have a "field trip" with the class to Whole Foods Market, for a tour and talk about nutrition and healthy eating. That should be fun!

Cushion fun

We brought in the patio cushions when we had some rain last week (before this week's latest heat wave...fall, are you coming?).
They've been a great source of enjoyment this week. Lots of laughter, lots of energy burned. Sisters playing together. Good stuff.




Anything you can do, I can do better?

The week in photos

A look at our week, through photos...

One evening, Stace and the girls played with play-doh. It was Violet's first time and she enjoyed it for at least two minutes. Cora, who's clearly been dressing herself this week, had fun for a while longer.
We had lunch with Grandpa one afternoon, and when Auntie Mel came home from work, she gave Violet a ride around in the laundry basket. Violet thought it was fantastic.

On Friday, we met our friends at the park for a picnic lunch. Here are Mackenzie, Ella and Cora.
And thanks, Jaimie, for getting this adorable shot of Violet playing peekaboo.
I probably say this too often, but it is so fun to watch the relationship between Cora and Violet grow and blossom. Here, I was making oatmeal for breakfast and Cora was snacking on raw oats (a little weird but at least it's healthy). She was sharing with Violet, giving her some oats too. Yes, a lot ended up on the tile, and then Cora was happy to sweep and vacuum them up! I love this photo because it is the first one (ever) where I asked Violet to smile, and she gave me a cheesy grin.
After church on Sundays, Cora enjoys her doughnuts. And now, Violet does too. We've started letting her have her own doughnut hole, and boy, does she love them! Afterwards, they both loved playing on the grass with the other children. Violet is growing up so fast.

Later on Sunday, we went to the pet expo "Bow Wows and Meows." Or, as we called it, "Woof Woofs and Aggums." See, Cora just didn't understand why people think dogs say "bow wow." And, Violet has taken to calling all cats (and some other animals) "aggums." It's the evolution of her early word for the noise cats make.
Anyway, she loved seeing all the dogs and aggums at the pet expo.

Finally, I give you the howling that overtook our car Sunday as we drove around. Please excuse the horrible picture quality. We got a new "little camera" this week, and it took some great photos as you can see above, but I'm not sure why the videos are coming out blurry. Still, the point of this video is the noise, which is coming out loud and clear.

Disneyland!

This week was momentous for our family - we made our first trip to Disneyland since Cora was barely 2. It was, of course, Violet's first trip ever. The park was decorated for Halloween, the weather was great, and the crowds weren't too bad. In short, it was an excellent day together.

Grandma and Grandpa have annual passes, and also generously pay for a pass for Cora, so she has been a number of times the past couple of years. But Stace and I haven't been to Disney's main park since March 2009, when Dean and Jenny were over, so it was an exciting day for us all.

We made Winnie the Pooh our first ride of the day, since Cora fell in love with it when she was 2. Violet took it all in, wide-eyed, and every time we asked if she was having fun, she gave a big nod.
Then it was on to Stace's favorite part of the park, the former Tom Sawyer's Island, which is now a Pirate's Lair. He and Cora ran all over the place, making up games and make-believe stories.


Violet spent a bit of time walking around, wearing Cora's old monkey friend.
Violet really liked the Jungle Cruise, pointing to all the animals and the water.
Violet entertained herself in the line for Peter Pan, which, at a half-hour, was the longest we waited.

We managed to go on eight rides in about six hours, including Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. Cora was just tall enough (40 inches) for those two; I'm so glad we got to be along on her first time riding those big rides. Since Grandma was with us, she stayed with Violet. Cora loved the rides, though she was a bit scared of the big, wet Splash Mountain drop.
We made "It's a Small World" our last ride of the day. Violet had a great time pointing to the singing dolls and clapping along to the catchy theme song.


And then, it was time to make our way out, though there are always attractions I wish we could have taken in. The girls were falling asleep in the stroller as we walked to the front.
But, we woke up Cora, and Grandma took the girls into California Adventure for an hour while Stace and I got dinner in the Downtown Disney shopping district. It was a good chance to catch our breath before we got in the car for the long drive home.

Hurricane Harbor

A water park in October?

Sure, in SoCal!


My dad's union rented out Hurricane Harbor for their annual party Sunday, and what a party it was!

A DJ, free food, free drinks (including beer and frozen margaritas), raffle prizes and super short lines for the rides. The tubes were included along with the admission price, which was, yes, free!

You can't beat it. And you especially can't beat it when you have just a 10-minute drive home, and warm weather too.

We all wish they'd do the party at Hurricane Harbor every year. The last time we went to Hurricane Harbor for this same party, Cora was 8 months old and our friends Andy and Jen were in town from England.

Even though Dad is still recovering from his hip replacement, and wasn't up for a wild water slide, he was able to come and relax in the shade, with a good book and a beer.

We had some great fun in the wave pool, as both Cora and Violet loved the waves.

They also enjoyed the kiddie area, and later, while Violet napped, Cora had fun with us in the lazy river. Wearing her Dora life vest, Cora bravely swam along, away from our tubes.

The best part was that Cora was just tall enough to go on the family raft ride with us.

I believe going on "big" rides like that is just as big of a milestone as learning to walk or talk.

It's quite a step when your little one grows up enough to enjoy a ride on which they could get hurt, and they scream with joy (and a tiny bit of fear). Cora loved it so much (and the lines were so short), we ran back up the stairs to do it again. I wish I had photos, but water rides aren't really places to take your camera!

At the end, Stace and my mom and I went twice on the big ride called Tornado, while dad handled the girls. Violet occupied herself by playing with the buckles on Cora's vest, while Cora made a nest for any passing birds in need.

It was a fantastic day out and I hope we can relive the fun next year!