Grownup Disney Fun

 My friends - twin sisters - Christina and Tiffany turned 40 on Friday, and a few of us celebrated with them on a group trip to Disneyland.

We left Friday morning after dropping the kids off at school - yes, it was a kids-free trip! Here we are, excited and ready for our big day out.

 We went on a very rainy day, and I was thrilled that our drive down went smoothly. (I had been expecting hours upon hours!)

Christina and Tiffany hooked us all up with ponchos, and those, combined with rainboots, kept us dry and happy.

We started out with getting fast passes to Space Mountain, and these were the only fast passes we got all day - the rain kept the crowds down and the lines were short. Hooray!

We went on Space Mountain, Star Tours and Astro Blasters before lunchtime. After lunch, we hit up Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones and Splash Mountain.

 We also got lots of nice snacks - coffees, beignets, churros, hot dogs (not all of us had all of it!). Thankfully, after about 3, it hardly rained.











For dinner, we took the Monorail to Trader Sams, by the Disneyland Hotel. Though the service was slow, the food, drinks and atmosphere were great.

We returned to the park and went on It's a Small World, and then found a spot to watch the Main Street Electrical Parade.

The famous parade was a staple at Disneyland from 1972 to 1996, and Friday marked its return. It was great to be there for its re-opening night. It will be back in Anaheim for five months.

We had a great day and night together, and it was lovely spending time with these special friends.

(My only wish is that we also could have simultaneously been with Dean, celebrating his 40th, too!)

Birds and Puppies

We learned about Placerita Nature Center's junior ranger program when we went for our New Year's Day hike.

We returned Saturday, for a junior ranger bird walk. After learning about acorn woodpeckers and the California Scrub-Jay, we went out to look for them, with a docent and about two dozen kids and parents.

The girls thought the best part was splashing around in the creek, now that we've had a bit of rain.

The girls had the day off from school Monday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We went to a birthday party for a friend of Cora's, and then went to my friend Moira's house to meet her new puppy.

I serve with Moira in the church nursery, where she is a longtime volunteer. She took care of both Violet and Cora when they were babies, and I enjoy my Sunday mornings with her.

The girls sure enjoyed tiring out adorable Addie, who is about three months old.

Golden retriever puppies are among the cutest things on the planet. It's an established fact.

Week in Review

 We signed the girls up for a 6-week tumbling class at a gymnastics center, and they had their first class on Tuesday.

They both enjoyed it; it was interesting watching Cora, especially, learn new things in an unfamiliar environment. She will end up doing well here, too, I'm sure.

 We've had enough rain lately to turn what's normally a dry culvert into a river, complete with happy geese and ducks.

 We haven't done ice cream night for a while, but we had a free Tuesday night, and we needed to show Clifford a good time. He approved!












Stace and Cora have had a great time playing in the road for years, but lately, it's been Violet who's been begging Daddy to come out and play with her. Her football skills, and her speed, are really improving.

Cora was at Sophia's house for a sleepover Friday night, so we had a pizza/movie night with Violet. She helped make a smiley mushroom pizza, and chose a Peanuts film for us to enjoy. Surprise!

At least on Amazon Prime, which we now have a subscription to, there are lots to choose from. We picked the 1985 "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" that I remember so well from when I was exactly her age.

Artsy Violet

Our Violet is becoming a crafty queen (princess?). After researching Valentine's ideas, we hit upon cupcake-liner-flowers, and got the supplies at Michaels.

Clifford, the classroom pet, came home with us and was able to help out, or at least provide moral support.

Violet's been combining her love of Peanuts with a love of drawing. She's been looking up "how to" videos for drawing the characters.

We love her picture of Fifi and Snoopy! (And the Red Baron, too.)

When my friend Liz heard about Violet's craftiness, she offered to help her with a project. Violet had discovered melted crayon art online, and Liz, a Super Crafter, had already made such a project.

Liz set us up with crayons, a canvas, vinyl hearts and a heat gun; that night, Stace and I saw a movie and my dad had the girls.

Stace and I returned home to find Grandpa in full Grandpa mode, helping Violet out by peeling crayons.

We returned to Liz's house Friday after school, and she graciously helped Violet with her project.

Violet melted the crayons so much, most of them slid off the canvas. That's not what the pictures online showed, but hey, art is what you make it.

The colored wax was so thick on the vinyl hearts, Stace used an X-Acto knife to cut them off.

Proud girl! And rightfully so.
Many thanks to Liz for everything!

Sunday Fun

Also over Christmas Break, Violet had a bit of a breakthrough.

She now can tie her shoes!

Somehow, with velcro and slip-ons, we've just never had the urgency to teach Vi to tie her shoes. But over the last couple of weeks, without school keeping us busy, she put the time in and taught herself.

Violet also kept herself busy taking care of her fish - we had one pass away, and she wanted to replace it, and add to her tank. After a couple of weeks of doing a good job remembering to feed them, we agreed.

Stace took her out on a Daddy-Daughter Date, and they picked out three new fish.

While Violet really wanted new fish over break, Cora really wanted to get back to Vasquez Rocks. She just loves that place!

On Sunday, Stace took the girls there, while I had a meeting at church.

This is Cora's happy place!

Sewing Success

Cora received gift cards to Joann from Nan and Pop, and she was very excited to choose fabric, a pattern and other things she needed to make her first project.

Stace helped her a lot, as did discussions with people who know how to sew, and online video tutorials.

Cora was pleased, and we were all proud, of her first effort - this pair of pajama bottoms, with a drawstring waist.

We purchased a long-sleeved T-shirt that matches the fabric, and, voila!

Week in Review

 It was a good thing we had a third week of Christmas Break - Cora was home in bed with a fever for several days of it.

Luckily, she had her trusty cat Spencer to keep her company.

Cora woke up Monday feeling bad, and her fever rose as the day went on. Nothing too serious, just a good reason to sleep, read, and watch shows for a couple of days.

 Tuesday was my birthday, and thankfully Cora felt well enough to go out in the evening for dinner.
Melanie met us at my favorite restaurant, Wolf Creek, home of the World's Best Olive Dip. (My Mom and Dad were on a cruise, lucky ducks!)

 We had a lovely dinner, and it didn't hurt that Tuesdays are half-price for bottles of wine.

(While Cora looks great here, she was whispering to me that she felt bad and wanted to get back to bed. Such a trooper, loving her mummy so well to attempt a birthday dinner!)




We had a low-key Wednesday, as well, with just a trip out to the orthodontist and hair salon for Cora.

On Thursday, we got together with Violet's friend Camryn at an indoor play place - these two first-grade friends are so cute together!

 Cora worked on her violin practicing, and Stace strummed the guitar with Violet.

Violet got the crafting bug, Googling lots of ideas of Valentine's projects she wants to make for her classmates. I am not naturally crafty, so it's funny to see these interests pop out in your kids.

 On Friday, Cora felt well enough to go with Sophia to a climbing gym, full of rock walls. She loved it!

Can you spot the fourth-grade friends, way up high? Thanks to Sue for the photos, and for taking Cora along.

We had such a wonderful three-week break from school! Back to normal life now...

New Year's Ramble

Our New Year's Eve was low-key, because I wasn't feeling well and wasn't up for socializing. We made the best of it with movies - we introduced the girls to Home Alone. They both loved it, especially after Violet got used to the idea of watching a movie. Odd kids - since we don't do movies regularly, Vi in particular is nervous about watching films she hasn't already seen and loved.

On New Year's Day, our main event was a family hike in Placerita Canyon. We've had rain lately, and thought it would be great to hike to the Waterfall Trail. But, we found out that because of the big fire in the summer, the trail is still gone, so we did a different hike.

Unlike a lot of such outings, this was actually more of a hike than a stroll down an easy trail, with inclines and rocks to scramble up and over. It was fun, and the view at the top was beautiful.

It was very windy at the top! Violet's hair wouldn't cooperate with the photo opportunity.

Happy New Year! May 2017 be full of blessings for us all.