Beach Weekend

Six months ago, Pam sent out a message to a load of us about booking sites at Carpinteria State Beach for the weekend right before the end of elementary school.

We bit, as did a group of other families, and here we are!

Elaine and Vivian pitched a tent on our site Friday night, and we weren't far from Sue and Pauly's site. Here, the girls are enjoying Sue's hammocks.

Friday night s'mores - Pam booked a beach-front site just for the group to hang on. We had two fire pits, a big snack table and lots of friends to visit with.

Saturday morning breakfast - yum! Camping is always better with good friends.

Cora and Violet again shared the little orange tent. Stace and I had our big grey tent to ourselves. Unfortunately, our blowup mattress didn't stay blown up, and we were pretty much sleeping on the ground. That, combined with noisy early morning crows meant for a short night's sleep. But, as our friend Colleen would say, "That's camping!"

We were off to the beach around 11, and Sophia, Cora and Vivi got to work digging a deep hole.

Elaine and Vivian left us around 1:30, and Kelly and Yass and the boys took their spot on our site an hour later.

Cora, Violet, Jake and Char went off on their bikes  - Violet wanted her head to be warm AND safe. Jake, lurking in the background, clearly doesn't approve of her fashion sense.

We did more beach that evening, and more s'mores.

Thankfully, Stace and I had a second mattress, and this one stayed inflated. We woke up early again, and emerged to find that we'd had late-night masked bandit visitors.

Look at those paw/handprints on the t-shirt! Also, all over the tablecloth, but they're harder to discern.

Nice that we were able to provide a dozen eggs for the raccoons! What a mess. Stace and Yass went out to the grocery store to pick up more. Thankfully, camping at Carp is easy, with grocery stores and restaurants within walking distance.

Stace, Violet and I took an early Sunday stroll to the seaside, and checked out the rock stacks she'd made earlier.

Later, breakfast was served!

We then packed up our site and headed back to the beach. We'd woken up to a gorgeous, clear, warm day, and while the rest of our group checked out and went back home, the waves were calling us too loudly.

The kids and dads alternated between playing in the waves and playing in the sand.

At one point, Kelly and I turned around from our blanket to see that Cora and Jake were no longer on their towels (visible here with Charlie).

We waited a few minutes, and then started looking for them. She went to the bathrooms, Stace and I went one way up the beach, then she and Char went the other direction down the beach. Yass went back to our camp site.

By this time, about 15 minutes had gone by. I wasn't truly worried, as we knew they were together - it wasn't likely they both were drowned or kidnapped, and where would they have wandered to? They'd know better than to take off without talking to us.

Finally, a woman sitting not far from us pointed to me, and pointed to the logs. She obviously could see that we were looking for someone. I went over to the logs, and as I got close, there were Cora and Jake, lying in a square hole, two yards from their towels.

"Wait, were you looking for us?" Jake asked. 

"Why didn't you call our names? We would have answered," Cora noted. 

I didn't have a good response to that, other than we didn't want to alert all the passersby that we were missing our children. Who weren't missing at all, but were merely lying down in a hole a few yards from us.

When we recovered from our fright, we enjoyed the sunshine the rest of the afternoon, and had a Mexican lunch before getting on the road home.

It was a great weekend away.

Kickball!

On Friday, the End of Year sixth grade activities began with the annual parents-vs-students kickball game.

Here's Cora with her girly group - Sophi, Violet and Vivian.

Cora's the kicker here - and Yass (not shown) caught her ball on the fly for an out.

Here, you can see Stace and Yass  fielding, with Jake on second base.

The grownups' turn to kick, or big siblings, since the junior highs and high schools are now out for summer break.

Cora had been bragging on her dad's kickball skills, and when his first weak attempt went foul, her teammates were questioning her.

But Stace wasn't finished.

With the bases loaded, he then pounded it high and far into right field. Here he's rounding second base...

...on his way home.

It was a fun morning with our big girl!

Yass had a meeting after school, so the boys came over. Violet and Jake walked home first, while Cora and Charlie went to the GATE Musical party. Then, they walked home too. After lunch, we went over to the pool.

It was fitting that the boys were over for Cora and Jake's last half-day Friday. They'll have full school days on Fridays in junior high. I'll miss these Friday afternoons together.

After the pool, we finished packing for our big group camping trip.

Final GATE Musical for Cora

Cora was very excited for her day of performances in the school musical Wednesday! I thought she looked so grownup and pretty when she was ready to leave for school.

She performed twice in the school day, once for the younger grades and again for the upper grades. We returned to school in the evening for the performance for the families.

Cora was one of four "delivery people" in the play, which was called "The Great Western Movement." The Delivery People were the main roles, appearing throughout the show. Once again, Cora starred next to Violet, her sweet longtime friend.

At the climax of the play, Cora and crew are delivering the "Golden Spike" to Promontory Point, Utah, where newly built railroads are about to connect the East and West Coasts in 1869.

But, inside the package was... the Famous Golden BOWLING BALL?!? Um, oops!

Cora, as always, was a great little actress, delivering her lines loudly, clearly and with great expression.

Here's video of the exciting moment and song...

Sophia played Daniel Boone, and song his/her song very well. In fact, all the songs were sung well, and all the parts were well-acted.

Charlie had a role too, for the first time. (Jake wasn't interested in taking part.)

We're so proud of our girl! Who knows if she'll be on stage again, but she certainly thrived in her time with Mrs. Shafarman and the three GATE musicals she took part in.

Cora with Charlie and Cami, who played a pioneer girl.

Mrs. Shafarman has made clear that she is going to miss these sixth graders! Many of them have performed together all three years they were eligible. They presented Mrs. Shafarman with flowers and a special card.

I also gave Mrs. Shafarman and Ms. Sheen lovely bouquets and gift cards, through money I collected from the parents.

Cora, Cooper,Trent, Ryan and Christine goofing around after the show.

Cora and Sophia

Violet can't wait for her turn to be in the musical next year!

Cora will miss these ladies, but she says she's going to be back to help out next year!

Day in the Life

How about a Day in the Life, with Cora about to leave elementary school, and Violet in her last weeks of third grade?
6:50 a.m. - I wake Cora up, and then go to Violet's room to do the same. I give Vi her thyroid medicine...and then go back to make sure Cora's up... and then return to Violet's room to get her out of bed.
While the girls get up and dressed, I shower and dress too.
7:20 - The girls were having their breakfast while watching Fortnite videos when I come back out to make their lunches.
7:25 - Time for the girls to brush teeth, and then get their shoes on and backpacks together.

7:43 a.m. - The girls are ready to go, and Violet has been riding her bike with Cora to school for the past week. Violet loves riding her bike with her sister, and asks if she can do it every day.

7:50 - I walk to school, so that I can walk with my girlfriends. I usually like watching the girls walk from Morning Ceremony to their classrooms, but Cora's class is now setting up chairs for graduation practice instead of taking part in Morning Ceremony.

8:40 - After walking with my girlfriends, we come back to see the sixth-graders practicing for graduation.

Cora and Jake are in the white circle, practicing walking in. The teachers selected the order of who walked in together, and perhaps they know that Cora and Jake are good friends. They are the last pair to walk in, so every sixth-grader is facing forward, watching. Walking "down the aisle" together has gotten them quite a bit of teasing.

8:55 - Christina drives me back home, and we chat for a bit in her car before she heads to work. Then, it's tidying, getting ready for the day, handling insurance phone calls, and heading to an orthodontist appointment. When I get home at 11:30, I tackle laundry, blogging and lunch.

2:45 - Cora and Violet burst in after riding home. They have a snack, and do their homework and chores. Snack today consists of homemade vanilla bean frappuccinos - I've found a copycat recipe online that's quite yummy - and apple slices.

3:00 - Cora begins playing Fortnite with Jake. They play together most days, talking through their headsets. Violet watches for a bit, and then goes to play with her Lego dragons in the playroom. She is creating a new dragon out of bits of Lego.

3:20 - We leave for a makeup salon, where Cora has a 3:30 eyebrow appointment. This is a big week coming up - GATE Musical is Wednesday, and promotion/graduation the following Wednesday. Since Cora hasn't had her brows done since January, we agreed this was a good time to get it done.
Violet, just visible in the mirror, brings her homework and her kindle to occupy herself.

4:20 - My gorgeous girl, after Amariz, the makeup and brow stylist, finishes with her. A bit of powder, tiny amount of blush and eye shadow, and lip gloss - wow!

4:40 - Back home, Cora jumps back onto Fortnite with Jake, and they discuss attending a family picnic that evening at the school for GATE families. Charlie is in GATE, and so their family would be going.

5:10 - Stace comes home, and he isn't interested in a GATE picnic. Neither is Violet. Stace and I have planned to attend the school district's annual Art Show, which goes until 8 p.m. Neither girl wants to go to the Art Show. Lots of complaining.

6 - Cora convinces me to take her to school to the GATE picnic, so she can hang out with Jake and Char. We have a quick dinner there, while Violet and Stace have the same at home.

7 - Cora and I head back home and pick up Stace and Violet, and off we go to the Art Show. Stace and I are the only ones interested in attending. But it's a sweet event, and it's Cora's last one, and by golly, we're going.

7:20 - We've found Violet's artwork. It's a city collage. You can see by her bright smile how happy she is to have found it.

We never find Cora's art - she said she herself turned in her class's offerings to the front office, so we're not sure why no art from her class is on display.

7:50 - The event featured food trucks, so we reward the girls for their "patience" with Kona Ice.

8 p.m. - As the event winds down, Stace and I get an ice cream to share. We then drive home via old Newhall, showing the girls where we used to live.

8:20 - Cora has a shower, and Violet gets ready for bed.
Stace comes into our room, stating, "I just thought of a really good idea. What if we bought a really old van,
and turned it into a camper."
Me: "Why do all of your "really good ideas" start with, "What if we bought a really old...?"

9:00 - We say good-night to the girls, who remain awake past 9:30.

And there it is - A Day in the Life, 6th and 3rd Grade Style.

Recorders and Greeks

June started with a bang for us, with a busy two school weeks ahead. On Monday, Violet took played in the third grade recorder concert, and played very well.

Violet really enjoyed learning the recorder this year, and took it seriously. Unfortunately, she now says she doesn't want to continue in orchestra next year.

Later on Monday afternoon, the 6th graders presented their Greek Wax Museum, where they all wore togas and brought a famous Greek persona to life.
Cora is lying down in the front, on the right side.

Here, Cora listens to Sophia presenting her character. (Their tennis shoes really complete their outfits!)

And here, Cora presents her character, Thespis, to Sue and Yass. Thespis is known as the creator of acting and theater.

Here's Cora listening to Violet.

Grandpa was able to come by and hear Cora's speech, too.

We proudly present Thespis!

Week in Review

Memorial Day was Monday, and we went to the annual service honoring our fallen soldiers at Eternal Valley cemetery. 

We last attended the service when Violet was a tiny baby, so we felt it was high time we went again.

Later in the day, we went to Yass and Kell's for a barbecue for Yass's birthday. It was a lot of fun, as always.

 On Thursday evening, we bribed convinced Cora to check out our church's junior high youth group. This was the weekend our church has all students jump ahead into the next grade level, so Cora will no longer attend the 6th grade group on Sunday mornings. Instead, she'll go to adult church Sundays, and has the option to go to youth group on Thursdays. She was very nervous about going, but was happy to find a classmate from school to sit with. I attended a parent meeting with the student pastor, seen here.

 On Friday after school, Violet got crafty, and made this cape for Spencer. She sewed an S onto the black cloth, and the decorative sequins.

 On Friday afternoon, we met up with our friends Emily and Brad and their family, who flew in from Texas on the start of a California family vacation.

Emily's a big Dodger fan, so while she, Brad, and their two older boys went to the Friday night Dodger game, we kept 5-year-old Madeleine. We took her to Menchie's, played at home with our kitties, and watched a movie (Frozen!).

 Cora was a good big-sister-type, playing with Madeleine at the mall.

Later, Cora met up with my mom, and they painted pottery and then watched a very late showing of the new Aladdin movie.

 On Saturday, Violet had her last softball game, and then Stace had friends from work over to watch the Champions League final. Our afternoon/evening was filled with friends from Mom2Mom, at the year-end picnic.

This year, we met at the gorgeous home of one of our members. The kids had a great time playing in the pool.

On Sunday, we went to church, and Cora had no class to go to! She sat with us, and we decided to sit outside. It was a beautiful Sunday, which ended with a bit of time in our own pool.