Camping in Paradise

 We went camping over the weekend in Santa Barbara County, at Paradise Campground, where Violet went with Colleen and Rigo about 18 months ago. It was the first time Stace and I had been to this lovely spot less than two hours from home.

We were blessed with an amazing sunset on our drive there.

Here's our camping crew on Saturday, on a walk to the nearby Santa Ynez River.

Cora had theater responsibilities and couldn't join us.

Our tents... we ended up sharing one, because it was cold.

From our site, we could look across this field to Colleen and Rigo's trailer and Paul's tent.

We played frisbee (see it in the air?) and other simple games.

I got to catch up on some newspapers.

Wildflowers!

The river was too full to walk through it to the trail on the other side, unlike Violet's last time here, when it was practically nonexistant. 

Nearer our campground was this sweet little stream.

We had campfire fun, playing word games and roasting dessert. 

It was a lovely little getaway in a gorgeous setting, with perfect weather! Can't ask for anything more.

Sweetness

Just a collection from the past few weeks of kitty cuteness...

So this is love... 

 

Look at our guys sharing a chair so nicely!

Introduction to the world of D&D dice.

Funny kitties - he's falling into the empty recycling bin here.

Ummm, excuse me? A little help please?

Tidbits

The girls rode their bikes to Teacision on Saturday. See the water behind them in the riverbed? 

Later, Cora and I made this four-ingredient artisan bread, which is simple but uses an overnight rise.

It came out delicious!

This colorful ground turkey mixture was a recipe from Stacey's new eating plan. It was flavorful, actually pretty delicious. I made white rice for the girls, while he and I had it in lettuce wraps.

Stace changed the filter on our instant hot water tap and somehow it stopped working. After many attempts at sealing it better, we ended up replacing it. Thankfully, he had Evie and Winston to help him figure it out.

Week in Review

 

The best part of Violet's new schedule - she was busy Monday with schoolwork, but on Tuesday, she had free time so we took a nice hike at Elsmere Creek. We had to cross it so many times, we took our shoes off. We also agreed to just wear water shoes on our next hikes.

costco wednesday

So pretty.

On Wednesday, I met my dad at Costco for my quarterly trip. Cora was home from school Wednesday with a headache, which may or may not have been related to her headbutting the stage in her Macbeth death scene the night before.

Ellie came over to visit on Thursday - in other words, I babysat her for a few hours. She got to help bring in some of the oranges! We've been very blessed this winter.

I showed her our blueberry bushes, which for the first year, are covered in flowers. Fingers crossed they all turn into fruit! 

She played with some activity books, and shared a chair with her favorite kittens. 

After we picked up Violet from school, we went to my friend Liz's house to let out her new puppy while she was at work. 

Ellie has been scared of dogs, but she did very well with tiny Enzo. She also played with Cooper the Corgi, and called him Goober. It was adorable.

In the evening, Stace and I went to Ellie's house for dinner and to put her to bed, until Mel made it home from work.

Theatre Showcase

On Tuesday night, we got to see Cora's district Theatre Festival scenes, interspersed with choir solos from the school's choir.

Cora is Macbeth here, in a choreographed fight scene. It was so impressive, with blood packs to add to the realism. 

This scene won an award at the competition. And Cora, as I already said, won a Judge's Choice award for her overall work that day..

I so wish I had good photos - these are just from the audience with my cell phone. Next year, we need Grandpa back in action! 

The moment of death - that's a head flying!

Macduff, the victor.

Here's the school's musical number, Live in Living Color, from a musical centered around the con artist in the film Catch Me If You Can.

And, I don't have any good photos of Cora in their scene from The Play That Goes Wrong. But Cora was funny!

Weekend Fun

 

It was a showery Saturday. Stace and I went to the monthly car show at the Porsche dealer, where along with fancy new sports cars, we saw this classic Ford Anglia.

Later, we took a walk, took the girls to Bricks for dinner, and Stace and I watched Tombstone.

 

The weather improved and we could go to church in person Sunday (since our girls prefer sitting in the outdoor amphitheater, the weather matters). After church, we went across the parking lot to Valley Marketplace, where we spotted these imported English chocolates!

We had to show our support. See the Quality Street boxes behind the girls' heads, too. We also got the girls boba in the in-store tea stand.

Later Sunday, Stace, Vi and I went to check out the swiftly flowing creek at the Placerita Waterfall Trail. It felt like we were very far from dry, dusty SClarita!

So pretty.

That evening, we watched "To Catch a Thief" with Cary Grant.