Renaissance Pleasure Faire

 Cora made our return in what is becoming an annual trip to the Renaissance Pleasure Faire on Saturday, which happened to be the day the seven-week event opened.

Cora's nerves were a bit rough in the morning, but she pressed through, and we had a lovely day together. 

Cora piled on all these interesting ornaments and borrowed the skirt from a theatre castmate. 

The Dungeons and Dragons shop had many things that interested Cora. 

The proprietor of this shop told Cora, "You need bat wings!" and put them on her. We did not purchase the wings, but the lady encouraged us to take a photo together.

We watched this entertainer's Dungeons and Shakespeare mashup live show twice, and we also ate a turkey leg and people watched and just enjoyed a day together.

Summerland Getaway, Part 3

 

We woke up to a beautiful Friday morning, and took a walk down to the beach with our coffee and tea while the girls slept in. I'm showing off my 20-year-old travel cup, with art made by my teenaged sister. Still enjoy using it!

See how it's now a rocky shore? We were there for high tide, and perhaps we'd caught low tide Wednesday evening.

Stace and I had taken a nice walk Thursday morning, too,  but it was drizzly and cold, so we didn't go to the beach but rather checked out the shops in town and got a coffee.

We went back down to the beach after having breakfast and checking out of our place. This is me and Cora, for those wondering.

We discovered that the beach park, at the other end, had games to play! Ping pong and bocce ball, with all the equipment in a bag hanging off the ping pong table. There was a lovely pergola, along with barbecues, benches and a nature trail through a wooded area down to the shore. Wow! What a park!

We had thoughts of going to the Santa Barbara Zoo, and had parked the car, but I checked the weather and it called for rain. Not worth paying $25 per ticket for a rainy zoo trip, so we left, and it then started pouring!

We ended up making our way south, and had lunch at Padaro Beach Grill, a favorite stop near Carpinteria.

Then, we headed home. It was a great little getaway.

Summerland Getaway, Part 2

The weather on the second day of our trip wasn't brilliant, a bit rainy and cool, so we avoided the beach and instead went into Santa Barbara. We went to the Natural History Museum for the first time, and enjoyed the various exhibits.

On a nature trail around the museum grounds, we learned about animatronic dinosaurs. 

What a nature trail, with a real and gorgeous creek! If we'd lived in Santa Barbara, we would definitely have been members when the kids were young.

There were exhibits on local history, native peoples, sea life, birds and mammals.

We stopped at a well-loved, highly regarded taco place for a late lunch, and ate well. We then walked around the 1782 Santa Barbara Presidio, the first complex of buildings in the city in

 

There's always time for boba - especially when the kids would have rather skipped the family trip. (In the end, she said it was a good few days away, thankfully.)

We walked around the wharf. The views are amazing.

And, we happened to be around town for the weekly "free Thursday evening" entry at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. This was another museum I'd never been to, but with an artist in the family, and free entry, it seemed worth an hour of our time.

We then drove around Santa Barbara looking for a good spot to watch the sunset, but failed.

Summerland Getaway, Part 1

We took advantage of the girls' week off school and went up to Santa Barbara County for a couple of nights. 

We drove up Wednesday, picking Stace up from work on our way. 

In this photo, we're enjoying our dinner at a beach park. We apparently struggle to take selfies, but we have fun.
 

We stayed in a very cool two-bedroom basement apartment in Summerland, a tiny town between Carpinteria and Santa Barbara. This was the view from the yard! Yes, that's the ocean beyond the trees. Being ocean-view also meant being freeway-close, and we could hear it, but a large fountain outside our unit helped. We'd definitely stay here again! The lady who lives in the main house even has three cats, so we felt right at home.

Our first day in town had the best weather, and we spent some time at the beach in the evening. We could walk to the beach from our rental! 

Here, Cora and Stace are playing a game they created, that involved trying to hit a larger rock with smaller rocks.

Cora's collection of sea glass - you can tell it's Cora, because of the many hair bands around her wrist. She wears hair bands like bracelets.

Violet's sea glass

The beautiful California coastline

We left the beach to go south to Carp to get dinner, Thai food and Thai tea, and then took it back to the beach park.

Violet ordered a "young coconut juice" and didn't expect to get a coconut with a straw! It was not yummy like coconut milk. Oh well, cool experience.

Easter Break

The girls are now on Spring Break, and this year, the first weekend of break included Easter Sunday.

Melanie and Nick are on a trip with Ellie, so instead of making a big meal, we decided to eat out at Route 66. This is where we had our rehearsal dinner more than 20 years ago. 

Here, the girls are opening their Easter goodies from Grandma.

Violet brought her iPad with her to draw while we waited. 

On our way home, we stopped at a boba place that normally would be way out of our way. Whoa, it was pricey, but I guess we can consider it part of our Easter treats. The drinks were pretty and tasty.

I managed to do a tiny bit of seasonal decorating and figured out some basket fun for the girls.

The weather was rainy off and on, so we didn't get to church in person, but watched online. I was able to get in a quick canyon walk during a rain break, and it was beautiful!

On Saturday, we had dinner at Rigo and Colleen's, and after dinner, we took a walk around Val Verde. In a field, a resident has quite a collection of old cars!

Lazy mornings on days off school are the best...especially with a kitty sleeping on your legs...

...or in your arms.

Week in Review

 

We attended our last Open House at Violet's junior high, and went around seeing the TWO teacher she has there, along with old friends who taught Cora and Violet in past years. This is Ms. Mathis, Vi's science teacher.

Several cool experiments were set up in the science lab, so Vi and Stace gave them a go.

We also visited Mrs. Davidson, Vi's favorite teacher, who teaches yearbook. Violet will miss this class and teacher! Cora loved her too, and had her for history.

The big question we got all evening was, which high school will Violet attend? And she's come to a decision - she'll go to the school she's zoned for, where her friends will go, where Cora went last year. 

Cora was pretty disappointed, and my mama heart was touched to see it. I love the bond my girls have, and we all do wish it would have worked out for them to have that single year of high school together. But, it just was not to be. 

I could see pros and cons for both schools for Violet, but in the end, she would have only had one year with Cora there, had she chosen Cora's current school, while she'll likely have four years with her girlfriends.

Here's a photo of our back stone fruit trees. Fingers crossed for a good crop!

Earlier this week, Stace and I saw a comedic murder mystery in Newhall, and we all had a family dinner at Stone Fire for our March birthdays. 

Our front nectarine trees are also covered in blossoms. 

Earlier this week, my right shoulder started hurting badly, in a spot that I'd noticed some funny twinges over the past two months. I made an appointment with the local orthopedic specialists, and an X-ray showed this little calcium deposit. They gave me a medication, which has helped a lot. I'll do physical therapy as well.

Also this week, Violet and I went to another art show opening at the local gallery. They seem to change shows every six weeks, with a celebration each time. Violet went to Teacision with her school friends, and then to one of their houses. 

Museum Day

 Stace, Violet and I met up with Jim and Callie at the Gene Autry Museum on Saturday. JT and Jonah were camping with Scouts, and Cora wasn't interested. It was an annual "Free Museum Day" and we enjoyed our time; Stace and I hadn't been in quite a few years.

The top images here are actually mini figurines, and Violet thought that maybe she also could pose D&D minis for portraits.

I took this for Cora, who likes ravens.

Violet enjoyed the art. You can see Callie and Jim in the background. We forgot to get a group photo. We ate lunch together at the museum before heading home.

Earlier in the week, Ellie came over for a few hours, and she was quite the big helper as we watered plants and washed the garage door.

Also this week, I filed our income taxes and met up for coffee with Melissa and Tiffany. It was also Open House at West Ranch - more on that in another post.

Fun new cat toy!

A Jazzy Open House

 Cora's high school held its Open House on Tuesday, and we all got a sneak peak at "All That Jazz," led by our favorite high school actress.

We knew she could act, and it's great seeing her excel at singing and dancing.

Grandma and Grandpa were watching Ellie, so she got to watch too. (All the girls were crossing their legs in this photo - Ellie came close!)

I helped at our Parent Advisory Council booth, too, as I'm on the leadership team there. And Vi walked around the campus, as she's deciding whether she'll go here or to the school Cora used to go to. It will be for two classes out of six, as Violet will stick with the independent study program for most of her schooling next year.