A Longer Stay

On Sunday, Stace worked on the trim of Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty's home, on the exterior wall of the kitchen that recently was redone.

Now, it's all rewired and plumbed, with added insulation and a new window (none of this was completed by Stace). After Stace's trimwork, it's ready for paint.

Here is the framework for the new steps that Stace designed. This is the kind of project he loves, when he can really put his engineering skills to use.

Stace planned it so that as few bricks as possible needed to be cut. Cora gave Uncle Bill a hand on Sunday getting the bricks laid, after the ground had been prepared.

Now, you can walk from the sidewalk along the side of the house straight into the front courtyard. A gate will be added in the near future.

About midway through Sunday's work, Stace asked me about putting our own bedroom project on hold for one more week, so we could relax on Monday at the beach. How could I argue? We spent one more night, waking up Monday with nothing to do but enjoy the company and our surroundings.

One benefit of staying with Bill and Patty was that Stace and I were able to get out each morning for a nice walk along the shore, while the girls stayed behind to watch Wild Kratts and eat breakfast.

We really felt like we were on vacation!

Later Monday, we headed back to Harbor Cove, again bringing the kayaks. Stace took Violet out while Cora and I had fun catching up with some SClarita friends we didn't expect to see.

Later, Cora and I went out on our own.

Then, Stace took both girls out, and then let them bring in the boat on their own.

We left around 3 to get back to shower up and pack the car. We made it home before 7, ensuring  early bedtimes all around.

Thanks, Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty, for an amazing long weekend together! We look forward to doing it again soon.

Beach Day

Cora's school gave us a four-day weekend this past week, with Friday a teacher in-service day and Monday off for Labor Day.

After Stace came home from work Friday, we headed up to Ventura to spend the night with Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty.

Our plan was for Stace to help Bill on the outdoor renovation Saturday, go to the beach, and go home that night. Then, on our next two days off, we'd work on our own bedroom redo.

On Saturday, Aunt Patty and I took the girls to the beach, where Violet had her first kayaking experience. She loved it, as you would imagine.

After kayaking, Cora spent hours boogie-boarding. (I was playing with the camera settings, and the "vivid" setting made the water look a little odd in the next few photos.)




















We were at Harbor Cove, where we can take in the kayaks easily; it's a very protected beach where there aren't any waves, just a gentle lapping tide.








It was perfect for a beginning boogie boarder like Violet. At first, she was a little nervous on the board, but she also soon came to love it.

Back at our Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty's beach house Saturday evening, the girls loved using the new outdoor shower.

Along with renovating the yard and kitchen, my ambitious aunt and uncle have gutted their master bath. In the process of replumbing the house and bathroom, their good friend (a plumber by trade) added this handy feature.

At this point, it was time for a superb grilled lamb supper, following the prior night's yummy barbecued pizza. Even without a functional kitchen, Bill and Patty know how to produce fabulous meals.

Then, we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores, with Reece's peanut butter cups in the place of the Hershey's chocolate squares. Oh my goodness. We will have to do that again.

Somewhere in between, a game of Candyland took place. Violet loved this game! We will have to pull ours down from the closet.

By this point, Stace and I had decided to stay another night, so he could finish the piece of the project he and Bill had begun.

Fun with friends, in pools

At the beginning of this week, the girls transformed the coffee table into a bookmark-making station. This began when Cora made several for a friend's birthday gift, and then thought she could carry on, and sell them. (While doing extra chores for money hasn't captured Cora's fancy, selling things still interests her.)

Stace and I commissioned her (an MG bookmark for Daddy, and a coffee-mug-and-hearts one for myself) and gave her some coins. 

 On Tuesday afternoon, I left Stace in charge while I went out for a meeting of the school's foundation board. I've recently been named its treasurer. Violet took the opportunity to have a little snuggly nap.

 Earlier Tuesday, Violet and I visited our friend Jen and her son Matthew. The little ones played a Star Wars video game, which was very exciting for Violet. After seeing the (first, or fourth) movie twice, she now claims to be a big fan.

 On Wednesday, while the big kids were at school, Colleen and I took our littler girls to Scooter's Jungle for play time. It was a little strange to be there without the big siblings, with our little ones, and to see that they were older than most of the children playing.

 On Wednesday night, we went to a movie night at Hurricane Harbor with my parents, a perk for Six Flags employees and their families. They were showing Muppets Most Wanted, a movie I wanted to see since we grew up during the Muppets golden age.

It was a nice night out, albeit a late one. Cora wasn't in bed until 9:30, an hour later than her normal lights-out time.

 But, Thursday was going to be a half-day, and Friday she was off school, so we thought it was worth one night of short sleep.

On Thursday, we had Sophia over for lunch and pool time. After a week or two of very temperate weather (in the 80s), the end of this week has heated back up.

Later Thursday, Stace and I went to Cora's Back to School Night, where we learned what to expect from second grade and Dr. Porter. Cora is in for a good year!

Super Saturday

Saturday morning, just after dawn 8, we dragged the girls out of the house for a family walk-and-breakfast adventure.

Such a beautiful view, and by the time we reached this part, Cora had ceased complaining and instead embraced the idea.

Violet was in the stroller for more than half the walk, but this was a section she could certainly handle...

...Especially when Cora shared her scooter. Listening to Big Sister give her tips was a lot of fun for me and Stace.

After the canyon walk, we reached Granary Square, where we had breakfast and got some groceries.

Then we headed off on the paseo for the walk home.

In the afternoon, Stace had some things to fix around the house.

Later, we went to Allison's 5th birthday party, which had a Frozen theme. Violet was happy to be able to wear her Anna dress, earrings, glove, crown and dress-up shoes.










Though it would have been fun to stay all evening, we left shortly after snow cones and presents.

This evening was the night that Hollywood U2 was performing at our summer Concerts in the Park series. We've seen them before, and they give an outstanding show, with the look, feel and sound of the real band. We all enjoyed this part of the day as well, with Cora and me in the crowd in front of the stage, dancing and taking it all in.

Week In Review

Though I still think school starting in mid-August cuts too far into summer, there is an advantage. We are able to ease back into normal life, as there are a few weeks of relative quiet before homework, preschool, soccer, Pioneer Club and  Mom2Mom get going again.

Such was this week - Cora is adjusting well to being back in school, and she's getting more used to her class and teacher.

Violet and I had a pretty quiet week. We went through her clothes, we had lunch and playtime with Colleen and Liana one day, and we had her friend Melanie over another day.

Most mornings, we walked with little Melanie, her mom Christina, and Christina's sister. We told the girls they could walk on the bridge (top photo), but had to ride the rest of the way.

One evening, we walked down the pool, and both girls were suddenly interested in walking Walkie Pups, the type of pull-toy usually favored by toddlers, down the paseo.





















On Friday afternoon, we went down to the Ventura Pier to meet up with Michelle, Rob and Brooke.

We haven't been to that part of our favorite beach town for several years, so the girls really enjoyed the play area. It was a bit chilly to get in the water.

It was really nice to see Michelle, Rob and Brooke again, and get caught up on our summers.


On our way home, Violet told us the following joke.
"What did the X say to the other X, when they wanted to draw?" she asked. " 'Wanna draw X marks?' Like check marks...?"

On a more serious note, she asked me one morning, "Why do they call bison, bison?"
I answered that that is just what they are named.
"But, why is their last name, sin?" she persisted. Big theological questions from the 4-year-old!

Week In Review

 This week, Violet and I got back into our school-day routine of walking and doing chores and running errands, with Cora at school.

Lately she's been having fun with Stripes, her new zebra pal, and Spots, her old giraffe buddy. She put a flower hairband on Stripes so everyone knows she's a girl.

The girls have been harvesting zucchini and tomatoes every couple of days. We're not getting a bumper crop, but we have a couple of productive plants producing some very sweet fruit.

On Thursday, JT, Callie and Jonah came up to visit and play in the pool. Cora was happy to play with both of JT and Jim's cuties.











Also on Thursday, the girls had their final city swimming lessons of the summer. They received certificates and candy, much to their delight.

Cora is getting very good at diving, and loved diving off the short practice diving board.

Violet earned her Stripes (zebra) earlier in the week when she had a good day at lessons, following a not-so-good day. Violet kept going under the water while her teacher was working with another student, despite repeated instruction to stay above and hold the wall.

We had a talk with Violet, and the next day she did very well, listening and obeying. Stripes was hers as a reward.













 On Friday, following a long four days of second grade, Stace thought we'd make it the night special by introducing the girls to Star Wars.

(This is probably goes without saying, but his goal was to introduce Cora to his favorite movie series, and Violet went along for the ride.)

Cora enjoyed it a lot, and Sebastian understood who the bad guys were.

On Saturday, we had Daryl and Juliana up for swimming and dinner. We all had a nice time together, as always. Juliana brought a beautiful rainbow jello cake for our dessert. Maya also started second grade this week.

Disney Junior Event

 On Friday, Violet and I met up with Melanie, Heather and baby Sienna in Pasadena, at a Disney Junior event featuring Jake the Neverland Pirate and Sophia the First.

The characters were on stage during a song-and-dance time, with Disney Radio people. Besides encouraging the children to watch their shows, the personalities encouraged the children to do good deeds.


The children were able to complete four activity stations, and Violet enjoyed them all.

She hadn't been that excited to go to the event, saying that she was a zoo girl, not a Disney girl. She had her zebra and giraffe Beanie Baby clips on her dress, to prove the point. But once we got there, she had fun, and was happy to wear her Sophia cardboard crown and necklace.

One station encouraging cleaning up the planet by putting recycling in the recycling container, and another taught taking care of animals.

Violet even signed her name on a pledge to do good deeds. It was all very cute.

Melanie and I then took the girls to a nearby park, where they played and we had lunch. It was nice catching up.

Second Grade Begins

 Cora started the school year Tuesday - second grade! She looked so pretty and grownup in her new dress, long pony tail, butterfly necklace, and black flats.

Thank goodness she wanted Owletta (the Third) to walk with her to school, to remind us that she is still our little girl.

Despite a summer of late nights and lazy mornings, Cora had no trouble Tuesday morning getting up and dressed. She got ready eagerly, excited for her school year to begin, and to see her friends regularly again.

 Stace came home from work to walk to school with us.

Two years ago, on Cora's first day of kindergarten, we walked with the Roberts. Cora and Johnny were so little, starting their elementary school journey, while Ave seemed like the seasoned pro, heading into second grade. I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the idea of Cora being that same age now.

Here's Cora in line with her new classmates,waiting for Dr. Porter to bring them in. We are excited to see how this school year goes, after hearing wonderful things from Dr. Porter's former students and parents who love her.

At school's end, Mrs. Vasquez walked the first- and second-graders out to the waiting parents. Here's Cora giving her a good-bye hug.

Then, it was time for a hello hug from her little sister. Cora told us that all went well on her first day of second grade, and she seems upbeat about it all.

Back at home, Cora waited for her after-school snack with a good book and a great cat. They make such cute reading partners.

Here's to another good school year.