Busy Week!

The school's final Beginner Orchestra/Chorus concert was Tuesday, and this time Cora took part in the chorus part as well as the violin/orchestra portion.

Many thanks to our friend Pam for sending this sweet pic of Cora singing - we couldn't see her at all from where we were sitting.

Cora definitely enjoys singing; you can tell by that bright, smiling look on her face. I can envision many more chorus/choir concerts in our future.

That future will not include the violin, however. Tuesday represented the peak of Cora's violin career; she is happy to put the instrument away for good.

Here was our view of the performers - Cora is just visible between the audience members with white hair and blonde hair, to the left of the conductor.

On Wednesday, the students had a half-day because it was Open House that evening. We took Cooper and Wylie with us to play, starting at Placerita Canyon.

Since it was a quiet Wednesday afternoon, it was fine for the kids to practice their long-distance rock throwing.

Violet hiked in her silver Mary Janes - why not?

The playdate continued with a short stint in the pool in our neighborhood. Summer is coming! There will be lots of pool time ahead for us.

We went back to the pool another night this week and witnessed a miracle.

When Cora's friend Gianna was swimming with us last week, she somehow lost both of her tiny star-shaped earrings in the pool area. We have a pretty big pool area, and the girls were in the pool, the baby pool and the hot tub.

They searched for a while, and managed to find one stud.

This week, Cora found the other one! Amazing!

I went to the school to hang out with the girls during their lunch hours - it's a program for parents called "Hero of the Day."

I watched Violet and her first-grade friends sitting in a circle in the grass playing "Bubblegum, Bubblegum in a Dish." It was stinkin' adorable. Then Violet went off to kick a soccer ball with a couple of other friends. Love that tongue, sticking out in concentration!

Cora, meanwhile, spent much of her lunch helping Ms. Sheen in her kindergarten class. She does that several times a week, now that GATE Musical is over.

Time Travelers

My class has to do a report on the Gold Rush and either do a drawing or take a picture of what our character that we made up would have looked like.
     Cooper, Wylie, and I decided to head down to Placerita Canyon to take our Gold Rush pictures.

In this photo here, Dad made me bring my violin so it would look like I was playing a fiddle. Cooper snapped along. But, Wylie wasn't exactly enjoying it.

I created a person for my auto-biography called Lee Holsted. He comes from Cornwall in England and comes to California so he can get some money so his  parents are able to keep the house from being lost in the debt they were in.
        After many attempts to pull my hair back, I still look like a girl dressing up to look like a boy!
       Dad, Cooper, Wylie, Violet, and I all helped set up a camp ground. Maybe we went a little over the top, but hey! At least it was really fun!

  

Lee Holsted pans for gold instead of mining for it. Here, I was panning for gold in the tiny stream that flowed through Placerita Canyon. Unfortunately, my luck must have been low because I didn't find anything.

Here are my pals, Nic Froter and Carter Holly, aka, Cooper and Wylie. At one point, Cooper was on my claim so I hit him in the head with my shovel.( I was just pretending!)

Here is my finished project!

Beachin' It

 With a three-day weekend for Memorial Day, we decided to head for the beach on Sunday.

It was breezy and cool, but sunny. Most beaches looked packed, so we went to the one near Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty's old house. We still like to feel like we're locals.

Cora got out her surfboard, though the waves weren't great for it. She had more success on her body board. Violet preferred frolicking in the waves, and digging in the sand.

After being in the water, the girls hid behind a makeshift windbreak to warm up. 

A good day in Ventura ends with Surf 'N Yogurt. I love this shot of Stace and the girls. 

It's strange that Cora and I can trade flip flops, and my sweatshirt is too big, but it works.

Week in Review

The kids have been enjoying the trampoline once again, now that it's fixed up.

Cora's class held a Poetry Cafe this week, where they all wore black and delivered poems in the beatnik style. Forgive the sad photo; it was quite dark and I only had my phone on me...

The parents and students enjoyed refreshments after the poetry. We're so lucky Stace works close to home, so he can duck out for an hour on days like this.

After cleaning up the MPR from the Poetry Cafe, Cora invited a couple of friends over for swimming. You need friends to have a proper chicken fight!

The girls went to Grandpa's house Saturday evening, so Stace and I could have a date night. (Grandma was up in Washington visiting Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty.)

We went to Wolf Creek's brewery, where the beer is the highlight and the only food is from food trucks. We shared a tasting flight and watched the Dodgers beat up on the Cubs - it was a good evening!

Run Through the Rainbow

 Our school's fund-raising Color Run was Thursday, and the kids all had a great time running around the park, getting doused in colored cornstarch.

Here's Ms. Sorenson, our principal, halfway through the day.

 The children wore bandanas and sunglasses, but still managed to get covered in color. Here's my friend Tiffany throwing yellow powder onto Violet.

Thanks to Grandpa for coming out with his camera to capture these great shots.

 We had some vendors out for the day, including Chick-fil-A. Since it's a school Foundation fundraiser, I helped out on the office/money-counting side of things, rather than throwing color.

Here's Violet and Mrs. Hawthorne, who is such a trouper. Plenty of teachers (understandably) chose to not run around with the students, but Mrs. Hawthorne is always out there participating in all school events. That's one of the reasons we love her!

A bit later, it was Cora's turn to run the course. My friend Liz made sure Cora looked something like a Smurf by the time she was done.

 As you can see, those bandanas and sunglasses don't work well (when you take them off). Chris was happy to join the color-throwers for the last race, especially to target David.

At the end of each grade level's run, the children came to the center and threw color packs up to form a rainbow cloud. My Dad got a great shot here!

 Such a fun time - sadly it'll be the last time the school does it. Too much liability, apparently.

 A post-run snack of oranges - Cora's getting in there quick!

U2 - A Sort of Homecoming

U2, The Joshua Tree, and the close friends we started a lifelong journey with some 16 years ago - Sunday held a lot of joy for me.

Though I've seen U2 more than any other "big" band, I hadn't managed to make a tour since becoming a mom. When I heard about this tour, and the first L.A. concert sold out in seconds, I was determined to make it work for the added, second L.A. show. I joined the fan club (for a fee), guaranteeing early access to the ticket sale.

It worked! And Sunday was the day, when JT, Jim, Stace and Lis hit the Rose Bowl to relive fun concert memories from years gone by.

The tickets I bought were General Admission, which meant standing on the field in front of the stage. Here we are in the tunnel, with our cool purple wristbands granting us floor access.

Stace had been nervous about what standing for that long, in the middle of a crowd, would be like. Would we be crushed in a throng of sweaty tall people (no offense, Jim!)? Short people problems!

But when we got onto the floor, his fears were allayed. There was plenty of room, since we weren't interested (or early enough) to try for the coveted stage-side area.

We don't look a day over 22, right? Ahhh, memories. It was so nice to be out as a foursome again.

We were hours early, so we chilled out and read the scrolling poetry while we waited for the warmup act, the Lumineers. They were great to watch live, with their hits Ophelia and Ho Hey eminently singable.

And then, at 10 minutes until 9, the moment arrived. Larry Mullen's drums started the familiar bassline of Sunday Bloody Sunday, and one by one, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Bono took the stage.

They played five old hits, and then the entirety of The Joshua Tree, which marks its 30-year-anniversary this year.

Now, the floor and stands were packed with tens of thousands of fans, singing along whenever vaguely appropriate. (Goofy Stace here - he hasn't shrunk, I promise.)

After the Joshua Tree, the band played another half-dozen newer songs, including Elevation from All That You Can't Leave Behind. This was where I lost it, scream-singing every line, jumping along. I was instantly back in 2001, when I was lucky enough to see this particular tour three times.

Yes, we are all in another life stage now, and we paid for our late-night fun the next few days. But was it worth it? Of course. It was a Beautiful Day.

Amusement Park Fun

Cora asked a couple of months ago if I'd be able to take her to Disneyland alone as a mommy-daughter date. The day after GATE Musical seemed especially fitting.

Grandpa took Violet, and she later had a dinner date with Stace.

Cora and I had a lovely day together. The parks were crowded, so we  only rode California Screamin...

...but we kept busy in the animation studio. It was quite warm, so the animation area is a great place to keep cool.

Besides making her own cartoon strip, Cora and I went through two animation classes. We drew Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas, and Uncle Scrooge McDuck.

We also watched two long movie previews, for Cars III and the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Cora showed a keen interest in Capt. Jack Sparrow. I assured her that she isn't alone; most of the women of the world like Capt. Jack.

We had dinner at La Brea Bakery at Downtown Disney, and were on our way home shortly after 9 p.m. We had thought of staying for the Main Street Electrical Parade, but we were both too tired after our big week.

On Saturday, Stace's work held its company picnic at Magic Mountain, in a large picnic area with a large grassy area, inside food buffet line and dozens of outdoor tables.

We didn't win any raffles, and the girls didn't win any big prizes for their hula-hooping or sack-racing abilities. But the food was tasty.

We could have gone back into the park to ride roller coasters when we were done with the picnic, but it was a very hot day.

It was unfortunate, because it would have been fun to take Cora on some of the bigger coasters she's now tall enough for. But, we all were too hot to consider it.

Violet did pick up this handy button after one of the races.

The best part of our ticket price was an included ticket for Hurricane Harbor. We'll appreciate that this summer.

After saying goodbye to Sylvester, we went home to relax and cool off before heading over to the Mom2Mom year-end family picnic. And then, we took Lucas and Liana home with us for a sleepover. The girls enjoyed seeing their friends.