Back Home

We all were home together for Independence Day, where we enjoyed the return of the city's fireworks show from the mall after a Covid hiatus last year. 

Violet was very pleased to be back home with her kitties! She missed them.
 

I had Sue and Jen over to catch up one evening this week, and Cora came out to say hello and fill them in on Florida. Jen's family has been to Disney World several times; she loves it there!

We had Lucas and Liana over to swim, and Violet and Liana spent quite a bit of time together. 

On Monday, we took Cora to a wedding that Melanie was providing flowers, so she could help out. It was off Pacific Coast Highway, so we carried on up the coast a bit, enjoying the beautiful drive, before ending up at Rincon,Violet's favorite beach.

(Stace was off Monday because July 4 fell on a Sunday, so Monday was a holiday for nearly everyone.)

We had a standoff one morning on the wall! 

Spoiler: the squirrel got away.

Violet noticed a bee was struggling on the cushion next to her, so she brought out a tiny bit of jam to try to help it out.

Florida!

The family didn't just go to Disneyland while in Florida. They also did two cool side trips - the NASA's Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, and an airboat ride in Kissimmee to visit the alligators.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit had numerous hands-on activities.

After going to the space center, they stopped at Cocoa Beach, to put their feet into the Atlantic. It was another cloudy day, so the beach and ocean weren't as picturesque as they might have been.

Violet's favorite part of the trip was the airboat ride, through Boggy Creek Airboat Adventures.

The girls loved this mama moorhen and her baby, which they likened to a black puff.

Another friendly local - look at that big smile!

Fun whooshing across the water... 

The girls and the pilot - Violet said she would love to return to Florida, not for Disney, but for another airboat ride.

 

Such a good week! I'm grateful, in this very strange past year-plus, the girls and my parents were able to enjoy these adventures.

Disney World!

This trip was in the works for many months - Grandma wanted to do it in summer 2020, but we know how that turned out. But with things opening up - and Florida being open since last August anyway - planning began in earnest. They told Cora quietly on her birthday, and told Violet about it on her birthday. 

And Saturday, we made a VERY early trip to LAX so the four could fly off to a week at Disney World!

They stayed "on property" at the Cars-themed resort. 

On Sunday, they went to Blizzard Beach, one of the two Disney water parks. They had a GREAT time.

Cora did this crazy steep slide, and they all had fun on the family rafts, lazy river, and wave pool.

On Sunday evening, they went to the Magic Kingdom, where they had reservations at a nice restaurant. Check out Violet's crazy dessert! Yum!

The Magic Kingdom at night

They went to Hollywood Studios on Monday, where they visited Star Wars Land.

These stocks were near the Mark Twain riverboat in the Magic Kingdom, apparently to imprison teenagers. 

In Magic Kingdom, they went on Haunted Mansion, a ride Vi had avoided at Disneyland in Anaheim. There are many rides in Florida that California has, but many more that are not in California. Cora said that Florida's Thunder Mountain was better than Anaheim's, but California's Space Mountain was way better than Orlando's.

See those clouds? They had a beautiful day on Sunday, perfect for the water park. Then the rains moved in, and it was showery the rest of their trip.

The Test Track attraction in Epcot was amazing, Cora said. You could make your own car and then put it through a series of tests, to see how well it would do in real-life conditions.

Cora thought Epcot was pretty cool, but would be better when she's an adult and can drink alcohol, because there were lots of interesting options for adults in the various country areas. Here, they were in the Italy section.

Here was an all-too-frequent view. A tropical storm was moving into town towards the end of their trip, and at points, it was coming down in sheets. Sadly, they never got to use the resort pool, because it was raining too often when they were at the hotel. And some attractions they might have done were closed, too.

A non-raining moment, with a beautiful view of Epcot. They visited five parks - Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Blizzard Beach.

Violet's favorite park was Animal Kingdom, no surprise. They got to take a "safari ride" in big jeeps, and see lots of animals, including these zebras.

Texas Fun

From one little trip to another...

Stace took me to the airport Wednesday afternoon, and I flew off to visit my friend Emily in Dallas, Texas!

She and I became friends in Mom2Mom, and Violet and her son were in the same kindergarten class. They moved back to Dallas that summer, but we stayed in touch, and she's visited us in SClarita several times since. She's always invited me to come out, and knowing I'd have a free week with the girls away, it seemed like a great opportunity.

One of the main things on our list for me to experience was Texas barbecue, and they live near one of the most highly rated places in Dallas. We had a long line, but it was worth the wait! 
 

Emily's neighborhood is lovely - large homes, a clubhouse and pool, tennis courts, playground and pond for the homeowners.

On Thursday night, we went to one of Emily and Brad's favorite date night spots, Three Nations Brewery. Here are Peter, who's Violet's age, and Madeleine, who is seven. Their 13-year-old son decided to stay home. 

I really enjoyed my beer; two of them I'd definitely buy if I could find them locally! 

A storm had rolled in, and it was absolutely pouring while we were there, with thunder and lightning, too. 

On Friday night, we went to a minor league baseball game in Frisco, sporting our Dodgers gear, of course. Emily is as big a fan as I am, and it's one of our big commonalities.

The kids especially enjoyed the fireworks after the game.

On Saturday, the children stayed home with Brad, while Emily and I went into downtown Dallas to explore. We lucked out with the weather! Dallas can be VERY hot and humid, but the storms had tamped down the heat to a lovely 80-something. We walked through this lovely new park, which was hosting a kids' concert.

We then hopped on this sweet old trolley, which offers free (donations accepted) transportation around downtown.

Our car was from Melbourne, Australia, and was nearly 100 years old!

We rode a few blocks and then got off to get a coffee, and then traced the trolley line to make our way back to catch it again.

We'd parked at the Dallas Museum of Art, which we explored for a couple of hours. This huge mosaic mural is outside in the courtyard.

I liked this portrait - the silversmith here looks kindly, I thought.

A beautiful painted screen, hundreds of years old.

The museum had many styles of art, and an antiquities section with ancient Egyptian items, as well.

On our way back, we drove by Dealey Plaza, famed for being the site of JFK's murder.

We rested back at Emily's home for a bit, and then she took me to the airport for my evening flight...where I met up with my girls and my parents! We were able to sit together, and they caught me up on their Florida adventures. More on that, soon!

Central Coast Part II

We stayed two nights in Cayucos, and on Tuesday morning, after checking out, we had to make a stop at the Brown Butter Cookie Company, a local favorite.

We then went to San Luis Obispo, where we got to watch a free nature show in a parking lot. We were pulling in when we noticed a hawk flying low overhead, holding something, that then fell from its talons onto the street. 

Here's the hawk, after it fell, waiting to figure out how to recover what he had dropped.

Then, we saw it fly, and swoop and pick it up, and fly back over the parking lot into a grouping of trees. We then could see that it was a rat, judging by the tail.

Other hawks were nearby, and one flew close, causing the hawk to fly off, and DROP THE RAT again, this time onto a car just a few feet from where I stood. I screamed, naturally!

The drama continued, with three hawks flying around overhead, yelling, but none attempting to fly down and pick up the rat.

Stace and I eventually left to look around the stores...

...and returned an hour later to find the rat on the ground, and the car it had landed on, gone. We could still hear hawks calling. We assumed that they couldn't pick up the rat because of where it was, that they didn't have enough room to "swoop" back upwards with the added weight of the rodent.

So, wanting to help, I got a napkin and picked up the rat by the tail and placed it on a fence post.

We then needed a drink, so we found a brewery and ordered a flight of beer tasters and watched a bit of one of the Euro cup games.

When we returned, the rat was still on the post. Sadly, I don't have an end to report to this story! I hope that a hungry hawk was able to have its meal.

We then went to a sandwich shop for lunch, an old place with sweet old signs for decor.

Later, we returned to Avila Beach. Stace took a quick dip, and we both had coffees from the Kraken Coffee Co., a local gem. I even splurged on a new sweatshirt for myself - I loved the design, and it was nice and thin, perfect for a beach day when it starts cooling off in the evening.
 

Then, we made our way home, a gorgeous drive through hills and oak trees with the ocean visible for a good deal of the way. So thankful for these days away together!