Week in Review

Summer is drawing to a close. It's been a bit slow and a lot "at home" since our trip to Maui in June, with Cora taking Spanish keeping her busy. 

Violet went to Liana's house the other day and they baked this lovely cake - vanilla cake, homemade lemon buttercream and strawberries.

And we baked up most of the last of our nectarines into a nectarine upside-down cake.

Stace has, at long last, finished painting his Spitfire airplane model his Mum and Dad gave him years ago.

Looks great!

He's ordered a jeep to paint, to make a full diorama.

A '90s tribute band was playing at our SClarita Concerts in the Park, and Stace and I went alone for a simple, free date night. The band was great! So many songs that were hits when I was in high school and college.

Voila! Violet agreed to cut off about five inches - look how nice it looks!

Before - it was SO long. It's still long, but a bit more manageable. She also now has some layering in front. 

My parents had promised Cora two aerial lessons with Cheryl for Christmas, and she still had one left to cash in. They finally got to do it last week. 

Also, my dad has been talking about taking Cora out shooting again, for the first time in a long time. 

She did good!

Cora has been playing D&D at the local gaming store weekly, and at her friend Logan's house when possible. Now, she's also running games for her friends online, many of whom had not played before. Seb wanted to be part of the game too, I guess.

Cora's Venture

Cora has enjoyed acting so much, she's interested in pursuing it a bit "for real." 

Auntie Mel used to have a side business shooting headshots, so on the Fourth when she was over, we set up a photo shoot in the living room. 

I think they came out marvelously!
 

She's signed up on an acting web site, and once she had her headshots, she could start submitting (applying) for things. She got something the very first week - an unpaid bit of "extra" or background work that happened to be close to home.

It was fun being on an actual working set and have a glimpse at how things work.

Cora has since had a couple of audition requests, which these days happen primarily online. You film yourself and send it in through the web site - nice because it cuts down on all the driving into Hollywood or Santa Monica. 

This was our initial setup for filming.

Stace and Cora built a better setup with PVC pipes and an old bedsheet. This way she can film easier in her room. We'll think about getting a darker color sheet. 

Summer Aerospace Games

Stace and I went down to Dockweiler Beach for the annual Summer Aerospace Games on Saturday, where thousands of SoCal aerospace people and their families gathered.

This photo shows the volleyball area, with lots of courts. Other games included sand soccer, cornhole, ultimate frisbee, human pyramid and tug of war.

Here are about half of the tents for the various companies - there were more than 50 companies represented and competing. 

Stace had a lot of fun playing volleyball with his coworkers.

Woodward ended up placing in the middle of the pack, which was pretty great since they hadn't practiced together beforehand. They learned that other companies were practicing for weeks or even months before the competition.

We got a free lunch, and Stace enjoyed being in the ocean with a few of his coworkers.
 

Stace got to see a (very tall) former co-worker, who now works for Boeing. 

It was a fun day out, and the girls (party poopers) missed out. 

Summer Fun

I heard about a new outdoor "escape room" taking place in Old Newhall, and since we have a lot of free time this summer, signed us up.

It's put on by an outfit called City of Mischief, and we were met by a young man who gave us a backpack full of goodies, including locked boxes. 

We figured out the clues, going up and down Main Street to do so. It helped that we are pretty familiar with the scenery here - some of the clues came from wall murals and window signage. 

The storyline in the pamphlet had a mystery that we solved by finding the final clues. And we did so, in record time! 

Liana came over and the girls made nectarine sorbet with our crop.

On a different day, we made a nectarine crumble. So good with vanilla ice cream!

Our friends Liz and Max invited our friend group over for a pool party. So fun! Here, you see Cora holding up Violet for a game of chicken.

Tidbits

 

We've been enjoying our homegrown nectarines now! Oh my, what a crop! I'm so thankful Vi and Stace planted these trees in February 2022.

I made the girls French toast for breakfast with my homemade bread from home-milled flour, with a side of homegrown nectarines the other morning. Store-bought eggs though - just not zoned for chickens here!

We're trying again with Cora's Critical Role puzzle we gave up on at Christmas time. Again, the cats are helpful.

This random iris (?) is growing in the canyon where I take my morning walks. So random, bright and beautiful!

This guy! Waiting for Grandpa John to give him treats.

See the circle I drew in the middle? That was a mama raccoon, with four babies, coming out from the drain one evening while Stace, Vi and I were on a walk. So cool!

We see skunks like this guy in the drain here, more often.

I bought ribs for the first time, and Stace was doing his best to grill them following an intricate, time-consuming recipe. Sadly he waited just a bit too long, and they caught fire.

We tried again with a new batch the next night, while hosting Colleen, Rigo and the kids, and it was much better. We introduced Colleen and Lucas to one of our favorite movies, Office Space. An oldie but goodie that Stace and I quote probably weekly.

A Visit from Eloise

We had Ellie over for a few hours Sunday, and we had fun with her. Cora taught her about all her beautiful D&D dice... 

...and we went to the pool. Mel had left this swimsuit with us a month ago, and Ellie hadn't seen it yet. She loved it, and was admiring herself in the mirror.

Stace and I took her to the pool - sadly our girls aren't excited to go swimming anymore! The era of our summer evenings at the pool seems to have ended. I've encouraged Cora to go midday for a swim, for some exercise and sunshine, and she's cooperated a couple of times, but she definitely hasn't embraced the idea.

Anyway, we also took Ellie to the pet store, with Violet and they had a good time looking at everything. This hairless guinea pig was quite a sight!

Stace had Ellie helping him with a car project. 

And, we got out some of the old toys.

Violet enjoyed looking at the betta fish at the pet store, and was inspired to paint again.

Her finished piece is stunning. This kid has talent.

Fourth of July

 We've been attending our SClarita Fourth of July Parade for many years, but this year was a first - Stace got to ride IN the parade! And, I got to cheer for him as he came by!

Christina, our friend with Finally Family Homes, decided to show the community the tiny home-in-progress, and Stace has been helping build it for months on Saturday mornings. It'll go to a former foster youth who needs a helping hand, which is the point of Finally Family Homes. 

Stace, Rigo, Christina and other supporters rode along. Stace had fun! He's standing in the yellow hard hat, next to Rigo.

Here was Stace's view of the parade! We do love this bit of Americana. 

Colleen and I rode bikes from our house to Newhall Park, where we watched the whole parade in the shade. And we watched it without the kids - all of them chose to stay home. My kids have seen a lot of these parades and know how long and hot they can be.

Here's the animal shelter float, complete with doggies. 

Hart High's cheerleaders and football players were very patriotic, indeed. We also saw all the local politicians, pageant royalty and emergency vehicles.

Later, we had the family over for a meal, and Mel brought water balloons so Ellie could have fun with them. Violet was in charge of filling them up.

Splash!

I think Vi is laughing here because she has one of those balloons that's too tiny to burst.

We even got Cora in on the action.

Later, Mel and family, and my parents, went to the mall to watch fireworks, while Stace, Violet and I tried something new. 

We went up on our little neighborhood hill to see if we could watch from there. We learned that due to the angles, we can't see the mall show from here, but we actually had a view of all sorts of fireworks set off by residents in Valencia, Newhall and Canyon Country. It was pretty cool, in a dangerous, "don't try this at home" kind of way.