Tidbits

Some kitten cuteness to start off the post...

Much of this week's happenings weren't very photographable. Violet had a very different schedule this week, with a field trip all day Tuesday with the junior high to the Museum of Tolerance, and state testing twice at the independent study school campus. With Violet gone more, I was able to work on this blog a bit more. And, this would be Violet's last field trip of her school career. Sniff!

Cora also had a weird week, because she is NOT doing state testing - we opted to exempt her from it - so she had weird start times, too. 

 

I'm vice president of Cora's school's Parent Advisory Council and I helped arrange a clothing drive fundraiser. I helped collect clothing Wednesday late afternoon for two hours. About half of these bags came in while I was there helping.

We also cleaned the house a bit to prepare for the arrival of my friend Emily, who is coming this upcoming weekend.

Also this week, my Dad and I went to Cora's theatre rehearsal to prepare the press release. He took the following photos, while I interviewed Jarod, Dani (here, as Roxie), and Cora. I got the release written and submitted to the local paper.

Cora and the "Murderesses" sang "All That Jazz" a few times while we were there, so that a friend of the program could film it. He put together an amazing promo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C56m8CGy_Ly/

Week in Review

 

After returning from the Ren Faire on Saturday, Stace and I took Violet to the next installment of art at the local gallery. We also went to see our friend's new installation nearby at the Canyon Theatre Guild.

On Sunday, we went to a beautiful venue in Simi Valley and helped Melanie with a very big wedding.

My parents were there too, and all of us had cars full of flowers. Cora and I had stopped by Glendale on our way home from the Ren Faire to pick up ours. 

The bride is a "name" in the social media world, with hundreds of thousands of followers. In fact, Melanie was featured on one of her "vlogs" on a trip to the downtown flower market, talking all things wedding flowers.

On Monday, Stace, Vi and I watched a bit of the solar eclipse, with special glasses passed out by Vi's school and Stace's work. It wasn't a total eclipse in California, but it was in other states. 

I had my friend Sue's son Paul detail the interior of my car this week, something we haven't done since we bought it six years ago. He did an AMAZING job. 

Looked new again! 

I spent time this week watching more videos so I can be an official volunteer with the school district, with all of  my theatre volunteering. Basically, I have to watch all the video training that an actual new employee would have to watch, which is pretty ridiculous considering I'm never alone with students. Oh well. 

On Friday, Vi and I checked out the bison, and later, my dad picked her up from school so I could take off and leave SClarita for the day.

It was JT's actual birthday, and with her busy schedule, we haven't seen each other since Christmas. But she was off work on this Friday, so I went to her house and we had a lovely few hours together in La Verne. 

We walked downtown and had a lovely Japanese meal - delicious and only $11 for the lunch special! Then, fancy coffee at a private place nearby, and then more walking. It was great to catch up!

This was the outside of the Japanese restaurant - very cool. (We should have taken a photo together but forgot...)

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.