Awards Night

Violet's school held its 8th Grade Awards Ceremony on Thursday night, an event that takes the place of a graduation. About half the students are invited. Violet was given an award for earning As throughout her junior high years in science. 

(She also earned straight As in PE, Yearbook, English and History, but since she has been taking most of those subjects at her independent study site, it didn't count for awards night.)

She made it through junior high! She didn't love it, but she did enjoy life much more once we made the move to the independent study school.

It was nice that Grandma and Grandpa came out in support, despite the ceremony length. It was SO packed, too! Standing room-only in a huge auditorium.

Violet's best part of junior high was becoming friends with these two girls. Lea and Sofia have been very good for Violet! They are now chatting often on their headsets while playing their favorite video games, and they have frequent plans to meet up for boba and swimming this summer.

Tidbits

Oh, Winston. 

Colleen gave us a few muffins she'd made, and the plastic baggie was no match for the Winstonator. Unfortunately, our efforts to keep him off the kitchen counters haven't worked, though he definitely knows he isn't supposed to be up there.

Later in the day, he found where I'd hidden the muffin, and knocked it to the floor to have another bite. And it appeared he's learning to use tools!  (That cool plastic knife/spoon was given to us at the strawberry festival by a vendor passing out free kiwifruit. Perfect for avocados!)

But he's so stinking cute, we can't stay mad.

Violet and I ventured back to the archery range, this time on a cooler morning and we didn't see any snakes. We did, however, see this scrub jay attacking my newspaper! He grabbed the bagged paper, and got it out of the bag (see the paper on the ground?). I wonder if he's encountered bagged snacks from the youth lessons that take place here?

Action shot! Arrow is flying here, though it blends into the hill.

Violet did some solid shooting - one arrow went nearly straight through the center!

Here's most of that arrow, coming out the other end.

Cora was home sick while we were at archery... she missed three days this week, not great since they were mostly review days for next week's finals.
 

Stace had some bad luck with the TT. He couldn't turn the key late Monday night after the theatre banquet, and had to have it towed early Tuesday morning before school started. 

Our favorite mechanic replaced the ignition, and also the water pump, which was cracked, and the cause of the slow coolant leak we've been babying since we bought the car. That all set us back a pretty penny. But, we'd saved money buying a less expensive car, knowing we might be spending some on repairs...

Theatre Banquet

Cora's high school theatre department had its banquet Monday night, with a catered dinner in the cafeteria and an awards ceremony in the auditorium.

I helped Jarod's wife and a couple of other moms set up the dining area. Jarod's wife had a lot of great decorations and it all looked sweet.

Jarod had awards for Willingness, Responsibility and Thoughtfulness - spelling out WRT, for West Ranch Theatre. Cora was given an award for Responsibility. Mackenzie read a statement about Cora that praised her "purpose, professionalism, dedication, stability, skill and competence." 

"Sharing a stage is a wonderful game of give and take, and there is a sense of security when you share a stage with her," Mackenzie said. 
 

The frequent parent volunteers were given gifts, too. About Stace, Jarod mimicked his accent, and said, "It's a piano, innit?" Lots of laughter!

Each senior received a certificate with an award from a classmate, some of them more serious, some more humorous. Cora's recipient wasn't present, so Cora pretended to pose with her. 

Dani won a well-deserved "Performer of the Year" trophy - here are our Roxie and Velma! Final theatre event together... They got ready for the evening at Dani's house, with Dani helping Cora with her hair. 

Cora and some of her senior friends - it'll be different next year. 

But one year in, and we can say that we're glad Cora made the move to this high school. She's very excited about the shows on tap for next year.

Weekend Fun

This weekend, Stace's work held a company picnic again at Magic Mountain, for the first time in a few years. The girls didn't want to come along, so just Stace and I went. Why not, it was free! It's always nice to see the people he spends so much time with, anyway.

We had a lovely barbecue lunch, and on the right here, the DJ was playing music and helping lead games for the younger people. It was definitely fun if you had younger kids, with limbo, hula hoop and water balloon contests.

We walked around the perimeter of the park, and stopped for a minute to listen to this Western trio who were very good. We didn't ride any rides because the lines were long. It had taken a long time to get our car parked, that's how crowded it was. 

That evening, I went to a theatre "senior showcase" at Cora's old school, with some of the kids she used to perform with. Cora was at a birthday/graduation party for Dani, her Chicago costar. 
 

On Sunday, Stace, Vi and I took Liana with us and went to Ventura for the annual California Strawberry Festival. This has been going on decades, and I remember going as a child. I thought, since we were free, we should make our kid go, and form those kind of lifelong memories.

We bought a flat of strawberries for $10 - always buy at the end of the festival for the best deal!

It wasn't something we need to return to, but it was nice to be out together for the day. There were carnival rides for little kids and teens, though my girls didn't want to go. There was also a big arts and crafts fair, and we bought a few things. 

I'd say we all enjoyed seeing the artwork.

So many strawberry food and drink items! We tried a few. 

Bread, Snakes and Frogs

This week, using my flour and a new recipe, I finally made good, soft, well-risen bread again.

I took Violet back to the archery range for the first time in a couple of months, and what did we see, but a huge rattlesnake crossing the main road just past the turning for the range. I drove closer to get a better look. 

Very clearly a rattler, with the diamond shaped head and long rattle. Yikes!

When we parked at the range, a man was leaving and I asked if he had seen any snakes in the arena. He said no, so I told him about this one. He asked me if I wanted him to go get it for me(!). He said he was from Acton (a bit rural) and was in the army, and had killed and eaten many a snake. I politely declined.

Violet shot her arrows, and then we walked over to see the poppies. So pretty, and short-lived. I know they might not be here next time we come.

Yes, we were keeping our eyes peeled for snakes, but I wasn't exactly expecting to see another one. But we did! You can see it in the center of this photo. Not as large as the first, but, yes, another rattler. 

We gave it plenty of distance, and all was well. Just gotta be aware of your surroundings!

We also saw a few quail.

The next few days were cooler, and on Friday, during our typical nature walk, we went to Whitney Canyon and were surprised to see dozens of tiny frogs hopping across the path!

They were so cute!

You an kind of see the creek in this photo - that's where the frogs were headed, or coming from. We also heard coyotes yipping. That's a lot of nature for just a few days.

Birthday Camping Fun

We were able to make Violet's birthday dreams come true with a camping trip with her bestie and Colleen ad Rigo. 

Well, almost... Violet was excited to go to Wheeler Gorge, and our reservation was cancelled last week due to storm damage.

We ended up at Foster Park, on the road between Ventura and Ojai. It was very pretty, with a creek and the Ventura River a short walk away.

We walked from our small campground to an adjacent campground, where the girls climbed into this oak tree.

The further campground bordered this creek. It was full up, or we would have booked a site here.

Colleen, Violet, Liana and I then went down to the larger river. It was beautiful!

Pretty girls, 14 now! Happy Birthday to the pair of them!

Album cover...

They also spent time flinging algae at each other with sticks.

Cora was not wanting to be camping, and we were minutes from Ventura, so she and I went off for a couple of hours Saturday afternoon to look for an outfit for her upcoming theatre banquet.

When we returned, dinner was ready. 

Stace was excited to try making a peach cobbler in a cast iron skillet in the coals.

Yum! We also had dough boys, and on Friday night, s'mores.

Eating dessert and laughing around a campfire - perfect. 

Liana loves leading us in a game called "Categories," where a player chooses a category - candy brands, for instance - and you go around the circle naming them. If you repeat one already said, or take too long, you're out. 

When it was Cora's turn to choose, she picked "chairs." I couldn't stop laughing. How many types of chairs can YOU think of?

Another memorable trip in the books!