Weekend fun

Our weekend started out with a Friday night barbecue, and we invited my parents over to share the steak and show them our England photos.

Saturday, we went to IKEA to stock up on new wine glasses and dry food storage for the pantry.

I've been buying dry goods in bulk at Sprouts, meaning I had lots of plastic produce bags in the pantry. Love my new neat-looking bins; should have bought more. We'll have to go back to get more.

From there, Stace took his girls on a Daddy/Daughters date to the L.A. Zoo! They had a great afternoon and Stace passed that test, of going out on his own on a "big day" with both kiddos. The girls were great, he said, and Violet really loved the seals.

I then went off to my friend Melanie's baby shower. She and David are expecting a little girl in two weeks. She registered for cloth diapers, and I was more than happy to help fulfill her request. It was a lovely tea party shower, and a nice girly break. Can't wait to meet another dear friend's baby girl!

Girls, girls, girls

We went out to Juliana's home on Friday for a lovely playdate.

We hadn't seen each other for a while, as her parents were in town from Brazil for a couple of weeks before we flew to England.

All the girls got on famously, like always, and the older two spent much of the day dressing up. Those are two gorgeous girls, aren't they?

I can't get over the change in Cora over the past few months. Not much tomboy left, most days! She had to bring her new Alice dress, IN her princess backpack, and there was a minor panic when we couldn't find it quickly when we were getting ready to leave our house in the morning.

Violet and Natalia had a nice morning too. Violet especially liked the part when one of the older girls left her bag of Cadbury chocolate buttons out for the taking. She was off in a flash and eating them up before I could grab her.

Violet also used her time to practice her walking.

Friday, June 10, marked the tipping point, when Violet decided she likes walking better than crawling.
Bye, bye, baby. (Sigh.)

Back in SClarita

So, what we've been up to this week, our first week back home? On Sunday, in between unpacking and resting, we took a little trip to Placerita Canyon.

It's a great time of year for nature walks - not too hot, and the wildflowers are blooming. Notice the plastic container (with non-matching lid)? Open the photo big and you'll see who came with us. Yes, it's our favorite orange plastic fish. Nemo had to come along, in his tank. Nemo likes shade, Cora said.

Whenever we're in the car, Cora wants to be coloring. What a wonderful stage! I hope this one lasts a while.
Also this week, Violet practiced her walking, and she and Cora played a lot with their dolls.
Violet is giving the "da da" the dummy. It's so stinkin' cute, I can't help but melt. She and Cora both were taking care of these babies as if they were real. Violet was feeding them, giving them pacifiers and pushing them in the stroller, while Cora was changing doing all the above and also changing their clothes and putting them to bed for naps.
We also made one Stroller Strides class, where Cora impressed everyone - well, at least herself - with her ability to hang upside down.

It was a good week. The girls were up early each day (before 7) until Saturday, when Violet slept until almost 8 and Cora until 8:30. She must have been catching up after so many early mornings.

The sleepy trip home

We are back home now, unpacked and trying to catch up on sleep.

Sleep we missed out from travel, jet lag, and a couple of weeks of sharing a room with our darling Violet Mae.

I shared here last week that she had slept through the night, and she did do that - a few times. Most nights, though, she didn't.

I'm blaming teething, a virus, jet lag, and just the fact that she sleeps so darn lightly. Cora would have a dream and say something, and the next moment, we'd be hearing Violet shouting, "Gia! Gia!"

I had trouble getting Violet to settle back down without nursing her, and I haven't fed this baby much in the night since she was 7 weeks old.

The photo of Stace is from mid-morning Friday, after he took the early morning shift downstairs and let me sleep. And the photo of Violet with Gord is from our dinner date Wednesday with Stace's Nan, when Violet wouldn't sleep in her crib for Sue.

Anyway, with two nights back at home, things are definitely improving. Saturday night, after we got home from LAX, Violet slept until nearly 5 a.m.; with our own jet lag, Stace and I would have been up before long anyway. Sunday night, Violet woke once, but cried herself back to sleep within five minutes. She and Cora were both up Monday at 6 - not bad for our second morning home.

And, as for our trip home, it went off as well as I could ever hope. We had the bassinet fixture for Violet, and Stace had to sit behind us, but all was fine, and he helped out as much as I needed. Violet took an hour nap, and later slept for about three hours. Cora put herself to sleep about five hours into the trip, and I was able to close my eyes for a couple of hours and watch some television. With two small children on an international flight, that is a real treat.

Other than Violet not sleeping well, our time in England was a dream. Cora was so well-behaved, as was Violet.

We had a lot of fun with our family and friends, and even got a few stunningly warm days (like the one pictured here). We look forward to seeing Sue and Gord in two months, and everyone else again at Christmas!

While in England, we caught up with some of our "must see" friends, including Dunc and Lindsey and their girls. Cora had a great time playing with Chelsea and Charlie! She's right in the middle - Chelsea is 5 and Charlie is 3.
Cora and Violet also loved playing with their cousins - here are all of Gord's mum's great-grands. Ben (6) and Chloe (20 months), Euan (17 months) and of course our two girls.
We also spent an evening with our friends Andy and Jen. Here, Andy and Cora take turns scaring each other.
Violet liked ringing the bell.
And both girls liked the monkey puppet. It was great to see so many dear friends! Thanks to all for being so flexible and fitting us in. See you all at Christmas!

Montacute Date

Over the weekend, Nan and Pop took the girls, and Stace and I had most of a day together as a "date day."

We went to Montacute House, an Elizabethan mansion about 10 minutes away. I've been to the grounds a few times, but we've never paid the admission and taken the full tour.

We learned a lot, and got to see an exhibit of centuries' old portraits of kings and queens and other rich and famous people.

And, at this stage in our family, it was great to have the child-free time to enjoy it all. Stace and I both love history but this wouldn't have been the best daytrip for Cora and Violet.

The gardens, in spring bloom, were beautiful.

Then, we had dinner at the Prince of Wales pub on the top of Ham Hill.

Fun, fun, fun

We have lots of fun photos to show from the past two days, so I'm running them small. Click on any you wish to see full-size...

On Monday, it was a Bank Holiday, so Dean and Jenny were both off.

It was pretty rainy for the first part of the day, so we all traveled to a place called Tropiquaria, which was part zoo, part family fun center, with outdoor and indoor playgrounds.

The first three photos are from Monday.

On Tuesday, we went to Crealy Adventure Park, an amusement park about an hour's drive away near Exeter.

We went there two years ago, and it was fun to return with two more little ones to enjoy it.

Crealy offers roller coaster rides, farm animals to pet and feed, a duck pond, playgrounds, indoor play equipment, and more.

Violet loved petting the animals - we will have to take this toddler to the zoo more often!

She also really enjoyed the toddler play area, with big soft play toys. When she saw it, she knew it was for her: her face lit up with a huge smile. She also like practicing her walking.

Cora loved the rides best, and the giant slides. She amazes me with her fearlessness.
And, she rode a pony!

Chocks Away

On Sunday, Dad took to the skies over Dorset for his 60th birthday present, a flight in a 1930s De Havilland Tiger Moth biplane.

He was very apprehensive about going up; a week before Dad's flight, there was a tragic crash at the airfield involving another Tiger Moth. When we arrived at Compton Abbas Airfield we were greeted by the sight of a fire engine and ambulance on the grass runway tidying up after another small incident.
This did not nothing to ease Dad's nerves.

On arrival we were told that it was too windy and to check back in half an hour to see if the weather conditions improved.

While we waited outside, the owners pulled out the Tiger Moth. This seemed to ease some of Dad's fears and now he was eager to go up if the weather improved.

We were given the all clear. The wind had dropped and the skies were starting to brighten up.

Dad got kitted up in a leather flying jacket, helmet and goggles.

Chocks away! With the engine now up to full power the pilot and Dad taxied out to the start of the airstrip. They started the run down the field and within about 20 seconds the old bird (the plane, not the passenger) was airborne.

The flight lasted for 30 minutes before the plane emerged above the trees and headed for the end of the runway for its landing.














A very excited Dad jumped out of the cockpit to tell us all about his flying adventure. We were all glad and very happy to see that he really enjoyed his birthday present.

















Three months of planning, two weeks fearing impending doom, thirty minutes of worrying because of bad weather. Fullfilling a boyhood dream: Priceless.
Happy Birthday Gord, Dad, Pop.

On the way home we stopped at Shaftsbury for a walk up and down Gold Hill, a very old street made famous in the 80s by a Hovis bread commercial. The wall on the right in the family picture is 700 years old and used to be the outer wall of Shaftsbury Abbey. The view from the top of the hill over the rolling Dorset countryside are breathtaking.

Ham Hill with Euan, and sleeping!

We met up with Dean, Jenny and Euan at Ham Hill the other night - one advantage of being here in late May is that it stays light so late, you can go to the park after dinner.

We got to see Euan the Toddler in action - he is a beautiful little boy, and had a great time running around, playing on his tractor and on cousin Cora's bike.

He and Violet were great together, playing and touching each other's faces.

Cora made us laugh on the way up there - she asked Stace why it's called "Ham Hill," if there is no ham there. Stace explained that it's named for the hamstone quarry - a type of golden stone used to build many of the nearby buildings.

"Oh!" she said. "Like hamsters, that live in the water!"

We had Euan with us all day Thursday, as Sue watches him Thursdays while Jenny works.

The kids had fun together, and Dean and Jenny came over for dinner.

That night, we had our first full night of sleep!

It was our sixth night together, so it felt like a long time coming.

Violet kept waking at night, ready to play. Also, she is such a light sleeper! Cora sleeps like a log, but Violet wakes up easily. We had a lot of trouble getting both girls down together in the same bedroom, since they aren't used to it at home. Cora would call out for me and wake Violet, or Violet would shout out for "Gia" and wake her.

We ended up switching out Cora's bed - she had a blowup princess bed, but it made a lot of noise. We're now bringing up the cushions from the couches for Cora to sleep on, since they're quieter.