Cora's Whale Watch

 I went on a whale watch with my Grandpa and Grandma last Saturday.

We saw so many animals. 9 animals!
Last time I only saw dolphins and seals. Well I will tell you what I saw on the whale watch.

We saw 2 baby great white sharks. One we only saw it's shadow but the next we saw the whole body. It was very big!!!
I was not scared but glad to be in a boat! 

I also saw a oil tanker out to sea I even took a picture of it.

Look how small the boat is next to the oil tanker!

Oil tankers get oil from the bottom of the sea.

 Next we saw dolphins leaping up and out of the water. One even swam under the boat!

The water was so clear so I got to see the dolphins swimming under the water!
It was so cool.




  

 This is me standing on the deck with my Grandma.

This is were we saw all of the animals, sharks and all. we also saw sea lions,seals,and some different kinds of sea birds
pelicans,seagulls,even baby ducks!

I also put my hand out to catch the water that was at the side of the boat spraying up out of the water.










We saw 9  whales! We saw their fins and we also saw their spouts. One was so close to our boat that we saw the body!  The waves were so clear, and one swam under water and then jumped back up! One was really, really close to a little boat that was next to us, but we had to stay 10 yards away. I wanted to be a little bit closer.

There were lots of mountains behind, so it made a pretty scene with the whales jumping up. We saw the barnacles sticking to the whales when they were close to the boat. We also got to the islands out to sea. Last time, we got to go all the way around them, but this time we went halfway. We also saw caves in the rocks at the islands. The way the water sprayed out of the rocks was so cool.
The whale watch took three hours - two hours to go, one hour to get back.

Fun with Friends

 Let's see, what have we done this week?

Mom2Mom, helping in Cora's class, a long walk and breakfast at Dink's - let's stop there for a moment. Thursday is my walking day, with Christina and Melanie, and often Christina's twin Tiffany and our friend Melissa. This time, we went all the way to Granary Square for coffee and breakfast.

Later on Thursday, Melanie, Violet and I went to the dry cleaners, to meet up with the lady who does a lot of our family's alterations.

She remade my wedding dress 12 years ago, and now she will do a lot of work on the dress I'll wear in Melanie's wedding. Oh, the joys of being five-foot-nothing.

On Friday, we went to the park with friends after school for a picnic lunch. Also, my friend Sara (a photographer) took some lovely photos of Cora.

Here, we have Hailey, Alli, Cora, and a pair of Emilys.

The girls wanted the fun to continue, but Emily's little brothers needed a nap. It was the perfect time for an impromptu playdate at our house.

They ended up getting the blender out for smoothies, but then just crushed ice and drizzled it with juice drink concentrate. Yep - homemade snow cones!

Snowy fun

The girls have been itching to play in the snow, and we wanted to make it happen this year. This weekend, a bit of the white stuff remained in the San Gabriels from a storm last weekend. Since it's March, we figured it might be our last chance to do a bit of sledding this year, so on Sunday, off we went on the 90-minute drive.

As we got closer, and the snowy mountain tops came into view, Violet exclaimed, "There must be a billion of snow!"   Not really... but there was just enough.

We drove past the town of  Wrightwood and saw people playing on the side of the winding mountain road with their sleds, but didn't find a great spot to stop.

Plus, we needed a restroom after the long drive, so we kept going till we hit the Grassy Hollow Visitors Center. What a find! Restrooms, great parking, and a field-trip worthy display of taxidermy animals from the surrounding mountains.

The naturalist or docent lady pointed us toward the "hollow," a two-minute walk from the center, with enough snow for all the safe sledding we desired.

 Isn't he cute?

No, we didn't build him. He greeted us when we walked down a snowy path to another sledding track.

 Here's the little guy Stace built.

 Violet liked him better with a pine cone hat.

It was such a beautiful day! Nice to spend some time with my mom, too, who loves these outings even though she hates the cold. Dad had to stay back home because Benny has his puppy training classes on Sundays.

Sports Weekend

 For the past four or five years, we (the leaders) of my moms' group have hoped to put together a couples' night with free babysitting.

Finally, this weekend we made it happen. We arranged a few of our childcare workers to come in on a Saturday evening, and more than two dozen of us headed out to the bowling alley.

Here is Stace's team - Christina, Adam, Audra and Luis...

...and here is mine. No, Rigo was not on my team. I was bowling with Tony, Sara, Patrice and Geoff.

It was so much fun, lots of laughter and playing around, like we were the kids again. I hope we can do this once a semester in the future.

Also this week, Cora has started with a new soccer league, and Stace is coaching her team. Here, he meets the players for the first time at practice.

At the second practice, the players were given their uniforms; they are the Blue Sharks.

Stace has a mix of children who've never played the game, and some who have a few years' experience.

He's taking his role very seriously, spending hours already planning out what to teach at each practice. Though he's managed teams before, this is his first time dealing with 8- to 10-year-olds. The league will have 10 games.

BLUE IS THE COLOR!

Week in Review

This week, we celebrated Swoops birthday with a tea party and snacks, set up by the tiny owl's best buddy, Violet. Here, Owletta enjoys her tea, while Swoops is face-first into her own.

On Monday night, Violet woke up while Stace and I were still up, and sadly her dinner didn't agree with her. After getting rid of the offending food, she spent her night curled up on a towel and rug, with her pillow, Swoops and a bowl on hand.

Thankfully she was perfectly fine in the morning, and no one else in the family got sick.

On Tuesday, we had a Mom2Mom leadership meeting. These three clowned around afterwards, enjoying candy from the church office.

Liana has developed quite a sense of style. She loves flowers, layers, fluffy skirts, and mismatched shoes and socks.

Notice the Beanie Boo under her arm - the obsession is spreading! Be afraid, Colleen. Be very afraid.

On Thursday, we had a park playdate with JT, Callie and Jonah. The girls brought their bike/scooter for some fun around the playground.

On Friday, between Cora's field trip and Bingo Night, we headed over to Valencia Pediatrics for Cora's 8-year well check. She is just about 49 inches, putting her in the 22nd percentile, and her weight ranked in the 32nd percentile.

Much to Cora's joy, she did not need any vaccinations. This news almost made up for the indignity of having to wear a paper gown. (She outright refused to put it on, but eventually relented.)

School Fun

Cora's school had a number of fun events this week that I got to take part in.

On Monday morning, we celebrated Dr. Seuss Day with an hour of math and reading activities.

Cora and I got to play tic-tac-toe with green eggs and ham markers.

On Tuesday morning, Stace met us at the school for a Green Eggs and Ham breakfast, held in the cafetria for 1st and 2nd graders and their families. It was packed!

Cora's friend Sam sat with us, on the floor since the tables were all taken. It was the first time the school has tried this, and I'd say it was a hit.

On Friday, we had our annual walking field trip to College of the Canyons to watch a children's performance. Since I like walking and I like hanging out with Cora and her school friends, I'm always happy to chaperone for this one.







 Yes, it's a LOT of children crossing these wide SClarita streets.

I was lucky to find an empty seat Friday, and got to stay in and watch the show. It was a musical group, playing old American music from the blues, Appalachian, bluegrass and cajun styles. They were excellent, teaching the children about the music and the instruments, some of which I'd never seen or heard of before.

On Friday night, we had our second annual Bingo Night, with the proceeds benefiting the school's foundation.

Like last year, we had an Italian theme, with a catered pasta dinner.








And, like last year, Cora, Sophia and Tyler stayed together all evening, playing anddoing their best to find the right letter/number combination.

Oh, the pressure! Cora was really hoping to win one of the best prizes for me - a Nespresso coffee maker. She was so disappointed to not win that game!








Cora's disappointment in no way rivaled her sister's, though.

Poor Violet. Each and EVERY game, she experienced a roller coaster of emotions. The joy of finding the right number to mark off, the annoyance at not having that number, and the gut-wrenching pain of loss when someone else yelled, "Bingo!" She burst into sobs multiple times, the amusement of all the grownups around her.

Still, despite Violet's sadness, our family had a great night, and we remain so happy to be part of this school community.

Violetisms

I have a collection of random Violet photos and Violetisms that need to be shared.

Such as this, said on a recent drive home: "Oh, I like that blue minivan. When I'm older I'm going to have a minivan. Then I'll have lots of kids, so I can stuff them into my minivan."

(Please notice how Violet's owl friend Swoops is safely buckled in next to her.)

The preschool letter of the week was "Y," and the animal letter friend was a yak. While having a snack of "prencils," Violet proudly showed me how she had written, "YAK."

Then, she made her pretzels into cat whiskers.

When Cora was home sick for a week, the togetherness had become too much. Violet came up to me and asked for help writing, "I don't like you."

I've been paying Violet in dimes for completing her chores. She said the other day, "I really want to trade for a big green thing. (Pause.)
"A real dollar. And that has George Washington on it, our president, right?"

Speaking of national symbols, Violet was waving around her little Union Jack, courtesy of the Sun newspaper back around the time of the Queen's Jubilee.
Violet said that when Miss Lorrie's flag (pole) breaks, she can use Violet's flag. Not sure how the other parents would feel about their children pledging allegiance to the United Kingdom, though.

I noticed that Violet had a stack of books in her room near her bookcase, and suggested she put them away.
"But that's how I get into the playroom!" she answered.

(Never fear, grandparental types, the stack is put away and she's been warned that she is to use doors, not windows!)

Violet happened to take a rare car nap the other day, after an afternoon playdate out of SClarita. Predictably, that night she was up until nearly 10. I heard her calling out to me, "Mommy, I can't go to sleep."
"Talk to your animals, then," I suggested.
"But my animals are tired and can go to sleep!"

And, speaking of that...
Violet interrupted Stacey, who said, "Violet, what should you do when I'm speaking?"
"Be quiet."
"And what else," he prompted (hoping for the answer "listen").
But she said: "Sleep!"

Violet and her preschool friends have been very excited about their upcoming birthdays. In fact, Violet has gotten into a little trouble for not containing her enthusiasm when the time has come to be quiet.

This was the conversation she had with me the other day on our drive home: "Is Caleb's house close to Norah's house? Because I'm inviting him to my birthday, at Norah's house. ... I told him it's going to be a dragon party. Austin was screaming, because he loves dragons."

This was all big news to me. Since then, she's changed her mind. The party will be at our house, and it will be a zoo/animal facts/Wild Kratts party. With a trip to the park to play. With all her preschool friends. And another list of friends.

I'll end with this... Cora, you probably know, is a great eater and loves salad. Violet, well, she's learning. After pulling her one piece of lettuce out of her chicken burger, she declared, "My tummy says 'no' to the salad."

Weekend Fun

 On Saturday, after soccer we ran some errands together as a family, and then went home for lunch.

Then it was time for Cora and me to get ready for Sophia's 8th birthday party. We met up with Sophia's family at Jump 5150, where the kids jumped to their hearts content.

 We went back to Sophia's house for cake, dinner and more playtime.

 Meanwhile, Stace took Violet out to run another errand, with a stop at Starbucks for a cake pop. She loves these things, and seems to get one with Grandpa whenever he picks her up from preschool when I'm helping in Cora's class.

 After Stace tinkered a bit on his MGB, he and Violet got an early start on our evening fun at the Rosales house. Colleen and Rigo invited our group of friends over for dinner; the kids all have fun playing while the adults chat, eat and drink.

 On Sunday, after church in the evening we went out to dinner at a new sandwich shop called Firehouse Subs. Violet was happy to take her plastic firefighter helmet, while Cora politely declined.

Our big 8-year-old might be too old for a plastic hat, but Owletta and Lavender needed to come to the dinner table with us. Love this phase!
(Lavender joined our family Saturday, as a party favor from Sophia's party.)