Our Ventura Trip - by Cora, with Mommy typing

We went to Ventura to visit Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty and went to the beach for a day.

After Grandma and Grandpa's house for Easter, we came over to their house to sleep for the night.

In the morning, after we watched five episodes of Wild Kratts, we had a great breakfast of homemade pancakes with sunflower seeds mixed into the batter, with whipped cream and blueberries.

(Note from Lisa - Thanks, Uncle Bill, for making breakfast and babysitting so Stace and I could take a morning beach walk!)

We went on a very long bike ride, from their house to the pier, along the beach coast.

This is a picture of me and Violet and the pretty beach scene behind us.

(Note from Lisa - Please see the Beanie Boo clips that came along for the ride - Vi has two owls clipped to her bike, while Cora's fox is attached to her shirt. These girls are never far from their animal friends.)

We had a bike break at the pier playground. We had a lot of fun making pretty little statues with rocks, and playing at the playground.

The bike ride was about five miles there and back. Violet was outstanding. She only stopped twice - to get our lunch, and play.

We had lunch at In-N-Out. Violet got a milkshake, and at 7-11, I got an slurpee, for a treat.

Then, we went back to the house, and I went to a door place with Uncle Bill and Dad. I got lots of candy there. We went to the door store because Uncle Bill needed to trade in a door for their bathroom project.

Then we got ready to go to the beach. It was evening, so it was not very warm. The waves were tiny and not very fun. There was a very bad current so we could not go out far enough to get the good waves.

We went boogie boarding anyway. I was looking forward to it, and wasn't very happy when the water was cold and the waves were so small.

I had a little bit of fun. I am in my new wetsuit I got from England.



















The walk home was freezing and Violet had to be wrapped up in a sweatshirt.

After I was showered and all cleaned up, me, Mom and Dad went on a walk to get some supplies - marshmallows and supplies for nachos.
While we went, I had my bag to collect palm branches and twigs for the firepit, because we were going to have a fire.















We roasted marshmallows, and had a great time. When it was time to leave, we all gathered our stuff and waved and yelled goodbye from the car.

We had a great time at our uncle and auntie's house. We hope we can have big warm waves for boogie boarding in the summer.

Easter Joy

This year Grandma and Grandpa hosted Easter dinner, and we celebrated with Uncle Bill, Aunt Patty, and Nick.

Auntie Mel had to work, but we saw her in the morning when she and Nick went to church with us.

We had a lovely meal of ham, scalloped potatoes and a green bean salad.

You know it's a serious point Uncle Bill is making, when he insists on wearing the bunny ears.

The ears look better on Benny, don't they? Not that you can leave them on him very long, or they'd be shredded.










Aunt Patty provided homemade strawberry shortcake. Yum!

Mom had water balloons, and a water balloon toss will always turn into a water fight, even if the temperature isn't quite warm enough to enjoy the cold water.

First dip of the year...

...overseen by a curious puppy. Oh! So that's what's under the big pad thingy!

After our evening's fun, we went home and packed, and followed Bill and Patty to their house, to spend the night. Stace took Monday off, so we could enjoy a bit of Spring Break while the girls were off.

Partying and Planting

 Another Saturday, another birthday party! Violet was especially excited about Caleb's party, because it was a DOUGHNUT-themed birthday party!

Here, the children are playing a game of toss-the-giant-inflatable-donut-around-your-friend. (One could also play this game with a normal pool ring...)

 There were some other doughnut-themed games, and, of course, plenty of the yummy pastries to eat.

After the party, Violet and I visited the baby ducklings at Bridgeport, got some groceries, and then met Stace and Cora at Lowes for some new flowers.
Cora skipped soccer because she wasn't feeling well, and had gone to bed with a slight fever.

She was feeling well enough later to help Violet plant out their new flowerbed, and reposition the fairy garden accessories.

The yard is taking shape! No more huge dirt piles, and the new grass is coming up.

 Stace and I also placed this pretty bench in the corner, near the citrus bushes grove.
A friend of my parents' was moving out of state and offered it to them, and they accepted it on our behalf. A nice addition, eh?

The finished flower/fairy garden. Just need some mulch to finish it off.

Placerita Playtime

 A beautiful day, a beautiful setting, and a bunch of beautiful girls. Such a fun Friday morning!

We met up with Elaine and Vivian, and Sadie and her girls Riley, Samantha and Macy at Placerita Canyon for a hike.

We started out in the museum, which was recently refurbished. Then we set off down one of the many trails.

 I picked Placerita because I wasn't sure how Violet, who doesn't handle walking all the way to school yet, would fare. Thankfully, she did very well, had a lot of fun with the big girls, and never asked to be carried.

Plus, Placerita has the birds of prey, and clean restrooms. It's the little things...

Violet found a cool little thing here, a butterfly wing.

 Here's Cora, Sam, Vivi, Riley, Macy and Violet.

After a snack and drink under the oak trees, the girls all played hide-and-seek, before we went to look at the Oak of the Golden Dream. This state monument shows where gold was first discovered in California.

Cora asked if everyone could come over, and why not?  The girls spent a while setting up the Calico Critter houses and shops.

Elaine brought by pizza for lunch, and later we went to a park to play before our afternoon fun came to an end.

Science Fun

Back at Christmas time, we got a family membership to the Discovery Cube science museum, and it's April and we still hadn't taken advantage of it.

We also haven't seen a lot of Chris and David in recent months, at least not as much as we did when Toni next door had them every day after school.

So, on Thursday, we took a group field trip to the museum, just 20 minutes away near Sylmar.

Toni hopped in our car, and we picked up Sendy and the boys, and away we went. It's nice having a car big enough to fit a small crowd on a day like this!

The kids were all very excited for our field trip together, and the rock wall grabbed their interest right away. Then, they stepped into a wind tunnel tube, to simulate the Santa Ana winds the Los Angeles area gets each winter. A graphic explained why and how the winds form.

The four children enjoyed all the displays, and we filled the better part of five hours exploring the exhibits.

Midday, we ate our picnic lunch outside on the large playground.

After lunch, we checked out the grocery store area, where the children use computerized "carts" with scanners, to answer questions by scanning the correct item.

When we finished, we could take a photo as a successful shopper in the checkout area.

Here, Violet is using the pulley system to haul herself up. Three different chairs use different numbers of belts, to show how much easier it is to pull something with multiple pulleys.

Lastly, we went into a mock house, with front yard, back yard and garage, with tablets to answer questions about energy usage. After doing his own, David helped Violet with the questions. Here, she's looking to see if the fridge has an "energy star" label.

It was a very nice day, and fun to spend it with Chris and David, Sendy and Toni.

That evening, after soccer practice, we then rejoined our friends, to watch David's baseball game. Since he's in an older division, his midweek games start at 7, too late for us! Since it is Spring Break, we could be out later.

Santa Monica Fun

On Monday, Cora's first day off during her spring break, she went to play at Sophia's house in the morning, while Violet was in school.

When I dropped Cora off, Sue mentioned that she planned to go the beach with friends after lunch, and asked if we'd like to come along. Since Stace would be home from work, I declined, but I prepared Cora's beach things and took them over after picking up Violet.

Cora was very excited about this change of plans, though Violet was heartbroken to be without her playmate, and to be missing out on a beach trip. I promised we'd make it up to her.

The top photo shows Cora burying Sophia at Santa Monica beach, while the second photo shows the whole group of kids. Thanks, Sue, for sharing the pics!

 Next, we have Cora digging near Trent.

 Sue and Jen took Jack, Trent, Paul, Sophia and Cora to the Third Street Promenade in the evening, for dinner and to wait out the traffic.

Later, they even rode rides on the Pier (Cora's in the middle).
What a fun day!

Cora wasn't home until about 10:30 p.m. The next day, she slept until 11:20! She's never done that before, at least not when she's healthy.

Cora also must have been exhausted from several late nights, including slumber parties with her sister.

Mom2Mom Egg Hunt

Ready, set, go!

My moms' group held its annual Easter egg hunt Saturday morning, and dozens of our friends showed up to race for the goodies.

Thanks to my photographer friend Sara for sharing these lovely photos of our morning.

 I'm glad this one is still young enough for egg hunts!

Good friends - Alli, Liana and Violet. Violet told me recently that Alli is one of her "BFFs," a term she surely heard from Alli.

Lastly, a photo we took - Stace was standing under one of Valencia Glen's towering pine trees, when he was surprised to encounter a shower of jelly beans and this green plastic egg.

Way above his head, a chattering squirrel scampered among the limbs, apparently unhappy with the sweets he'd found within the egg.

Week In Review

We've been plant-shopping for the yard, and Violet found a friendly flamingo who got a little too up-close-and-personal. She is so silly.
Speaking of birds, Violet has grown to love them, like her mom. The other day she was making a squawking noise, and asked me, "Want me to be a blue jay? I mean, a scrub jay!"
She was referring to the proper name of the blue-and-gray birds we get in SoCal.
Another Violetism: On our drive to school, she had a game where you look for words out of a collection of random letters. She shouted that she found the word "come."
"Which letters," I asked.
"Q-A-M!"

Speaking of reading, Cora's second school progress report with Dr. Porter went very well. She excels in reading, scoring three grade levels higher than her own grade. She is on track with her grade level for math.

This week, because of the parent-teacher conferences, the students had several half-days. We went to the park a couple of times, and we also had Juliana and Natalia up for a play date. It was nice to catch up, even without Maya, who had a full day of school.

Here was our Easter-inspired craft this week at Mom2Mom.



















We also met up with Colleen and Liana at Scooter's Jungle for playtime. We will miss this next year, when our little girls are in school! Though Violet only will have a half-day of school, most of her friends will be in full-day kindergarten.

On Friday afternoon, we played at the park with Vivian and Elaine, and then came home to rest. Spring Break has begun! (For Cora at least; Violet will have two days of school next week...)

The girls rushed into Cora's bed to read together. I love these moments! They help cancel out the times of fighting.