Sleepovers and parties

Earlier in the week, Cora mentioned her disappointment that the summer was nearly over and she hadn't had a friend sleep over. And Violet, who slept at Alli's house in June, was eager to return the favor.

We arranged for Alli, her big sis Emily, and our other friend Emily to spend Friday night with us. Though we knew this would set us back in our attempt to get back on a school schedule, with classes resuming Wednesday the girls all would have several nights to recover.

The big girls slept in the tent, and the little two camped in the playroom. Alli and Violet were asleep somewhere around 11, while the big girls came in after midnight for snacks and stayed up until 1 a.m.

Stace took the girls - all five of them - to the pool while I cleaned up from breakfast. Their moms came a bit after 12, and we had a bit of time to prepare for our next bit of fun...

...Cami and Melanie's birthday party! Cami turned 8 this week, and Melanie turned 5 in April, but that was when her family was in the midst of moving. So, Christina held a joint party for the girls Saturday afternoon. Standing on the right is their cousin, Sarah. It was a very nice afternoon.

That evening, though Cora was of course very tired, we had some mommy/daughter shopping time. We each got new shoes; Cora's were for her first day of school. We also bought a hanging organizer for her small closet, so we can hang her shoes instead of having them rest in a big box under her dresses.

Later, because Violet didn't get to sleep in the tent on Friday, Stace and the girls camped on Saturday.












On Sunday afternoon, I took Violet to a birthday party. It was a cupcake-decorating party, for a Mom2Mom friend named Delilah.

Meanwhile, Stace took Cora to a $5 skating session at the Ice Station. Fun was had by all! It was a great final weekend of our summer vacation.

Swimming, Soccer and School Supplies

This week was our last full week of summer - it sure has gone fast!

We celebrated our final Popsicles in the Park with a water balloon toss/fight. We are sad to see this part of summer end; it's been nice hanging out with our friends while the kids play with theirs.

This week, Cora participated in a Kidz Love Soccer morning camp. She enjoyed it, and received a new soccer ball at the end.

 

The group did drills, and then divided into teams and played short games against the other teams. The coaches tracked the scores and goals, like in a tournament. They chose Cora to be captain of her team, and she picked England to be their country.

Also this week, both girls finished a short set of swimming lessons at the city pool. Violet took part in the Level III class, where she worked on diving, floating and different strokes. She did very well, and it was fun watching her improve.

Cora took part in the strokes class, where she swam up and down the lanes doing a variety of strokes - freestyle, breast, butterfly and backstroke. She enjoyed it, too.

After the final swimming lesson, we went to Walmart to buy the girls' school supplies. It took a while to find the right items requested by the teachers; nothing an ice cream cone couldn't fix though!

 We also had a playdate this week with Juliana, Maya and Natalia. They returned from their long summer trip to Brazil last week.

We got all caught up on the summer's happenings and had lunch together. These big girls met when they were 1, and now they're big third graders.





And both little sisters will be in school, too. Natalia is going to transitional kindergarten since she's a couple of months too young for kinder.

Weekend Fun

We finally had a free weekend day, and took the opportunity to go to the Discovery Cube Science Museum. We got our membership at Christmas, and the girls and I went in April, but Stacey still hadn't checked it out.

He loved it, and we all had a good time together. Here, he and Cora are learning about the energy usage of the three major types of light bulbs (incandescent, CFL and LED). Cora is going around answering questions about whether the house exhibit is energy efficient or not, using the tablet hooked around her neck.

We actually picked up some ideas we should do to increase our home's efficiency, like weather stripping around our front door.

Cora answered enough questions correctly to be named a "Super Inspector" and have her picture taken for the big board.

Next, we went to the grocery store section, and Stace helped Violet go around with her electronic cart and scanner, answering questions by scanning the correct product.

On this Saturday afternoon, the museum wasn't very crowded at all, so it was a lot easier to get around then it was when we went during Spring Break.

We went up to the Science of Hockey exhibit, and Cora, Violet and I tried our hands at smacking the puck into the goal screen.

We went back home and tried to have  barbecue with Keith - "tried," because we invited him over, bought the ground beef and buns, and had no gas in the tank. Oh well, we made do on the stove top and enjoyed our dinner together nonetheless.

On Sunday, we went to church, talked to our family, and cooled off in the pool. Then, we headed south to a beach community not far from LAX. Uncle Johnny was in town to play with Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca in a "concert in the park" setting. The timing, setting and weather were perfect for us to see John play.

Rigo and Colleen and the kids joined us, and it was a very pleasant evening.

John hooked us up with T-shirts for his band in Billings, John Roberts y Pan Blanco. (Pan blanco means "white bread" in Spanish, a nickname John picked up.) We won't even charge to be his new models...

Week in Review

This was a week of no set plans - one of just a few such weeks this summer.
The girls made plenty of time for Calico Critters - here, Violet has created a parachute out of a fabric scrap, yarn and two critter chairs.

We also did some coloring, after going through the plastic tubs of crayons, markers and colored pencils.

That was one of the many little jobs around the house I'd look at and think, "When summer comes, I'll get to that..."
And then summer came, and it has been busy in its own way, so getting to a lot of these jobs will have to wait until school is back in session!

Playing in the pool is one of the biggest joys of summer for Stace, Cora and Violet. Styling Daddy's hair was a new delight this week.

Also this week, we had a consultation with an orthodontist about Cora's teeth, which is something our dentist recommended. The x-rays show that Cora lost three top teeth (when she was 6), and only two have come down because there isn't any room for the third to drop. It's up there, waiting.

Cora might have braces to spread her top teeth out, making room for the teeth that can't get down. We'll go back when she's 9 and learn more then. Many orthodontists here are working on younger children, with the idea that it's easier to move things around in younger mouths. The length of time can be 6-12 months, instead of several years in older teenagers. We'll see!

Thrilling Thursday

We had such a fun time Thursday afternoon at Magic Mountain, using Cora's ticket she earned by reading hundreds of minutes back in the spring. We took along our friend Emily, who has a season pass, and my mom came and got me in as her "buddy."

Here you can see that Violet isn't the only daughter of ours to get red and flushed in the heat. Thursday was a hot one, and it was interesting to see how Cora's face showed the heat compared to Emily's.

We started off on Revolution, and then did a Goldrusher a couple of times, since it's Grandma's favorite and she doesn't do the coasters that go upside down.

Then we waited a while for Jetstream, a water ride that was especially popular on this hot day.

The girls then went on one of those spinning rides I can't do anymore.

To cool off more thoroughly, my mom encouraged us to watch the 30-minute Querk show, which is a bit like a circus, with acrobatics and dancing. A highlight also had to be the air-conditioning...

We took a break for dinner, then rode the pirate ship and giant swings. We got a mango-pineapple frozen treat and bid adieu to Grandma, who was still jet-lagged from flying in from Hawaii earlier that morning.

The frosty yumminess helped speed on the line for Twisted Colossus, the refurbished classic coaster with twists and loops.

The ride was amazing - easily my new favorite. The girls loved it too, and, at 4 1/2 minutes, it was well worth our 40-minute wait.

From there, we went over to Goliath for another 40-minute wait and another big thrill. Then it was 9 p.m., the park was shutting, and it was time to head home. Love these summer fun moments!

Cruisin'!

The fun weekend we'd been looking forward to for a year finally came - Colleen's birthday cruise to Ensenada!

We left Friday afternoon from Long Beach, and since we were a group of ladies on a fun weekend, the photographer had us be silly for our "Bon Voyage" photo.

The ship photographers document everything, in hopes that you'll buy the pictures.

Here is the shot of us all together on our Saturday evening "dressy night," surrounding our 50-years-young friend.


















 
 Our ship, the Inspiration, was huge. We spent Friday evening traveling smoothly to Mexico, and woke up Saturday morning docked in Ensenada.

We spent that day walking around the town, and then had our fancier dinner Saturday evening. On Sunday we stayed out at sea, relaxing by the pool.

 While in Ensenada, we did some shopping, as the streets close to the dock are full of small stores catering to the tourists. We also went into the old bar Hussong's for a drink - it was 2-for-1 margarita day, so the eight of us shared 4 margaritas and a beer for $12. They were STRONG margaritas, too, unlike the pricier drinks on board the ship.

 You hear about the amazing food on cruises, and it was true. Here was our dinner Saturday night - lobster tail.

 I loved the nightlife! We bounced around on our three nights between a karaoke bar, comedy shows, a dancing/singing show, a dance club and a piano bar. There was also a big smoky casino, just like in Vegas.

 Here we are at the piano bar, where we spent a couple of hours Saturday night. It was a lot of fun in there.












Our final breakfast, out on the deck Monday morning, after packing up and leaving our rooms.
Thank you, Colleen, for including me on such a fun and memorable trip. Now, for my next cruise...

Week In Review

With the MG now in business, we were happy to take it out for a date night when Grandma offered to watch the girls.

We had dinner near the mall and then went for a cruise. It's a bit strange being so low to the ground in an SUV world, but of course it's fun too.

On Wednesday, we headed over to Valencia Glen for our summer Popsicles in the Park fun. This week there was a good turnout, and the big girls decided to build a sand village.

On Thursday morning, the weather was cool enough to think of going out for a hike. We went to Towsley Canyon, where Cora saw a family of quail down in this little hollow.

The girls had fun on our hike. Cora loves hiking and being outdoors, and Violet did well, too.

Cora and Violet have both been in ice-skating camp this week, with Sophia and Vivian. They enjoyed this, too, and improved a lot.

Sunday

After the all-star game on Saturday, the weather got very strange for July in SoCal - a big thunderstorm rolled in, with lots of rain. It eased up a bit in the evening, and we went to Mel and Nick's new place so Stace could help them put together a pesky Ikea wardrobe.

Thankfully, midday Sunday was beautiful for the Central Coast British Classic Car Show in Oxnard.

We enjoyed looking around at the beautiful cars. Perhaps someday soon, we will attend a car show with our own MGB.

After the show, we drove down the coast about 10 miles to a beach campground north of Malibu, where Colleen and Rigo had invited us to help celebrate Colleen's birthday.

Colleen is turning 50 this month, and next weekend I'll be joining her on a three-day ladies-only cruise to celebrate further. But this weekend, it's all about the family.

Stace, as usual, built a sand castle and then put together a mini Stonehenge.

Cora, and all the other children, also stayed busy digging and creating.

When we arrived, it was very warm, surprisingly so. We stayed under the big tent shelter Rigo and Colleen put up.

Then we watched as the clouds rolled in, and suddenly it started pouring. Most of us quickly made for the tent again, though some of the youngsters stayed out and got soaked.

Later, the sky cleared, and it turned into a lovely evening. We roasted hot dogs on the fire pit, and Cora and Lucas got in a quick game of paddleball before it got dark.

Hey Now, She's an All-Star!

In her first ever organized sports season, our Miss Violet Mae was selected to her park's all star team.

She was very happy about this... well, she's pretty happy about most things.

This is her trophy for playing for the Dodgers. She was known as "Puig" on the team, for Dodgers star Yasiel Puig, whose T-shirt she wore to practices.

The All-Star game was played on Saturday, at the Castaic Regional Sports Complex. Violet's Stevenson Ranch all-star team took on the Castaic all-stars, in a matchup of Los Angeles County Parks and Rec teams.

Violet's Coach Mike served as coach of the team, and Stacey was his able assistant again.

Here are the teams "good game"-ing each other following the game. Being that it was t-ball, both teams won, and they didn't play with real outs.

After the game, the children were called up to get their medals.

Three of Violet's Dodger teammates were also on the all-star team.

Assistant Coach and the t-ball player...

Violet says she wants to play again in the fall, and Cora is interested in trying out softball or baseball.

Thanks to Uncle Keith, Colleen, Rigo, Lucas, Liana and Grandma and Grandpa for coming out to cheer on Miss Violet.