Labor Day Weekend Fun

We had a great three days together for Labor Day weekend - it's always nice having Stace home for three days!

We spent Saturday evening at Kelly and Yass's house, but forgot to take photos. It was great though; we enjoyed dinner and watched movies.

On Sunday, we met up with JT, Jim, Callie and Jonah at the Halfway House Cafe on the edge of Canyon Country. We celebrated Jim's 40th birthday, albeit a month late. This cute cafe has been featured in countless commercials, TV shows and films.

We then went up the road a bit further to Vasquez Rocks, to introduce Callie and Jonah to my girls' all-time favorite place.

The interpretive center gives a great overview, and provides air conditioning on warm summer afternoons!

JT and Jim later took part in a favorite post-Vasquez treat, Dunkin Donuts and iced coffee. They then came over for the evening. We so love our time with these looooong-time friends!

And on Monday, Sue and Pauly had us over for a barbecue. Yes, it was a full weekend of fun and friends!

After dinner, we walked down to the park and Sue and I checked out the new swing set with our 6th graders. You're never too old for the swings!

Sue brought chalk and a ball, so we created a foursquare court and also had fun with the chalk.

Week in Review

We had a power outage Monday afternoon, for several hours. While the power was out but it was still light, Cora worked hard on tidying up the playroom and rearranging it, so she could build a mega hideout. 

This lovely encampment became her home for the next week, and she was quite cozy inside.

She even made Sebastian his own section, and he loved it. He'd sleep in his nook often, if he wasn't right next to Cora.

While the power was out, we obviously had to eat out! Darn! Thankfully we had free kids' meal certificates for Chili's, so we took advantage of the opportunity.

This is how I found Violet and her sleeping partner one morning this week. My girls are so incredibly fortunate with these kitties!

The sixth-graders at Cora's school created footprints to represent their next steps. The school's theme this year "Step by Step, We Can Achieve Anything."




Here's Cora's entry - she's a cat lover, who is thinking of being an explorer, architect and chef, after going into the Air Force.

And here's our resident dog lover - we checked in on Benny and Jake the other evening, and Violet had fun playing with the boys. Jake is now 13, and slowing a bit, but he's still in good health overall.

Week in Review

Violet had her latest appointment with Dr. Lavin, her endocrinologist, and she's still growing very well. It's really fabulous!

She's now over 47 inches tall, and up to the 5th percentile. When she started the treatment in November, violet was just 43.5 inches tall, and off the charts on the smaller end.

We met up with friends for Taco Tuesday specials at a restaurant at the mall - you can get a giant margarita for $2 if you wear Hawaiian. Stace came by after work, and the girls hung out with the other children.

Violet also started a GymFit Tumbling class at Hugo's. She and Cora took this class together a year and a half ago, and she was interested in doing it again. She's having a lot of fun, and she's definitely showing some aptitude.

On Friday, our friend Liz had us over to her home for a pool party, as they celebrate their brand-new pool. It's beautiful, and the kids all had a great time.

We had more pool fun Saturday night, with Geoff and Patrice and their kiddos.

Lucky Violet - it was feeding day for Charlie's snake, so we got to watch him eat a (thawed) frozen mouse by swallowing it whole. It was fascinating! Then we watched the second half of the movie Avatar, which we'd started watching with them a few weeks prior.

On Sunday, we went back to Rincon Beach to soak in the waves and sun.

Stace bought a new board in the week, and he was eager to take it out. Everyone had a great day!

Weekend Apart

For a while, we've had the idea kicking around the back of our heads to have Stace and Cora take a camping trip away together. We figured they'd have a ball, and it'd strengthen their relationship.

I looked up campsites a few days ago, and saw one lonely space open at Carpinteria State Beach, where we'd joined our friends for a night back in April. Bingo!

Stace and Cora took off around lunchtime Saturday for their adventure together.

After setting up camp and surfing a bit, they went out for Thai food for dinner.

Of course, they enjoyed s'mores!

In the morning, Cora handled the bacon...

...which they ate in bacon sandwiches.

Then, it was off to the waves. The surfing/camping duo had a great time together.  And I'm so very glad.

Meanwhile, Violet and I went to a Mom2Mom leadership meeting at Colleen's house, meaning Violet had a long evening of playing with Liana. She had a great time.

We went to church in the morning, spoke to our family in England, and then went to Placerita Canyon Nature Center for a talk about the wildlife in your own backyard.

The docents brought out some cool animals, including an opossum and a de-stinkified skunk. Either of these, or a raccoon, could have been the animal that took care of a mourning dove the cats killed and left on our lawn the other day. (The next morning, there was nothing but a mess of feathers to sweep up.)

Barn owls and great horned owls, shown here, also hunt in our area at night.

Back to School!

Sixth Grade.

SIXTH GRADE!

How on earth???

But it's true. Cora has started her final year of elementary school. We've had her last "first day" at the school she started at six years ago, as an eager 5-year-old kindergartner.

She has changed, slightly but noticeably, over the two months since fifth grade ended. She is more interested in clothes, and was happy to wear dangly earrings and a necklace on Day One.

She's growing into a beauty, and we know she'll conquer 6th grade, and beyond!

Meanwhile, Violet is now in third grade - final year in the lower grades, top of the playground when the first-, second- and third-graders are out. She's the age Cora was when Violet was in kindergarten - and of course, Cora, being older, seemed so big and old in third grade.

Ready for the year!

Here's Cora on Thursday with Sophia, Violet and Vivian - these girls were all in Mrs. Hawthorne's kindergarten class, and they're still friends.

And here's Violet with her friend Kat, who was in her class last year and will sit at her table this year.

And here are Miss Lotito's newest stars - Jake and Cora.

Best wishes, kiddos, for a fabulous 2018-2019 school year!

Summer Tidbits

Summer vacation is winding down; here's a peek at how we spent the last week or so of it.

Jake and Char came over for a playdate - they watched movies, created clay creations and generally had fun. Jake loves Spencer and is trying to encourage Spence to love him back.

Cora's swim team held its year-end party Saturday night. Her coaches this year were such great teachers! We really lucked out on the coaching front with Justin and Katie.

We then took the girls to Jake and Charlie's house, where Kelly and Yass kept them feed and entertained while Stace and I went out to watch the latest Mission Impossible film.

On Sunday after church, Cora volunteered for about an hour at Shelter Hope, a pet shelter in the mall. She went through a training last week, and loves playing with and caring for the kitties.

Cora also had a playdate with her buddy Violet, while I enjoyed some one-on-one time with Violet. We went out to lunch at Lazy Dog.

And on Wednesday, our final, final day of vacation, we spent a few hours at Universal Studios after I had my prosthesis polished a few miles further in Hollywood.

We hadn't been back to Universal with our season tickets since Cora's birthday trip. Violet is now tall enough for the big Harry Potter ride, so we waited in the long line so she could check it out for the first time. She loved it! It's gratifying to watch her grow taller and have those new experiences.

Gotta check out the wand store!

Much of our day was spent waiting to find out which teachers the girls were assigned to for 3rd and 6th grade.

Cora was happy to find out she has Miss Lotito, with her good friend Jake. They were really pleased to be in the same class.

And Violet will have Mrs. Breneman, and she was happy about that, too. Kat will be in her class, and Mrs. Breneman likes Pokemon, so Violet was very pleased with her assignment.

My mom had to take a minute on our way out of Universal to chat with her buddy. Cora was SO embarrassed that Grandma would want to do this! It was horrifying to her.

We got back home and got ready for Back To School Night, where we got to meet the teachers and see the girls' classrooms. It was a good evening.

What a great summer!

Friday Fun

 We had Violet's friend Caitlyn over to swim on Friday, and Caitlyn brought a super-fun mermaid tail to play with.

 Violet also had fun at Caitlyn's house earlier in the week.

I'm happy to have been able to finally get Violet together with her girlfriends; it's been easier to plan things with Cora's friends because they're older and I've known the families longer.

 Meanwhile, Cora went to the beach with Jake and Charlie. Thanks to Kelly for these photos of their fun day together.

Later on Friday, we went to Christina's for a party with dinner and a movie. We introduced all our kids to E.T., which we hadn't seen in decades.

It was a fabulous summer day!