St. Francis Dam Hike

JT and Jim came out to SClarita on Saturday, and we hiked with them to the site of our area's most tragic disaster. 

In 1928, a dam completed two years earlier in San Francisquito Canyon collapsed, unleashing a 14-story wall of water that killed more than 430 people as it sped 54 miles to the ocean.

Though the story is unthinkably sad, we had a lovely day together exploring. We parked about 1.5 miles from the remnants of the dam, and walked mostly along an abandoned stretch of pavement. 

Jonah and Violet had fun tinkering with some rock piles along the way.

A giant oak tree held a swing the kids enjoyed.

San Francisquito Creek was flowing nicely, even though we haven't had rain for a month.

And here is what's left of the St. Francis Dam - these huge concrete pieces. 

A plaque near the powerstation where we parked our cars tells the story. The dam was holding a huge reservoir of
12.4 billion gallons of water, and it was pretty well emptied in less than two hours. Workers and families from the Saugus, what's now Valencia, Fillmore, Santa Paula, all the way along the Santa Clara riverbed were killed or left homeless by the manmade disaster. So sad.

After the hike, we stopped for drinks and giant pretzels at Pocock Brewery, and then had dinner at our house. It was a great day with dear friends!

Perfect Pets

We love our pets! 

Violet is giving away her little bean bag, but Seb found it on the floor and adopted it for a day.

Violet gave the kitties some treats, but didn't put the lid on the jar. Smart Spencer found it and helped himself. Naughty boy on the table!

Cora took this picture of Seb soaking up the sun. Seb generally stays in our back yard when he goes outside. He also will climb on the wall, and wait for our neighbor to give him treats on the wall. 

Grandma had given Violet this little pouch for the mice. I put it in the cage, and in the morning Vi and I saw there was movement from within. I pulled it out, and BOTH mice were inside! So cute! 

Hi, Jade! Hi, Barley!
 

Week in Review

Well, after almost two years, we finally had a positive case of the virus in our house. Thankfully, it was short-lived, and our immune-strengthening regimen helped us all out. 

Cora had a mild 100.4 fever Saturday evening and felt achy. She tested positive Sunday morning. Thankfully the girls had a holiday on Monday, so they didn't have to miss school on that day. 

Cora was home all week, while Violet was able to return to school Friday after testing negative. Stace worked from home all week, though he never got it, either.

We all doubled up on our immune supplements and other remedies, and Cora had a very easy time of it. A couple of days of mild aches, and only the one night of raised temperature. By Wednesday she was feeling 100% normal, but of course the rules meant she had to stay home the whole week. 

An advantage of all of us being home together - Stace and Violet were able to play tennis quite a few times, on our cul-de-sac, and also at the tennis court. We considered this their PE time.

On Friday night, she went to a Connect 56 event, which had a Lego Masters theme. Violet won one of the challenges, for how well her boat here floated.

Violet showed us how her boat worked.

After our week at home together, Stace and I stole away for a date day up in the mountains. We hadn't received new snow since after Christmas, but there was still plenty on the hills to look pretty. It was lovely and cold, so it felt like we were very far away.

We were up in Wrighwood, in the San Gabriel Mountains. From this vantage point, you can see the L.A. basin.

The town is cute, and we enjoyed the little shops and had lunch at a brewery. Then, we took a walk around the neighborhood. Lots of sweet cabins, a lot of which are vacation homes.

This property was interesting - a lovely home to the right (not pictured), with this mock village and a little barn theater.

It was a great day out!

On Sunday, after church, Violet begged to go feed the ducks at the pond on the far side of the shopping center our church is in. I love her love for animals.

Later, Stace and Cora went for a drive in the MG. 
 

Week in Review

Violet loves making mug cakes - single person desserts you cook in the microwave. Yum! And look at her adorable new glasses.

My google photos app offered this color edit to me, and I thought it was pretty cool.

Liana came over to hang out, and Cora led the dynamic duo on a D&D quest.

Spencer is usually the one sleeping with Violet, while Seb sleeps in the living room or in our room. (He'd like to be in Cora's room, but she likes her door shut and her room dark, and Seb usually wants to leave in the middle of the night.)

It was cute to spot Seb on Vi's bed the other morning.

Violet, with a bit of help from me, completed this puzzle.

We celebrated January birthdays - me and Ellie! - with a dinner out at Bricks.

Ellie liked the drawing board we gave her.

I got one for Violet, too, and Spencer liked it.

Vi and I took a nice walk Saturday afternoon, with a stop at Starbucks on the way back. I'm glad one of my girls will still go on walks with me!
 

We've had a lot of wind, and now my pretty red and orange leaves are gone.

Waterfall Hike

With all the rain we'd had the week after Christmas, we thought it would be fun to go out to Placerita's Waterfall Trail to check out the creek tumbling over a rocky precipice. 

Saturday, we went out with Colleen and Rigo, and also our friends Christina and Eric, and all the kids.

Yep, we even forced Cora to come along.

It was a perfect hike - a nice distance, great weather, pretty scenery.

And, water! 
 

DIY Improvement

Stace's week off was busy with a little home improvement project. We've replaced the window into the game room with a wall, to help make the addition look more normal and less like an unpermitted addition.

(See Violet in her robe? She loves this robe!)

Day One, Stace removed the window and frame and the drywall in the dining room. We decided it would be cleaner to replace all the drywall rather than patch in where the window was.

Dean suggested we think through our electricity needs before filling in the hole - it was a "DUH" moment for us. We hadn't actually thought through putting in lighting. But yes, the gameroom lacks lighting, and adding a switch and wall lights would bring the whole room up several notches. We also thought about installing our old TV on the wall, since my parents gifted us their old one last month. That meant adding supports in the wall, too.

Electric-ready!

Drywall up.

Done! We got the paneling that matches the rest of the room at a Home Depot in the San Fernando Valley, as it wasn't available in SClarita.

It is lovely using the light switch and having a bright room!

I think Stace did an amazing job. 
 

One funny story - one evening we stopped by Lowes right before they closed. The next morning, Stace couldn't find his phone. He searched the car, the house, everywhere. He went to Lowes, searched all the aisles we were on, asked at the cashier desk we'd used, etc. 

He came back home, and we tried to think of what else to do. I wondered if perhaps he'd put it in the cart? 

Back to Lowes he went, to look through the carts. See what he found?

And see where he found it? Nearly a needle in a haystack!

Birthday Adventures

On New Year's Day, after sleeping in a bit, naturally, Stace, Violet and I went back to Quigley for a walk.

Monday was my birthday, and also the day Stace had to return to work.

I woke up to this sweet card from Violet, and a precious Hi-Chew, from her Christmas stocking. She's been cherishing these, so I appreciate her sharing one with me.

I met up with Christina and Colleen for my birthday breakfast at Egg Plantation. Naturally, I took half of this home for another meal! 

Stace was able to get home a little early, and we went for a hike at Placerita Canyon with Colleen, Rigo and Liana. (I didn't make Cora come along - not worth worrying about!)

Here, we're checking out the natural gas and oil seeping up out of the ground. The Walker family, some of the original settlers who lived in the canyon, were able to monetize this in the early 20th century.

This fireplace is from a home the Walker family had started building but never completed. I'm thankful the family sold the land to the state to make this lovely park, in its natural state.

 

These two decided to walk part of the way back along the river, but found it very slow-going. The delay meant we were rushing to get back to the parking lot in the growing darkness before the ranger locked the gate to the road! Thankfully it all worked out!

For my birthday dinner, we went to Kisho's, a Japanese restaurant that has sushi and rice/noodle bowls on one side, and teppan yaki on the other side, where the chef grills your food in front of you. We started out with some sushi, since it was going to be a 30-40 minute wait, and then moved over to our grill-side table. 

It's been a while since we've been here, since it is a "special night out" kind of place. But, so yummy and so fun, with the chef lighting things on fire, etc.

The best part of our meal - since the portions were so large and we all ordered meals, we had delicious leftovers for days! The birthday gift that kept on giving...