Rancho Camulos, At Last

Two years ago, with the world shut down due to a virus, Violet and her classmates missed out on their 4th grade field trip to Rancho Camulos. 

This year, field trips are back on the menu, but the traditional 6th grade trip to the Getty Museum was still off limits. 

So, I suggested to the teachers that this cohort take the Rancho Camulos trip, and they agreed. On Wednesday, I was lucky enough to come along as a chaperone.

Rancho Camulos is a part of California history, a rancho that used to cover a 48,600 acre swath of land used for farming and cattle. It also provided the setting for a famous novel named Ramona.

The field trip here is fabulous - educational and fun for the kids. Here, one of the docents leads them in making their own adobe brick from mud, straw and water. Adobe was a great building material in the hot southwest.

This sweet docent taught the kids some of the history of the area.

This gorgeous restored carriage was from the 1850s! You can see how wealthy the owners were.

The students also got to do some hands-on activities, like washing, wringing out and hanging clothing.

The day was warm but not too hot, and the setting is gorgeous, off the 126, between home and Fillmore. The kids enjoyed a picnic lunch, and I loved seeing Violet interact with her friends. She doesn't talk much about school friends, but seeing her with these guys, I can tell that they ARE friends!

After the last two years, I deeply appreciated being along for the ride, and I'm so grateful for the chance. (And let's not even go into the idea that it's very likely my last field trip!)
 

Rosencrantz Fun

Big smiles after the final show Saturday night! Ben was so complimentary to Cora - they've actually known each other for years, as Ben's brother used to play soccer with Cora with Kidz Love Soccer. Who'd have imagined way back then that Cora and the big brother would be sharing the Hart High theater stage?

Ben was the student director for The Great Gatsby in December, and he'll be heading to UCLA this fall. 

Cora will miss Ben in the fall, and she'll also miss Eric, who is also a senior. Though he had a smaller role in R&G, Eric played Jay Gatsby and is also a very talented singer.

We took advantage of the photo prop area, with the skull of Yorick, from Hamlet.

Ben and Cora with Jarod, the teacher/director, who did an amazing job with these kids!
 

Stace and I were helpful, as always. Stace built these three box/crates, which also ended up serving as coffins for poor R&G. Here you see the stagecraft teacher picking them up from our house.

And I made the photo board, again. 

Fans of Rosencrantz!

Our Rosencrantz had SO much support for her big role! Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty were wanting to visit us, with Bill's recent retirement, so they arranged their trip to make the show. And Grandma and Grandpa were able to see it twice. 

JT and Jim drove out from La Verne! JT was a theater/choir kid in high school, too, and was familiar with the show.

Cora was honored that Mrs. Shafarman came to her opening night! Mrs. Shafarman is a big theater-lover, of course, as she has run the Meadows upper grade musical for so many years.

Auntie Mel!

Colleen, Rigo, Lucas, Liana and Sue came Friday night.

Jen, Christina, Melanie, Cami, Violet and Beck came Saturday afternoon. I didn't get a photo of every friend of Cora's, of course! Others were in the audience. The Friday and Saturday night shows, in particular, will well-attended by loudly appreciative students.

A real honor - two Canyon Theater Guild stalwarts, who each have been in multpile shows with Melanie, came Saturday night and were absolutely raving about Cora's talent. We'll have to check out George and Coach Greg in their next shows, too.
 

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are HERE!

 After months of rehearsing and working hard on her lines and accent and emotions, Cora and her castmates put on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead this past weekend. 

In this rather quirky play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern - I'll go with R and G from hereon - find themselves in medieval Denmark's royal court, without much memory of their pasts or of what they're doing there. 

In actuality, they are two minor characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet, and playwright Tom Stoppard in the mid 1960s reimagined things with R&G as the leads. They don't remember their pasts -- because they only exist in the play, when they're present with Hamlet and his court.

It's a very existential drama, with humor and tragedy woven throughout. And, as the title suggests, they are marching inexorably toward their own demise, and we watch as they come to a slow realization of that fact, and come to grips with it. 

Can I say that Cora was amazing? Wow. She was. She was funny, she was committed. She WAS Rosencrantz. Her accent was solid, her pacing stellar. In her poignant, sad scenes, I had tears in my eyes! Hey, it's hard watching your girl die over and over!

We're not allowed to post filmed scenes because we don't own the rights, but in this clip here, you can see Benedict Cumberbatch playing Rosencrantz. And in this pic, Cora is doing this scene.

These two young men, both seniors, also were excellent. On the left is the Player, the man who runs an acting troupe that comes to court as well, and attempts to cheer up Hamlet but instead throws the court in disarray. And Ben, Guildenstern, was amazing as well. 

These photos were taken by my dad when he shot their dress rehearsal and took the cast photo.

At the start of the play, G is flipping coins, and the keep coming down heads - one after another, dozens of times in a row. It causes G to think something weird is going on, and he has a long monologue exploring the possibilities. R, meanwhile, is just happy to be winning all of G's coins! 

Ben's mom took this one - they were a PERFECT pairing, such a naturally funny combo with their obvious size difference.

I'm grateful for such great photos to remember this experience!

Our Little is TWELVE!

Violet is 12! A full-fledged tween, with a style all of her own. No longer a little girl, Violet has interests and moods and talents - she's really coming into her own. 

These two have such a great friendship. Violet misses Cora when she's away at rehearsals too often, and they love to talk about their common interests and play video games together. Vi is wearing her gift from Cora - the clip-on earrings. We gave her several pairs, when we discovered them at the jewelry store in the mall. Vi has one pierced ear, and one that closed over back when she was 6, and she has no desire to re-pierce it. But, she was thrilled with her new earrings, and has been wearing them daily, with her scarves and boots. She has a definite style!

We gave Violet a few favorite food items, but our main gift was cash, which she is saving up to buy a new drawing iPad, one that does NOT require being hooked up to our laptop. Many thanks to all who have also contributed to her fund! Happy Birthday, sweet Violet. We love you!
 

Birthday Camping

As per Violet's birthday tradition, we took a weekend trip to Wheeler Gorge with Colleen, Rigo, Lucas and Liana. 

Violet went up to the campground with Liana, since Stace was going to be getting home later in the evening. And Cora didn't come up Friday at all, because her play is coming up and she had a late rehearsal. She spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's, and they brought her up Saturday.

 

On Saturday, we relaxed. We also had a visitor - Stace's coworker Doug, who lives in Ojai.

He rode up on his old Honda motorcycle; the road to the campground is perfect for a weekend fun ride!

Later, Grandma and Grandpa came up with Cora. We had dinner and celebrated Violet's birthday a little early.

Cora wasn't excited to spend the night, but she did. We had a nice breakfast Sunday morning, and the kids relaxed by the creek.

I love our tradition with these dear friends.

Week in Review

Violet is still enjoying her Tuesday afternoons at Gilchrist Farm. This past week, she started with a ground archery lesson using her teacher's quiver for the first time. Violet enjoyed having so many arrows at her hip.

It's baby goat season at Gilchrist, and I was lucky enough to actually watch one be born! That was quite an experience for a suburban girl like me! Here, the mama is licking the newborn clean. The sibling, in the foreground, was trying to walk but couldn't keep its feet under him/her, since it was so new! 
 

Another mama and kid pair. There are at least a dozen babies - all so cute!

Spencer sometimes makes it clear he'd like to sleep on the towels, which requires us to remove a few. This week, Seb was on the lower cupboard, meowing. I figured out that he now wanted to try out the linen cupboard for himself. 

It was Melanie's birthday on Friday, and Violet won't be around to go to her party on Saturday. So, we took her home from school and got lunch together at Loaf, which is becoming one of Violet's faves. 

On Thursday night, Violet went to her final Connect 56 event of the year, a Scooter's Jungle playtime. I can't remember when we last went to Scooter's but it had been a while! 

While she played, Stace and I spent an hour or so at a city block party event in Newhall, which was meant to honor the Cowboy Festival, which again was cancelled because of the difficulties planning large scale events. Stace and I went because the Chamber of Commerce was going to be on hand, with its famous peach cobbler! So, we got our cobbler, listened to live music, and posed at one of the photo opps. 

Easter Weekend

Over Easter weekend, we babysat Ellie on Saturday when both Melanie and Nick were working. She enjoyed a couple of trips to our little park - nice to see another generation playing there!

Cora set a very bad example.

On Easter Sunday, after church we went to Loaf Bakery for some treats before later heading to Grandma and Grandpa's for a family meal.

Are my girls too old for an Easter egg hunt? NOPE!

Especially not when some of the eggs had quarters and $5 bills inside!

It was a nice time together.