Girls Trip!

It is OFFICIAL:

We are MOVING back to Colorado!

So my exploring mind went into hyperdrive and knew I had to check off a few final bucket list items...

first on the list, visit Solvang, California.

Next stop- tacos in Santa Barbara!!!

This is a favorite stop of our for delicious tacos and a gorgeous view.

Next Stop: Downtown Disney!

Disneyland is still closed, but we could go and shop and eat.

We did some reminiscing and I shed a few tears.

Me and My Girls In Our Favorite Place!

So this trip was supposed to be a one day thing, but I was tired and wanted to go to a beach, so we slept in the van in a Beverly Hills neighborhood!  Too funny!!

We could not get over the houses we were driving by!  This state is so nuts that there is such a disparity of wealth.  We felt very safe and actually slept pretty well.  We took off around 6am and headed home.  I remembered seeing Ventura beach on our way into So Cal and thought that would be a better beach than the ones we drove to in Santa Monica that were teeming with homeless people.  It is soooo bad in LA.  We drive past tents after tents that had America flags on them, I knew they must have been government issued to try and give them shelter and space during COVID, but man it is obviously not enough.  They homeless population there is explosive!  We're talking thousands and so ver y very mentally ill and filthy.  It is unconscionable in the United States that people are living like that.

We headed North...

We eventually made it to Ventura Beach and we were so happy!

This was a NICE beach!!

I don't know if it was because it was a weekday, or it was early in the morning, but it was almost empty!

My little baby love, loves her mama...

This was such a fun trip, I hope it becomes a tradition for us in the future, to just take time to be together.

I love us!

Heros and Villans

For the last 2 week Brynnly has participated in PAYA (performing Arts Youth Academy) doing Heros and Villians.  She got a narrator role! Then also singing and dancing roles in Newsies and Friends On The Other Side.  I was PETRIFIED to let her go and do this with COVID-19 cases rising and the irresponsibility of people. She agreed to all my demands, she would do ANYTHING to be allowed to do this, she LOVES theatre so much.

My biggest demand was wearing an N-95 mask, which was extreme, but a lot of kids wouldn't wear masks at all. She had to promise to keep her distance and be very very good about using antibac.  I wanted her to eat her snacks outside and not around other people.  She only cried one time when they brought in donuts and I said she couldn't have one. Poor thing.  But I would never forgive myself if she got this virus and ended up in a hospital without me.  My anxiety is very high, I try to keep it in check, but I do that by adhering to the recommendations, and this activity doesn't really fit in those recommendations, even though it was allowed. 

In the end her performance was not supposed to be live, but even that attempt failed.  It was recorded to watch later and one parent was allowed to come and watch in person.  Ryan and I switched halves and each got to watch ehr.  She is SOOOOOO GOOD!

I mean she is TALENTED and I know going to do amazing things in Jr. high and High School!

I am most amazed at her ability to memorize her lines! WOW!

She's a natural performer!!!

I am so proud of her!!!!!

Camping in the Redwoods

What a HUGE privilege it was to get to camp and hike in the redwood forest. It was so serene and beautiful. We loved it and wished we could ahve stayed longer...but finding even one night was a miracle in California during a pandemic when being outside is pretty much the only thing allowed.

 

There were so many different things to be a part on this hike.  Walking under and through old fallen trees and even living ones! Climbing into hidey holes in others.  It was just a very cool place to enjoy and explore.

NATURE IS AMAZING 

 

We stopped at a beach along the way home, I just can't pass up an opportunity to be a beach, it is unbelievable we live here!!

Audition

Miss Brynnly Kathleen auditioned via Zoom for a PAYA musical this summer.

She has been practicing all the songs and memorized her audition monologue in a day!

She is made for the theatre!  She loves it!

Her audition was FANTASTIC!

Good Luck Miss!!!

Gold Rush Day

It is a tradition that there is  Gold Rush Day at school for the 4th graders that have been studying CA history all year.  Since we are distance learning it fell upon Mrs. Mom to create a worthy Gold Rush.

I was excited and up for the task!

Brynnly woke up to the smell of fritters for breakfast. All her miner buddies were pulling up a seat to eat! She did not share.

Everybody got in on the act and we all gussied up in our finest western gear.

We played a game that her teacher sent in the mail and then I created a panning for gold activity.

Earlier in the week I bought a sand sifter and painted mini pompoms gold.  They turned out to be the perfect little nuggets. She and her paddners took turns.

This young hussie hit pay dirt!

It was a successful day!

And the hootin' hollern' fun continued at....

NELLIE'S

I made a little saloon on the side of the house complete with old west music, dart board, and some good old fashion food.  They had rootbeer, beef jerky, grilled cheese, and Ghirardelli chocolate for dessert.

We ate dinner out there too!

I love this family and all the fun we make and have together!

Seriously, we are living our best quarantine lives.

We struck it RICH when it comes to FAMILY!

Camp Quarantine

Brynnly has been wanting to camp in the backyard for over a week.  I asked her to please hold off until it warms up a bit and that took us to tonight.  It really was the perfect day to do it because it got up to about 90 degrees today and it was TOO HOT to sleep upstairs in our bedrooms anyway; you know I ain't even turning the air conditioning on in April!

So first thing this morning we got the tent out and Brynnly helped stake it down, with a little tutorial on hammering from Ryan.

Brynnly had a whole list of activities for us to do, we went on a bear hunt where she hid stuffed bears all around the house!  She had us play twister and go on a scavenger hunt.  She is so FUN and creative.  I love how she loves planning things and thinks about so many details.

I made hot dogs buns from my sourdough starter which actually turned out to be more of sourdough rolls.  Lauren really liked them, but everyone else is breaded out!  Too much of the good stuff lately.

Speaking of good stuff...we ate this as soon as I got it frosted.

Chocolate cake from scratch, again using the starter!

When the sun set we played a little Quixx and roasted marshmallows.

I read a couple ghost stories that ended up leaving a much stronger impression than I anticipated.  Whoops!  Lauren was pretty freaked out, she told me later.

The tent was very cozy and it had cooled off considerably.

Sweet Dreams, my AWESOME wonderful, fantastically FUN Family!!!