SoCal Visit, Part 2 of 2, Lake Forest

Overview
For October 17th to October 22nd, the remainder of our week visiting Dan and his family in Southern California, we spent two nights at Dan's house and our final three nights at the Staybridge Suites once Carrie and "the littles" returned from Ohio. The following photos with Vivian and Lillian capture our Halloween experiences and show that we gained a better idea of the girls' school and extra curricular activities. Limited to two evenings, our time with three-year-old William and nine-month-old Irene, "the littles", was short but fun. Although compressed in time, we had ample opportunity to acknowledge and enjoy their cuteness.

Sunday, October 17
Our checkout time from the beach rental was 11:00. Dan, the girls, Frank, and I left shortly before then and drove the two hours southeast from Oxnard to Dan's home in Lake Forest. Although in Ohio with the littles, Carrie had kept my iCalendar up to date with the girls' activities near home.  On Sunday afternoon they had a scheduled low key swim meet and in the evening a trip to Fall-O-Ween at Heritage Hill Historical Park. Vivian and Lillian chose to skip the afternoon swim meet and chill at home instead, preferring to work on some crafts I had brought for them.  The idea was to make a door knob decoration by poking wavy squares of felt into a pre-stuffed and pre-marked cushion. Lillian's was a puppy and she worked very intently on it. I think Vivian's was a panda.

In the early evening, when it was just beginning to get dark, we went to the first annual Fall-O-Ween celebration at a local park. The advertisement said to

... celebrate the fall season with OC Parks at the inaugural Fall-O-Ween at Heritage Hill Historical Park! Tour the decorated historical grounds during special park hours and take your picture at a variety of fall and Halloween-themed photo opportunities. Try to find your way through the hay maze and complete a scavenger hunt for ghoulish goodies at this free, family-friendly event.

Upon arrival, we were directed to an entrance bedecked with lights and then followed a prescribed path past a series of stations where a passport card was stamped. Six stamps earned a bag of trick or treat candy at the end. The lights were festive and many were creative, like the witches' hats.

We took some snapshots of a small church and at a graveyard.

I took a scarcity of candid photos because it was dark enough to set an eerie mood but too dark for fast moving kiddo pictures. Fortunately there were photo opportunities staged where attendants would take photos with your own cell phone. One was spider-web covered haunted house and another was a wagon driven by skeletons. We could relax and enjoy the adventure and still capture some digital memories to look back on.

We were there on the order of an hour or so. I was impressed with the amount of effort the Orange County Parks had invested in such an enjoyable, seasonal, but not overly scary, festive event. It was fun for the kids and fun for the adults. Next on the schedule was figuring out what to do for dinner.

We ended up going to BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse. Vivian and Lillian ate very well and were good as gold – well enough and good enough to deserve dessert.

But it was going on 8:00 pm by then and that was too late to stay out longer on a school night; plus they were getting tired. They begged and beseeched their dad for dessert but he held firm. They were a bit sad and who can blame them. BJ's is well-known for its Pizookies® and this is what the girls had to give up. But they had had something similar at the Bowlero a couple nights earlier and I promised to get them dessert the next day after school.

Monday, October 18
On the way to Fall-O-Ween the previous day, Dan had driven us to where the girls went to school. Since we now knew where it was and had a extra car available to us, appropriately outfitted with carseats, Frank and I could pick up Vivian and Lillian while Dan was at work. We parked a bit away on one of the neighborhood side streets and walked along a path to the school grounds to wait for dismissal. A sign on a lamp post indicated the school name as Santiago STEAM Magnet with a 𝝅 symbol. A bench next to the school building had four other symbolic plaques.

Curious, I looked up what they all meant. STEAM is a defined curriculum that focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. It differs from the more familiar term STEM because it adds in art as also important. Frank and I enjoyed interpreting the symbols: a test tube for science, an on/off switch for technology, a gear for engineering, drawing tools for art, and the Greek letter 𝝅 for math.

Vivian and Lillian each came bouncing out of their respective classroom and greeted us happily. We drove them over to their Spanish class which did not begin until 3:30. There was plenty of time to get there but not a lot of extra time to go someplace else like home or a park. The classroom was in a suite within a building located at an industrial park complex. 

I took the previous picture of the Spanish class building for a specific reason; the dark green bench out front, bottom center of the photo, is a memory jogger. That is where we sat while waiting for class time and introduced Vivian and Lillian to the card game of Go Fish. They loved it! Lillian did not right away catch on to the rule that you had to ask for cards you had in your hand. She asked for the ones whose pictures she liked the best. She also had a hard time holding them fanned out in her hand out of sight of the other players, so she would spread them out on the bench or on the ground where all could see. Vivian did her hardest not to peek; but, hey, she is seven years old with a strong competitive desire to win.

The game I remember from when I played the game with their dad when he was little had cards actually shaped like fish and in different solid colors. I could not find any like that, so I bought these to bring on the trip and present at an appropriate time. This was perfect. Vivian and Lillian so loved the game, it was the final activity we did right before they went to bed on our last night before we left. And in retrospect, pictures are more interesting, plus fish-shaped cards might have been even harder to hold. I found this picture on eBay of the vintage cards we owned. They are around our house back in Livermore somewhere. I bet they are in better condition than those in the picture, too.

Tuesday, October 19
Since we'd spent Monday night at Dan's house, we were ready, willing, and able to take the girls to school Tuesday morning. We walked them in, not feeling comfortable just dropping them off, and waited until they were out of sight in the school. Frank was wearing a denim over shirt which is custom embroidered with the phrase Quilter's Husband. Another grandfather, dropping of his grandson at school that morning read Frank's shirt. "Dano" tapped Frank on the shoulder and spoke to him.

Dano's wife is a quilter, they are moving, and she had many bins of fabric in the garage she is giving away or selling really cheap. Would we like to come over and take a look? Of course we eagerly went over to his house and took him up on it. My fabric stash is now 28 yards fuller. I took only a small fraction of all she had. More details are in my 11/16/21 post on DianeLoves2Quilt titled Surprise Fabric Acquisition. 

Carrie would be returning home from Ohio with William and Irene that night. We would be staying at the Staybridge Suites for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. We stopped in and asked if we could check in earlier than the usual 3:00 check-in, explaining we had grandkids to pick up from school. They allowed us to check in at noon, which we did. We like this place because it is 1.3 miles and only 4 minutes from Dan's house. Their suites are roomy, their eating area is spacious and serves a free breakfast daily and a free light dinner for business travelers Monday through Thursday nights. We had a full breakfast – eggs, a meat, fruit, yogurt, pastries, etc. out in the sunny, pleasant courtyard every morning of our stay.

After the school pickup we took Vivian and Lillian to Ruby’s Diner near the Laguna Hills mall for a Dine & Donate fundraising event for Santiago PTA. they had card stock model cars for the girls to assemble. They did a great job with no help from Frank and me at all. The food service was a bit slow but we had we were okay with that because we had time to use up before our next event opened. Vivian and Lillian were very happy with their Oreo cookie milkshakes.

Our next adventure was Santiago STEAM Magnet Elementary Night at Pumpkin City’s Pumpkin Farm set up on the Laguna Hills Mill parking lot which ran from 3:30 to 8:30. Carrie had advance purchased ride wristbands for Vivian and Lillian. We were fortunate to get there as early as we did ~ 4:00 since the lines for the rides were very short. It got much more crowded later but by then the girls had ridden most everything they had wanted to. They rode the swings, a boat, and a train that Vivian timed so that she was the engineer in the lead locomotive in charge of ringing the bell. Trust me. That really is her in the cab.

Then they wanted to visit the petting zoo. It was screened off form the general attendees perhaps to give a little solitude to the animals and shield them from the overall cacophony. I told Frank that I wanted pictures and he should climb up to a vantage point so he could take them. With a lot of expert zooming on his part and some selective cropping on my art, we scared a few photos to show. Lillian is with the chickens and Vivian is with the goats.

Afterward there was a lot – I repeat, a lot – of running around to pose behind wood cut outs, on hay bales, and in 3D pumpkins. There was jumping over big real pumpkins and acting as ghosts with many expressive faces.

By now it was about 6:20 and we'd been there about 2½ hours. Dan had joined us for the final ¾ hour or so after he'd left work. Sunset had been at 6:12; we did not want to chase after and locate the scattering girls in the dark. We chose to leave so the girls could get bathed and ready for bed and Dan could leave to pick up Carrie and "the littles" from the airport. That was the plan. Vivian and Lillian, once bathed and shampooed and dressed in their pajamas desperately begged to ride with Daddy to pick up Mama from the airport. Dan gave in. Frank and I remained behind, alone to stare at each other in Dan's temporarily quite home. When the six of them returned, there was barely enough time for some quick kisses and hugs Carrie whisked two very tired and three-hour time lagged "littles" off to bed. Rushed and as tired as they were, we still got good-natured smiles from Irene and William. We would see more of them the following night.

Wednesday, October 20
Carrie's job requires her to work at home during this pandemic and so "the littles" would go to back to their day care and resume their routine, as much as possible after their three hour time adjustment from Ohio. Vivian and Lillian would be in school and Dan, too at work. Frank and I used the opportunity to have an outing for ourselves. We chose to stroll the streets of Laguna Beach, a small coastal city in Orange County, California, known for its many art galleries, coves, and beaches. At Moulin, a French cafe, Frank had a strawberry jam filled crêpe and I had an apricot jam filled one. We had chocolate eclairs for dessert. Like our own downtown in Livermore, the streets were blocked off to make room for outdoor seating during the COVID-19 pandemic. We sat on a wooden platform in the street under a red umbrella.

Artsy town that it is, even the roadblocks are a feast for the eyes. Each cube is tiled with checkerboard borders at the base and a colorful graphic image above. Turning around 180° with our backs to the roadblock, we saw the beach and sea stretch out in a scenic panorama.

The art galleries were inspiring to browse. I even found a few side walks that were interesting inlaid brickwork creations.

We drove back to Lake Forest early enough in the afternoon to watch the girls at their gymnastics. They take lessons at Wildfire Gymnastics. I have often wondered when watching that sport how the athletes learn to do some of the maneuvers they do.  How do ski jumpers start out gradually and small since they can't jump chasm in two leaps? Similarly, how does a gymnast learn to do a somersaulting dismount from a balance beam? Being there while classes of varying age groups occurred simultaneously clued me in to the step by step breakdown of the learning sequence. This facility was amazing and gave a clue to answering those "how" questions. The variety of training and learning equipment was eye-opening. The description in the Wildfire Gymnastics website listed many of them. The banners hanging from the ceiling draw attention to how successful their teaching techniques must be.

There was a raised second floor viewing area where parents and other viewers could watch the lessons in action. I saw young teen girls whirling around the uneven bars at one far end and, nearer to me, were younger adolescents learning the fundamentals of vaulting. Lillian's class was on a far wall but I was able to zoom in and see her (in lilac leotard) beginning prancing on the balance beam. I was impressed with her balance and concentration. Simultaneously I could see Vivian (in turquoise ombre leotard) in another area working on stretching to increase limb flexibility. I have no photo of the motion, but later Vivian worked on running, planting her hands on two marked places on the floor, and swinging her heels up to land against a slanted padded wall. I assume this is first step in learning the lead-in flip for a vaulting sequence. I was fascinated watching both my granddaughters and imagining just what future training might entail.

After the gymnastics Frank and I returned to our hotel to grab a (free) light dinner. Dan, Carrie, and the four kiddos rushed off to a dinner fundraiser commitment for the elementary school. I suspect with all those families all at once at the restaurant it was pretty cacophonous; Dan later confirmed our suspicions. Once they were back at their house we joined them for our first unstructured home time to visit with Irene and William. I'd brought a couple small silicon teether toys for Irene but was very excited about the gift I'd found for William. 

William loves construction equipment and these four vehicles can be taken apart with a screw driver or battery-driven power drill. We gave it to him and I swear that in less than two minutes he had all sixteen wheels off and was rapidly working on removing the bucket, crane arm, etc. It was great for him but resulted in more than sixteen screws scattered all over the floor, each the perfect size for a choking hazard for Irene. As we scurried to locate all the screws and reassemble the vehicles, William and his helpful sister Lillian were exploring more disassembly. It was a frantic race. Carrie temporarily removed Irene from the fracas while Dan oversaw us finding and counting screws. William was good natured about it and I hope under more controlled conditions he would be allowed to play with the toy that was such a hit.

The kids were bathed and readied for bed. Here is the construction vehicle trio ready to explore other mischief. Notice William's sisters are in their matching Christmas pajamas but William preferred instead to wear his construction themed pajamas.

Can you tell they are related? Also it may be a good investment to take out stock in the letter "i".

Thursday, October 21
We enjoyed our breakfast in the hotel on Thursday and spent a little bit of time relaxing  and digesting in the courtyard. We planned to spend part of the afternoon with Dan.

Frank and Dan planned to watch Thursday night football together that evening at Dan's house. Grabbing looks at the TV screen amongst the bobbing heads of four actively playing kids was challenging. There were the distractions of reading books, playing go fish, and bouncing around. I include the game results in this post because I doubt either Dan or Frank remember or ever saw them.

Just before we left to return for our hotel for the night I remember that Dan's sister Robin had requested I take measurements for when she sews clothes for Vivian, Lillian, William, and Irene. I measured Irene and William first since their bedtime was a bit earlier.

When I went on to measure Lillian she giggled and wiggled saying I was tickling her. The same thing happened with Vivian. I had to switch my approach. I picked a location to measure, doing it for Lillian and then the same one for Vivian. Somehow they were able to tolerate a break between measures; plus they were challenged to see if one could be stiller than the other. They were also curious how they measured up with respect to each other at every step. Success. I eventually secured the data Robin needed.

We said our goodbyes that night. We would be leaving to drive back home in the morning. It was great see all the kids together and how much they love each other and play so well together. It may be a jungle but oh, what a joyous jungle! But I was also grateful for some quieter quality time we'd had with just the older two at the beginning of the visit.

Friday, October 22
Our drive home north was mainly uneventful except for one unique sighting. We got to see the Google vehicle that takes the road pictures for Google maps! It was a tiny treat to add a pinch of spice to our trip.