At about 3 p.m. on Saturday, Cora and Olivia arrived in Santa Cruz. Cora
was asleep, and Olivia was not only very awake, but doing jumping jacks in
Mommy’s arms. When Olivia saw Grandma, she laughed out loud. When she saw
Grandpa, she stared for a while then gave a big smile. Mommy carried Cora
upstairs, and Olivia went outside on the deck with Grandma. When Olivia
heard the birds, she stopped moving and listened very carefully, then turned
her head in every direction as if to figure out where the sound was coming
from. Cora slept until about 4. She woke up all alone in the upstairs
bedroom. When Grandma went to the top of the stairs, Cora looked grumpy,
but when Grandma said, "I wonder where Grandpa is," Cora said "Let’s go find
him!" Cora and Grandma looked for Grandpa. He wasn’t in the reading room,
and he wasn’t in his study, and he wasn’t in the bedroom or the bathroom.
Finally Cora said, "Maybe he is in the garage!" And that’s where he was,
standing in front of his workbench looking at something through the big
magnifier.
The Waters family was invited for dinner, so Grandma had a lot of work to
do. Cora helped Grandma by carrying in cheese for the pizza, then she went
out into the backyard with Grandpa and a small magnifying glass. Olivia had
a snack from Mommy, and fell asleep for hours. At 5 p.m. the doorbell rang.
Grandma opened it and there was Macy! Macy and Brian went into the backyard
to help Grandpa and Cora look at flowers and leaves and birdbath water
through the magnifying glass. Then Cora and Macy raced Grandpa all the way
across the yard. Macy and Cora had a tie, and Grandpa came in third. Then
everyone went to the dining room, except for Olivia, who was still asleep.
Cora sat in her high chair between Grandpa and Mommy, and Macy sat between
Brian and Michelle on a regular chair with Uncle’s big dictionary on top of
it. Cora and Macy each got avocado in addition to dinner. When everyone
was eating a fruit tart for dessert, Cora looked across the table at Macy,
and said, "I love you, Macy."
After dinner Cora and Macy played and played. They played the piano, they
drew pictures together, they marched through the hallway, they made
screeching echoes in the dining room. They chased each other through the
hallway and the dining room. They laughed and laughed and laughed. When it
was time for Macy to go home, Grandpa and Grandma and Mommy and Cora walked
outside to wave goodbye. When Macy was getting into her car, she yelled, "I
love you, Cora!"
It was late, but Cora wasn’t tired. Mommy went upstairs because Olivia was
awake. Grandpa cleaned the kitchen and Grandma and Cora went out on the
deck with a flashlight. Cora was all wrapped up in a green fleece blanket.
Only her face showed. It was dark on the deck. Cora and Grandma saw Mars
but not Venus. They heard the screech owl. Cora shone the flashlight up
into the tall trees. They kept hearing the screech owl but they didn’t see
it. They sat on the bench for a long time. Cora sat on Grandma’s lap, and
they snuggled together and listened to crickets. After a while, Cora
decided the dark was scary. They went inside and got some books. Cora sat
on Grandma’s lap and they read "Tickle, Tickle." Mommy came down and sat on
the couch. She listened for a while and then fell asleep. Cora and Grandma
read "Is Your Mama A Llama?", "The Owl And The Pussycat," and "Grandfather
Twilight." Cora lay down and said she was tired, so Grandma and Cora and
Mommy went upstairs to go to bed. Mommy lay down on the big bed, and Cora
lay down on the futon next to the bed. Then Cora decided she wasn’t tired
yet, so Grandma and Cora went back downstairs to read some more. They read
an English-Italian dictionary until Cora fell asleep. Then Grandma carried
Cora up to the futon.
On Sunday Cora woke up early, a little before 6 a.m. Grandma came in and
took her downstairs. It was still dark. Grandma wrapped Cora in the fleece
blanket so they could go out on the deck and see if the screech owl was
still up. It was! And then they heard the hooting owl, too!. Pretty soon
the eastern sky began to get colors, and Cora and Grandma heard birds waking
up. Cora asked Grandpa to come outside and help her and Grandma spread bird
seed. Cora, Olivia, Mommy, Grandpa and Grandma had breakfast together at
the kitchen table. Cora ate raspberries and cereal while the sun rose over
the trees. Olivia jumped up and down. Then Olivia fell asleep and Mommy
took a shower while Cora and Grandma and Grandpa walked to the duck pond.
The ducks saw Cora and swam over quacking. Cora threw cracked corn in
different places so all the ducks could get a turn. Then Grandpa went home
to work on his lecture and Cora and Grandma went exploring. They walked
back through the Hundred Acre Woods, and then climbed lots of stairs. At
the top of the hill, they decided to go to the UCSC playground. Cora had
the playground all to herself. She played in the sand and went down the
slide. She swung on a tire swing and drove cars on the sidewalk. Cora and
Grandma walked home through some very tall trees. Grandma said, "These are
eucalyptus trees, Cora." Cora said, "Maybe we will see some koala bears!"
They looked and looked but didn’t see any. Cora said maybe they were way up
in the tops.
When they got home, Cora rang the door bell and Mommy came to the door.
Cora had pond mud on her, so after Cora drank apple juice, Mommy gave Cora a
bath. Cora made the green frog swim. Grandma held Olivia near the bathtub,
and Olivia jumped up and down. After Cora was all clean and dry, she asked
Grandpa to show her how to use the big squirt gun. Cora squirted water onto
some strawberries, then into the cup under the leaf man’s face, and finally
into all of the bird baths. Then the squirt gun was empty, so Grandma and
Cora went into the house to fix lunch. It was a sunny day, so they ate
lunch outside on the deck. Cora ate cheese and tomatoes and cherry vanilla
yogurt. Cora told Grandpa that yogurt was very soft. Grandpa said poetry
to Olivia, lots of Shakespeare and a little T.S. Eliot. Olivia seemed
seriously fascinated. Then Grandpa made up a song for Olivia, using the
four syllables of her name. O-li-vi-a, he kept singing. Olivia liked that,
but not as much as the poetry. After lunch, Mommy put Olivia down on her
play mat, and Olivia made very loud happy sounds. While Mommy and Grandpa
loaded the car, Grandma and Cora finished reading the English-Italian
dictionary. When Mommy said it was time to go, Cora hid between a bookshelf
and the wall. Then Grandma picked Cora up and carried her to the car. "Say
hi to Shannon for me," Grandma said. "I will," Cora said. She looked
sleepy, and so did Olivia. Then Mommy and Cora and Olivia drove away.
Grandma and Grandpa were sad to see them go, but Grandma and Grandpa were
very happy they had visited..
