memorial day madness

kinda sounds like a car commercial, but in this case it refers to the crazy productive weekend. in a nutshell we barely stopped getting stuff done all weekend long. the list includes...

clearing off pressure washing the deck (and the drama of renting a pressure washer)

mowing the lawn

trimming the edges of the lawn

clearing a space for an "orchard" (i.e., 2 small fruit trees)

planting the fruit trees

giving our deck table and chairs and rocking chair the start of summer teak oil application

3 loads of laundry

rearranged a couple of kitchen cabinets

made ice cream

vacuumed and washed the carpets

fixed the broken door on our trash can area

trimmed some of our out of control lavender bushes and ferns

spread wood chips where the rain had washed them away

swept and re-stained the flat parts of the deck

a couple of trips to home depot

and posted two blogs (and thought about this one)

aside from all that, we blew a ton of bubbles (that's greta's big thing right now), evan put in several hours of work and we got a visit from ann, her mom kate and harriet and clark on sunday afternoon (happy b-day annie!!). greta and harriet had great fun playing once greta shared her ice cream and showed harriet the bubble collection.

it was a great weekend for getting ready for summer, and even though we were non-stop all weekend, there was still time to reflect on the holiday and remember and think of all those in public service who make our lives so much richer.

whew... bring on summer!

captain underpants

this past weekend was an important one, not just because it was blazin' hot (at least by northern california standards), but also because it was our first foray into underpants for the kiddo. very exciting stuff indeed.

we adjusted to life without a grandma around last week and were looking forward to a weekend at home with no particular plans. we had the second heat wave of the year hit over the weekend and we enjoyed every minute of it. we did a bit of work outside around the house (mostly evan while i entertained the kiddo) and we had a bit of fun built in as well. on saturday afternoon our neighbors called - they were in the pool and within minutes, we were packed up to go join them. it was a great chance to hang out with them and greta loved the pool. i hope she learns to swim early because her ability needs to quickly catch up to her independence.

on sunday morning, we headed down to santa cruz early so we would miss the throngs of people headed to the beach. we grabbed breakfast and then headed to the beach. as we were walking in, greta walked toward another kid and on a double take i realized it was her friend ingrid from camp (aka daycare). she and her sister and mom were at the beach for the morning, so we had the added bonus of built in entertainment. they were kind enough to share their sand toys and buckets and it was a nice chance for us to chat with ingrid's mom. we had fun running from the waves, getting our toes wet and greta even did a plunge into shallow water as she tripped while running to a dry spot when the wave came in. it's a good thing we had lots of extra clothes packed due to our potty training.

we said goodbye to ingrid, thea and their mom and ran a couple of errands on our way back up the hill. by the time we got up here, greta was tired, but still excited about her adventures. the excitement won out and although she was happy in her crib (singing, chatting to herself, etc) she did not go to sleep. while this made her a little sleepier than usual later in the day, it was not a train wreck for the entire afternoon. we took advantage of the weather and blew bubbles, cut back some plants and had a relaxing afternoon.

and.... i know you've been on the edge of your seat given the title... greta did a fantastic job without pullups in her new underpants. she had a few small accidents over the weekend, but was more curious about why they happened than upset. we sent her off to camp monday with just underpants and so far this week, she has come home in the same clothes as she went to camp in!!! i'm sure we'll hit a few snags, but she's a champ!

grandma's stay, a weekend away and mommy's day

may has been a busy month (hence the very long catch up post). my mom arrived for a visit at the beginning of the month. greta was very excited to see and play with "grandma kafy" as she called her this time around. she loved having the extra audience to show off all her new tricks.

we had an unusual may storm move through, so it was raining over part of the first weekend my mom was here. we had fun doing more indoor activites. fortunately, greta had not initiated her tricycle outside yet, so we made a pathway around the couches for her to test it out. she actually did pretty well given that her legs are not quite long enough to pedal efficiently. we went out to breakfast one morning and in general had a really fun time over the weekend.

evan and i survived the work week and looked forward to the second weekend of my mom's visit, which was when we got to get away for a couple of days and greta, carson and grandma got some quality time at home.

we took off in the car friday afternoon and headed to the coast. our destination was the charming town of cambria, just south of hearst castle. i hate to admit it, but i had never before been south of carmel on the pacific coast hiway (hwy 1). it lived up to the hype as we wound around the turns where the edge of the continent tumbled dramatically down to the ocean. it was a very relaxing and beautiful drive down. we saw the elephant seals on one of the beaches and stopped to take a few pictures of the scenery along the way.

we made it to our charming b&b - j. patrick house - before the wine and appetizer hour started at 5:30. it was perfect. we settled into our room and went to meet the other guests and share some wine. the other guests were very friendly and great to chat with. there were 8 or so rooms in the b&b, so it was a nice intimate feel.

we took off prior to the end of the wine hour to head to hearst castle as we had secured tickets for the evening tour on friday night. evan had been before years before (and got a modified tour due to unexpected rain) and it was all new for me. the evening tour hits the highlights of the various daytime tours and gives a glimpse of what guests would encounter while they visited. it is a magical place, which was further highlighted by the setting sun and how it was lit up at night. a truly enjoyable experience, and we even got to giggle at the cranky old lady who was intent on finding ways not to enjoy it and complain about things - hello! read the description of the tour and it specifies exactly how many steps you have to climb!

we rushed back into town after 9, hoping to find someplace to eat aside from the shell station with 75 cent hot dogs and landed in a pizza/burger joint. a great way to wrap up the evening.

the next morning, i would love to say that we slept blissfully until 10am, but alas, living with work schedules and a 2 year old has hampered our abilities to sleep past 7am. but, 7am ain't bad in our book. we got ready for breakfast at a leisurely pace while sipping coffee. breakfast consisted of fruit, yogurt and homemade granola to start, followed by a chile, corn suffle and homemade raspberry scones all of which were wonderfully delicious (and surprisingly in the perfect portions so we didn't overeat).

we headed off to san simeon state park to do a hike into the hills and "woods", finishing on the beach. it was sunny and beautiful and nice not to have to rush through so we are in the right place for naptime. we wandered back taking the route along the beach and then we randomly wandered to a spot that opened up to a preserve along the coast. we did another hike in there before heading into town for a late lunch.

after lunch of soup, salad and ollaliberry lemonade, we wandered through some shops and headed back to the b&b for a late afternoon siesta (so decadent to be able to drift off to sleep during the day!). we joined our fellow b&b-ers for wine hour and got the skinny on what they did during the day, which was mostly going inland a bit for wine tasting.

before dinner, we packed up the camera, tripod and the champagne we brought with us and chilled, and headed to the beach for sunset. this was truly the highlight of the weekend. we stopped along the road outside of town at one of the many pullouts and found a "path" down to the beach, which was deserted. popped open the champagne, set up the tripod and we were ready to soak it all in. we saw 2 or so people up on the bluff overlooking the beach for a minute or so, but other than that, we had the place completely to ourselves through sunset. it was magical. we took a million pictures, sipped our champagne and were reminded once again why california is such a magical place. perfect!

we had a very nice dinner at a local favorite restaurant, called it a night and headed back to the b&b. sunday morning, we had wonderful eggs florentine and pumpkin bread to accompany the fruit, yogurt and granola, and we packed up our stuff to head home.

we took the inland route on the way home and made a few stops along the way. the highlight of the trip back was checking out pinnacles national monument and taking a roughly 3 mile hike there. it was beautiful and a great "introductory" hike to the area. we would not recommend using cell phones as flashlights through the caves (actually not caves but pitch black spaces where you have to climb between rocks that have piled up). but we made it through and it was a great hike.

we returned home to a very happy grandma and greta to finish celebrating mother's day. they had a wonderful weekend together without any crankiness or issues - woo-hoo! we may get to do this again!!