Sonoma weekend

Our Sonoma weekend was full this time around. We always have fun when we visit our family up there, but this time it felt like we did so much in a short period of time. With Jim needing to meet up with a couple of people near Santa Rosa, we took the opportunity to explore that area that is little known to us all.


We discovered the quaint town of Sebastopol - practically Santa Cruz without the ocean. The kids enjoyed some ice cream treats at a local ice cream parlor and a picnic at the park. It was a very warm day, so just the ice cream was not enough. Once we got home, the children undressed and jumped into the wadding pool. Water was flying everywhere. And so were small little naked bodies!


The adults also got a chance to go out for a memorable dinner at Della Santina's - one of our favorite restaurants in town. What a difference it makes to not have little people dine with us. We love them so, but on occasion, it is a treat to only worry about your own food, and enjoy complete conversations without interruptions. On the way home, we stopped in San Francisco for a quick ride on the trolley and a visit to the Ferry Building. It was a big weekend treat for everyone, with lots of great memories.

To Sonoma

We are heading up to the wine country tonight. Jim has a pseudo interview with a practice in Santa Rosa over the weekend while the kids and I get to play with Nick, Terry and cousin Anders! There will be stories and photos to share, I am sure. For now, have a great weekend and wish Jim luck!

Morning at the Beach

We can never tell what kind of day we will have at the beach as the beach seems to have its own magic. Today I took the children to Moran Lake Beach where Jim and I had our post-wedding bonfire 5 years ago. We played there last week, too, and the children loved playing in a little river on the beach created by that morning's low tide.


Today was different. That little river was gone, and in its place was a rather noxious seeming puddle. So we kept walking until we found a cliff where we could lay our blanket and plop down our sand toys. At first the kids didn't seem too enthused. "There's no water to play with, Mommy!" they lamented as they were expecting to be sitting in a shallow river, digging for treasures as we did last week.


Then I challenged Momo to jump down from the cliff to the sand - probably about 5 feet high. And he did not hesitate. This got Claire going as well, although she chose to jump from a smaller cliff. Momo landed beautifully on his feet like a little gymnast and Claire was proud of her little jump as well. "Again!" they both cried out. And as you can see here, who needs a river on the beach. We transformed it into a gymnastics heaven today!




They jumped and climbed and ran around for over an hour until their little tummies reminded them that it was lunch time.

Pescadero

With only 6 weeks left before we say goodbye to this part of the country, we felt a need to explore our own 'backyard'. Pescadero isn't quite that close, but close enough for a morning adventure. Our goal was to visit the Harley Goat Cheese Farm , but it didn't open until 11am, so we first headed to a beach not too far from the farm itself.




The coastal Highway 1 from Santa Cruz to Half Moon Bay is dotted with several big and small beaches. Most of them are devoid of people, just drift wood, sea birds and sand. We decided to explore the beach at Gazos Creek: an entirely new beach to all of us. It turned out to be a much bigger beach than we expected, with plenty to explore. We created a shelter for Brown Cloud using drift wood gathered from the beach. The kids found some flowers and rocks to decorate the 'house'. Soon it was time to head to the town of Pescadero itself - the home of the Goat Cheese Farm.


Pescadero is a tiny fishing village half way between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay. It is amazingly bucolic, and has the charm of a small New England town. Harley Goat Cheese Farm was not hard to find. We were the first and the only visitors that morning, it seemed. Several goat cheeses were displayed for tasting. They are known for their quality and beautiful presentation of their goat cheeses. We even got to meet some of the goats, and the kids. I enjoyed the tangy, creamy taste of the goat cheese. Claire liked it almost more than I do. Momo took a taste of the one with sun dried tomato pesto. He claimed he liked it, but when I asked if he wanted more, he said no.




We ended our adventure at a picnic table behind the town's bakery where we got some materials for an alfresco lunch. We sat under blossoming apple trees, in the warm sun. The still fresh rain from the early morning and the aroma of a huge lilac bush made the air feel and smell like New England. And it made me smile to think that soon, very soon, I will be back there - even if it's just for a little while.

Playtime

The kids are better at playing together these days. They can spend a long time alone without needing me. I am not saying that they don't have siblings squabbles, because they sure do. We remind them all the time how lucky they are to have each other! They are playing 'tent' here in this picture. We convert our couch into a cave-like environment. Imagination rules!

Railroad visit

April 15: cometh the day, cometh the tax man for most of you, but not for our kids! It was Al Smith Day, whether you knew it or not!

To be honest, no one in our family knew April 15 could be a day of joy until our good friend John Steinmetz told us about a small railroad just up the coast, owned by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, that ran engines twice a year: New Year's Day and April 15, Al Smith Day.

Yes, just up Highway 1 past Davenport, not too far from the beach where Mommy and Daddy got married, is the Swanton Pacific Railroad!

Apparently Al Smith was a benefactor to Cal Poly and a lover of railroad engines on whose property a small gauge track with engines exists; he bequeathed the property to the University, and on those two special days a year the engines roll and children of all ages flock to our little neck of the woods for a ride.

As readers of this blog know, Momo especially is a big fan of the iron horse. It had been a long week for Mommy, since it was school vacation week; and so I decided to take the kids out for a day's adventure and leave Mommy at home to re-charge the batteries (she actually more or less took the opportunity to clean the house, but assured me it was great fun to do so without distraction).
Momo, Clairey and I had a ball!!!! Began the day with a donut, spent all morning riding trains and playing in the fields, and ended with ice cream. And the cherry on top? I got to provide a guest entry to my wife's blog! What could be better than that?
--Jim (Daddy)

Strawberries

What do you get when you take some sweet strawberries...


Add some whipping cream...


A taste...



A Happy Boy!

Morning at the Farm

I made the decision to spend the morning at the UCSC farm instead of anywhere else. The weather was beautiful and rain is expected for tomorrow. And I knew that things must be starting to grow up there.


The apprenticeship program is about to begin at the farm. Some 38 apprentices will live on the farm, in tents, for the next 6 months! If I were still in college, I would do this program in a heart beat. I wonder why I didn't know about this then? At least I got to spend some quality time with a colony of Roseate terns on a very small island in the Atlantic Ocean. That was quite an experience, too.


At any rate, we met a lot of people at the farm this morning, gathering weeds, making compost, setting up tents. One of them picked Claire a rose, one of them offered that we could pick a couple of strawberries in the field. They all seemed to adore seeing two little people tramping around the magical place. In the middle of it all, I found the two monkeys verbally fighting. After giving some attention to the content of the fight, I found out that they were arguing about the color of poop. Claire says it's brown, Momo thinks it's black. It went on a while until I had to break it up. Just imagine what else they will disagree on later in life!


We walked all over the land, picking strawberries (just a couple), smelling flowers, watching things grow. We even found a dead mole. There are not too many weeks left for us to visit the farm. I hope the kids will retain some memories of this place as a big part of their life in Santa Cruz. I know I will.

Happy Songkran (Thai New Year)

Spring Break

So it's been a spring break week for the kids. I was always a fan of spring break when I was a student myself. But now... I am not too sure about spring break.

It's spring, sure. But it's not a break for me! Yes, I know - it's meant to be a break for the wonderful teachers that take care of these little people day in and day out. They deserve a break so that they can come back fresh - ready to go again. But let me tell you something: I NEED A BREAK!


So, I exaggerate. Nevertheless, it's been a tiring week. It's partly because Master Miller (as he is known in his Thai passport) has become an occasional napper since the break began, oh, 5 days ago. He went three days in a row with no nap. Thankfully, today, as I write, he is snoozing, but that's only because I intentionally tired them out this morning on the beach.

Though it's been tiring, and the new (no)nap schedule is a bit daunting (thank goodness his dear sister still savors hers), we have been having fun, too. We visited the Children's museum yesterday, the beach and Long Marine Lab today, and tomorrow I may take them to the Monterey Bay aquarium. Or maybe I will take them back to the beach since it worked today!

San Francisco Get Away

I surprised Jim with a night away in San Francisco last night, our 5th anniversary. It was the first time for us to be away from our children over night, and we had a good excuse for it. Jim found out somewhere between the Santa Cruz mountains and the foggy city, that we were not going back home that night! I must say, the surpise thing was fun! I am proud of myself to have been able to keep it a secret until then. Hard for me - those of you who know me, know this about me.




I had made a dinner reservation at Hyde Street Bistro, our favorite French Bistro in the city. That, too, was a surprise to him. We had a great night walking up and down the steep hills of the city, and eating the best French food since who knows when. We came back to the hotel and found champagne and truffles waiting for us. A nice touch from the Omni Hotel!


A drizzly morning greeted us. We walked through Chinatown amazed that we were still in the US. Once you are in the middle of this part of the city, there is little that will remind you that you are not in mainland China. Until you get closer to the North Beach area that you realize that oh yes, we are in San Francisco, in deed. We found a wonderful French boulangerie for breakfast before walking back to the hotel and heading home.


It was a fun get away. And we have Marjorie to thank - our long time go-to person to care for our children. The children were in great form when we returned. It was wonderful to be back with them, and we will always have fond memories to look back to for our 5th anniversary.

Santa Cruz

"Keep Santa Cruz Weird" is a famous car bumper sticker that you see around town. Not all of Santa Cruz is weird, of course, but there is definitely a sense of the 60's here that doesn't exist elsewhere.


Having lived in Harvard Square for many years prior to coming here, this was no culture shock to us. As the years go by, however, I continue to discover that there is 'more' to this place than Harvard Square ever had to offer. And I am sure that I am just scratching the surface of both places. For instance, this 'Penny Artist' gladly let me photograph her art. "That's what it's for," she said, as she moved away for me to get a better view. I guess the biggest difference that I see between East and West coasts, no matter how hippie one gets, is that here on the West coast, the wall between human beings is much thinner, much lower, much more accessible. There is a door through the wall, let me just say it that way. On the East coast, hippies are darker, deeper, more intense. It's hard to get through to them. But when you do, they become your friend, a true kind of friend ( I can say this because I had some hippie friends in high school).


See what I mean? That's what you see sometimes when you walk through that door in the wall, here in our weird city.

Santa Cruz Weekend

We literally went from the mountains to the sea within a few hours this morning. That is the beauty of living in Santa Cruz. But it also meant going from peace to chaos, mindful to mindless. It was a complete Santa Cruz experience.


We first did a good deed and visited Land of Medicine Buddha. This Tibetan monastary is hidden in the redwood forest above the little town of Soquel, just a few miles from where we live. The darkness and coolness of the evergreens opened up to a sunny terrace where several buildings housed meditation halls, living spaces, a bookstore and even a swimming pool. It's a well known place for the Buddhist minded people. Even the Dalai Lama had spent some time here.


The children enjoyed spinning the prayer wheels, sounding the gongs, and saying hello to all sorts of buddha statues. A small hill led us to the biggest pagoda with a large buddha inside. It is a very peaceful spot, hidden from all the hubbub of the rest of the world.


Especially from the Santa Cruz Boardwalk! In just a few minutes, we descended from the most peaceful and picturesque locale, to the noisiest, gaudiest place in the Bay area. None of us had visited the amusement park before, however, so we thought, why not?


We found some rides for small children that put smiles on their faces as well as ours. We also found some very unhealthy foods which also put smiles on our faces: ice cream, cotton candy, french fries, corn dogs. You name it, we had it!


The good thing about this whole morning was that it distracted me from feeling the flu that attacked me a few days back. Now that I am thinking about it, I think I should go lay down and take a nap before the little monkeys wake up from theirs!