Living Our Story

Life is lived outdoors during Summer. Time spent in front of a computer is minimal and goes unnoticed. I am extremely thankful to find myself happy in my life's present season. The days are filled with activity so much so we are almost too tired to make it into bed at night. My children seem to grow as quickly as my garden in this sometimes sweltering heat. Their words, their activities and understanding of how this big crazy world fits together amazes me. Together we carry handfuls of tomato, cucumber, sweet peppers, corn and squash from the garden each day. My son reminds me how they all started as small seedlings just like him as my daughter fills her cheeks with the ripe fruit. My heart is full. In front of me I find a narrow pathway along the creek, small fish and polliwogs just below the waters surface. The rocky terrain of a somewhat treacherous bike trail and my husbands silhouette a few yards ahead.  Wet faces adorned with swim goggles and grins popping up from a cool pool. A waterfall so loud we resort to communicating with hand signals while wiping the mist from our sunglasses. A forest of trees more mystifying than any movie on the big screen. This is summer. I imagine myself adrift in these moments forever. I write in my head and rarely ever on paper or in type. There is very plainly more living to be had than there is time to report on it. We are living our story and I rather like this one. So for the moment I am going to step away from the keyboard and enjoy my little ones while they are still little. 

Happy Summer.

Summer Time Epic Family Playdate

Just like that, Summer is at full throttle. The days are long and hot. The kind of days where you break a sweat without moving and collapse into bed each night and wake only when the morning light sneaks in through the window. The routines that come with school and ballet lessons are replaced with a single daily trip to the pool. To break things up we have enjoyed regular family playdates. Spending quality family time away from the everyday having a seriously good time. This means taking it a few notches up and having a side splitting, wide eyed day making memories. It helps our summer to be truly awesome and brings our family together. Top on my list for such an Epic Playdate is an exhilarating sailboat trip off the coast of Santa Cruz, California. My kids and I love the water but I have yet to share the joy of sailing with them. One that I have known since I was a child. We would start our adventure on land however. A bike ride to the farmers market to load up fresh baked goodness, berries and such. Off on our bikes, my Mr. in the lead. Stella stuffing her cheeks with strawberries in her seat behind me. My coffee spilling a bit at every turn.  My son grins at the dips and turns down the bike path to the harbor. Once on the boat and out of the slip we would pass a group of sea otters, maybe 30 or 40 floating and playing in the kelp. They watch us float by and its almost as if they wave or give us a "whats up" as we pass. Stella screams out "look at the babies!." We would enjoy lunch on the deck and the salty water would splash up sending the kiddos into fits of giggles. Maybe we even dare to hang our feet off. Thier still baby like toes curled up above the dark ocean water. They would learn to help raise the sail, what it means to "come about" and feel the power of the wind as it pushed us along the top of the water. Other families have taken the idea of "The Epic Playdate" and made it there own while spending meaningful time together as a family having fun! Such bloggers as Dooce who traveled with her family to Arches National Park to explore the breath taking natural landscape. You can see the video of that trip here. What would you do on an epic family playdate with your family this summer?

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

A Happy Ending & Rough Beginning

We said so long to 2010 with an impromptu trip to the central and southern California coast and greeted the new year with a quick trip into the city of Los Angeles.

We woke New Years Eve at the beach to clear skies and the sun shining.  A beautiful ending to a long, busy, and adventurous year.

The new year started off with a feverish toddler, a shopping spree and comida authentica. Not all bad but my poor little man is still very ill and seems to have shared his sickness with Stella. Having two sick babies is surely my first test of the year but with so much to look forward to this month things will certainly only get better.

Una Buena Aventura

My husband has been ill off and on now for more than a month. After multiple tests, scans, labs y mas we still do not know what is wrong but are hopeful to have a resolution soon. We thought he was well enough to take a quick trip to Los Angeles so that his family could meet Miss Stella but after just a day we decided to turn back and head home. It is about an eight hour drive and we knew we had to make regular stops to let Joaquin run and stretch and so that I could nurse the baby. We decided to take "El Camino Real" north (IE HWY 1) along the ocean for a few reasons. I had desperately wanted to visit the ocean at some point during our trip south and seeing as I would be the one driving....

We stopped just outside Ventura, our old stomping ground and somewhere I am still totally in love with. Joaquin ran and played for a bit. Henry got some fresh air and I introduced Stella to the beach!

Because it was already late afternoon when we left L.A. we made it as far as Pismo Beach and ended up staying in a fabulous beach side resort there for the night. So although my husband was/is ill I think he was able to enjoy himself a little or at least be pleased that the babies and I were not totally bummed about cutting our trip short.

Santa Cruz and The Cabrillo HWY

We spent the past weekend near the ocean and stopped in on Richie, my husbands brother. He was working so we decided to hang out at his office....The Santa Cruz beach. Yeah...life is rough. It turned out to be a beautiful day and although short, we had a nice visit. On our way back to Emeryville we decided to take the Cabrillo Highway along the coast. So beautiful. Parts of it remind me of or home in Ventura and the drive from Santa Monica. Anyway it was a lovely day...makes me miss Ventura.