Peach Picking

Last Sunday we went peach picking with the Yalins.  I joined a fruit CSA from Frog Hollow Farm and they sent out an invite for this peach picking event at their farm, which is about an hour away from where we live.  We had a really great time. 

Everyone there was so friendly. When we first arrived, Gabriela got her scavenger hunt paper and was ready to spot bees and spiders and ladybugs and butterflies at the farm.  

They had a tasting table for us to sample all the different preserves they make at the farm.  There were compotes, jams, olive oil, chutneys, granola, and even cookies.  Everything was amazing.  After we left that table we came to this little gem of deliciousness:

 Three giant rows of fruit drying.  The farm staff told us to sample as much of each variety as we wanted.  And, let me tell you, there were a lot.  Some fruit was just starting to dry, so it was super soft, still juicy, but a little crisp on the outside and toasty warm from the sunshine.  Easton was even a fan.

 Just look at that beautiful fruit!

 Daddy and Gabriela are checking off items on her scavenger hunt.  When she turned in her paper, she was rewarded for her hard work spotting things with a giant fresh peach popsicle. I may have stolen a bite or two, and it was just as tasty as everything else we sampled there.

 Most of the peaches on the trees were still hard, and they soften within a few days.  But I stuck to picking ones that had fallen from the trees already. I figured those ones would really be ripe.  We were lucky to find some super tender peaches to feast on right then and there. 

 She got right to business tasting the peaches she found and picked herself.  She was really proud of herself. 

It was the sweetest thing seeing her wander through the rows of the orchard in search of the perfect peach, and then presenting us with the "best peach ever".  I'm not going to lie, it made me daydream about having our own farm for her to play in.

 Rowan was very excited that the farm had trees that were actually growing balls.  He threw some peaches and ate some too.  We enjoyed some during our serious picnic, which I wish I had photographed.  I cooked some barbeque chicken that morning and made an herb-vinaigrette potato salad.  We had green salad, olives, watermelon, rosemary almonds, some homemade Turkish pastries, lentil salad, and more.  The peaches tasted like peach pie filling, they were so sweet and delicious.

Rowan kissing Easton

On our way back, we couldn't resist sampling more of the dried fruit goodness, we bought our peaches, and also some nectarine plum compote. yum.  Gabriela said she was the "luckiest kid ever" and that she had so much fun on the way home. 

The farm staff said they will have another event in the fall, and I am totally bringing our family back! 

Heather signed up for the fruit CSA too, and I got a jar of Burnt Caramel Sauce as a thank you for referring her. I can't wait to try that stuff with vanilla ice cream.

We have already finished our pie.  We shared some, but who am I kidding, we ate most of it ourselves.  Still have lots of peaches and got more in our fruit box. Time for more baking.   yum.

More Summer Fun

Here's what our week has looked like in terms of the Summer Fun List -

• Build sand castles at the beach and fly a kite - this weekend we headed over to Crown Beach.  Gabriela and I bought new sand castle molds and a giant new beach shovel that she tested out with Daddy.  It was a great success.  Although, it was super windy at the beach, which made for lots of goosebumps and shivering for little girls who insisted on going in the water anyway.
• Visit with Grandma and Grandpa - Grandma and Grandpa came up to Oakland to help celebrate Uncle Nate's birthday this weekend too. We also got to visit with Uncle Jesse, Auntie Ann, and cousin Nolan.  We had a wonderful feast and, of course, Crazy Cake.  We feel lucky seeing Grandma and Grandpa two weekends in a row.
• Dance Class 
• Movie Theater - The movie last week was Smurfs.  It was kind of hard to watch.  Gabriela seemed to be enjoying it at the time, but afterwards she told me, "Mom, I know you want to take me to the movies to have fun, but I don't like mean movies".  I was proud of her for not liking the movie.  At least we had some yummy popcorn.
• Go to the park - We met several of Gabriela's preschool friends at the park last week.  She was so proud of herself for going across the monkey bars all by herself for the first time.  Gabriela has also been riding her two wheel pedal bike to the park when we go.  She still needs to practice starting and stopping, but rides like a champ.  Later that week, we returned to the park to do a summer solstice project and have a tree picnic.
• Go peach picking - this was my favorite part of last weekend. I have lots of pictures and will give you a whole post about this one.
• Bake a pie - I used the wonderful, juicy and delicious peaches we picked to bake a pie. Gabriela was my helper and had fun PART of the time.  If I'm going to be honest, peach pie baking included several time-outs for bad behavior towards baby brothers.  It wasn't totally fun, as a result. BUT eating peach pie for dessert and teaching Gabriela what "a la mode" meant was definitely fun.
• Family beach dinner - on Summer Solstice, Gabriela and I picked up things to have a yummy salad, pesto, and watermelon for dinner.  When Daddy got home, we informed him that we were having Family Beach Dinner, and headed over to Crab Cove where we saw that several other people had the same idea. After dinner, we walked on the beach and collected a bunch of sticks to use as fairy wands for Gabriela's fairy party later next month.

We had plans to see an outdoor movie on Friday, which is on our Summer Fun list, but the weather was awful.  So bad , in fact, that Gabriela said, "What the heck, Mom??? I thought it was summer!" Plan B was just as fun - homemade pizza dinner with friends, movie for the kids and wine and conversation for the grownups.

Happy Father's Day

Every year for Father's Day, I make Lane a photo book with pictures of him and Gabriela and now Easton from the past year.

I was so bummed when we got a little paper from the mailman on Saturday that we missed a delivery. So Lane had to wait until Monday for his book. At least I got to give him a preview, and you can have one too.  Just click here

We spent the morning with some friends of ours enjoying a giant Father's Day Brunch Potluck.  There was a garden herb fritatta, pistachio orange blossom french toast, blackberry coffee cake, roasted potatoes, bacon, melon, coffee, and mimosas with fresh squeezed orange-grapefruit juice! 

Lane's parents came by for a visit and we had dinner with them and played a game with Gabriela. It was a great way to end our relaxing day together.

Lane is such a sweet, loving, and fun daddy to our children. We are all so lucky to have him.

Let's Go Oakland!

One of the things on our summer fun list was go to a baseball game. . . WITH fireworks!  The coliseum is so close that we can hear the fireworks from our house.  Who better to ask to join us than our friends, the Swans who are big Oakland A's fans.  They were wonderful company, as usual. Olivia and Brenna came all decked out in their A's gear, and they brought their friend, Arianna who was spending the weekend with them. 

 Brenna and Gabriela both got new A's hats.  Gabriela's was an early birthday present. (Gasp! her birthday is coming so soon! I better get my party planning act together)

 Look at these girls!!  They cheered, they danced, they ate hotdogs, they snacked, and played with each other.  It wasn't even too cold for a night game. I really enjoyed explaining how the game is played to Gabriela (me!!!) And, right after I sang Take Me Out to the Ballgame with her, she gave me this giant hug.

 At one point I busted out the emergency bubbles.  They were a hit.

 Look at these girls!  So much fun.

The fireworks show afterwards was pretty amazing. My only regret was that I forgot to inform Gabriela and prepare her for the fact that fireworks are incredibly loud and you can feel the booms inside your body.  Basically, she was terrified when they started and said, "I never ever want to see fireworks again!" Not exactly the reaction we were hoping for.  Nevertheless, she ended up enjoying the fireworks and said afterwards how beautiful they were.  And now, on Tuesday, she's still talking about how that was the best part of her day. 

Lane's dad told us that Grandma Chaney was watching the A's game on television trying to spot us on TV. How cute is that?!? 

More Summer Fun

We have been so busy lately knocking items off our summer fun list like:

• Go to the zoo - We love having a membership at the Oakland Zoo. We just went for the morning and Gabriela wanted to spend part of our visit just running around in the grass and sitting underneath giant trees.  The highlight of our trip was seeing an elephant poop.  Gabriela was really hoping to see that.  Ahh, the simple pleasures in life.
• Join the Summer Reading program at the library - the library had Family Fun Day to kick off their summer reading program. We started out at the dance party, led by Gabriela's dance teacher. What a fun surprise!  She got a free book, signed up for summer reading, did an art project, and got a butterfly tattoo.  We also found some new books to borrow, and of course, Gabriela used her own library card to check the books out.
• See a movie in the theater - Alameda has this cool summer program where they show kid movies at 10 am once a week during the summer. It costs $5.00 to see NINE movies! So we bought two packs.  The best part is that the proceeds benefit Alameda education.  Gabriela laughed throughout the movie and really enjoyed the experience.
• Go to the park - We had three park playdates last week.  One was with about 7 of Gabriela's preschool friends. They played hide and seek, blew bubbles, played frisbee, and just ran around chasing each other. It's great that they are seeing each other even though preschool is out for the year.  We also met up with one of Gabriela's Music Together friends and her family. The last time we saw them was before Easton was born, so it was a great treat to visit and catch up. Gabriela also met up with her best buds Olivia and Brenna for a picnic park playdate!
• Go to a baseball game with fireworks - I have a whole post for you about this experience.
• Daddy doughnut date - Last Sunday, while I went to Yoga. Lane took Gabriela out to the coffee shop a few doors down from us for Special Daddy time.  They got doughnuts and hot chocolate, and played together on the back patio. 

Of course, we also have repeats like blow bubbles, go to farmers market, dance class, run like a cheetah, and put on sunblock and sun hat.

Why I haven't been blogging regularly

Aside from the whole juggling two children thing, this little book is the reason I have given myself a free pass from blogging every thing we're doing.  I love that this blog has been a journal of sorts, helping our family remember our fun adventures.  But, let's face it people, when you are lugging around supplies and snacks for two (usually in multiple bags), keeping an eye on your running preschooler and carrying your baby, the camera usually gets left behind.  And if I bring it, well, it's a miracle if I actually take any photos.

Enter the One Line A Day 5 Year Memory Book.  I have been using this book since the first of the year to track Gabriela's favorite part of the day.  And, we haven't missed a day yet!  Sometimes, we have to backtrack a few days, but we are almost half way done with the first year.  I knew it was ambitious when I got the book to get through one year, let alone five, but why not set the bar high? 

She already asks me to read about the past week, or sometimes to even start from the beginning and read to her what she's done. I'd say about 95% of it is in her words exactly. On days when she is too tired, I will write what we've done.  I'm hoping this will be an awesome keepsake for Gabriela as she gets older.  It will be fun as we go back next year (and the year after, and the year after that) to see what she did on that exact day for several years in a row.

Day at the Beach

Sunday morning Gabriela asked to go to the beach.  We packed up the suits, snacks, warmer clothes, towels, umbrella, beach chairs, blankets, sunscreen, toys, and even more stuff.  After a 10 minute drive through town, we were unloading our supplies and getting ready for a day of fun.

 I mostly hung out with Easton in the shade. He enjoyed sitting up and playing with his toys. I didn't show him the sand yet. 

Gabriela was so thrilled to be at the beach with her Daddy.

 

One of the things I love about the Alameda beach is that the water is so shallow. Look how far out they are in low tide.  This means that the water is not even knee deep at high tide.  And there aren't really any waves either, which is good when you have a 3 year old playing in the water.

Gabriela's most favorite thing to do at the beach is to have her Daddy dig a deep hole and then bury her inside. 

 

Daddy impressed her by doing handstands in the ocean and also walking on his hands, and chasing her, and digging with her and finding treasures in the ocean together. 

 And then the wind picked up.  It was time to bust out the kite.

 Here is Lane's lovely assistant

 The kite whooshed and whizzed around while Lane did fancy swoops and loop-de-loops for Gabriela.

It was a wonderful family day together. Can't wait to do it again. So lucky we live as close as we do to the water.

Weekend with Nana and Papa

Basically as soon as we unpacked from our trip to Paradise, it was time to pack up again the very next weekend for fun at Nana and Papa's house.  Our niece, Christianne, was in town and everyone was excited to visit with her.  She is so grown up, just look at her!!!! She was so excited to meet Easton.

There was piano playing. And Christianne sang.  And, well, I may or may not have totally blubbered like a baby watching her sing. I just can't believe how grown up she is now.  Heaven help me when my own kids are all grown up.  Sheesh.

 Nana bought a Slip N' Slide for the kids to have fun on. And thank goodness, because it was like 90 degrees there!  The kids played all weekend long on it.

 Mermaid Mina

My mom conducted a survey of her children independently, to see what she should cook for the weekend.  The poll results: Mexican food, Chile Verde, Mexican food, Chile Verde, and ... Mexican Food.   So, we had a regular fiesta. My mom made Chile Verde, we had burritos also, and then we had fajitas too!  It was a weekend of Mexican food... and margaritas.  See for yourself:

 

While the little kids splashed around on the Slip N Slide, us big kids had some badminton fun. That's right, I had so much fun the previous weekend that I bought a set.

It did not disappoint.

 Everyone got in on the action. 

 A superhero made an appearance for bubble blowing time.

 And after they were all worn out from bubbles and slipping and sliding and frisbee throwing and chasing, they all cuddled together and ate popcorn while watching a movie.  Gabriela passed out in the middle. That's how you know it was a good cousin day.

 Easton and Wes had some fun together too.  Well, mostly Easton. I like to call this photo,

 "excuse me while I eat my cousin's face"

 Clearly, Wes was not amused.

Here, Easton is giving Wes a death grip.  Aww, so gentle and sweet.

 Tickle, Tickle, Tickle!

 Sunday popsicle fun