Vacation part 2

Since Lucie passed out 10 minutes after we left Roaring Camp - and Brennan was soon to follow - we put off lunch and pushed on through until we reached the Corkscrew Cafe in Carmel Valley.  Which is where I wanted to eat anyway - my girlfriends & I had a lovely lunch there last year on our way to Big Sur.  Weirdly, we even sat at the same table.  Or maybe not that weirdly, since on both trips I was with a group that had the potential to be rowdy and annoy the other patrons, so a table off to the side was best.

Then it was off to our home for the weekend - the Carmel Valley Ranch.  It's certainly a special occasion kind of joint, with lots of amenities, like a big swimming pool:
 

Chocolate-covered strawberries (Lucie called them "apples") & sparkling wine delivered to our suite, in honor of Daddy's birthday - because what man wouldn't like a romance-novel treat for his 40th?

A SUPER-FUN SPLASH ZONE!!!  (Complete with 1 foot deep baby pool, allowing one to sit on a lounge chair and not be on constant alert for drowning.)

Nightly s'mores at the the poolside firepit - Brennan didn't get sticky at all.

Old-timey tree swings:

But the biggest hit by far was the hide-a-bed.  Housekeeping set it up while we were having dinner at the main lodge and Brennan was floored that the couch had turned into a bed.  I can't remember a time that prospect of sleeping on a fold-out bed made me excited, but he said, "I love my bed!  I love it, I love it!"

Of course, the big TV and multiple episodes of Clifford were pretty cool, too.

He loved the fountain at the main lodge and bugged us for pennies every time.  Not that he's wishing for anything, he just likes throwing pennies in the water.

The resort covers a lot of ground - there's a golf course, tennis, trails, a vegetable garden, lavender fields, beehives, the requisite wedding area, resident deer and turkeys (turkeys?  turkey? what's the plural of turkey?) - so there was also ample opportunity for running...

...and running...

For Mommy & Daddy, there were the many tasting rooms clustered together on the main drag in town, & good food at the resort and at our favorite restaurant in Carmel-by-the-Sea, La Bicyclette.  And happy, significantly less whiney kids.

And everyone liked the sunshine - of course, the Central Coast gets foggy, too, but every morning around 10:00, blue sky would start to peak out, and by lunchtime it was summer again.  Lucie even got to walk barefoot in the grass-

As much as Mommy would have liked to stay there forever, checking out all the stables lining Carmel Valley Road, soaking in the adults-only infinity hot pool, and pretending she was the sort of person who could afford an extended stay at a fancy resort, Sunday afternoon was fast approaching.  Also, Brennan missed his train set.  We had a last quick "swim" at the splash zone, loaded up on fresh popcorn - they appeared to be having some sort of membership drive down at the pool & tennis area - and headed for home.  Bye for now, Carmel & Santa Cruz - hope to see you again soon!

Vacation part 1

While I still love to travel, even just thinking about the process of getting 2 small people packed up and onto an airplane makes me exhausted.  Now I understand all the childhood road trips.  Somehow the light bulb went on this year, and I realized, Hey, I live in a part of the world that people actually come from all over to visit - maybe I should see a little more of it?  So this year we're trying out vacationing in our own "back yard".

Our first stop was REALLY close to home - Douglass Park in Noe Valley.  This was the first time Mommy & Daddy were both available on Wed. to watch Brennan's soccer class at his pre-school.  Since t-ball was such a bust, I was interested to see how he did in a non-parent driven situation.  

Much better, it turns out.  Although still a little fuzzy on the basics of moving the ball down the field.

He had a great time with Coach Radu learning how to bounce the ball off his knee and head, anyway.

Our next stop on the road trip was even closer to home - our driveway, where we actually finished the packing up we were supposed to have done while Bren was spending the pre-soccer hours at preschool.  So one advantage of air travel is the firm departure time.  But we did finally get on the road, eating take-away sandwiches in the car, and we dragged our circus down to Santa Cruz.  Even Roux!

We last came to Santa Cruz in 2006, more or less to take our elderly dogs on a final beach vacation, not realizing Kip & Laika would keep trucking along 2 and 4 more years, respectively.  After breakfast Thursday, we headed to the water, no specific destination in mind, and randomly wound up on the same beach we walked Kip & Laika up and down 6 years ago.  

Roux and the kids seemed to enjoy the beach just as much, and it was nice to remember a time when our old dogs ran, played, and got all wet & sandy.  But since we had to get back in the car, those inclined to get wet & sandy had to settle for just sandy.

Lucie particularly enjoyed scooping the sand with a really nice piece of driftwood.  

Which Brennan promptly tried to take from her.  And despite my best efforts to only photograph her from the left, you can make out the scrapes on her face from the header she took at the playground right before we headed out of town.  More of those available later.

We also spent a lot of time in the hotel pool - Daddy was very impressed with Bren's swimming and canon-balling - and wandered around Santa Cruz a little as well.  We even visited the Beach Boardwalk, where we bought the worst salt-water taffy I've ever had, and traumatized the children with a ride on the Merry-Go-Round.  Lucie was traumatized because she only likes stationary carousels, and Brennan was upset because he was required to wear the equivalent of a seat belt, which is not done at his local carousel.

But the main reason for our stay in the Santa Cruz area was a trip to Roaring Camp Railroad - someone very special was coming to visit.  Who is near and dear enough to a nearly 4 year old's heart to make his mother decide to buy tickets weeks in advance and drive 70 miles?  Thomas the Train, that's who.

Awaiting the arrival of Thomas was very serious work.  I was expecting laughter, cheers, maybe some impatient wiggling in the line. Instead, it was like a batch of 3-5 year olds heading into a very important management meeting.  Never have I seen so many solemn looking little boys.

Things loosened up a little once we were on board and in motion.  Lucie was crabby and restless, but then cheered up once snacks were provided.

Maybe the Friday morning crowd is more mellow than the scene on the weekend (not that I really want to find out).  Eventually, it seemed like he was having fun.  He admired the steam and the steep drop down to the river, and hooted along with the train whistle a little.

Back on Planet Earth, it was back to crabbing as usual.

We switched places, but even Daddy couldn't get a smile for the photo.

So I tickled him.  That worked.

It was a big morning out with Thomas-

We had fun in Santa Cruz, but it was time to head to our next stop.  What is near and dear enough to Daddy's heart to make me book a fancy hotel weeks in advance and drive another 60 miles?  Wine tasting, that's what.  So all aboard for Carmel Valley!

Playing in the Sun

We had our Second Annual Father's Day trip to Healdsburg - with a special guest:  Gangi!  

We had a lovely brunch at Mateo's Cocina Latina and visited a few wineries, but didn't go too crazy, since riding in the middle between the two car seats is uncomfortable at best, and Mommy had possibly been over served the previous evening.

Brennan also took Gangi to his favorite new spot, Fisherman's Wharf.  I thought this was going to be Mom's big chance to finally ride a cable car - since you can actually get on one at that end of the line.  Brennan, however, was not on board and Gangi had to settle for watching the cable car turn-around.  Maybe next time, Gangi!  She also got to enjoy Movie Night with Brennan, multiple trips to the playground, long sessions with the Thomas trains, and lots of cuddling and stories - even including Roux, who now thinks the guest bed is hers, no thanks to Uncle Gavin & Aunt Amy.

After Gangi's big visit, we haven't had any big events, just a lot of this and that.  Daddy took this picture at the big playground at Golden Gate Park and dubbed it "Khaleesi", since Lucie reminded him of the princess of the warrior horse tribe on "Game of Thrones".

Daddy stayed home with Lucie one Sunday afternoon so Brennan & I could go catch a matinee of "Brave".  Brennan's favorite part were the "little blue guys" (the floating little blue will o' the wisps that lead Merida through the forest), and it did get a little scary and loud during some of the angry bear scenes.  Mommy's favorite part was the younger MacGuffin's unintelligible Scottish accent.  It was a nice day, so we walked around Union Square for a little bit after the movie.

And we discovered some not-so-scary Scottish bears at the Disney Store:

The weather's been surprisingly nice this summer, at least up until a week ago. (Good thing we left town, more on that next time)  So we've had lots of chances to play outside.  

Lucie is only interested in wearing a sun hat when it's mine:

Brennan's making progress on the monkey bars, and can climb all the way over now - very brave:

And Mommy finally has someone to take with her on walks in the woods (besides the dog)!  There's a nice trail that starts just a block from our place that goes up into the Mount Sutro Open Space Preserve, and I sold it to Bren as being just like the forest "that grew and grew" in Max's bedroom in Where the Wild Things Are.  He loves it, and he can actually go pretty far!

We stayed in town for July 4th - and there was no fog, so we could actually watch the fireworks from our back steps.  Brennan was tuckered out from our walk in the woods, though, so he didn't stay up to see them.  So here's his Independence Day photo:

Happy 4th!