We can never understand how our weekends leave us so exhausted, but this weekend was a prime example of what our "mellow" weekends look like. Mystery solved we think.
Inspired by all the facebook statuses from Oregon friends talking about their blueberry bounties, T did a bit of research and found some local u-pick farms. No blueberries, but we were able to get strawberries and blackberries and in a few weeks we plan to go back for some apples. (If we had been a couple months earlier we could have had kiwi and something called an olallieberry.)
Swanton Farms is on the coast just north of Santa Cruz, so we drove out through Half Moon Bay and since we thought we would be a bit early to meet our friends, we decided to stop and check out some tide pools at Pebble Beach. We saw one starfish and lots of crabs, hermit and whatever you call the non-hermit variety.
We got so many berries, and that's not even counting the strawberries that failed to make it past C on the way to our basket.We used a small portion of the strawberries to make scones on Sunday and most every meal has been served with a side of berries. We might make smoothies tonight. After the successful berry gathering venture, we finally stopped at the little roadside pony rides place on 92. There is so much more to Lemos than pony rides, we had no idea. The Lymans joined us (eventually) there as well and the kids were suitably entranced.
If we hadn't worn ourselves out enough, we came home cleaned off all the dust and dirt and headed over to the library. Little wonder C was sick the next day and today B and T are sick, and J just mentioned having a sore throat. We really need to learn to kick back every once in awhile, for reals and not just in theory.
J really, really wants to see the new movie Scott Pilgrim v. The World and he found this fun link that lets you make avatars of yourself in the same style as the film. B and T had a good time making these this morning:
Its marked on the calendar for next Saturday. T noticed in our date book that it was listed for yesterday. Upon further investigation it was discovered that it was actually Friday the 20th (same day as the beautiful Miss Hayden turned three!). This was on Tuesday, thank goodness.
So still slightly worn out from Outside Lands last weekend we gathered our strength and our love of music and made our way to the Shoreline Ampitheatre in Mountain View to see John Mayer, supported by Owl City. We mostly bought these tickets because T had become obsessed with the Owl City song Fireflies. And we figured we knew and enjoyed enough John Mayer songs to make it a nice way to spend an evening. We were very pleasantly surprised with how much we all enjoyed John Mayer live. Especially C. No naps that day and he simply refused to go to sleep because he didn't want to miss any of the show. This is the first time he's had such a strong reaction to music or any live show (with the exception of Playhouse Disney Live...but that's saying a lot).
It also turns out that John Mayer and his band really like to jam (probably somewhere between Tom Petty and Jason Mraz in spin off randomness and length of show) so we didn't make it through the whole show, but we stayed until after 10 pm which is late for us. John Mayer was much more likeable in person and we left bigger fans than we were when we arrived.
On a sad and frustrating note: T bought a t shirt only to have it stolen from her jacket pocket somewhere between the venue and the car. She checked that it was secure before we left the venue so she knows it didn't just fall out, but we didn't realize the loss until the next day. She's making something called outrageous brownies today though, so that should help ease her pain some, chocolate usually does.
This past weekend was the third annual Outside Lands Festival in Golden Gate park. Its a big, multi-day, multi-stage music event with a focus on local eateries, local vineyards, and living green. We have wanted to go the past two years but the first year T was very pregnant (not to mention on bed rest) and it was very hot outside which would not have been a good combo, the next year we couldn't afford the tickets and couldn't imagine going with a two year old and a 10 month old. So this is our year! We decided it would be easiest on the kids (and the pocket book) to only go one day, and Sunday was that day.
(B took this photo)
Unfortunately it wasn't exactly clear where in the park the show was and after we parked we walked for a long time... in the wrong direction. We ended up walking the entire circumference of Golden Gate park before we finally arrived at the show, too late to see Al Green but plenty early to see the rest of the bands we wanted to hear. Since we have already seen Al Green when he was in Portland, if we had to miss someone that was the least upsetting.After waiting in line for the "bathroom" for ages, and then being traumatized by those "bathrooms" (thank the sweet Lord above that B never had to use the facilities, she surely would have refused and then we would have had a real problem -- and mess-- on our hands) we were ready to stroll through the many, many booths and see the three stages. Except that we had had our fill of walking and the kids had had their fill of being toted around. When we realized that we could get some food and set up our blanket more or less between the two main stages, we staked our claim and stayed put. There were so many food options, but not so many that the kids would eat or that had vegetarian options, and the lines were looooong. So we settled for the largest slices of pizza known to mankind. While we were in line Phoenix started their show and we had to skeedattle (how do you spell that word?) to be able to see the big screens. This was the show that T wanted to see, and she loved them.
When Social Distortion played we couldn't actually see the stage, but we could hear fine from our spot and since most people had rushed over to that stage is gave the kids a bit more freedom to run laps around the blanket without worrying us too much. The kids and J enjoyed a giant ice cream sandwich, T declined as it was freezing cold outside and she thought they were crazy for getting ice cream.
The final show was Kings of Leon and J was stoked. C fell asleep almost immediately in the front pack and B was in a giddy good mood. At one point J said something to her about going up to the stage and talking to the lead singer; she said "Silly daddy! They aren't really there!" Which is when we realized that she thought we had just been standing around in a crowd to watch a televised music event! It does make sense since she couldn't actually see the stage, but what must she think of us for dragging them there to watch tv?
We didn't stay for the entire set (they played for a long time, guess that's the benefit of being the last band of the day) because everyone was pretty worn out and we had no idea how far we were from our car (not so far as it turned out, about a mile). We were able to hear the band play for most of our walk though, so we didn't completely miss out.We got home about 10 and the kids decided what they needed most was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (in fact B talked about it on the way home -- until she fell asleep -- no crust or green stuff, which is avocado that T tries to sneak into their cheese sandwiches). Next year we probably won't take the kids, get a sitter instead. But it was really fun to share the experience of good live music as a family. The next day B told T that she wants to be a famous piano player when she grows up and play all over the world.
We love checking things off our list of "Bay Area To Do"s, and last weekend we finally found some willing comrades in adventure (the very fun and new to the Bay Area Lyman family) so we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. Well, we didn't actually get all the way across, only half way. But that means we technically walked the entire length of the bridge. We parked down at Crissy Field and walked from there, so we automatically added at least a mile each way to our trek. Plus it was very windy and cold up on the bridge, so it was a bit much for the wee ones. It was still very fun and so cool to see the bridge up close and personal.
Our beautiful niece, Julia (known better these days as "Cousin Julia" since B and C feel that cousin is a status worthy of a title) stayed with us for a week and we loved having her! The kids had so much fun with her and she is simply a delightful house guest; always full of love, laughter and sunshine. We hope she knows that our door is always always open for her!
Half Moon BayWunderdog (best vegan hot dogs in the City!)Grace CathedralChinatown
Inspired by all the facebook statuses from Oregon friends talking about their blueberry bounties, T did a bit of research and found some local u-pick farms. No blueberries, but we were able to get strawberries and blackberries and in a few weeks we plan to go back for some apples. (If we had been a couple months earlier we could have had kiwi and something called an olallieberry.)
Swanton Farms is on the coast just north of Santa Cruz, so we drove out through Half Moon Bay and since we thought we would be a bit early to meet our friends, we decided to stop and check out some tide pools at Pebble Beach. We saw one starfish and lots of crabs, hermit and whatever you call the non-hermit variety.
We got so many berries, and that's not even counting the strawberries that failed to make it past C on the way to our basket.We used a small portion of the strawberries to make scones on Sunday and most every meal has been served with a side of berries. We might make smoothies tonight.
After the successful berry gathering venture, we finally stopped at the little roadside pony rides place on 92. There is so much more to Lemos than pony rides, we had no idea. The Lymans joined us (eventually) there as well and the kids were suitably entranced.
If we hadn't worn ourselves out enough, we came home cleaned off all the dust and dirt and headed over to the library. Little wonder C was sick the next day and today B and T are sick, and J just mentioned having a sore throat. We really need to learn to kick back every once in awhile, for reals and not just in theory.
