August in Monterey

Steve travels a lot for work, and during the week he is gone for at least half the year. He doesn't pay for hotel, food or gas to the job. He is a Marriott card holder and is now a Platinum Elite member. So free upgrades and other perks depending on which type of Marriott he is staying at. When he travels to somewhere boring like Bakersfield, we stay at home, but if he is somewhere wonderful, like Santa Cruz or Monterey, Jenna and I travel with him. Since it is usually about 105+ in Fresno in August, we make sure to go with him when he travels to Monterey! And this time we stayed in really nice rooms that average $200 a night. No way would we pay for this on our own dime! This year, we were there for two weeks. The first week had the famous car show at the end of it. The total bill for 5 nights? $1,700! Crazy, right???

This Marriott was right in the middle of historic downtown Monterey. It was next to the wharf (and the car show), old historic buildings and (on Tuesday nights) a farmers market. It was only a 10 minute walk to the public library. And I only had to walk for 15-20 minutes to get to Dennis the Menace Playground, a really interesting park. At the park, Jenna finally learned that in order to go down the slide one has to go up the steps and across the structure. That was fun for her and I didn't have to do much to entertain her for 40 minutes!

At a restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf.

Dessert at the restaurant above.
 

Trying on sunglasses that Daddy got from work.
 



 

 

Where we ate our dinner from the Farmer's market.

This seal was fascinating. Jenna was in love.

A Staycation of Sorts

In the middle of July, in lieu of a cruise, we went on a vacation around my hometown. We went up on Sunday after church and stayed until Friday afternoon. We dropped off Jenna at my parents' house and were alone for a few days in what was supposed to be a "rustic cabin" in the woods of Guerneville.

Sunday: Got to Santa Rosa around 5pm, had dinner, slept over at my parents' house.

Monday: Stayed at my parents' place until nap time then we took off. We drove into Sebastopol. Once there, we watched "Man of Steel", looked at the sculptures of Patrick Amiot on Florence avenue and ate Falafal for dinner. Yum! We later checked into our "rustic cabin". For $100 a night, it was two stories, two bed, two bath, and two decks. Upstairs had a fully stocked kitchen. Once we knew we had a fully stocked kitchen, we bought food for the coming week. Lasagna, pizza, salad, muffins, bananas etc. Steve did most of the cooking.

 

Tuesday: We got up "early" and drove to the Chanslor Ranch in Bodega Bay and rode horses! We took the 60 minute Osprey trail (ended up being about 45 minutes). So much fun! Steve's horse was called Penny and mine was called Bug. Bug was not very motivated to move but we came to an understanding by the end of the ride.

We then had lunch (clam chowder, yum!), bought taffy at the building that is painted like a Victoria Secret bag, and went to Goat Rock beach. At the beach we looked at the seals and took a brief nap.

Afterward, we went home, had dinner, chilled some more and drove to Windsor. In the summer, the city of Windsor has kids movies on the Green. Windsor is a small, relatively affluent town and the event had a small town feel. We put our blanket on the grass, bought a root beer float, and saw Madagascar 3. It was so fun! I would do this every chance I got if I lived there.

Wednesday: I dragged Steve on a historical adventure. We first drove to Jack London State Historic Park. After touring the main building, we walked down to the Wolf House and Steve really got into the architecture of it. The building was more intact than I remember it as a child. We didn't have a chance to see everything so I guess I'll have to go back!

We then went to Sonoma and had PB and J sandwiches on their town green. We sampled cheeses (lavender jack cheese, garlic jack cheese etc). We went to the Barracks, the Mission and Vallejo's home. Afterward, we stopped at the Petaluma Adobe. We were getting a little worn out by the time we got to the Petaluma Adobe, but since it was on the way home and we had already paid for admission, we made a brief stop. That night we were sure worn out! After dinner we relaxed at our cabin.

Sonoma Barracks

Thursday: We had a late morning (Steve took a nap!). After checking out, we went on a hike with lunch in Armstrong Grove (Redwood State Park). The hike was nice, and we ended up back in Santa Rosa for a showing of  "Star Treck: Into Darkness". We had dinner with my folks and stayed the night.

Friday: We did yardwork (voluntary on our part, they didn't even ask) and drove home during nap time. Jenna was very well behaved both coming and going to Santa Rosa, even after she woke up from her naps.

Our short little vacation was wonderful. I would do it again. Maybe a cruise next year though. Maybe.

What I learned this summer



Jenna loves blackberries:

Jenna likes to help mow (and bring in the trash cans):


 Jenna enjoys riding with Pig:

Jenna likes looking at animals but not necessarily riding on them:

And Daddy has big shoes and socks:
 

 

Cake Decorating

In June I took a cake decorating class at Joann's. Honestly, I wanted an excuse to buy tips and other cake decorating gismos. And here are some of my creations.

First cake (second class):

 

 

First cupcakes (third class):

 



 Second cake (last class):

 

 

 

Last Sunday for a belated birthday party for my father-in-law (baking done by my sister-in-law):

 

It takes a lot of time, but I have a lot of fun doing it! I want to make something fun for Jenna's second birthday. Probably some kind of animal?

Jenna Lately

The only thing really exciting since Easter was our trip to Monterey, which was wonderful but not very eventful. So in lieu of a wordy post, pics of Jenna lately. (Sorry some are blurry.)

Easter 2013

This Easter was a very good Easter. Two Easters ago we were moving here from Utah and our celebration was a box I had prepared a few weeks before. Mostly just candy. And a religious quote. But I think that holidays are better with little kids who walk around and can interact with you. To be honest, I don't remember what we did last year. I think I try to block most of the memories from that first year (it was a long one for me).

Anyway, we had a more commerical celebration on Saturday and so we were able to focus on the true meaning of Easter on Sunday. I love that we did it this way. I will definately continue this tradition if we ever move away from Fresno and family.

Of course I am terrible at taking pictures (the Easter baskets were adorible!), but here are a few from Jenna's very first egg hunt. We didn't need to encourage her to hold her own basket. Oh, and on Sunday I taught Sharing Time and brought a basket of plastic eggs as part of my lesson. Jenna got ahold of them afterward and it was so cute!

Here are way more Easter pictures than need to be posted.

Kitchen Cupboards Painted - Check!

When I first saw my new kitchen cupboards I had two reactions. The first was that I loved how many there. I loved my new kitchen! I loved that the sink was under a window. I loved that the oven was up high. I LOVED all of the counter space (you should have seen our apartment). My second reaction was completely 180. Repulsion! The cupboards were this seafoam green and made me feel a little ill. (And I wasn't even pregnant. Though when we officially moved in I was and the color of the cupboards still made me feel sick.)

Now, 2 years after moving in (Easter 2011), they are completed! Steve and I did the light pink (Carribean Coral) and I did the darker color (Wine Barrel) on my own during Jenna's nap time. I think they look much better and the best part is that the color no longer makes me feel ill. They are darker, but for some reason it works and isn't too oppressive.

Side one before:

Side one after:

Side two before:

Side two after:

 

The next kitchen project? Maybe tile. It depends on how long we stay in this house. Which depends on what Steve ends up doing for work. We have a couple of different options. We'll see.