A few days in Monterey

We had a beautiful getaway, just us four!

One of the highlights was the morning and lunch at Earthbound Farms Farmstand. They got their start growing raspberries and have expanded across the US now. The gardens here are just for show and are used in their super yummy cafe.

The kids felt at home here, as did I.

Chris is pondering a copycat of this garden design. Yes please!

These two!

The Aquarium was a total blast. The second day was very crowded but we stayed about 2 hours. We knew which exhibits we wanted to return to, and we found the touch pools which we didn't stumble upon the afternoon before.

Upper deck outlook and family photo, one of my favorites from the trip.

Ara was too scared to climb into the giant clamshell.

We all got to touch a manta ray! Those are Owen's excited/nervous clapping hands.

Brave sis!

Learning about kelp was hands on. We all enjoyed the touch pools. I remember doing that when I was a kiddo.

I'm not sure what this was called but every 30 seconds there was a huge dump of water over the glass. It was loud, beautiful, and fun. Ara was not a fan at all. She said she wanted to go home, as she was watching the water crash down.

Outdoors

I tend to do a few Spring has Sprung posts.  Each spring seems better than the last! There is nothing like the small seedlings peeking through the dirt, the dew coating leaves, and the peeking peonies. Nature is pure magic, we are so in love with our field time. Usually 3-5 ever day we go down "to the field". 

We discuss our highs and lows nightly at the dinner table. It has been fun to see Arabelle's growing understanding of this concept. The other night she said "My high was going to the field with Owen. And you guys." Hearts melted, for sure!

 The kids jump, I forage stinging nettle for tea. Last night dandelion greens were in the sauteed vegetables. How I love to forage!

 Look at those stingers! Ouch! But very high in iron and vitamins.

 Peonies emerging

 Seeds in for the early stuff: radish, carrot, chard, bok choy, lettuce. They are all about an inch tall now.

 O helped, my sweet boy, using a sharpie to make the signs. His penmanship is improving, and he is reading! We are thrilled to witness the synapses fire.

 My sweet girl hanging with mama. We sit, race trucks, forage, snip lilacs and bamboo, and dig for worms.

This beast was in my raised bed for 5 years. We are changing up the bed orientation to increase surface area for more growing and this artichoke had to come out. It was a bear but I removed it, and split it into many other plants. Hopefully they will thrive, but I'm not sure if I will get a harvest.

 Mud day. We did not plan on it, and we rarely wear cream or white around here... OOPS!

Laughing at dad racing his motorcycle around the prop.

 They had the best time, we had a ball watching them play in the mud and dig for worms.

 I forget I planted these a few years ago. They sneak up and surprise us!

 Property bouquet of hellsbores, sage, rosemary, daffodils.

 These kids are pretty energetic together! So fun to watch them grow up together. Being so close in age can be a little challenging but they consider themselves sisters.

 Heart warming

 One of the few of us lately. Lots of our kids, which is good!

 The old garden site will be home to solar. Whenever the company gets their act together. Come on, people! It is very tempting to just fold the plans and plant a berry patch there. Hmmmmm.

Down and Out

              Shortly after Bodega Bay the kids and I got a nasty flu like virus which had me laying low for about 3 weeks.  I can't remember the last time I had a fever and this one came and went for a few days. The kids did better than me, thank goodness. I think Chris was spared or he fought it off with his ER high exposure immune system.

              I was possibly going to be called for jury duty during this time, and thankfully I was not. It was an odd few weeks also as Chris was doing dayshift. 3 times a year he sits on a committee where he helps interview and decide which RNs go through the pay increase/the next step up. He enjoys it, sort of. He does NOT enjoy working dayshift monday-friday for two weeks, like the "rest of the world".  He's been on PM shift so long that it really is hard on him. We are glad that those two weeks are over, until he does it again in July.

            It is a beautiful Spring here. I can't believe it the Lilac bush is already blooming. I need to compare it with last years date of bloom. I swear our first year living here in 2009 when we moved in in early May was when they were blooming. It seems like it is happening earlier each year but it is also entirely possibly that my dates are wrong.
     
          The upload of the spring property photos was stalled by the kid's show streaming. Turns out our internet can only handle one demand at a time! Is this really 2016? That has been a barrier to more frequent blogging. Also I got a new phone and for some reason the blogger app is not available anymore to download. Super weird. I enjoy sharing our story and will continue to do so. The weekly time period works most of the time. Except when the internet is tweaky!

         We just got back from Monterey. Our little family of 4 headed there for 3 days and 2 nights with the main event being the Aquarium. We got a tip (thanks, Wynt!) to get our tickets in advance. We were down on Cannery Row in the late afternoon and went to purchase tickets. After we bought our tickets at 4pm they said that our ticket was good until closing time today--5PM! We had a whole hour at the least busy time of day!

        The kids were shaking with excitement, and running from large window or exhibit to the next. We went to the areas that we thought would be the busiest the following day. It was so great to beat the crowds and have our own private tour. There were very few people there. If you can plan this extra time into your trip it is SO WORTH IT!! And with little kids an hour is a great amount of time here, as they were very wound up and energetic to say the least.

       After the kids show is over I hope to post more springtime photos as well as ones documenting our Monterey trip. We also visited one of the first Earthbound Farms Farmstand, as well as Carmel Beach. It was a glorious little road trip.