Easter 2016

Easter was really wonderful this year.

We started off with June running outside to see what had grown from when she and Grammy planted jelly beans in the back yard. (Word on the street was that something would pop up on Easter if you watered them!) To her delight, she found this was true!

(Thanks, Judy, for planting the jelly beans! This was a really cute thing for June to enjoy!)

There was a quick hunt in the house for Easter baskets... And Bennett did NOT want to smile for a picture.

Then it was time for the egg hunt in the back yard!

June got the Golden Egg this year! I told her she could hand it in for $5 but she didn't want to because it was too special to her. So instead she just hugged it to her body for about 3 days.

We took a little drive out to Amador county, which is the lesser known wine region so close to us (Napa being the other, of course). The kids took zero naps, so we sort of crossed our fingers hoping for a good time. 

We spent the day with our good friends who also don't have any family that live in Sacramento. This allows us to hang out together on a day that is normally spent with relatives! We went to the Andis Winery and had a lovely picnic and some wine tasting. Shannon and I did a tasting while the guys fed the kids, then we switched. 

There were lots of little games and activities the kids could get into...some intentional and some not.

One spot the kids kept wanting to go back to check out was the far side of the winery, where there was an orange tractor and a goose who had set up her nest right on the edge of the parking lot. (Lord knows why, it was sort of a high-foot-traffic area!) Anyway, the goose was a little anxious around us at first but came to not mind us once she realized we were only there for the tractor and bar to swing from.

You can see the goose in the upper right-hand corner of this photo.

It really was a day about as good as I could imagine. Perfect weather, great food, the kids were well-behaved but enjoying themselves, chilled wine, good friends.

I hope you all had a great Easter as well!

Birthday, Beer Train and Belly Dancing!

My actual birthday was spent on a work trip, working a 15-hour work day for a big project implementation. However, I did get to see JP and Alison for dinner earlier in the week and I really thought of that as my birthday celebration. Besides, all the more to look forward to upon returning home.

I had an early enough flight home that I'd get to see the kids, and not only that, but to be serenaded and presented with chocolate cake once home!

The next day, we had a group date night on a beer train! It was about 3 hours round trip, on a train (in the rain!) with lots of beer tasting. There were different stations and you got 8 tickets to taste the options. At first I thought that there was no way I'd drink all of those...and then...I did.

We mostly stayed at our little nook, venturing out in groups to get refills, but we also took trips back to the open air car (covered for the rain) where a band was playing! They were so good - I couldn't believe they had their own horn section.

Michael was so sweet and wanted to take me out somewhere nice for dinner, but all I wanted was to go to Marakesch for some Moroccan food and belly dancing! It's just so fun - a full experience, including the group hand-washing in the beginning, eating with our hands, eating on cushions near the ground, sharing platters of food, etc. 

And when it was time for someone to get up and dance to give the dancer a tip, the whole group did! Ha!

Such a good time! It was a really wonderful birthday celebration this year!

Day on the Farm

On Saturday, Michael was out of town on a ski weekend with some friends, so I took the kids to a farm! Soil Born Farms is the farm operated by our local co-op. I saw online that they had a "Fun on the Farm" event for kids, but when I clicked the link to register, the page error-ed out. I wondered if it was sold out, but I figured that we could always just wander around the farm if we couldn't get into the event.

When we showed up, we learned that it was sold out, but the people were so nice and let us sign up for it anyway! I promised that June and Bennett could share the crafts since they only had limited items.

So the kids got to:

Play on a little playground:

Build a fairy house:

Visit the chickens:

Eat a garden snack (crackers, cream cheese and a bunch of edible plants grown there on the farm, like flower petals, chives, herbs, broccoli, etc.):

Look for little gnomes and fairies hidden in the children's garden:

Make a wand:

Make a grapevine crown:

Sit for story time:

See the cows, sheep and pigs:

Such a fun day! Makes me wish I was a member of the co-op so I could go work some hours on the farm now and then!

Bennett Turned Two!

Bennett turned two the other day!

June had been talking with him about it, and the only thing he really 'got' was that we'd be singing Happy Birthday to him and that he'd get cupcakes. This meant that, from the instant he woke up, he didn't allow himself to venture more than a few feet away from the cupcakes at any given time. 

We had a very small get together with two families who have kids Bennett's age. We had a little bagel picnic in the park, then walked over to where some pony rides are. Bennett is really into horses right now, so we knew this would be a hit!

The little ones rode ponies and the big girls rode horses. It was really cute! Bennett did great - I wondered if he might get nervous once he was on a horse, but he didn't, and just seemed so happy and surprised to actually be riding one. He talked about "Dusty," his pony, the rest of the day (and still remember's Dusty's name)!

Bennett is such a sweet, funny, smart little guy. He's mischievous, passionate, silly and helpful. We love watching him grow up!