A Pumpkin Farm and a Pebble Beach

Half Moon Bay, CA is known for its big Art & Pumpkin Festival every October and there are several pumpkin farms in and near Half Moon Bay. Last year we took the boys to the pumpkin festival there, and then to Bob's Vegetable Stand and Pumpkin Patch. This year we decided to skip the festival and head to the pumpkin farm earlier in the month. Half Moon Bay is also known for its beaches, so we decided to make a full day out of the trip and go to the beach after we picked out our pumpkins. 

Bob's is a very chill "pick 'em where they grow" pumpkin patch. No mazes or moon jumps at this farm. There are a few farm animals to see, and a big haystack and hay pit to climb up and jump into (unless you're like me... just looking at all that hay makes me double check that I've got my inhaler on me!). Here are some photos from our trip to the pumpkin farm.

We brought Henry's walker, but he preferred to ride in the wheelbarrow :)

We left with two huge pumpkins, 3 little orange ones and 3 little white ones. Calvin is adamant that we carve a dinosaur onto one of the big ones.

After we left Bob's, we headed farther south to Bean Hollow State Beach. This is a pebble beach which feels really neat on your bare feet and hands! The boys really liked playing in the pebbles, but at times it was hard to keep Henry from putting them in his mouth :/

We had packed a picnic from Trader Joe's. And PBJ's for the boys.

Bury Calvin in pebbles.

Bury Henry in pebbles.

Bury Daddy in pebbles!

The California coastline never disappoints. 

If you're headed to Half Moon Bay for pumpkins... let me suggest a trip to the beach while you're there! :)

Mother's Day Picnic Pics

I hope all the awesome mamas out there had a very happy Mother's Day, especially my own awesome mama, and grandmamas, and mama-in-law! :)


I sure did. James made waffles with a homemade berry syrup for breakfast and my Lola Coring came down to join us.

After breakfast, Henry took his morning nap, and Lola, Calvin and I Skyped with my mom while James cleaned up and packed our picnic lunch. 

Picnics are, like, my favorite thing to do with the babies. If the weather's right, and we've got a nice spot with some space to play, a few toys and some simple, yummy food... it's the best. But the weather is key! And this wasn't one of the warmer weekends in the Bay Area where we live. So we chased the warm weather inland to Livermoore and drove all the way to Del Valle park for a sunny picnic by the lake. We had been there a couple of times in 2013, including one camping trip. It was a popular spot, but not too crowded and the weather was just what we were hoping for.

PB&J's for the kids, sourdough with tomatoes, salami, and mozzarella for the grown-ups, and sweet strawberries and watermelon for everybody. And a little milk on the side for Henry.

 

Our picnic spot was very near the shore of the lake.

Days like this are gorgeous and wonderful, but I find that the evenings that follow are always hard! This time it was the traffic on the drive home that got us. Crying, hangry babies stuck in the car :( But once we finally got home and our takeout sushi and tempura was on the table, we were able to all sit down together and actually have a really nice family dinner, despite the fact that it was already past the kids' bedtime (yikes!!). 

How did you spend Mother's Day this year? Anybody else go on a picnic? It's the thing to do! ;)

Henry's Beary First Birthday!

We had an awesome Teddy Bear Picnic yesterday to celebrate Henry's beary first birthday! It was so nice to spend time with friends and family, especially those we don't often get to see. We picked a park down the peninsula a-ways to make sure we were out of the fog and into the sunshine. And though there was no grass to speak of (terrible drought over here in CA!), we spread out our blankets in the shade at the edge of the woods and it really was a nice picnic spot. The yellow jackets thought so too. 

To create the theme, we had bear ears for the kiddos (you know, because a Teddy Bear picnic is for bears only!), bear cupcakes, honey bear bottles for the drinks, and little bear lunches that had bear-shaped PBJ's and bags of Teddy Grahams :)

Calvin is getting ready to eat his "little bear lunch"

Since Henry can't really eat cake (not because we wouldn't let him, but because he's not quite there yet with the whole chewing-and-swallowing biz), we made him a birthday "cupfake" by filling a cupcake wrapper with whipped cream! He liked the first bite, he liked the second bite, and then he was over it. Big brother Calvin was ready to help him finish it ;) After we sang to the birthday boy and helped him blow out the candle on his cupfake, it was time to pass out the real cupcakes!

Why can't we have birthday picnics every weekend?? Oh yeah, because they are a lot of work! But thanks to lots of help from my parents, my cousins, and our friends, we pulled it off and I think everybody had a nice time. I sure did. And HALLELUJAH we had no potty accidents or tantrums or spit-ups of any kind! Happy birthday to Henry, happy birthing day to me ;) and happy picnicking to all of us!

Birthday boy! 1-year-old Henry!

Outdoorsy Father's Day

Back when Calvin and Henry weren't even "a candy bar in their daddy's back pocket," their daddy was looking forward to teaching them, learning with them, and sharing with them the things he loves. Now our boys are here and they're still little, but James is wasting no time. So for Father's Day I wanted him to get to spend the day with the boys and me doing some things he enjoys: spending time outdoors, doing science-y stuff, and drinking fancy beer. (Don't worry. James didn't share the beer with the babies!)

The day did not start out great for James... while I was cooking bacon and eggs for breakfast, Henry puked on James and James gave him an impromptu sink bath. He said, "Well, you got puked on on Mother's Day and I got puked on on Father's Day. Guess we're even!"

Once everybody was cleaned up, we ate our breakfast and packed up for a picnic and a hike. We spent the afternoon at Coyote Point Recreation Area where we had what I think was one of our most enjoyable picnics yet. James got to drink the fancy and funky beer that I got him as a gift, Lindemans Gueuze Cuvee Rene, and we had turkey and salami with pesto and sourdough bread, olives, cherries, and chocolate! Henry and Calvin were cheerful picnickers and played in the shade beside our table. 

Henry! What are you sleeping? Come on let's play!

After lunch, we took Calvin over to the playground for a few minutes before loading both boys into the double stroller for a walk along the Bay Trail. This is part of the route James takes when he bikes all the way to his office in San Jose, which he does every Friday, a 50 mile ride! So we got to see a bit of Dad's Friday morning commute. The idea was for the boys to nap during our walk, but only Henry did. 

When we walked back to Coyote Point, we headed over to CuriOdyssey - a science and nature museum with experiments to explore and animals to visit. 

You may notice that Calvin is wearing different pants from the picnic pics. He'd had one potty accident already and this pic is just moments before he had a second accident! Ugh!

Checking out the otters. (Note the third pair of pants. This time we had to put Henry's extra pants on Calvin because I only carry around one extra pair for each of them!)

They both really loved watching the otters. 

View of the otters from inside the tunnel.

When we left the park, we headed to Steelhead Brewery for dinner. James enjoyed their beer and we both enjoyed the food, but yi-yi-yikes eating dinner out is hard with these two! Sure, Calvin likes his Busy Bags, but he almost always refuses to eat. And we think Henry gets overwhelmed by the noise and it just makes him miserable. Plus at that time of day they are both tired because it's getting on bedtime. In the car on the way home James said, "We need to stop thinking that dinner out is a good idea." And he's right!

Even though the day started and ended kind of rough, I think James was happy and we all had a nice time. I love days like this. When we spend the whole day together, the weather is kind, the food is good, the babies are happy, and James and I can kind of exhale. Of course not everything goes perfectly, but on the really good days like this we are able to roll with it, be flexible, figure it out, and remember it all with a smile :)