A Surprise trip to Sonoma

It being January and all, I have been thinking back on 2015 often and reminiscing on my favorite events of the year. One of these lovely moments occurred when we were offered a trip to our friend's parents house in Sonoma for an impromptu weekend.

It happened while we were attending a birthday party for our close friends son when they told us they were heading to the wine country after the party to spend a weekend in their dad's house. Her father was traveling and the house was open if we wanted to join them. Of course we did!

At first, we planned on heading back home to pack, but we were already in Berkley and the Bay Bridge was swamped with traffic. Instead, we went to the local Target to buy toiletries,  a change of clothes for all of us, pj's for Luke and nighties for us. It wasn't so bad price wise either. Thanks Target!

If you have read this blog you know how we love traveling and exploring new places so it was such a treat get to stay in a new place and spend time with one of our favorite families. 

One of the neatest parts was the amazingly impressive vegetable garden behind the house itself. The yard was chockablock with towers of plants overflowing with yummy veggies ripe for the picking .  Luke had not really had the experience of picking and eating veggies from the vine and he adored it. 

What fun! We were able to make the majority of our dinner from vegetable grown right there. A pretty outrageous idea for our city kid. 

Once we finished our meal, the kids continued to play in the garden while we sipped cocktails.

 At sunset our friend led ourselves and our collective herd of boys to a local Heladeria (Mexican ice cream shop) for tasty frozen treats. This cemented the trip as not only as one of our favorite of the year but Luke's too.

Thanks M, J, Y & R!

Oceanside Walks: August

Every month I post ten of my favorite photos culled from the countless pictures I snap during the daily walks Luke, Byron and I (and sometimes Julie) take.  One or two of which have appeared on instagram. Most of which have not.

Join us below on our August wanderings.

It occurred to me that Salt & Fog has been live for one month when I posted this. The July morning walks post was the first post up on launch day. I hope you are enjoying everything that has been posted. I would love to know what your favorites are, or anything you would like to see more of.

Exploring Golden Gate Park

It’s impossible to not succumb to routine when you are a stay-at-home mom. Which is fine. Kids need routine. It helps them developmentally. It gives them a sense of control. But, It can be dangerous. While routine is grand, it’s equally as important to change it up sometimes and open ourselves up to new experiences.

In years past I spent almost the entirety of the week with only Luke and myself. Now that he is three, attends preschool three mornings a week, sees grandparents once or twice a week and Julie is able to work from home on Friday, our days are not as solitary as they once were. As many parents will understand this is both a relief and a tragedy.

With all this in mind I vowed to treat last Thursday a special day. Not just a day to get through until dinner time. A day to look for magic.

Here's what I did:

I let Luke decide what we were going to do. (With some guidance of course.)

I offered him these suggestions: go to a museum, explore golden gate park, go for a hike along the coast.

When I told him he got to pick his eyes grew really wide and  super serious. "I want to do Golden Park in Fran Fran-Frisco, " he said.

BUFFALO PADDOCK

In case you don't know, towards the west end of Golden Gate park not far from Ocean Beach, there is a Buffalo Paddock where six or seven large bison roam about gnawing on the grass and begrudgingly posing for pictures.

Luke could already see one from his window when we were parking. He got so excited he started singing to them.

They are so big! Until I am standing next to them, I forget how massive and prehistoric the Buffalo are.

Luke said, “I want to see them from all sides” so we walked along the perimeter of the fence and discovered an expansive sandy dog park hidden in the trees.

Byron found a pack of mid-sized dogs to run around with. Luke was nudged into a game of fetch by a friendly lab. Every time the dog would retrieve the ball and drop it at Luke's feet he would crack up.

SPRECKLES LAKE

We unpacked our picnic of string cheese, salami, veggies sticks and yogurt dip at Spreckles lake. Home of the San Francisco Model Yacht Club (SFMYC)m Spreckles Lake is  a man-made reservoir created exclusively for model boat builders. It’s the only place in San Francisco you can drive a model boat without a permit. Who knew?

Apparently you can get a kid to sit still and  eat for a while if you can just get others to drive models ships around.  Good tip for you there.

While we were cleaning up lunch Luke spotted a gopher peaking out of his den. It would hide for a few moments and just when Luke thought it was gone it would pop up again creating another giggling fit. Oddly Byron could care less.

Stow Lake

I think the docks, boathouse and grounds surrounding Stow Lake are darling. I had no intention of actually going on the boats, I just brought Luke there as we were near by and I enjoy the atmosphere. Once he realized getting in one of the boats and floating about was an option, there was no going back.

I was nervous about my steering and rowing abilities, but, trying to not let that show, I piled the boys into one end of the boat and pushed off the other. There were a few times we spun out of control, and once we almost collided with a nest of seagulls but other than that I did all right. Oh, we got turned around in a tunnel once too when I tried to take a photo. But who’s counting?. We were able to do the whole circuit before our hour rental ran out, no one fell in, and we all had a wonderful time. Even Byron did I think.

Before leaving we split an order of fries in the boathouse while Luke repeated stories of everything we had done that day. He still does too. So worth getting out of my comfort zone.

Byron in Stow Lake Boathouse entryway.