Day 95 and 96 - not quite back on track

Day 95

Rest day for mom, walk for Dad. Back to school, routine, normal life today. Reconnecting with Daddy with tickle and wrestling time is going to have to count for the activity today.

Day 96
Walk for Dad, 3 mile run for mom. The girls and I spent almost an hour cooking together. They were helping me with my meal exchange meals http://www.frozenmamas.blogspot.com/  and then they pretty much made a marinated veggie salad themselves. Hannah did most of the cutting (properly supervised of course). I love to see them get so excited about eating veggies. It has rarely worked to have them make something containing veggies or fruits and then have them actually eat it (like the experts say they will). However, this time, they were eating as they were cooking and loved it. They said that they were tricking Daddy into eating his veggies, little did they know they were also being tricked too. By now, I’m feeling way off track with the kids as far as all four of us being active together. We’ve been overemphasizing the together time with our road trip, the holiday, etc., gotta get back on track, and tomorrow is not going to help . . .

Day 88 - Biodynamic wine, slow food, charcuterie plate, truffle oil, and prickly pears

Lots of memorable outings this week and lots of pictures to share, so much I want to say, but in order to get the blog updates (I'm several weeks behind) I'm going to be brief, Jen-brief that is, and that's not too terribly brief!

Day 88

The girls enjoyed the swings at Benzinger Winery while their aunt and uncle were wine tasting and learning about biodynamic wines.  Later they got some playtime at the playground in the middle of the Sonoma town square with Grandma and Papa while the rest of us did some window shopping and prickly pear harvesting. The girls could not be convinced to try the prickly pear.  We had a foodie’s dream lunch at the El Dorado Kitchen that can't go unmentioned.  We stumbled upon it in a convoluted way, too crazy to explain here and it was even connected to the winery we had just visited, though we didn't know that until after we had our meal.  The restaurant is a participant in the slow food movement (slowfood.com- good, clean, fair) and Bran had been hoping to find a slow food restaurant for lunch. It was probably one of the best lunches out I have ever had.  Bran, Jen and I shared charcuterie plate, roasted cauliflower and cheddar pizza, and roasted beet salad.  To top it all off, the manager sent out an order of truffle fries on the house.  As much of a foodie as I am, I have never tasted truffle oil and did not know what a charcuterie plate was.  A bonus for me today was a 3 mile run by myself through my old neighborhood.

Day 87 - Surprise, surprise the hills are alive with Jen and Brandon

Driving, driving, driving, almost too much together time! Are we there yet? With the help of my brother and sister-in-law, we surprised Grandma and Papa by traveling all the way down to CA.  They had no idea we were coming.  We arrived at Lococos, our all time favorite pizza place while they were just finishing dinner.   The look on their faces was priceless.  After dinner, Bran, Jen, and I sent the girls back to the house with Grandma and Papa and we got ice cream at Three Twins Organic Ice Cream shop http://threetwinsicecream.com/ .  Creme Fraiche ice cream - yum! We wasted no time getting up into the hills, we started up into the hills while we were still eating our ice cream.  The plan was for us to walk home over the hills. I couldn't wait to get up into the hills I love. There has been so much rain in CA this winter that everything was nice and green. New Jen (my sister-in-law) kept commenting how much it felt like we were in the Sound of Music movie. We climbed to the top of the hill and were rewarded with some amazing views.  We changed plans opting to walk back down the same way we came up. Grandma and Papa and the girls, expecting us to come down the other side, drove around and hiked to meet us. They of course never found us in the hills. Here is my Facebook post from today:

Successfully surprising the grandparents with a visit from their granddaughters, dinner at Lococos, creme fraiche ice cream and a walk in the hills of Marin - can't think of a better way to spend a sunday evening.