We had a low key 4th of July. The clubhouse had a BBQ and games which were fun for the kids.
Averi won a few things, Limbo and the belly flop…I think, which is so ironic.
We did some local wine tasting.
I took the girls to inflatable world which had water bouncy slides. Kaili was sure we wasn’t going to get wet.
The girls made tomato sauce for pizzas.
We went to the beach.
That about wraps up July. Aside from my summer cooking class, I will tell you all about it next.
Last year my brother gifted us a night’s stay at Ponte’s Inn and Vineyard in Temecula for our birthday’s.
We finally had a free weekend to enjoy it. Once we checked in and dropped our stuff, we headed out for wine, starting at Altisima. They are a newer winery, making old world and new world wines with Spanish roots. The grounds are beautiful as is the tasting room. Luckily we had a knowledgable pourer who had a fun personality, that can make all the difference (well that can make a difference in the experience, not in the wine). Luckily the wine was superb, everything we tasted we enjoyed, and that rarely happens.
We moved on to a couple more wineries that we haven’t been to, and honestly, didn’t really like. We ended at Bottaia. Bottaia is Ponte’s sister winery, the same winemaker but elevated, I guess. I was eager to try it because I do like Ponte’s wines. When you walk in you are greeted and then asked to pay depending on what type of “experience” you want. Uh, ya, we want the one where we try your wine please. Their description reads “chic”, I say boujie… They say “elegant”, I say expensive. The experiences that they were offering were….we could either sit out on the deck and choose from a flight of wines or we could sit in the cold barrel room, and choose from a flight of more expensive wines. We chose the deck, ordered some hummus and wine.
Nope, not for us. It felt as if the focus of the winery was on the atmosphere, opposed to the wine. We didn’t like any of them and you guys, it’s not cheap. I wouldn’t go back on purpose.
However, the view of the vineyard when the sun started to set, was gorgeous.
We had dinner at Bouquet, the restaurant at Ponte. It was good, very intimate. Mushroom soup and scallops, not bad at all.
The next morning we were looking for egg bennies before we drove home. We stopped at a winery whose website said that they had it on their menu. Lies, all lies. Once we were seated we were handed a menu for lunch, which as you know, isn’t breakfast, it was very sad way to say, the end.
The next day the girls and I went to a Christmas party at the clubhouse.
They ran in and headed straight for the soda and donuts, and then waited for Santa.
Giving Santa the lowdown. Unicorns, horses and toys..oh my!
The girls met up with some friends and ran around outside for a good hour. Finally, when I was so bored I couldn’t take it anymore, we headed home.
The next morning we woke up to Cupcake confused on where he was at.
Definitely not summer weather here anymore.
You guys, we have fifth graders…. 5th graders, that is absolute bullshit. I had lunch today with my uncle and he brought up a memory that I had completely forgotten about. In 2011 San Diego had an unprecedented and unplanned power outage. I vaguely remember trying to put a five month old
baby to bed, in the dark with no power. We live on sound machines, so I am not sure how I survived that, probably with wine.
Anyhow, now she is finishing her last year of elementary school and that makes me feel all sorts of ways.
To raise money for their fifth grade promotion, the girls volunteered at their school craft fair selling food. They loved it, they would have worked until sun down. Even Averi got in on the action, amazing, ask them to help around the house, and I am a mean mom, but at school, it’s a holiday.
They were able to raise over $1,000, so the hard work paid off. They were rewarded with free room and board.
That was the tail end of the busy week I was talking about. It was nice to see other parents that we’ve missed, we talked to the girls old, that doesn’t sound right….the teacher they had for Kindergarten? You know what I mean right? Well we chatted with her for probably an hour, and I was lucky enough to meet Averi’s teacher, in person, and see her classroom. Funny how we aren’t allowed on campus during the week but on Saturday…. Speaking of that, all the girls have gotten their first dose of the vaccine, they should be fully vaccinated by Christmas. Jesus is clapping, be like Jesus.
I celebrated getting through the week with this.
A Thai Tornado with Tiramisu foam from Ding Tea. I can’t begin to try and explain to you how GOOOOOOD this is, it’s just, so good! And rich, I put half of it in the fridge for the next morning and then when I was prepping dinner, it fell to the ground and SPLAT, I cried. So, we now have a date with Ding Tea on Friday.
In lieu of a party with friends Averi chose to go to Great Wolf Lodge for her birthday. The two older girls have gone before but Averi whom just recently learned to swim was finally brave enough and tall enough to join in on the fun.
But first…more cake and wishes.
The girls were so excited to pack for our getaway! They wanted to bring toys, stuffies, pillows and their own blankets. Basically everything in their room. And then we witnessed pigs flying when Averi asked to go to bed early so departure time would come sooner. Ah, we never grow out of that excitement do we?
Listen, we are not a fan of car rides. Three girls in the backseat for longer than a quick jaunt is torture for most anyone. Until we are ready to hunker down on a long drive or a flight, we will commit to a quick drive up Interstate 5. One hour in the car and we were there by noon. Luckily we were able to get into the water park long before our room was ready. Not being our first rodeo, we took in just what we needed (aka swimsuits, money and whatever the kids must have) and left the rest of our shit in the car.
Equipped with their Paw Passes and wolf ears, we dove in to what would be a great two days of fun!
Once we found a spot to call “home base”, we dropped our towels and shoes and went over the rules. Then the older girls went off and we took Averi on her first real waterslide.
Nope, not fun at all. SO FUN!
Canyon River Run was the one ride ALL five of us could go on together and we did, many times.
This was the first time in my life as a mom that I felt comfortable giving the girls their freedom without worrying every other second. They were so independent and it made it that much more fun.
We did it all and they didn’t complain and they didn’t tire.
The ten year olds even went on Wolf’s Tail, on their own. This ride is where the the bottom drops out from under you sending you straight down the slide.
Of course I had to follow them back up to record the bravery.
We almost closed the park down and by 7:30 pm we had to tell the girls if they wanted to do anything else, we had to move on.
After a quick change up in the room, we went on a hunt for magic and pizza.
While we waited for our food, the girls hopped around the hotel doing whatever magic game is so popular amongst the kids.
The magic quest wand even moved objects in the girl’s kid cabin.
Around 10:30, it was quiet and then I heard a small voice that said “I have a night light for you”. I thought to myself what? Who said that? And then Kaili came out and asked the same thing. F sakes. I climbed up and unplugged whatever I could see in the dark not to wake the others. It turned out that one of the wands must have summoned the critters of the lodge, sigh.
I prefer my rooms not to talk thank you. And I am pretty sure, nope I am positive that I would have NOT liked that as a child.
It was a late night but luckily they let us sleep until 7:00 in the morning (big deal you guys!). Then we were up and ready to go do it again.
{One tip I can give you; if you have a trip to GWL on your radar It’s this, bring food, there is a fridge in the room. And, pre-order on their app or walk out of the hotel and find something to your liking. Because the lines are ridiculous and it’s terribly overpriced.}
The next morning we were at the waterpark as it opened and we knocked out all of the best rides as many times as we could before the crowd grew bigger.
Shawna and I went out into the sun for a bit and then before we knew it, lunch came and went.
The girls Paw Pass came with: a magic quest wand, a glitter tattoo, goggles, candy from the candy shop and a build a bear stuffy. So we had to get them out of the water if they wanted to claim the rest of their goodies. We did, they did.
Two hours later and full of candy, we headed home.
Nothing like the comedown from a high, am I right or am I right?
It affects everyone differently!
Is it really the middle of February? What the hell? I am turning another year older next week that probably explains why I can’t remember what we have done the past few weeks.
Aside from a couple of kids birthday parties and making hummus, my new weekly hobby, life has been mundane. I did, however make it to a USMNT friendly match. They played lousy but we still had fun time, with great seats on the field.
I have been trying to take the girls to the park on Wednesdays, we have been exploring outside of our neighborhood park. Finding ourselves mostly at parks near the water when the weather is beautiful.
Averi really wanted to hand feed the pigeon a chip, I almost thought she would succeed but the bird chickened out.
The past few recipes I have made have been duds, I need to make something good enough to post. Luckily next Saturday Brian Malarkey will be cooking us dinner as we try out his new restaurant. What else should we do with a free night downtown?
To say I slacked on Christmas pictures this year is a bit of an understatement. I procrastinated taking our pictures and then slightly panicked when after I purchased them,I was told they may not make in time. On top of that, I somehow didn’t order nearly enough. So if you did not get a card from us this year, I apologize. You will next year.
We took some day time photos at Crystal Pier in Pacific beach. I think they turned out great.
On Kaili’s last day of school before break, her class had a Christmas performance.
It was the cutest thing and they sang some great traditional and non-traditional songs.
Once school was out I decided I probably should take them to Santa.
As you can see, Averi didn’t want to sit with Santa but other than that it was painless.
Our Christmas was nice, despite poor K bear getting sick most of Christmas day. She wanted nothing to do with her presents until later when she started to feel better. I hope everyone had a great holiday. Only a few days left on 2016 can you believe it? See you in the new year.
Kaili was very excited to have mommy and daddy back home. She wouldn’t leave my side for a good two days. We were a bit jet lagged, the time change was only four hours but our red eye flight, not getting a full nights sleep and bloody Mary’s first thing in the morning didn’t really help our cause.
Back to school sickness hit Kaili right before we got home and then it was passed to Averi who has an ugly cough. It took a few days for all of us to get back into the routine but I think we are all settled in pretty well.
Shane picked up Wags at the airport a few days after we got home. Kaili was eager to see his medals.
I think they suit her.
We spent the weekend being homebodies, enjoying the weather and each other.
Dinner and music outside, Kaili loves to dance to her favorite songs.
She also loves this dress, today is the third straight day she has worn it. I may have let her wear it to school to avoid a fight. I need to wash it and tuck it away somewhere for a week or two.
Kaili has two more weeks at her school and then she is out for summer. I finished her Kinder paperwork which I have been procrastinating on. She is up to date with her school vaccinations but she still needs to have a doctor fill out a medical record and apparently they want the same done with her dentist.Two things that are easy to want to push aside, but I finally made appointments to get it done.
We have been watching a lot of soccer with the Copa America going on. Kaili picked out a new shirt to wear for our viewing pleasure.
How do you like that garden back there? We have been eating a lot of sweet tomatoes, plenty of zucchini and we have six baby artichokes on the way.
I have been taking Averi to the park in the mornings without K so I can focus on playing one on one with her. She is not as adventurous as her sister was but slowly she is starting to test her fear.
Can you believe she is going to be two in less than a month? Ya, me either. She looks up to her sister, has to do whatever it is Kaili is doing, eating, watching you name it. It’s what I always wanted with siblings but it’s also very draining.
The girls were invited to a birthday party out in Ramona last weekend. The land you can have out there is attractive to me but then again you are out in Ramona which isn’t attractive at all, to me.
We try to stop at a winery or two when we are out there. This time we tried one that had recently opened. It had a great outside area, live music and luckily some decent wine. The girls spent most of their time chasing the dog around. The little winery Chihuahua was the hit until she stole Averi’s chocolate chip cookie and booked it across the lot. Averi was more stunned than upset and I was more worried about the tiny dog eating a whole cookie, but the owners weren’t phased. Must happen often.
I was lucky enough to have a post birthday lunch…delivered while the Avers was napping and K was at school… and it was so good.
Kung Pao Tofu, lamb with onions, pork and bean curd and of course dumplings ( not shown) because we did order from The Dumpling Inn. Don’t forget the sparkling cremant, the most important part.
The Trader Joes in Pacific Beach is the one I have been hitting up lately and that is because a few streets over is a park on the bay. Now every time I mention TJ’s Kaili brings up that park and so it’s a thing, a pretty good thing.
Averi is such a little ham and she loves her sister. What sissy has, sissy wants. If Kaili wants water, so does Aves, although Averi is more polite. She loves to say “thank you” and when she asks for “more” in sign language it’s so cute, it’s really hard not to hand her anything she wants.
I am seriously running out of food ideas for these kids. Kaili likes and dislikes food within minutes, it changes daily…I may go crazy. All that literature about having your kid cook with you and “they will eat it” is shit, not happening. Kaili will happily be my soux chef but when it comes to eating, she refuses food faster than a vegan at a buffet.
Kaili loves art, coloring, chalk, painting and she is getting really good at her letters. She can spell words with letter dictation. I have no doubt she is beyond ready for Kindergarten. Can you believe it? I can’t.
I don’t know how I, one of the least pickiest eaters, has a child who doesn’t like anything. I might say that this is the most frustrating part of parenting to date. Each meal is a struggle, one week she likes something, the next she doesn’t. I know this is probably pretty normal but my gawd it’s driving me mad. I am about to let her eat dry cereal and taquitos three meals a day.
Meanwhile, Aves is still a pretty good eater and I hope it lasts.
The girls just love music. Averi gets into a semi trance while watching any sort of singing and Kaili likes all the hip songs on the radio. I hate to admit this but I just downloaded a Justin Bieber song because Kaili loves it..
Kaili’s class had a field trip to the new Children’s Museum downtown. I was worried about having to bring Averi along but it worked out pretty well. A lot of the museum was great for both kids but there were some parts that weren’t Averi accessible, I would have had a hard time rounding them up all by myself.
Days are starting to get easier. Averi is sleeping through the night, Kaili has been pretty good about staying quiet until 6:30. Aves will play by herself and watch some cartoons while I need to get whatever done, and then she naps from about 10 until noonish. That time I spend working out and reading in the sun or the bath. I am trying to take more of her nap time to zen out. I don’t know if it helps with my patience or not, I like to think it does.
The Art of Thyming 