California Adventures: Nisene Marks

A trip to Santa Cruz wouldn't be complete without visiting Nisene Marks, the site of our first date all those years ago. We were super excited to take Evan there for the first time - it would also be his first redwood experience!

He may not have been thrilled when he arrived! Luckily, he fell asleep pretty soon after we began. 

We decided to go easy so that Evan could ride in the stroller, and stayed on the fire road. We did take little side paths when we could, though!

It was a beautiful day, and we were very much appreciating all the sunshine after lots of beachfront fog back at our rental. 

Our sweet boy started waking up just as we were nearing the turn around. 

The look on his face was priceless when he finally opened his eyes and saw the forest. To say he was taken with the trees would be an understatement.

And, here's a video of Evan's first view of redwoods!

When all was said and done, it was about 2 hours of redwood loveliness. 

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

If you didn't hear, the entire Phoenix area was hammered with rain from about midnight onward, last night. We were up feeding Evan around 2am and stayed up watching the torrential rain and lightning, and hearing the thunder booming. Thunder woke us up a few more times, and when we got up in the morning, we were greeted with an overflowed pool and flooding in our backyard that was coming awfully close to the house. Luckily, all drained pretty well in our area, though there were still many roads closed last I checked. 

By midday, the rain had stopped, so Evan and I took a walk in the neighborhood to check things out. 

Is it just me, or does he look super grown up here? What is happening to our baby?

I'd heard that our greenbelt was impressive, and it lived up to its reputation.

Ed and I decided that it actually looks pretty nice as a lake...

Looking on the side, you can see where the water level was earlier in the day.

In fact, some neighbors in a facebook group I'm in posted this picture of them boating in the greenbelt! This is a thing that people always do when it floods here. I saw video of someone jetskiing through some flooding while watching the news. 

This street was flooded earlier, but was clear and open as Evan and I headed back towards home.

The sports fields didn't fare quite so well.

It'll be a while until anyone is playing baseball out there!

In any event, having a day where the high was only 88 made me excited for fall, or at least when it will start cooling down (late October, early November from my recollection). Sitting with open windows, while getting to relax (during naptime) was heavenly.

Recipe Round Up

I've been spending a bit more time researching and trying out new recipes since I started staying home and eating Paleo. It's been fantastic, as I've found some real keepers - healthy recipes that aren't too tricky. I thought I'd share some of my favorites, in case anyone else is looking for some good new ones to try! Click the pictures to visit the recipe.

This is one of my new favorites! A little more work than some others, but the flavors are wonderful, and as an added bonus, it's super inexpensive, due to the cut of meat.

This one was also a great bang for your buck kind of recipe. It made a ton of food (my crockpot was actually too small to make the whole recipe), and was perfect over spaghetti squash. One of the easiest new recipes I've tried, it is the quintessential easy crock pot recipe. 

Pistachio crusted salmon. This one is a totally new way for me to make salmon, but was fantastic and incredibly easy. 

Enjoy!

Hiking Horton Creek

So, Arizona does have forests. In case you were wondering. While they aren't quite the redwoods, they are a lovely respite from the Sonoran Desert. 

So, over Labor Day Weekend, we took the suggestion of some friends, and headed up to Payson, a little less than 2 hours away, and more than 15 degrees cooler. 

We were excited to take Evan on his first Arizona hike. The temperature was just below 80 when we began around 9am. 

It was a beautiful trail, following the path of the creek that gave the trail its name. 

While it went gradually uphill, the trail was quite mild and a very low key hike. Perfect for someone who isn't quite back in shape, and who always sucks at elevation :). 

While the hike goes out around 4 miles, we didn't make it quite that far. 

Not long after this picture was taken, Evan decided that he was done being in the Ergo. He seems to have about a 20 minute limit where he either gets fussy or falls asleep. Unfortunately for us, it was the former. 

Ed was superdad (like always) and unclipped Evan so that he could feel nice and free. We went another quarter mile before I insisted we turn around, since holding Evan without a carrier for over a mile of hiking would be intense.

Ed was definitely feeling it by the end :). While it certainly wasn't the longer hike we'd imagined, we're still really glad that we went. 

We're looking forward to many more outdoor adventures as the weather cools!

A Real Saturday

Playing Football

Today wasn't a day where anything remarkable happened. We didn't take any trips or go anywhere special. Evan didn't do anything new or unusual. And, in fact, it followed a pretty tough night of sleep for us all (we are very much hoping Evan has gotten the message that 4:30am does not mean it's time to get up and play and/or scream if we don't let him).

Playing with the Mickey from his cousin Amelia

Despite the very ordinary quality of our day, it was a great one. And, since it was such an ordinary day, you may not even want to read about it, but I'd like to write it down anyways to remember what our Saturdays were like in this phase in our lives.

Mommy time

After an hour playtime in what felt like the middle of the night, Evan went back down and slept until after 7am, which is a big deal for us and was much appreciated. Ed went grocery shopping when we woke up, since we were out of all breakfast foods, and did the shopping for the whole week while he was there, which was a nice treat for me. While I put Evan down for a nap, Ed made breakfast and, after eating, I joined Evan for a rest.

Playing piano with Daddy

After he woke up and ate, I got to take a solo trip to Target to buy a new workout shirt and some socks to make leggings for Evan to wear while he's in the Ergo, to hopefully be more comfortable. I also splurged and bought Evan a new toy to hopefully make tummy time more fun (I may be trying to compensate for the guilt I'm feeling about the helmet arriving in a short bit of time). We decorated for fall, cleaned up the house, and finished a movie we started last night. I got to go to the gym and run/walk on the treadmill while watching some mindless tv, and then jumped in the pool so that Evan could practice what he's learning in swim class.

Evan modeling his new swimsuit

Then it was time for some more play and then bath and bed for Evan. After he was asleep, Ed and I had a delicious dinner of steaks, sweet potatoes, and salad. And I had a quarter glass of red wine. Now we're watching tv and drinking berry smoothies for dessert. And watching our sweet little boy happily resting, possibly dreaming of milk, if the gentle sucking of his mouth in his sleep is any indication.

Playing with his new toy

We've been working on how to make the weekends feel like the weekends for us, and me especially, since our jobs aren't the typical 9-5 Monday through Friday.

Today felt like a Real Saturday.

And it was lovely.

California Adventures: Monterey Bay Aquarium

While we were in Santa Cruz, my parents mentioned that they really wanted to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I wasn't sure about putting Evan through the hour drive each way, since our trip was so car heavy to begin with, but we ultimately decided that it would be a fun outing. And it was. 

Evan loved staring at the glowing blue lights. Well, love might be overstating things just a little, but it did catch his attention when he was in the right mood. 

Truth is, it was crazy crowded, so he didn't stay in the stroller very long. We needed it to carry our stuff, but Evan was more in my arms than not :)

It had been a few years since I'd been, and it was very fun to have both my parents and Evan in tow, and to be bringing Evan to his first aquarium. 

It was a spectacular day in Monterey Bay. 

There was more than enough wildlife to keep us entertained inside and out.

Our favorites were the seals - there were some rocks that they kept jostling over for sunning rights. 

And of course, I loved eyeing the hills in the distance. One of my favorite California scenes. 

We took turns taking in the view and taking pictures of one another. 

After all, the backdrop couldn't be beat. 

I'm so thankful to  have gotten so much quality time with my parents this summer. It's probably the most time we've spent together in many, many years and was quite special, especially, I think, for Evan. 

After our outdoor fun, we headed back in for more exhibits. Not too long after, Mr. Evan let me know he was hungry, so we went and found a good bench with a beautiful view of the bay and camped out, while my parents hit another exhibit. After eating, he was obviously a very happy baby. 

And a tired one. Once in the sling, it wasn't long until he fell asleep. We on the other hand, were hungry and so we headed to the little known (at least to me) fancy restaurant hidden in the aquarium. We got a fantastic seat next to the full windows, gifting us a fantastic view of the playful seals while we ate some quite delicious food. 

After lunch, we hit a few more exhibits and then it was time to go. 

But, we couldn't leave without one last stop! Near the aquarium is a branch of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory  - my favorite dessert place hands down. I have so many fond memories visiting the real one in San Francisco when we would visit my Nana, growing up. 

Evan was a little young to have a taste, but the rest of us thoroughly enjoyed this special treat. 

What a lovely trip!