Mother's Day Weekend

Grandma visited us in May and we took her and Ryan's cousin Tony up to Mendocino and Anderson Valley to celebrate Mother's Day and to tour annual Anderson Valley Garden Show. We visited six private gardens that participated this year. Most of them were nestled on the ridge of the hills overlooking the valley. The view was spectacular and the gardens were serene without much human intervention to their natural beauties. The boys had the greatest time searching for lizzards, and garden snakes and exploring the open space.








This time, we stayed at a vacation rental - Glendeven Inn in Mendocino so that we could all hang out in the common areas in the evening. Tony even got a lovely kiss from a llama from the property and he claimed that the llama had a crush on him! Across the street from our lodging, there were two trails leading to the beach. Af first, I was hesitant to take Ryan along but to my surprise, Ryan was able to walk with us on the narrow path with bushes and flowers brushing against us for quite some time. I think the amount of tricycling at school is paying off. Without doubt, Mendocino is Ryan's favorite vacation spot. He constantly asks me when we will visit it again. I'm sure it'll be some time soon!

Puppy Love

These photos were taken at Ryan's birthday party at school. The girl in the top picture is M, totally adorned by Ryan. What caught my attention was the fact that Ryan didn't show much interest in girls before. He has always been more fond of boys. But M is the first girl he wants to talk to and many times asks about both at home and school. I saw the way he is following her around or trying to catch her attention. It was so adorable! So while I was jokingly telling grandma about this, Ryan's cousin Tony approached Ryan to tease him. Here is their childlike but adorable conversation:

Tony: I heard you have crush on two girls at school?

Ryan: No, just one. ( ;0 I thought he would deny it or have no clue what his cousin was referring to.)

Tony: Who is she?

Ryan: silence....

Tony: Is it S, T, E or....

Ryan: No, it's M. (To my total surprise, I didn't think he would say it out loud. We never commented on this subject to him before.)

Mother: Why did you like her? (I had to step in....)

Ryan: She is so cute.

Mother: What is cute about her? (Envy..)

Ryan: Everything.





JR is Ryan's best buddy at school. They started on the same date and bonded closely by crying together through the initial transitional period.

Pescadero

We heard about Duarte's, a dining tavern at Pescadero for a while and finally drove down the coast to give it a try. After a 45 min-wait for the seating, the food after all was not as good as expected. At least it was not as memorable as what other Pescadero has to offer.





After the meal, we were recommended by the local to visit Harley' Cheese Farm. Ryan was excited to pet the two-week-old baby goats and to feed them. They also offer cheese tasting in the nicely restored barn house with variety of beautifully handmade cheese, decorated with edible flowers and dried fruits.


A highlight of this trip was Ryan surprisingly being pecked by a chick in the berry farm in town. Despite our warning, he insisted poking his finger through the chicken wire to provoke the ducks. He thought he could retrieve his finger fast enough if the duck was going to peck him. Unfortunately, he didn't realize the little chicks were waiting low by the side....All I can say is another painful but precious lesson learned by him.

Capitola

Even since the north coast trip, we seemed to catch the travel bug. This past weekend, we visited Capitola, a small beach town south of Santa Cruz. The downtown is full of beach front cafes and restaurants. I can imagine how relaxing it would be just to sip through the drinks at one of those lovely decks in the summer evening. Some of the images here are a compound of 1920s colorful stucco apartments, situated on the waterfront like a movie stage set.

First Easter Egg Hunt

Ryan had his first egg hunt this past weekend at Mendocino. He insisted on eating them all....

Mendocino-Anderson Valley-Healdsburg

This past weekend while on Ryan’s spring break, we made an impromptu vacation up to Mendocino coast. Ever since Ryan was born, our accommodation choices have been somewhat limited. There was no exception this time. I was disappointed to be turned down by many Bed and Breakfast due to the fact children under 15 are discouraged…. However, I was glad that we were referred to Stanford inn by the Sea – a child/pet friendly peaceful resort. The inn has got a beautiful ground with horses, llamas and an organic vegetable garden. Their renowned organic vegetable restaurant, Raven served the best veggie breakfast I ever tasted. While Ryan was having a great time mingling with dogs in the breakfast lounge area, we enjoyed the stunning ocean view and fresh seasonal produce every morning during our stay.





On the way to the coast, we drove through Anderson Valley and visited an organic apple farm in the area and was blown away by this charming old-fashioned farm. All the organic handmade juice, vinegar, jams and chutneys are nicely displayed on the shelf. The purchases are made on the honor system that you jot down your items on the notebook and get changes from the cash box. It turned out it’s a three-generation family operations with grandparents overseeing the farm, teaching the weekend cooking class, son managing a country boutique hotel in Boonville and daughter running a local stylish garden tool and houseware shop. I love the beautiful scenery that Anderson Valley has to offer but what appeals to me the most is their down-to-earth and authentic country living style.








We ended our trip with a stop to Healdsburg. We had the Easter Sunday brunch at Barndiva, lured to its modern barn structure and outdoor dining atmosphere. We stumbled across it and its adjacent gallery - Artists and farmers on our last visit to town. But their food turned out to be a total disappointment. Although it seemed like quite a popular spot for Sunday brunch, I guess people came here to enjoy more of their ambiance than the food....