A few of my favorite spots. {Central Coast, CA}

My mom’s cousins were visiting from Canada.  I suppose that makes them my second cousins?  I have no idea.  It’s all complicated.

They headed up to my place for the day, so we took in a few of my favorite local spots.  (My family lives in So Cal…I’m about 200 miles north.)

Also, they are in their SEVENTIES.  Dang.  I hope I look that good.  For real.

Our first stop was our favorite winery.

It’s bitty and tiny and way off the beaten path, but it has great wine and the location is unmatched.

The adults grabbed sandwiches from Quiznos, and I packed some strawberries and PBJs for the kids and we picnicked.

Fat Baby loves him some strawberries.  In my haste, I forgot to pack a bib…not that I’m sad I got to squish baby rolls in the warm breezy sunshine.

Also, do you see his eye color?  Gray/green/brown…hazel?

The bigs ran around like hooligans and climbed rocks.

Jilly cheesed it up for the camera.

The boy practiced his walking with some help from great grandma.

Also, did I mention he’s a shrimp?  He’s in the 3-4% for height and weight for his age.  He’s a total porkchop…until you compare him to other babies his age.  Henry was like this too.  In fact, Henry wasn’t even ON the charts for a long time.  Now he’s in the 61% for height so I guess my boys are just late bloomers.

I secretly like that they stay little for a long time.

I love this picture.  That’s Lucy’s mom-is-taking-a-picture-of-me-so-I’m-going-to-act-nonchalant-but-I-can’t-help-but-smile look.

Also, curls.  Good grief I love that girl’s hair.

My mom and second cousin Manny did some tasting.

I played with my new camera.

And wandered the grounds.

I wish we had gotten married there.

Wanna know why Porkchop is upset?

Because we kept scooping clods of dirt out of his mouth.

Dirt is his FAVORITE.  Maybe even more than strawberries.

It’s super hard to be zero.

Our next stop was Avila Valley Barn.

It’s bitty and quaint.  For a girl originally from the hub bub Los Angeles area, this might be one of my favorite spots in all the land.

Plus, they have a crazy Tina Turner rooster thing.

And it turns out that Crazy Tina Turner Rooster is friendly.

Gigggggling.  This was the first time she used her walker at the Barn.

She is so good at it.  She wandered all over.  It was awe.some.

Also awesome?  Those spool candles.

And rainbow teapots.

And hello my favorite picture in the history of all pictures.

My grandma and the best flowers EVER.

The kids had hand churned ice cream and fresh picked blueberries.  I inhaled a jar of garlic stuffed green olives.  And I bought my grandma those coral and white daisies because she just kept swooning over them.

::sigh:: It’s pretty much the best.

And then we headed a few miles up the winding, oak canopied road to Avila Beach for a little bit of salt water air.

Giiiiiiggggles.

I swear to you, this girl has the BEST giggle.  I should video tape it.


Toes dipped in the chilly water.

And even more giggles.

The day before, the Canadian cousins had been to Hollywood.  The day after, they went to San Diego.

My spot might be hokey and simple, but man, I wouldn’t trade it for any place in the world.

Who wants to come visit?  I have an air mattress and a spot on the living room floor with your name on it.  ;)

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jeannett

I'm a mom to four. A wife to one. I believe in story. I love telling you about mine and would love to hear yours. There's really no sense in wasting our suffering and not sharing in each other's joy. We're all in this together...even if it doesn't always feel like it.

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