Cape Cod Vacation Summer 2016

The last few weeks have been busy buys busy. We took a vacation the first week of July which was wonderful but it's been non-stop with work and things since we've been back. It was our first trip traveling as a family of 4 and it was a revelation. Having that time off of work to spend time enjoying each other was amazing. And this effort was hugely helped by my wonderful dad. He lives on Cape Cod so we went and stayed at his house with him. He wanted us to have as a relaxing time as possible so he played with the kids, cooked, did the majority of the dishes and laundry, and even babysat so we could go out to dinner as a couple. Having another adult around willing to engage in parenting was so helpful!

Cape Cod is where my dad grew up and we woudl visit my grandparents there almost every summer so being there with my kids felt very nostalgic. It's one of my most favorite places in the world! And it's such a great place for kids.

My dad and C finding the first quahog of the trip (a tradition). It was a small one but it still counted!

 

This beach is to me the most perfect beach for kids. it's on the bay side of Cape Cod so there are almost no waves so the kids can be free to play and splash in the water. Also when the tide goes out it goes out for miles which makes great sand flats to play aorund on.

  

Happy water baby :)

 

Happy water baby and mama :)

Just the best. You can take the kids to a beach like this for the whole day and they won't get bored.

Mini-golf is one of our Cape Cod traditions. This was the first time C could actually kind of play the game. We get P to at least use her hands to put a ball in the holes after each round.

My uncle lives in Cape Cod too so my cousin and her family came for the weekend and our kids finally got to meet! Especially since this is where we played together as kids ourselves.

 My goodness I love these guys

Cousins playing together for the first time. It was a success!

This pond is close to my dad's house and another of our favorite spots. It's a great place to stop after the beach to clean off the salt water.

 We went through the basement at my dad's house (which used to be my grandparents house) and found this plastic pirate ship from my dad's childhood. The plastic was brittle and we lost a few pieces but it's a testament to how the classics never go out of style.

 

First Encounter Beach at low tide on our last day there. Looking for shells, enjoying the shallow "puddles", crab spotting, and lots of general running around. 

Sunset over the pond behind my dads house (no filter). We miss you Cape Cod!! Hopefully we'll be back next summer.

Backyard tea party

My mom got C a tea set for Christmas and I'm impressed with how much use it gets during playtime. I wonder what it is about having tea that little girls seem to love recreating over and over again. Is it the ritual of setting everything up? Or feeling like a "big girl" who drinks tea and chats with friends? Whatever it is, it's adorable. This little tea party was just us girls but other typical participants include her T-Rex stuffed doll.

Growing Butterflies

 We don't have a dog or any cats. But we do have a fish pond at our place and he have to fed the fish and turtles that live there every day. So when people ask C if she has pets she says she has fishies, turtles, and butterflies :) Butterflies because we have grown 2 sets of butterflies now from caterpillars and C loves it. She is obsessed with her "butterfly friends" and looks for the ones we've released in the yard every day. I'll be ordering a third batch of caterpillars soon so we can keep going!

Memorial Day weekend 2016

The joys of a 3-day weekend! Because it also means a 4-day work week :) We stayed local which meant hiking, visiting with friends, and enjoying time at home. Nothing major but it was just right.

This little nugget loves her daddy. She's his mini-me.

We finally did it! We showed C Star Wars. We have family that are waiting for their kids to be older but asking aorund my group of friends many of the 3-4 year olds have seen it (and loved it). Ours also loved it and has been talking about it ever since. Her favorite characters are Darth Vader, Princess Leia, and the stormtroopers which goes to show how appealing the bad guys can be (Vader's cape!). She also loved Leia braid and bun combo from the end scene.

Enjoying an evening the backyard.

Still into Queen Elsa.

It's 2016 and we're back!

It's a new year, we have a new addition to family, and we are in a new home. I want to start sharing some of our life here again so here are some scenes from life recently. Above is D and C doing one of my favorite things: singing and playing the guitar together.

We bought a combo bike trailer and stroller for the girls because we can now walk to and from their daycare. They both love the idea of riding together and get excited but about 10 minutes in one is crying or screaming so it's a work in progress.

 These two...

These are pics from Mother's Day. It was just a typical Sunday because those are my favorite days anyway. We went to the Farmer's Market, got lunch, took a nap. Perfect. And the breastfeeding one because no shame!

C is so into dress-up. I really didn't buy her a lot of "girlie" things at first as it wasn't my thing as a young girl, but she loves it and now I find myself getting her princess everything.

 

 My family. I love them so. And we all love our swurfer :)

We finally got to the beach

Ever since New Years Day I've wanted to get down to the beach. It's only a 20 minute drive and we're lucky to be in California where you can go to the beach on a sunny day in January. But sickness and other plans always got in the way. But this Saturday we actually had a morning free where the three of us had time to each being a family. What a treat! To the beach!

The water was chilly but we enjoyed walking in the sand, looking at the sea birds, sitting on rocks, and using the playground equipment they have right on the sand.

Though one of the reasons we love going to the beach is the restaurant they have on the pier. The Pepper loves their fish sticks and we love the Buffalo shrimp sliders. They also have a deck with tables and a great view of the ocean.

 

Our little girl is really enjoying very girly lady like things right now. She has replaced her love of her red hat with love of hair bows. Each morning she likes to pick out her own bow from the pile of different colored ones we have (she left this morning with a light pink version). We also introduced her to Winnie-the-Pooh, who she unsurprisingly connected to right away.

Such a little ham. This is her sad face.

Luckily that face face came back quickly :)

Horses and tangarines

This last weekend was beautiful here in Ojai so we decided to head over to our friends ranch and enjoy walking thorugh their orange groves. There was an added bonus that our friends were taking their horses out, a treat for the Pepper who loves all things horsey right now.

Everything right now is related to big things and small things. Big things are mommies, little things are babies. It's very cute. So of course she wanted us to pick a mommy tangerine and a baby tangerine. She has started to want to dress herself so she picked her outfit. It's all about dresses right now which makes me regret buying all those practical t-shirts going unused in her closet. She also loves to wear both her bracelets and doesn't liek to leave the house without her hat.

Even though we spend a lot of time visiting our friend's horses this was the Pepper's first time on a horse! Look at that happy face. She was so thrilled. I hope we can do more of this for her.

Hello to 2015 (and some changes)

Happy 2015! I haven't been here awhile ad that's because I've been trying to figure out what to do with this space. I had some goals at the beginning but as I came upon my one year blog anniversary I was unsure of the direction I wanted to take moving forward. I needed to change something but wasn't sure what. Thankfully, my husband has helped me out with that. As a Christmas gift he gave me a real camera! I've always been interested in photography and have been talking about getting a nice camera for years (since the Pepper was born). We live in such a beautiful place and there are so many magical moments to capture with the little one and my poor iPhone isn't always up for the challenge. So in 2015 I'm embarking on a new hobby: photography. And this blog will more become a place for me to share my pictures and, through them, pieces of my life.

These pictures are from my first outing with my new camera and our first outing of 2015. We went to visit dear friends at their ranch. We picked flowers and walked through a near-by field and it felt perfect. I'm feeling good about the new year!

In need of a good laugh?

Hi everyone. I've been at a business conference this week; missing my family but enjoying being able to take leisurely evening baths. I get home late tonight, work tomorrow, and then leave for a 10-day vacation. I'm really hoping this will be a trip where I can disconnect and really relax. But it's a busy time at work so we'll see.

I won't be posting while I am gone so I want to leave you all with my recommendation for when you need a good laugh: Eddie Izzard! I love this guy. He's smart and funny and his HBO show "Dressed to Kill" from years ago can be streamed on Netflix (or on Vimeo) along with all his other one-man shows. "Dressed to Kill" is heavily quoted when I'm around my family and watching it never gets old. It's always a perfect pick-me-up. And along with being a great comedian Eddie a fabulous actor who I really enjoyed in the underrated The Riches.

If I could I'd totally vote for him for mayor of London.

Image via.

What's your vice?

So it's Friday and the end of my work week is getting closer and I am feeling excited about picking up the Pepper from daycare, coming home, hanging out, and then once D is done with his work sharing our Friday tradition: tequila shots! Ok, I know that sounds really immature but there is something about a tequila shot that really relaxes me. It's like a little hammer to anxiety. And sometimes I need a little help unwinding and easing into the slower pace of the weekend.

I can admit that of all the vices alcohol is probably mine. I've never been interested in smoking, I eat pretty healthily, I stick to an exercise routine. But everyone gets to have one vice right? And I am a lady who enjoys a glass of wine. Or a little sipping tequila (and of course I'm talking about in moderation). I like the social aspect of drinking and love getting together with friends over some wine. I also enjoy the times D and I have to ourselves and we pour some drinks and sit on the porch and talk. It's probably a cultural thing. The family I grew up in often included alcohol in meals or get-to-gethers. My mom is from a former British colony and she herself grew up with a 5pm daily cocktail hour so that spilled over into my home life. But it always made things feel social as people would come over to have a cocktail and everyone would sit around the table and talk while they enjoyed their drink. Even kids too young to drink knew it was a time designated to sitting back and relaxing and being together.

Now that we are so close to wine country I'm hoping to take more trips up to the beautiful Santa Ynez. Also, loved this validating article on the benefits of combining wine and fitness :)

Cheers to Friday! I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Image via.

Finally I've bought new sunglasses

 

I've been in need of new sunglasses. My current two pairs of sunglasses have been great but I bought them off of Etsy years ago and they weren't the highest quality and they are falling apart. One actually has duct tape holding it together and the other has stuff flaking off of it. I live in a very hot and sunny place and sunglasses are something I have to wear everyday. But I also have a hard time spending a lot of money on accessories. As much as I admire those that can pile on the accessories and make it look amazing, I just don't like using them myself. So for me, the accessories I have are practical.

Thank goodness for Moorea Seal. I just discovered them and they have great but affordable accessories! I just bought myself two pairs of sunglasses and I can't wait for them to arrive. I was tempted to get something really fun like these extreme cateyes but held back at the last minute. Luckily I can always go back for more :) I do already have my eye on some earrings.

Image of the Tessa.

Favorites from around the web...

1) Wow. This is an impactful perspective on a horrible disease.

2) I love the idea behind this but also as a fan of mythology I enjoyed reading all the stories around these interesting women.

3) I'm sure the effort needed would not be worth it but I do one day want to make these cookies.

4) These are good reminders, especially the last one.

5) This made me laugh, especially how it concludes. Having worked in an office I can also totally imagine the disruption his caused.

6) I think everyone should read what this man has to say about his experience being a hermit. What stuck me those most was "with no audience, no one to perform for, I was just there. There was no need to define myself; I became irrelevant." I've been ruminating on it all week.

7) Inspired by these. You go girl!

8) I think this is very true. We are not all so different! We all work hard and are all doing our best.

9) This show looks amazing.

10) These days I'm not good about staying up-to-date on world events and news. So I appreciate when Jon Stewart breaks it down for me and brings the element of reason sometimes lacking form other media outlets.

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Unusually excited about growing my own herbs

The above picture isn't the prettiest but I wanted to share it because I am unexpectedly excited about my tiny growing basil plants! I've been wanting to grow my own herbs for a long time but in our loft in LA there just wasn't the right place to do it. We didn't have a sunny window sill for pots and I wasn't prepared to get crafty and build some amazing at-home herb tower like some of my friends did. But, now that we are in a new home I have the perfect kitchen window sill. I bought these pots, this soil, and these seeds. I started off slow: I planted some basil and parley seeds and anxiously waited to see if anything woudl happen. Within days I had adorable little basil shoots! The parsely took longer but yesterday I saw my first little parsley plant poke up from the soil. I'm thrilled.

So now I've also planted some mint and some cilantro and I'm obsessively watching to see how tings develop. I've always hated purchasing herbs because I feel I can never buy the portion I actually want or need. Growing my own feels economical, and it was surprisingly easy. If all goes well with these first four I'm going to want to expand my little garden (though I know D will have a problem if pots start taking over his kitchen).

Anyone have any tips for indoor herb growing?

Picture of my little basil plants

The Pepper's current obsession: anything with wheels

Thankfully my little girl is still obsessed with her books but a new obsession recently emerged and I'm excited about it: cars! Actually, all things with wheels. This includes cars, trucks, bikes, and particularity motorcycles. She loves watching cars drive down the rode, she points out trucks or buses, and motorcycles are just fascinating to her. There is a restaurant here in Ojai called the Deer Lodge and it is a popular spot for motorcyclists because it's on a windy lovely road. It's become one of our favorite restaurants because it brings the Pepper so much entertainment. We walk outside and look at all the motorcycles and talk about the different colors and ornamentation. But the real fun is when the motorcyclists come out to leave. We watch them get their gear on and then wave to them as they vroom away. Exciting stuff! And the best part is that the motorcyclists get such a kick out of the Pepper's interest that they are so sweet and friendly and chatty and they play it up for her.

I'm happy about this new interest because I like that it's gender neutral. I guess you could even say it's considered more of a boy thing. But since I don't like to think to much in gender I like that this came into our lives. I've been thinking of gender and toys since we visited some new friends with a 2 year old boy the other week. He had a lot of cool things I wouldn't have thought to get for the Pepper, including some large plastic dinosaurs. And my little girl loved it all. It will help me think a little more "outside the box" when it's time to next upgrade her toys.

I also want to note hat motorcycles scare me. A lot. So while I support the Pepper's interest in them there is something about it that also worries me. My parents gave us a lot of freedom but there was one big thing on the "don't to it" list and that was ride motorcycles (we'd known too many tragedies). Flash forward and I ended up marrying a guy who used to work as a motorcycle courier. D grew up riding motorcycles with his dad so for him it was a normal part of life. This was a hidden side of him until a few years into our relationship. When I met D he didn't have a motorcycle but when he started his PhD he bought one to reduce his commute time and I almost had a heart attack. It seemed like death on wheels. But I had to get used to the idea and while his riding always worried me I got used to it and mostly just decided that I had to trust him to be as safe a driver as possible.

Hopefully the Pepper will grow up just appreciating the more dangerous hobbies from afar. Fingers crossed...

Image of the Pepper from this weekend. She loves this hand-me-down little car.

Do you take vacations?

Did you see this article about how bad American's are at taking vacations? It's kind of upsetting, and in my opinion true. Recently I've realized how burnt out I am. I haven't taken a real vacation in almost a year, and the last time I took time off was Christmas. So that's over 9 months without time off from work. And I can feel the toll it's taking on me. I hate to admit it but I'm not being as productive or efficient at work these days because my mind is a little overloaded. It needs time to decompress, reset, and process all the information it's been taking in. And I haven't taken the time. This is partly because we like to take vacations after the summer rush as it does make things more affordable. But there are other cultural factors that create this situation.

My company works with resources all over the world. I have hired people in Switzerland, Canada, and Ukraine. The biggest difference I see when working with people from other countries is their relationship to and their expectations around time off of work. First off, they expect more of it. When hiring a resource in Switzerland I knew I had to give them the 20 paid days off of work a year required by Swiss law. But, this person actually expected 25 days off a year as this is what most Swiss companies provide. I felt bad giving him "only" 20 days off but I explained that this was already twice as much as his US colleagues received. I'm so jealous that many other countries provide more paid time off. Part of the reason we can only take one vacation a year is that if you only have 10 days off a year you can't plan a lot of trips. That's one week-long vacation and then some days off in case you get sick, need a personal day, or to celebrate the holidays. But a year is a long time to wait to get way a from work and really have a break.

The other thing I've noticed is that when my international resources do take time off they really take time off. In my experience here in the US we're always working. For example, one of my US employees emailed something over Thanksgiving, and I responded! We both told each other to go back to enjoying our holiday but there we were emailing on our work accounts. As a comparison, if one of our Ukrainian employees gets sick, they are out of  contact for a week. It gets challenging at times when someone disappears but if they are sick shouldn't they be resting and focusing on getting better? Aren't they entitled to that? And we are always able to make it work without them somehow and continue (though we are thrilled when they return). We always survive. And they take the time they need to be healthy and return to work at their best.

What I appreciate about my international team is that they don't feel guilty for expecting time off or taking time off. They see it as a necessary part of life. If they are happy and healthy in their life they will be better workers and they will produce better results. They will have energy to be creative. They can respond quicker to needs. They can be focused and efficient.

I hope this country can move towards a company culture that is more accepting of time off. I think we do worry what others will think; that we will be deemed "less" for not working. But it's important to take the time and to feel ok about it. I know that when my vacation comes up in a few weeks I'm really going to try to enjoy it and disconnect because I know it will allow me to come back to work refreshed and better than ever.

Do you feel you take enough time off of work?

Image from our vacation last September. The Pepper was a chubby 6 months old!

To "French" or not to "French"

I'm not referring to kissing but to parenting. One of the books recommended to me the most when I was pregnant was "Bringing up Bebe": an American mom's account of what she learned from raising her kids in France. The book focuses mostly on what the author feels American parents can learn from the French: how to have a well behaved child. This involves things like getting them on a schedule young so they sleep well, not snacking in between meals, teaching them independence, and teaching them manners. I decided not to read a lot of parenting books knowing that too much information would actually overwhelm me. But based on the recommendations and some research I decided that the books I wanted to read were "Bringing Up Bebe" and a great companion book called "French Kids Eat Everything".  And now they are the books I recommend too! They really aligned with what D and I had wanted to place value on when we discussed parenting and they helped us formulate our approach. And 17 months later I think we've had great results. The Pepper is a pretty good sleeper, a very good eater, and a fairly well-behaved toddler (so far anyway!) Partly I think we just got lucky, but I also have to credit some of our parenting choices that were helped along with the info we learned in these French parenting books.

So I was surprised when I read this article discrediting a lot of what the book purported. To be fair, the article I think is more about what the author expected to happen vs the reality of moving to a new city with small children. But it reminded me of a conversation I had at a BBQ when the Pepper was about 4 months old. An expecting couple asked me and another mom what books we recommended and I of course mentioned the above. But immediately the other mother chimed in saying that the French don't really raise their kids that was and the book was a lie. And that's a fair topic for discussion but it was said in a way that was meant to dismiss my recommendation. It was something I didn't appreciate. And it missed the point.

The point was that these books were helpful to us. Whether they are accurate or not to how the majority of French parents run their families doesn't really mater to me. The ideas and suggestions within helped D and I be what we considered to be better parents. I didn't think the books would solve all our problems. I didn't think they would create a perfect kid. And I knew that they couldn't make parenting easy. But they talked about parenting in a way that made a lot of sense to D and I and therefore the books allowed us to have conversations (and continue to have conversations) about how we want to handle various aspects of parenting. And in this way they did make parenting easier for us: by providing us a "parenting philosophy" we could get behind and use as a guide.

An example of something we took from the books: getting our baby on an eating schedule. The book claims that French kids eat at regular times  (8am, 12pm, 4pm, 8pm). And this applies to babies. The idea being that they learn to go longer without food and this helps them sleep. Once they get older the lack of snacking means that they eat well during meals (which tend to have a more robust nutritional options) and can participate in mealtime as a member of the family. This worked great for us. By about 4 or 5 months old the Pepper was eating 4 times a day and she still does to this day. This means that she was also pretty much sleeping through the night by that time as well. Had D and I not read "Bebe" we wouldn't have thought of this on our own but it really brought sanity to our household during that chaotic first year as parents. And if you want additional info on how to get your kid on a schedule I can also recommend "Twelve Hours' Sleep By Twelve Weeks Old". I know some people thought we were nuts to be so "rigid" with our kid but it meant we were all happier (and more well rested!).

So, I still recommend these books to people who want to read out parenting. Even if you don't want to get your kid on a schedule maybe you'll like their approach to saying "no", or manners, or meal planning. I can't speak to it's ability to turn your kids into perfect French children, but it has some good tips for people who want to take a balanced approach to parenting.

Did you guys read the books? Anything you took from them?

Image via.

Recipes: current favorites

I realized that I haven't written about any favorite recipes recently and then I realized why: when we moved we had to give up our wonderful CSA. Without the deliveries of new and surprising fruits and veggies I haven't had to seek out and try new recipes. But the flip-side is that our produce deliveries have been replaced by trips to the local Farmer's Market. Ojai is an agricultural valley so you can imagine that the farmer's market here is pretty excellent. We love our new Sunday morning tradition of going to the farmer's market as a family. The Pepper is the sample queen and I even had her wear a bib around this last Sunday to sop up the berry juice she always has running down her chin as we walk around the stalls. And once we get the fruit home we seem to be enjoying it in it's pure form. I've been eating a lot more fruit just as is, and chopping up my veggies for a simple quick salad. This has meant I've been cooking fewer "recipes".

But, we did recently have some friends come visit us for the weekend and I wanted to cook everyone a nice dinner. There were two new things I did that were a huge hit:

Roasted Cauliflower & Chickpeas with Mustard and Parsley: This was all gone by the end of the meal. It's a great vegetarian side dish and my friend left with the recipe so she could make it at home.

Roasted Artichokes with Lemon & Garlic: This was the best artichoke I've ever made. I've boiled them before but never found them to be special or worth remaking. But the artichokes at the farmer's market looked so good I had to buy one. Turns out the secret is actually roasting them! I served it with some metled butter for dipping and even the 6 year old liked it.

Once we've settled in to our new routine more I want to get a bit more organized with my weekly meal planning and not rely so much on the usual quick throw-together dinners. But for now I'm just happy we have access to great produce and we're all enjoying the bounty that this valley has to offer.

Image of the Roasted Artichoke via.