Tag Archives: Sebastopol

A Battle Over A Princess

25 Jun 2013

VS2
Who will win?! Tune in on Halloween and find out!

It’s not much, but since I remember it, I’ll write it down.
Lucy wants to be the Princess Rapunzel for Halloween. Of this she has been consistently certain, for months now. Unfortunately she’s not inspired, or even aware of, the original story by the Brothers Grimm. Lucy likes the Disney version, and has seen the movie Tangled, at least three times now. Also, Aunt Kiera gave her some costumes as a Christmas gift, and one of them is the slinky, gold-trimmed, purple and lavender Disney Rapunzel gown. Therefore, even though it would not be (in my opinion) new or exciting, to wear this for Halloween, she’s at least able to do it under her own power. And she knows it.

So that’s the back story. Why we are talking about Halloween costumes in June, is no more odd than the many, many year-round conversations in which my kids plan their birthday parties. I think, like me, they love to look forward to things. Our most recent chat about her costume choice was on Saturday afternoon, under some shady pine trees in Sebastopol. At first I had the hammock all to myself -which we brought with us for the day. I took a video on Instagram, you can see it here if you don’t already follow me.

A little later Lucy climbed in, and struggled to find a comfy and balanced spot. At last she settled down (settled down for a 3 year old doesn’t really compare to a grown up version, but beggars can’t be choosers). “Mom?”
–I’m right there, in the hammock, and there is no one else. —
Me: “Yes?”

Lucy: “I want to be Rapunzel for Halloween.”

Me: Hmmmm.

Lucy: I think a long lellow hair on my head too.

Me: I like that part. Maybe you could make up your own Princess.

Lucy: No I like Rapunzel.

Me: Well she’s not my favorite.

Lucy: Well She’s my favorite!

Me: silent

Lucy: You don’t like purple. Purple is my favorite color. Rapunzel is a Purple Princess.

Me: I think you should think what else you could be for Halloween. (Fightin words.)

Lucy: I’m going to be A Purple PRINCESS of Rapunzel.

Me (losing my cool): I don’t like purple princesses! You can’t make me like her!

Lucy: Fine! You Can’t Make Me Don’t Like Her!

And I honestly do not know what I was going to say next, but Heaven sent us Oscar with a message that Dinner would be ready soon, and we both were requested to go inside and wash up.
Any words of wisdom on this one will be received with much gratitude.

xoxo

Vine Hill Beauty

07 Aug 2012

The house is freshly painted, and everything was just beautiful! Karen, Ciara and Fiona got to relax in the glorious, not-too-hot weather. We all got a reminder of how lovely the country is (especially as a haven from the SF fog.)

Weekend in Sebastopol

30 Apr 2012

A sunny and warm weekend!

We are off to Kathy’s (next door).

The pool was so quiet you could hear the bees buzzing around the lavender.

Kathy leant Oscar some fun goggles.

Goofing off

A wild turkey, who made a break for it when I showed up.

Happy Booker

My favorite shot of the weekend – click this one to see large

Omi was excited to see all her iris in bloom

The tomato field, prepped for planting

My favorite – I mean really, giant yellow farm roses? Whats not to love?

Giving the dollies a tour

The apple trees are still in bloom

Meet Jake. He belongs to a neighbor.

Teenager Chickens

Oscar can’t quite catch one yet, so Mark helped. I think it’s great when the kids can pet the chickens.

The pony

Friendly butterfly

As close as he could get :)

An Apple a Day – The 6 Year Old Check Up

08 Sep 2011

We went to see Dr. Ernster for the annual checkup.
Oscar is 53 lbs, and 47.5 inches (85th percentile for both).
He has perfect sight and hearing, no issues, and instead of any shots he got a anti-flu nasal spray.

Dr. Ernster seemed really well. We talked about how Oscar and Lucy get to go to Sebastopol (and all the benefits available to them: fresh air, swimming, playing outdoors with no cars, growing fruit and vegetables, etc.) and he recommended a recent NY Times article on gravenstein apples. The topic isn’t new to us, but it’s nice to see it get national coverage!

FYI we have a basket of these beauties in our kitchen right now – (Thanks Omi & Opi)

Busy Weekend

21 Aug 2011

(click to enlarge)

What did you do this weekend??

The kids went up to Sebastopol with Omi and Omi, but no parents!
From the look of things, and by all reports, they has an AWESOME time!!
Thanks Omi & Opi!

It’s apple time! Heirloom Gravensteins – ahhh, the sweet smell alone gets me every time.

So — where were Mark and Vale you ask? It was Bachelor and Bachelorette weekend for Cole and Kiera.
The boys went to Vegas, and the girls stayed home in SF.
No Paparazzi!

okay, maybe one photo:

From left to right, that’s me, Maggie (Kiera’s friend), Nanu, Georgia the frenchie, Jeanette (Kiera’s mom), Lauren (Kiera’s sister), Madie, and Whitney (Kiera’s friend). Fun Weekend! XOXO!

And one more with all of us (Kiera!)…

________________________________________________________________________

UPDATE:
=========

I’ve got a VIDEO FROM VEGAS. It’s Priceless.

and
photo from Mark’s weekend in Vegas. The Bar is physically holding him up. Zach seems to be coping with gravity just fine….

Ciara and the Fair

02 Aug 2011

We had ourselves a very big day…
Most importantly we got to see Ciara – she just came to California this week. It’s so nice to see the cousins together!

And then Mark and I made a quick dash off to the Sonoma County Fair. We brought Oscar and left Lucy to swim with the girls. Oscar was so torn! He loves the fair, but was sad to miss swimming.

On the bright side, the fair was exciting…

And the cows were Gigantic. I wanted Oscar to see where all the milk comes from. These cows are milked twice a day and they produce an awful lot of milk.