sleep-away camp

 

Today we dropped off my older son at sleep-away camp beneath the redwood trees in La Honda.  After dropping him off, we visited Harley Farms Goat Dairy in Pescadero.  For dinner: goat cheese on French bread.

beach

 

 

For many schools in the U.S., children have a break during the third week of February which is designated President's week in honor of the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  This school break is also referred to as Ski-Week, which is a bit of a joke for families who have neither funds nor inclination.

So, we spent a day at the beach racing waves & collecting sea-glass; and it cost exactly one gallon of gasoline (plus the price of a hot coffee and 2 hot cocoas from a cafe to fortify us for the 25 minute drive home).

Rain is forecast for the rest of the week, so today was the day... and it was a perfect day.  I even saw two spouts from migrating grey whales -- the sort of thing you look out for, but the moment you glimpse it, it's so fleeting, that you are not quite sure you really saw it at all.  Akin to seeing a shooting star. And then there are the sea lions, swimming along 30 feet off-shore, gazing at us with curious intensity.  I swear there are selkies among them...

children's fairyland

Have you ever visited Children's Fairyland in Oakland?

Children's Fairyland opened in 1950, and was visited by Walt Disney during the time he was developing and building Disneyland (which opened five years later, in 1955).  Everything in Children's Fairyland is candy-colored, 1950's retro, and there is so much to see and love.  To view more photos and find information, you can go to the Children's Fairyland website here.

Here is a peculiar little carousel featuring characters from Alice in Wonderland.

Beware.

A clock-tower

The Jolly-Trolly

And if it all wasn't marvelous enough, there is a puppet show performed three times every day.

We were lucky to see a sweet version of the Wizard of Oz.

Off to Neverland!

Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning...

A certain small someone cried and cried when the park closed at 5:00 and it was time for us to head home. But I've promised him that we will go back soon.

olallieberries

For the past month (or more) my little one and I have been reading the book A Fine Dessert (over and over and over).  The book depicts how one particular dessert, blackberry fool, is made by four different families over the course of 300 years. The illustrations are gorgeous, and the story of the dessert is told in few, but very evocative, words by author Emily Jenkins.  All in all, it's a well researched, fascinating book -- and not only that -- it inspired us to want to make blackberry fool. However, blackberries will not be ripe around here until mid-July, so today we headed off on an olallieberry picking expedition.  On our way home, we stopped at the beach.  The path down was lined with wild radish, mustard, hemlock, and yarrow. The wind whipped at our faces, the sky was very blue and there were wild song birds everywhere.

When we got home, we made olallieberry fool.  An olallieberry jam making session is on the schedule for tomorrow.

we had fun

This is where we've been the past few days. We had fun. Okay... serious understatement. We had A LOT of fun!

road trip

My boys and I just returned from a 2 day road-trip visiting dear friends -- so dear we would travel even to the moon to visit them. Luckily, they don't live as far away as the moon -- they live in Sebastapol (where my big boy ate the best grilled cheese sandwich. ever.)

today

Mr. Bloom (my husband, not my son!) needs some new specs so we popped in at the local Warby Parker shop. Hayes Street in SF is always fun... and as a treat before heading home, we stopped in at Miette Confiserie (yay!)