Adventure Time

After Christmas is over, like the very next day, I no longer want to be in my house. The clutter of new toys and boxes and torn paper starts to get to me and I want to go somewhere; do something. This year we decided to drive up the coast, the Pacific one, and spend the night in Cayucos. It's one of my favorite surf towns in California. It's got tiny motels and sea shanty themed restaurants and a very pretty beach and pier.  

We drove into town about 4 o'clock and rushed from our motel room to the beach to take advantage of the sunset. The boys told me the water was too cold for them, but after about 20 minutes they were both so soaked we had to find a restaurant with outdoor seating.

Also in Cayucos, is the Brown Butter Cookie Company. It is impossible to walk by without turning on your heel and walking inside for a sample. They taste exactly as good as you'd think, like light, crumbly brown sugar happiness. And they make the whole town smell delicious. Salty, sugary, buttery air, it's like what Jesus smells like.

The next day we drove to Sacramento, we passed a couple of missions and day dreamed about our Central Coast farmstead. I love these kind of vacations, where the journey is part of the trip. We drive slowly and stop when we want, we take pictures and find new places to buy sandwiches.

All the while California is unfurling before our very eyes, shouts of, "Are we there yet?!" and "Why is it so far?!" and the strains of Adventure Time's Tree Trunks episode for the 14th time are creeping into my daydreams. Gone is my alpaca farm and my organic garden, now I'm just looking for a place for Hartwell to pee or an empty bottle for him to use when farms stretch out between towns.

These photos will help me forget all the crazy, though, and by next year I'll be ready to do it again. This time I'm bringing Depends and picking the dvds.

The Lemonade Stand or When Life Hands You Lemons, Spend All Day Making Lemonade for Strangers

On Friday night, Beckett drew up a plan for a lemonade stand. It looked a little bit like something Wile E. Coyote would draw, with arrows and a checklist; it was cute. (I've asked for the drawing and he said he changed his plans, so it is lost in time, sadly). His dad LOVED the idea and took Beckett shopping and spent the morning getting supplies.

Somehow, I think, the Disney Channel is involved...

Our neighbor, Paul, the first customer:

I had not seen this pic when I uploaded them and it made me laugh out loud! I have really excellent neighbors.

An hour in, one of the boys' friends dropped by. She took charge.

And it became a dance party!

Everyone seemed pretty charmed by the boys are were more than happy to stop or smile and wave. 

Someone asked Hartwell what he would do with the money and he didn't have an answer. When I asked him, he replied, "Give it to old people." Awww, how sweet, I thought. Then, "Just kidding, the ice cream man."

Arghhh. (I think we're gonna donate some, because, that answer...)

I decided not to help with signage, so this is what you get:

Lemonade, 50 cents, no refunds, free refills.

Later I found out Hartwell did not know what a refund was. He thought people couldn't tell you they didn't like it.

Hams and Eggs



 What will get me to type on the blog again? A holiday. A fertility holiday. Eggs and bunnies. And spring break and a clean backyard.

Saturday morning before Easter the boys set about coloring their eggs. Out of 24 eggs, about half remained unbroken and were beautifully dyed and stickered. As were my hands. And all the paper towels. Beckett hands remained dyed a sickly blue, which he loved because zombies.

Easter morning Uncle Bunny and Aunt Mimi stopped by! They were in town because their web series Dark Pool was nominated for an award! Here they are all hunting for eggs!

Hartwell looking like the teenager he acts like:

Beckett looking his age:

And the backyard finally cleaned up for company. We should probably have people over more often, it's the only reason we clean our house anymore.

And for the big finish...the Easter bunny brought the boys a mentos/diet coke geyser dispenser holder thing...

Pretty sure it was their favorite thing ever! Mostly because the Easter Bunny may have just watched a Colbert Report episode with the anti-sugar pediatrician and had very little candy for the kids. It was mostly small change and toys...

At that point, just watching sugar is exciting!

Boys.

I'm channeling Terry Richardson, I think.

Photodyssey: Buildings and Boys

I'm in the middle of figuring out my new DSLR camera and the best way to do it just to shoot. But how many photos of my dishes can I take? So we drove to the picturesque town of Solvang, just north of Santa Barbara, to discuss aperture, shutter speed and ISO.

Not that I learned anything. I just took pictures and yelled at John, "Why is it so light?!"

And, "Why is it so dark?!"

Then we had a snack. A raspberry buttercream snack.

Then more yelling to John, who used to have an SLR camera back in the 80's, (which is when Hartwell thinks everything old is from), so he knows a lot about photography.

Baby steps. 

Back to boys. Much easier...

Night shooting? I'll give it a whirl.

The boys were as patient as boys can be, so we went back to the hotel and played Life. Which is so much more depressing to play as an adult. And, of course, Beckett won. Even though he barely played and mostly skipped around the room like a little squirrel. Maybe we can learn from that? Which would be, it's okay, my mom is playing for me!

The next morning, we woke up early for pancakes. Hartwell likes to do the pose from the Nintendo DS commercials. Everywhere.

After breakfast, I forced the boys to walk around and let me take pictures of them. It was cold. And the boys were uncooperative. Luckily, this bakery was amenable.

Pretty sure I yelled at them to get this photo.

And then it all fell apart. Too cold!

Back to buildings.

I was waiting for this place to open. Jule Hus, Christmas all year round! I needed candles for my german pyramid advent thing. And I can only find them online and I can never tell if they are the right size. Found some for $5. Yay, me!

More photos.

I think the first thing to do to feel like a fancy photographer is to set your camera to sepia. Fancy.

Bye to Solvang, and now back home. John wanted a photo of this crazy log cabin farm house and barn. But we were driving. So I had to continuous shoot out the window. Which made the foreground blurry. Which made it look miniature. Adorable!

Just keep shooting...

And finally back to the park where Beckett finally decided to try the zip line. He went once and swore it off. Then went one more time.

It's sort of a weird thing, a photo vacation. I still know very little about my camera, but I am also less likely to keep it on auto now. Mostly I like taking photos of the boys. Which was nearly impossible with their not sit stillableness. Always on the move. Always with great faces that get blurred.

Always saying, "Mom...stop taking my picture!"

A short story, in pictures.