Love these shots Page took at the beach! We have another photographer in the family 🙂
Archive for the ‘Life in the Santa Cruz Mts’ Category
So Happy Together
Tuesday, August 4th, 2015
We made it home, still getting used to the time change. It was sooooo good to see Sienna and Brendan, they snuck up on us in the airport and Sienna had the biggest laugh when she saw us. Crazy how much they grow up in just a few weeks.
Love Apple Farm Dinner
Sunday, June 7th, 2015
Fun date night w/ the mountain crew at Love Apple Farms. So yummy!!!
Forty and Fabulous!
Wednesday, May 20th, 2015
Turning 40 is a trip! So thankful to share the day w/ Brendan and the girls. And even more thankful for a picnic on the beach to celebrate with my sweetie. Thanks for all the gorgeous pressies and happy I had my new scarf to keep me warm. Here’s to at least 40 more, cheers!
2 deuxième partie
Monday, April 27th, 2015
We’ve been hoping for rain to relieve this drought. Â We weren’t hoping for rain on Sienna’s birthday. Â But it was forecast, and inviting a dozen adults and a mob of kids for a barbecue on our back deck was looking to be badly timed.
You’ve already seen glimpses of these pictures and know that it was a perfect day. The rain came through the night, freshened everything up, and watered the plants.
Those plants we used for some of our cooking. Alex made a very delicious Kale salad. We made strawberry mojitos and rubs and marinades with Sage, Rosemary, and Oregano from the garden which we put on a tonne of farm-fresh beef and pork we source from 5 Marys farm in northern California. Usually Alex spends the whole day at our barbies cooking in the kitchen. This time we made a big effort to prepare most of the food the day before so Alex had more time … to look after all the kids …
We allowed Sienna to open one present before her party. Sienna “gets it” this year and has been very excited all week to grab the centre of attention away from Page. Â After she got to open (with Page) her first present, she requested to go to have a nap again.
Our weekend neighbours, Jake and Cassie, came over early to help us set up.
Asher, who is the son of my new CEO came over to play. Asher will be turning two too in a couple of months.
Gracie may be three, but she and Sienna always get on well.
Hannah – the camera kept following her around. I edited the pics to only include this one. The one where we can see her face under the (spolier alert) chocolate cake.
Maya lives in the neighbourhood, and goes to daycare with Sienna, where she looks out for the little girl.
The special girl and her Mom.
Meegs and the mesmerising blue eyes of Zoë.
Page already wants to marry Nick.
Alex set out a blanket on the bottom deck to get all the children to gather around and open all the pressies.
In la tradición de los norteamericanos, we had a piñata.  The tweak to the tradition was that they whacked it with a cricket stump. Same result.
When everyone went home, the next day, Sienna got a chance to play with all her toys.
Thanks to Jake, Cassie, Tim, Nora, Nick, Hannah, Linda, Matt, Gracie, Jack, Asher, Jessica, Oren, Marie, Reuben, Meegan, Zoë, Joanna, Maya, Alyce, Andrea, and Juliana for making Sienna’s birthday one of our best days at the new house.
Bindi or Skye?
Sunday, March 22nd, 2015
We found the most adorable Aussie Shepard! She was living with a couple that worked long hours and the poor thing lived in a crate 20 hours a day. She is pretty happy about her new home and the long walks on Shady Lane and Sunnyside Lane. The girls love her, Page is very helpful and makes sure she is well taken care of. Sienna is good with the commands. Looking forward to lots of fun days with this girl. Should we call her Bindi or Skye?
Shady Lane: Not as shady as it was
Sunday, February 8th, 2015
At 9pm last night, Alex and I were sitting on the couch, having just finished watching Alex’s friend Megan try to outrun the sun.
I was telling Alex that planned to clean some leaves off our road in the morning when we heard the sound, the familiar sound, of a tree falling down. Alex instinctively leant over to protect me as the tree fell.
It didn’t hit the house.
We rushed outside. Alex could see a small fire burning at the bottom of the yard near George’s place. I put some clothes on and ran down to see if George was OK. He was, but our power lines weren’t.
One of our big oak trees, that the power company had tagged back in September, had fallen over the road, taking out the power lines.
The fire was caused by the high voltage wires, which had been ripped off the power pole, arcing against another oak tree by the trampoline.
Alex called the fire dept and they turned up pretty quickly. They couldn’t do anything until the power company arrived an later and cut the lines. By then the fire was out.
This morning our neighbour, Mike, who owns a truck and has a big chainsaw, commenced clearing. As a fellow chainsaw owner, I, and my adventurous assistant Sienna went down to help. It was a big community effort to clear the road. The downed tree was at least 20 m tall with about a metre diameter.
To give him his due, Mike did most of the work, with awkward encouragement from the nerds, chefs, and artists who make up the rest of this lane.
The Lane is clear to drive at this moment. The power company is here now, and with at least two spilt power poles, they may be here for a while.
