Bay Area Discover Museum

Last week Ruby and I took Baby Claire to the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito. It's a beautiful location right on the bay and the museum is right at the base of the Golden Gate. Ruby ended up being a little late so Claire and I spent a little time admiring the view from the snug warmth of the car.

The museum is broken up over several buildings each one having a different theme. For Claire's age the Tot Spot was the building most suited for her. One room was wetlands themed and had three "ponds" that were basically water beds for the kids to run around on. Two of them had a tunnel running between them (which Claire thought was delicious) and the other was enclosed like a little cave. The other room was dessert themed with a cave tunnel to crawl through, lots of padded areas for them to crawl over and a giant shape sorter. Outside in the Tot Spot there is a raised creek that starts up high with a water fall and then snakes back and forth around until it flows to ground level. They also had an area with tons of wooden xylophones that the kids could play while bubbles drifted around them from a machine.

When we first got there I wasn't horribly impressed, but once I saw the pure joy on Claire's face as she ran madly from place to place I knew that I was wrong. This place was indeed awesome and can't wait to take Jeff there sometime soon.

Ruby made a little friend who brought her a skunk outfit to wear around. She tried to share it with Claire latter, but Claire had very strong feelings against dressing like a skunk.

I could not keep her from tasting the water and eventually figured whatever disease she was going to get from it she already had. I even tried giving her a paci but she just started dipping it in the water too.

These little aprons where just too precious. 

This pretty much sums up the day. Claire running from one thing (the water) to another (the xylophones) so fast that we didn't have time to get her out of her apron and get her shoes back on. 

I swear she was having fun, she just takes her music super serious.

Claire had to get in one last xylophone session before we left. As we passed them she started struggling against me and when I put her down she made a run for it back to the xylophones.

Most of the pictures I tried to take in this room turned out like this. Claire wanted nothing to do with staying still.

Of course, being the Claire that we all know and love, she couldn't go a whole day at a place specifically designed for kids to play safely and not hurt herself. The creek had a little bridge with stairs on it that she managed to fall down and land forehead first on the concrete. Then she managed to find the one rough spot on the stumps that were in the xylophone area and scrape her cheek on it as she bent down to pick up a stick. That's my little lady.

Beach Day

Ever since I was a little girl my family has been taking trips to the Jenner area to enjoy the sand and sun, though the latter is sometimes in short supply on the northern california coast. I've been wanting to share this with Claire and have been waiting for a nice warm day to introduce her to the Pacific. I'm not sure that she got much out of the experience at this age, and the weather didn't cooperate 100% (really windy day). Still, it was great to take that first step in passing on adventures to my little girl. 

 I was a little nervous about taking Claire because the beach can present a lot of problems for a baby. I had to consider things like too much sun, too much wind, too cold, and bordom. To combat the first possible problem, I bought this for Baby off of amazon:

Its basically a little pup tent that ensured Baby didn't get a sun burn while Kim and I enjoyed the beach. While it was pretty easy to put up and take down, it can't secure to the ground in any way. We ended up setting a few of our bags in it to keep it anchored against the wind. It's a three foot square so there was still plenty of room for Miss Claire. I think this little tent will get a lot of use in the future for things like BBQ's and park trips.

This trip was the first time I sucessfully got Baby to wear a hat and be happy about it. I'm going to be so sad when she outgrows this little fishy outfit.

Baby taking in the ocean.

After we got settled at the beach (and after I made a dash back to the car because we realized we'd left the pacifier there), the first thing Claire wanted to do was eat, and then she pretty quickly decided that her hour long nap in the car wasn't enough.

Its only been pretty recent that I've started to be able to distinguish between Baby's different cries. The I'm tired cry is definitly the easiest for me to pick out now. I was a little sad at first that Claire needed a nap right away, but then I realized that I had a golden opportunity to just lay in the warm sand and relax. So that's exactly what this momma did.

We did take Claire down to the water which happened to be wonderfully calm while we were there, but after sticking our own toes in it, we quickly decided it was too cold to dangle little Baby toes in.  I think next time we'll go with the Russian River. A little warmer, but still just as wet.

I definitely want to fit in a couple more water related activities with Claire this summer. In a few weeks she'll be old enough to go to baby swim lessons at the local aquatic center, and maybe splash in the river later this season!

Flying With Baby

I got to admit, I was more than a little nervous to take our first plane flight with baby. Flying can be hectic enough, but throw a little one who could possibly spend the whole flight screaming into the mix and the anxiety level definitely goes up a notch. Pre-baby I was the traveller who would try to sit as far away from babies as possible, and generally cringed when I'd see one was boarding. While I know a crying baby on a plane isn't really the parents fault (hey, you got to travel), I still didn't want to be "that lady" on the plane.  

Fortunately for us, Claire proved we have nothing to fear from flying with her (we'll see how it goes when she's old enough to move around). In fact, she spent most of the flight like this.

So all of my worry was for naught. As long as Claire was sleeping or sucking on something for the landing and take off she was perfectly happy. We had about 15 seconds of fussing on the first take off right at the moment when I noticed my ears were feeling their worse, and after that it was fine. In fact, we think she thought this was the best day ever because she was constantly being held and loved on.

Aside from baby's behavior, navigating an airport with baby wasn't all that difficult either (I'm sure that wouldn't be the case if I was travelling alone with her). I just had her in a little carrier and she was good to go and I was hands free. They've changed the rules so you can walk through the metal detector while wearing your baby, they just ask to swab your hands to make sure you weren't doing anything bad before you got there like, you know, making bombs.

I also found the TSA people to be particularly warm and friendly when interacting with Claire and me. I imagine their interactions with a lot of travellers probably aren't all that pleasant, so I made sure to repay their friendliness by being extra pleasant during the screenings. I think it made all our days a little better.

Honestly I think the hardest part about travelling with baby was the prep that goes into it, not the day itself. While we could have packed a third bag, I was trying not to because we already had an extra bag to take back full of stuff for my mom. I really didn't want to be trying to maneuver four bags and a baby at the airport! Figuring out how to pack all of our necessities and hers without packing an extra bag took a little planning, but it also made us be minimalists in what we took with us. As someone who tends to over pack, it was actually kind of refreshing to go bare bones and yes, four pairs of shoes is bare bones for me!

Our first experience travelling with Claire was certainly a sucess. I look forward to taking many more adventures with my little family in the future and hope the getting there portion of the trips are as uneventful as this one was.

My General Baby Travel Tips

1) Fit everything you and baby need into one carry on bag. The fewer the items you have to juggle the better.

2) If you have an Ipod, load some books on it. You can listen to those while holding baby for the next 10 hours.

3)Make sure your paci is on a leash or you will constantly be chasing it under seats. Also pack at least two because you'll be switching them out to clean them a lot.

4)After you finish packing your carry on, pack one more outfit and bib for baby.

5) Take extra plastic bags (we had two poopy blow outs).

Some Stoop Shots

This past weekend Jeffry and I checked out the San Fransisco Botanical Garden with some friends. While I forgot to take pictures of the many different garden styles the garden displays, I was pretty shocked by the number of plants I recognized from my own yard! On the hike back to our car I started to take notice of some very pretty or interesting planter options that we passed and snapped a few photos to share with you.

Alright, I know it's hard to see in this picture, but on the bottom left balcony they turned a cinder block wall into homes for plants. They stacked the cinder blocks so the holes were facing up, and then placed plane pots (like the type you get the plants in from the nursery) in those holes. Since the ends are like steps, it made a lot of different heights for the plants to sit. I imagine you could also do something with placing boards between the layers of blocks. That way you could plant directly in the holes. Its a great mix of industrial and organic.

I liked this one because it looks like a little cottage stoop. Like if your turned around you wouldn't see a row of houses, but your favorite vacation spot. Unlike some urban  porches and balconies, which seem to try and fit a whole forest worth of plants into a teeny tiny space, these porches  look like the owners just invited a few of their favorite friends over to brighten up the space.

This last planter design I enjoyed because of it's clean lines and structure. So much in SF seems to look a little worn around the edges and unstructured, but this planter stands firm with sharp corners and tidy containers to keep the chaos inside them in order. I imagine it also provides a nice place to sit on a sunny day.

Flowers and Foothills Part II

Welcome back to part two of a day trip to the foothills. After we had stuffed ourselves silly with pizza, tested our trivia on things such as history, Knight Rider, and science and hit a few thrift stores we headed toward the town of Grass Valley and our second nursery stop.

Prospector’s Nursery is definitely a different experience from Bald Mountain. Yes, you’ll spend more on plants there than at Bald Mountain, but you will also be able to purchase harder to find ornamentals such as Burning Hearts (they do not carry edibles except for a few fruit trees). In addition to having rarer plants, they also just have a wider variety of non-tree plants than you will find at Bald Mountain. I do think Bald Mountain has them beat when it comes to tree varieties, but its close.

Out front you’ll find all their sun loving plants (I recommend bringing a good pair of sunglasses), but when you head out back you are suddenly surrounded by pine trees and can slowly meander through their shade loving plants. If you have a shady nook that you are having trouble finding the right plants for, look no further. Their selection of shade adoring ornamentals is impressive.

Another major difference between the two nurseries is that Prospector’s has a large indoor area of home and garden stuff. They carry all sorts of cute décor items (often with a garden theme), table cloths, serving wear, plant tags, lotions, cute garden tools, candles, etc. Generally I find some little reasonably priced thing that I never new I needed so badly. Inside they also always have complementary cookies with either hot or iced tea depending on the season.

Lastly, although Prospector’s Nursery is more upscale than Bald Mountain (and therefore charges accordingly) they are NOT snooty. In fact, I have always found their staff to be one of the most pleasant parts of their establishment. They are energetic, sincere and interested in the projects you have planned with the plants you are purchasing and are happy to offer advice and encouragement. I think the differences between the two nurseries make them a perfect match to visit in the same day. Visit Bald Mountain for a slow relaxing country stroll and to get your Johnny Jump Ups, Petunias, fruits trees, etc. and then take the beautiful drive up to Prospector and enjoy the more exotic varieties, the indoor goodies and of course, cookies!

When the trunk is full it's time to head home!

Mom and I had to get back to Sacramento after Prospectors, but if you have a little more time you should take a stroll through Nevada City or Grass Valley. There is a nice old theatre in downtown Grass Valley called the Del Oro where you could catch a movie and there are plenty of places in that area to grab some dinner. The two main streets in downtown Grass Valley are also far more level than the hill that is Nevada City.

*Pictures from the lense of K.E. Fisher

Flowers and Foothills

Last weekend my mother and I decided to take a Saturday to get out and enjoy some sunshine and flowers while Jeff enjoyed a cold one and a baseball game. We turned it into a day trip up to the foothills and visited a couple of nurseries that my mom has been quite fond of. If you are into flowers and a pretty drive I recommend you do the same sometime in the next month before everything turns brown. If you have kids, there is even a huge park complete with a swimming hole, playgrounds and Frisbee golf course to let them burn off some steam. Today I’ll share the first half of the trip with you.

If you go up highway 99 for a long time and then make a few lefts and a right you will find yourself on a narrow road near the town of Brown’s Valley. You may think this is just some dead end country road with nothing of interest, but you’d only be half right. Less than a mile off the main road is Bald Mountain Nursery, a family run establishment that makes you feel like you are just wandering around a friend’s front yard. You’ll find cozy benches nestled under shade trees should you need to take a break from browsing and friendly doggies running around keeping an eye on things.

While this location definitely focuses more on ornamental plants, it still has a very good selection of fruit trees and a few tables of basic vegetables. If you are looking for a specific kind of fig, they probably have six or seven different varieties, all at a very reasonable price.

This nursery also has a very strong focus on the plants themselves, not garden decoration. You will find no statuary or little miscellaneous garden bobbles for sale. About the only thing you’ll find in the actual store is a cash register, fertilizer and ice cold bottled water for 50 cents. When you’re ready to check out, just leave your cart outside and get an employee to come ring you up by hand. Of course, there might be a security inspection first.

After you leave Bald Mountain you should head to the equally small town of Penn Valley for the previously mentioned park, some of the world’s best pizza at Northridge Restaurant (complete with a trivia booklet at each table) and a little thrift store browsing. Personally I think the better of the two thrift stores is the Penn Valley Fire Dept Auxiliary Thrift Shop‎ located behind the fire station next to the rodeo ring. The Hospice Gift and Thrift next to the pizza place is way more expensive.

*pictures from the lense of K.E. Fisher