Day 2 (Solvang Part 4 finale)

I was pretty surprised how early we got up on Sunday morning considering the full day we had previously. Since I got up so early I thought I would take advantage of our Jacuzzi tub in our hotel room.I gotta get one..It is so nice. Parker and Gabe even took a soak as well. Once we got dressed Gabe,myself and the kids walked over to Paula's Pancake House and had Kirsten and John and The kids meet us for a nice country breakfast. It was nice the sun was rising and the small of pancakes were in the air.

Gabe had to go to the bakery next door and get a local paper..He just cannot have breakfast without the morning paper.

Ava was in good spirits..she likes to be in the high chair at restaurants..she was being VERY smiley and Vocal

She loves to pound on the table too so I thought it was a good time to feed her her banana and yogurt breakfast

I had coffee,fresh squeezed OJ and Eggs Benedict..It was everything I wanted

The day before at the Gainey Vineyard Parker made a friend. We saw them at Gainey,and later that day in Solvang at a tasting room..than again Sunday at Breakfast time..they were hanging out for a bit his name was Daniel

After breakfast we walked over to the Christmas store..I love the smoking dolls

There was a lot for Ava to look at too. She loved all the little ornaments..Parker and Kelsey stayed outside hunting the rolly pollie's out of the flower beds..my uncle stayed out there to supervise

Gabe and Kirsten took the kids to the big toy store and my uncle and I went to the Antique mall..This was a really cool grandfather clock with Ships..I knew my dad would like this clock so I took a bunch of pictures of it for him to see

We than took the kids to the pool and checked out of our rooms. I wish I had taken some photos of them in the pool...I hate when I do that!!

After the pool there was a couple tasting rooms we wanted to visit. We went first to Presido because they also have Grape juice they produce and we thought it would be fun for the kids to get to try the grape juice while we had some wine..

Parker liked it a lot...Kelsey did not

The babies were having a good time together

We than went to Mandolino and did a tasting there than went to the fudge and chocolate shop and bought some sweets and headed to the Lavender farm..which WAS NOT in bloom..so I just picked up some bath oil, a sachet and some mist. When we first got there the cat that lives on the premises was kicking some dogs butt...it was pretty wild.

Parker wanted to dig some of the lavender buds..

The smell was still nice!

After the farm we were going to head to Wild Heart (one of my FAVORITE WINERIES) but my uncle and Kirsten were done. Their kids were asleep in the car so they headed home but Gabe and I we were by far from being done. I think it was a little easier for us cause Parker is a little older.

Anyway Gabe and I and the kids headed to Los Olivos and went to Wild heart and spent a good time there having a tasting..They offer a chocolates and wine tasting which we saw a ton of people were doing. Since we had a bunch of chocolates prior we just did the wine with strawberries. Now this place is very romantic and their wines are very serious with rich flavors..almost a stand alone wine that would not go with food cause I think they will out shine the food..however I have had meat with them and it is still wonderful. Parker was getting bored so I told him to go walk around and take pictures of the place..Of course once he got the camera in his hands the first thing he wanted to take a picture of was Gabe's butt. (I didn't post that picture)

Another shot done by Parker...Not to Shabby

We than walked over to Scott Cellars (which wild heart recommended) We were glad we stopped by there. Now I am not usually a big white wine fan but his Pinot Gris was sooo good. I bought a bottle. Actually every place we went to have a tasting I bought a bottle from..cept Gainey cause the people there took to long to cash us out and we had to go. After we left Scott Cellars we saw another tasting room that was open so we had to stop there too. It was Daniel Ghers and it was not too bad..they had a few hot and miss wines..they had one though that we dumped cause we both thought it was BAD it was really musty and moldy smelling. At this point I was pretty buzzed and needed to EAT!!

Parker had fun there. They had a little play room.

He wanted to take a picture of this scene he created

We headed back to the car and went to have dinner at a HIGHLY recommended Italian restaurant called Grappelo's. It was fantastic. I went out to the car to change Ava and when I came back the waiter had a creme brulee dessert with a candle in it and two glasses of the Bubbly and said Happy Anniversary (which is today but Gabe is working so we celebrated it last night at the Italian restaurant..which I did not have my camera...grrrr)

We headed home and got home late (10:30pm) but it was totally worth it. All in all we got to do everything we wanted too ( Well besides pick Apples cause ME (dumb) realized they are not in season DUH) oh well gives me a reason to take the kids again.

There was a lot of highlights during the weekend and I really enjoyed my time there.

There was one moment when I saw a group of girls laughing with their glasses of wine out in the vineyard and they were all chatting and had sun dresses on and big hats and I thought..that's the ticket..I gotta have us girls do a girls getaway to Solvang..I think my gals are all in agreement..I can't wait to go back..which will be in June/July ..When the lavender is in bloom DAMN IT!

Sunny Fields (Solvang Part 3)

On Saturday we stopped at Sunny Fields and There was so many photo Ops so I had to of course blog about the park trip.


This is the first time we ever put Ava in a park baby swing.She was ecstatic!

I caught Gabe playing on the swings too

Parker wanted to take a picture in the tower

Parker was off doing his own thing so we just put the smaller children in the swings

Ava was having too much of a good time

I love this shot of her little feet

Parker enjoyed the tire swing most..I was pushing him on it a little crazy and he didn't want to go on it anymore cause it was making him feel sick

This reminds me of Knott's for some reason

The rock climbing wall

Back to the swings

Time for more climbing

Gabe took Ava on the Slide

My Uncle took Kelsey on too..than it was time to go get ready for dinner

Solvang-Part Two

After the Ostrich Farm we went to get a Table at Shelby Ranch to get a bite. (Shelby ranch by the way is open Friday, SAT and Sun. Everything on their menu is 1.oo and 15% of each bill goes to the Shriner's Children's Hospital. The food is always good and for a dollar!! After lunch there it was off for a quick wine tasting at Lucas & Lewellen (which I am a member of so it was free tastings) It was really cool too cause they have a kids table with puzzles and games for them to play so Kelsey and Parker were occupied pretty well.

Afterwards it was back to the cars to go to Lincourt Vineyard but not without getting a picture with the big Clog!!
Here is Kelsey and Parker

Kirsten joined in on this shot

I think Ava was comfy..before going to the vineyard we stopped by the toy store to pick up a toy for the kids to play while we went to the vineyard

When we arrived to Lincourt the kids were overlooking the grape vines..I got my shot too late..there was a great one of them that I think Kirsten got

Lincourt was great they had a big lawn area and a laundry basket full of toys.
Lincourt did our wine tastings right in front of the window so we could see the kids playing in the yard. We had some really nice wines..Kirsten joined their wine club..

Here is a group shot in front of the barrels

After Lincourt we headed to another Vineyard..We ended up at Gainey..they were ok.

The kids were very well behaved

We than stopped at Sunny Fields (See Solvang part 3)

After the park we checked in our hotel rooms and than headed for dinner which we had reservations at the hitching post. We had late late reservations and we were all exhausted..the kids fell asleep at the table before their food even came. My food was AWESOME! I ate every bite.

ZONKED..time for bed..which we did immediately when we got back to our hotel room.

Ostrich Land -Solvang Trip Part One

So we kicked off our trip to Solvang with a stop at the infamous OSTRICH LAND. I must admit I had a blast and so did the rest of the family. We decided to stop since my uncle and Kirsten were running a little late behind us for our meet up in center town Solvang .

Inside the store there was a lot of ostrich collectibles items, like decorated hallow Ostrich Eggs,Feathers,stuffed animals,clothing,purses and they had a freezer of Ostrich meat all packaged up.

We bought some feed to feed them with and the first stop was to feed the baby Emu's..they were really cute

We than walked down to the Ostriches that were awaiting for someone to come and bring them some food..they were pretty aggressive..one kept hissing at the others ones to get away from the food.

He got all flared up too to chase the females away

We feed the bigger birds a lot so we bought more and went to feed the adult Emu's

These guys were a little easier to feed

These guys were not much different than the Ostriches cause the males would hiss and nip at the gals too

I just love their big eyes

There were so many squirrels too hanging around..they were eating the left over pellets..there were so many squirrels here this place should offer peanuts to feed to the squirrels as well. They come right up to you and they just lay right there in the pathway of the birds.

We saw a hawk flying around too...Gabe said "Man if that hawk picks up one of those squirrels and flys off with it that is gonna make my whole weekend"...(luckily it did not happen)

Every time the Birds would stretch their wings Ava would bust up in laughter

A whole flock of them came over to us and were doing it

The group of Ostriches

I had to feed them too of course

Parker had to go back for one last feeding to the Emu's ..I think he liked them best

On our way out I had to get a shot of the Ostrich rules..Plus it is pretty awesome those feathers in the background that makes Gabe look like he has a ton of hair

Going to the Country

This weekend we are taking a family trip to Solvang and the other surrounding towns nearby. I can't wait to take them. My uncle Johnny and Kirsten are also coming with their children.
On the itinerary is a trip to the lavender farm ( where it should be in bloom right now) They have a wonderful old oak tree and just a lovely garden to view.
We than are going to stop for some Apple picking at the local orchards..there is also a place to go to pick nuts too.

Last time when Gabe and I were in Solvang for my wine tasting Birthday trip we saw the Coolest kids playground called Sunnyfields Playground so we are gonna pay it a visit..
Here is a little brief description I found about it online..
Sunnyfields Playground is an amazing playground with everything a child could want! It is a wooden castle playground with a little gingerbread house where kids can make believe they are in the kitchen baking cookies. There are shady spots like a little theater where kids can put on a puppet show. There are plenty of medieval towers, monkey bars galore, rope bars kids can balance on, bridges, a tube slide, rock-climbing wall, baby swings, regular swings, and a tire swing! The helm of a viking ship decorates one end of the playground. It will take a long time before your child will become bored here! My only request is for trees so that it is less hot and more shady at this lovely new park
Here are some photos of the park

We of course are going to do some wine tasting as well. I know a few wine tasting rooms that have tables that have puzzles, and coloring books and legos for the children to sit at while the adults do a little wine tasting. We also can have the babies keep each other occupied in the strollers too.

I am gonna have like so many postings this coming week of all the things we did out there.

Fine Dining at it's best

Last night was the long awaited wine dinner at Park Ave. It was theee best time and the food and wine were brilliant! Chris and Holly came with us, it was their first wine dinner..I think we may have converted them and they will be back for more wine dinners. I can only hope we get more friends to come out with us. We usually would get like a party of 12.
The wine host for this event was Chandon (basically of Moet Chandon champagne)

When we arrived we were seated in the bar. I took a picture of the lightfixtures..I just adore them.

We than we showed our seats in the private dining room and escorted to their beautiful garden area where they had bottles of champagne opened and appetizers were passed around down a little meadow in the garden area they have a vegetable garden where they grow their own organic veggies they use at their restaurant.
I love this picture of Gabe in the garden area.


After appetizers in the garden and a few glasses of champagne it was time to move inside..but not without a picture of me and holly on the bench in the garden

Our table looked beautiful ..we even had little gift bags left at our place settings from Chandon..It was a cool note pad and pen and a folding corkscrew

Cheers~~

This is us waiting on the 2nd course I believe..Oh man the food was wonderful!

I think I one point we could not drink anymore wine..we were smashed! I had to take a picture of this..we were discussing something really funny about sex but I can't even remember it now but Holly said something and this was Chris reaction..HELL_AIRY_US

At the end of the night one of the reps from Chandon thanked us all for coming and let us know if we wanted to purchase any of the wines there was some there available.

After the dinner we stopped and spoke with the Chef David Slay whom we are well acquainted with and told him how we were wanting to get a group of us together and ride our vintage vespa's up but we need an Italian theme dinner. He said YES that is a fab idea.

Anyways the night didn't end at Park Ave..We went back to Chris and Holly's and there is this vacant mid century apartment building complex that is abandon across the street and we basically with some bravery of the vino went over there and went inside to check it out. The Pool is empty (which my husband says he is taking his skateboard there and going to skate) the doors were all unlocked and each apartment was empty with rusted old light fixtures,rusty water heaters, paint splattered carpets, plastic hanging everywhere...it looks as though someone meant to fix it up but must of had financial despair and just abandoned the building...we did hear a dog barking from one of the apartments on the 2nd level..which for all we know is the owner ..It was pretty creepy checking it out at night..if they fixed it up though that place would RULE!