outdoors – Page 4 – thosecoolkims

Michigan/Ohio Trip 2013, Days 2-3

The past two days have been a whirlwind of great times with family. So much in fact that I have neglected to take pics of people! :( Today was a low key day with Mom and Dad, driving through Dexter and Ann Arbor. I got to catch a few views of my beloved red barns, we found an incredible park to play at, and Ruby had her 1st Zingerman’s sandwich!

We even got to have a date night with Rachel + Brian while my parents stayed back to watch the kids! It was so much fun to hang out with them that I forgot to take any pics!

Yesterday was equally as great. Mom, Dad, Ruby + I spent the day in Tecumseh with dear cousin Kay and Dave. It was a wonderful day — Kay made her amazing sausage gravy and biscuits for me and we celebrated Dave’s birthday with cake! We had a blast visiting most of the day and then we headed out to Adrian to place an order at my cousin’s pizza shop so we could bring pizza to the reunion on Saturday. Then, we were off to Deerfield to spend the evening with Wes & Brenda and the family! We had fresh sweet corn that was delivered from the farm that morning, delicious veggies and beef sandwiches and some super scrumptious desserts! We loved seeing everyone and the highlight of the evening was Wes busting out his guitar so Ruby could get her 2nd private concert! Ruby was just as enchanted with the music as she was the 1st time we visited in 2011 and she was just 9 months old.

Smalltown USA (Adrian, MI)

Ruby gets a special concert from Wes …

This was her 1st time seeing Wes play when she was 9 months old!

Loving this time with family … leaving Michigan and off to Ohio tomorrow!

Saturday Fun, parts 1 and II

Today Ruby went to her 1st full-length feature film. We hopped in the car very early and drove up to the El Capitan in Hollywood to catch the 10:00am showing of Monsters University. We were excited to find out if Ruby could hang with an entire movie, and we couldn’t deny being curious about the latest Pixar movie, either. The verdict? Ruby loved it.(And, she seriously loves popcorn, too.)

We celebrated this first movie milestone by having ice cream sundaes at the Soda Fountain next door.

Later that day, we were feeling a little antsy and wanted to spend some time outdoors. We headed to Belmont Shore, grabbed an early dinner on 2nd Street, and decided to play at the beach a little bit before bedtime. It was gorgeous out there today. I was lucky enough to have the best view around — watching Ed + Ruby play was the best way to wrap up our fun little day.

Road Trippin’, Day 4 – SF and Petaluma

A little late, but Day 4 consisted of a few more hours of just Ed + Carrie time in San Francisco before we headed back to Petaluma. Of course, we had to get an amazing breakfast, and we sure found it at Town’s End! Ed had a fantastic eggs benedict, and I tried my 1st Swedish Oatmeal Pancake with pears + almonds. The pancake was ok, but it was nothing stacked up against the cobb scramble I had on the side. Just like it sounds — it had avocado, green onions, tomatoes, and applewood smoked turkey. So yum.

After checking out of our hotel, we made one last stop at the Ferry Building. I geeked out over all the adorable deliciousness at Miette, and picked up some caramels and cookies to thank my sis-in-law for watching Ruby! Oh man, that Lavender shortbread…

We took our time and took in a little more of that awesome city. I think I love it more each time I visit. One day, if only we could live in one of those unmistakable SF apartments with the big windows that seem to hang out over the sidewalks …

Once we headed back to Petaluma, Shannon and Mani had the great idea of taking us to the Lagunitas Brewing Company. Ed was so happy! It was a great afternoon in the sun with our family!

Petaluma is such a great little town and we had a blast with Mani and Shannon! Can’t wait for more good times with them soon!

Shannon took some really great pics while we were away:

Two Year Photo Shoot

Right before Christmas, we were so lucky to have the opportunity to do a photo shoot with the VERY talented Michelle of Monarch Lane Photography. Michelle suggested we head up to Pacific Palisades to take some pics of Ruby, and what a magical spot it turned out to be! We’re so in love with these photos. Please enjoy and look at more in our photo album (It’s so hard to pick favorites!).

Thank you SO much, Michelle for capturing such gorgeous shots of our two year old!

Apple Pickin’

We headed up to Oak Glen in Yucaipa on Sunday to do a little apple picking. There are many farms to choose from along the scenic loop to pick your own apples. We stopped at Riley’s and picked some of our own.

After picking apples at Riley’s, we headed over to Oak Tree Village to have some lunch. They had a petting zoo and pony rides, too … but we decided to splurge on a piece of apple pie a la mode instead! It was enormous – it took all three of us to finish it!

We loved all the Braeburns, McIntosh, Rome + Red Delicious apples we picked!
We’ll be back, Oak Glen.