If you didn’t know what I meant by n doing the “army crawl”, here it is.
Celebrating 33 @ the Happiest Place on Earth
D turned 33 on Sat. and we celebrated as a family by going to Disneyland. D got in free for his birthday, n and k are free b/c of their age, and I used my summer pass for the second time.
k is starting to get more used to Disneyland now since she knows what to expect. What she didn’t expect was for me to encourage D to take her on the Matterhorn for the first time.
This is her face at the end of the ride. She didn’t want to ride it again with me.
🙁 Maybe next time.
k’s favorite ride is It’s a Small World. She sings the song ALL of the time, including in the grocery store. 
n went on many of the rides with us, including the Jungle Cruise. Sadly, we lost this hat somewhere between here and the Tiki Room.
We caught Minnie on our way out.
At night we dropped off the kids with my dad, sis and BIL, and went out for a nice dinner at Tommy Bahama’s in Newport Beach. I picked the restaurant in part because they were participating in OC Restaurant Week. D had the prix fixe with coconut shrimp, black cod, and malted chocolate cake. I had the pulled pork sandwich, but of course, we ended up sharing everything. (It was kind of hard to go back and forth with those two dishes, though, since they were so different, taste-wise. The fish had really strong pickled asian vegetable flavors). 
I would’ve preferred to go for the prix fixe lunch (cheaper), but we were busy last weekend and this weekend, so dinner was the only option. The appetizer and dessert portions seemed pretty small, but the entree was a good size. Plus, we filled up on the warm sourdough rolls with cinnamon butter, so I ended up taking half of my sandwich and a lot of fries home.
Happy Birthday, D!
A Sacramento Wedding
We didn’t have much time to get ready, but we took a quick photo before we left.
The wedding was at St. John’s in downtown Sac. What a beautiful church.
D ended up having to take n out to the foyer during the ceremony.
The newlyweds!
We went back to D’s brother’s house to rest, and then it was off to the reception at Arden Hills.
k’s kid’s meal. Love the mini bottle of ketchup! We had beef and a chicken breast wrapped in puff pastry…very nice.
Our table consisted of Zach’s high school/college friends, but D didn’t really know any of them since D didn’t go to the same high school. D met Zach while playing tennis in high school, and I’ve always thought of him as one of D’s “quality” friends. The reception was full of toasts with people saying nice things about the couple, and with Zach, I found them all to be true. (I had never met the bride before, but I’m sure she’s just as wonderful). There was also a slideshow with the cutest baby photos. The whole thing made D and I reflect on how short life really is and how easy it is to get wrapped up in our own family and grow distant from old friends.
Sacramento Love
On Sat. the weather became dramatically cooler and there was even some rain. (That’s a good thing since we were expecting the temperature to be 100!) We drove from Napa to Sacramento in the morning. Our first stop was to visit D’s friend from high school, Blake, and his lovely family. (They have a girl and boy too.)
Check out their backyard! They have their own park!
You can’t see it in this picture, but there’s also a lot of grass, too.
After we met up w/D’s sister, mom, dad, brother, and his family at Buca di Beppo. Then we went back to D’s brother’s house, which he had put on the market just the day before! They had the house professionally staged, and it looked good. (I felt bad about messing it up!)
He’s 6 Months Old!
Taking a break from recounting our trip to wish a happy 6 month birthday to our little n.
I had my mom buy dessert at Zion so we could celebrate. Too bad n couldn’t have any.
n is over 18 pounds, and slowing down in his weight gain. That might be because he is already mobile! He can already do the army crawl, but he is still working on sitting. He’s still waking up at night, but has gone 5-6 hours on occasion. If he’s not tired or hungry, he’ll go to anyone. He’s our Mr. Smiley!
Bottega & BarBersQ
When we visit D’s parents or they come to visit us, where we are going to eat is always a big decision. The planning usually starts at least a few weeks before. We’ll suggest some places, D’s dad will make some suggestions, we’ll do some research, and come up with an itinerary.
For Friday lunch, D’s dad suggested Bottega. After watching Top Chef Masters, we were curious to see what Michael Chiarello could do. Even though he wasn’t the one actually preparing our food in the kitchen, of course, I was impressed. Loved the ambiance, (cute little covered outside lounge area) and the food was delicious!
I ordered the Ricotta Gnocchi, salsa di pomodoro della Nonna, pecorino. Little fluffy pillows that melt in your mouth. I haven’t eaten gnocchi many times, but this dish may spoil any future gnocchi I eat.
D and his dad ordered Fusilli Lucani with veal, pork & porcini mushroom Bolognese, Sweet 100 tomatoes, rosemary & parmigiano. k loved the fusilli, and ended up eating off of both of their plates. She also enjoyed the special lemonade flavored with strawberry puree and sparkling water that D ordered.
Bottega is part of a shopping area that seems to be owned by Chiarello, called NapaStyle. I didn’t really get it, but I saw his face everywhere in the store next to the restaurant.
k acting silly.
For dinner we went to BarBersQ, a place I had read about in Sunset magazine and Bon Appetit? It is located in a strip mall, but it was probably the chicest barbeque place I have ever been to. 
We ordered A Taste of the Q for 2 and Baby Back Ribs & Chicken combo, a side of corn bread and creamed corn. It was plenty of food for all of us. I didn’t take a picture because we dug in so fast (the service was on the slow side, but friendly). D inquired about the cooking technique and it turns out they use a dry rub AND a light sauce. He liked the ribs and brisket the best, but everything was good with the extra bottles of sauce on the table.
All in all they were two solid picks.
A Castle in Napa
We had breakfast at one of my favorite Napa stops, Bouchon Bakery. This time D opted for the cranberry orange muffin, while I shared the cream cheese danish with k. I also could not resist getting one of their famous macarons, which I ate later. I chose the espresso, and it was soft and crisp and chewy all at the same time…divine. 
After breakfast, both kids fell asleep on the way to our next stop.
Our destination? A castle! Or, more precisely, the Castella di Amorosa. It is a winery located in an amazing castle that opened not too long ago. D’s dad said it took them ten years to build, and looking around, you can see why. (I also read that this was the castle used in the movie “Bedtime Stories”). 
The Knights’ Room
The Dining Hall
Of course, this is a winery, so D and his dad did some wine tasting.
Some people at the bar joked that we should put some wine on n’s gums since he is teething, like they do in Italy.
k and I settled for breadsticks and “moat water” (aka Capri Sun grape drink). On the website, it says kids get grape juice. I was expecting some specialized juice, since it is a winery, after all. However, I guess the Capri Sun is more kid-friendly in terms of packaging. k was kind of too young to be into the whole castle thing, and the tours are limited to kids over 5. It was fun looking around, though, and if you are looking for an interesting winery in Napa, (even if you’re not into wine) this is it.
Eating Our Way Through Oxbow Market
D’s friend invited us to his wedding in Sacramento, so we decided to make it a 4 day vacation. On Thursday we left for Napa to visit D’s parents. k and n did OK during the 7.5 hour car trip. I would give k an “A” and n a “B”. (Of course, n receives special consideration since he isn’t even 6 months, plus he is teething!) For our late lunch we ate steaks prepared by D’s parents. For dinner, we went to the Oxbow Public Market. We’ve been wanting to eat at Taylor’s Automatic Refresher ever since D’s parents moved to Napa, and now there is a location at Oxbow!
The place is casual and you order at the counter. We all ordered hamburgers and split sweet potato fries and garlic fries. k really enjoyed the sweet potato fries, along with the ranch dipping sauce (no surprise there!) The garlic fries were a bit much, however, since they are tossed in butter. This gave them a weird too-hard texture, although I liked how they were not shy with the garlic. 
The one thing that really hits you in the face at Oxbow is how eco-friendly everyone tries to be and how much they want you to know it. At Taylor’s their plastic cups are made entirely of plants!
Their meat is from Niman Ranch. D did some internet research and found out that their cows “don’t consume human fecal matter”. Makes you wonder what all the other cows we eat consume.
Of course, we had to partake in some dessert. Since we couldn’t choose between cupcakes and ice cream, we had both! First we stopped Kara’s Cupcakes, which we had boxed up for later at home. D’s dad chose vanilla coconut, D’s mom chose passion fruit, and I chose Chocolate Velvet, so k could have a bite. D originally wanted vanilla chocolate, but I convinced him to go with the more adventurous Fleur De Sel (w/caramel filling!) 
Such a cute place, and the cupcakes were $3.25; expensive, but still cheaper than Sprinkles.
Next we went to Three Twins Ice Cream. 
D, k and I shared a single in a waffle cup. You get to choose two flavors. D wanted to “go healthy” after all of our overindulgence so we had lemon sorbet (the healthy choice) along with lemon cookie ice cream (the not so healthy choice). The two lemon flavors contrasted nicely, tart and creamy. D’s dad had mocha and cardamom. I had a taste of the cardamom, and liked it a lot. If I didn’t have to share with D and k, I would probably get that one since its different. (When D and I were dating I used to balk at him choosing vanilla ice cream if we went to an ice cream parlor. I guess I still do that–see above re: vanilla chocolate cupcake).
It should be interesting to see how Oxbow does in the future. There were a lot more stores open than during our previous visit. It’s sad to see that Copia, which is next door, is shut down for now. Hopefully all of the Bay Area foodies (and tourists) can keep it going.
The Lims’ Labor Day
This morning we went to Corona Del Mar. The weather was beautiful; a nice day to walk around.
We got there around 9:30 and there was plenty of free parking on Ocean Blvd. (Otherwise you have to pay $10 at the lot). We spread out some towels and enjoyed the view. 
Then we walked down to the beach. D thought it was just as nice as Laguna. I love looking at all of the different houses.
Windows wide open!
Look closely…Go Bears!
For lunch we went to a real estate agent-sponsored pool party. Free First Class Pizza! Apparently, we have a “resident DJ” in the neighborhood.
Tonight we went to Chick-Fil-A with our Cal gear to get more free food. (Note that this was not difficult for D, as his weekend uniform is a Cal or IU t-shirt). Surprisingly, it was not busy at all! We met my sister and BIL who were wearing their UCLA t-shirts. D wanted to take a picture of them since this is a rare occurrence, but they declined. 
Gilmore Girls Overload
I just finished watching approx. 6 hours of Gilmore Girls with my sisters. D and my BIL are at the SD Chargers pre-season game, so I thought it would be fun to have some sister bonding time. I love that k really enjoys hanging out with her aunties.
I wish there was another “dramedy” to replace Gilmore Girls. Right now I’m just on a reality show kick–Project Runway/Top Chef. I’m also watching a lot of Anthony Bourdain, since we never had the Travel Channel at our old place.