(Editor's note: The below post contains an over-abundant amount of love for the state of California, but in the end the author does love her children and her husband more than the scent of bougainvillea and will try really hard to stop making her husband feel badly for forcing her to stay in D.C. where her potted plants are almost dead (ok, that's a stretch, they are alive and well after our time away thanks to the highly committed Team Burgess) and her children are covered in mosquito bites despite paying Mosquito Squad an insane amount of money for some alleged organic mosquito removal spray - there are no mosquitos in California).
Is there a more charming, calm, beautiful, scenic paradise in the world than Santa Barbara? The South of France may compete (and I do love Hawaii), but to me, nothing is more blissful than spending time in my most favorite town in the universe. The mountains, the beach, the flowers, the air!
It is where I would spend my days.... if it weren't for my FABULOUS husband and ADORING children who have pinned me to a life on the other coast! Ah yes, I am trying to become an East Coaster, who is truly a Midwesterner, who really wants to be a Californian.
And so, I was thrilled to receive an invitation from a favorite cousin who would be tying the knot in Southern California to lure us out for a wedding celebration and family vacation!
A relatively smooth trip out (DCA-Denver-Santa Barbara), we stepped off the plane into that warm California sunshine, our eyes darting to that fabulously hot pink bougainvillea (yes, I am obsessed with bougainvillea, and I highly doubt anyone else noticed but me), reminiscing about times as a little girl visiting my grandparents. Back then the airport didn't even have any doors, it was all open to the air. It still is the most beautiful airport I've ever been.
Thanks to the green slime eel, Sadie was entertained for a good 6 minutes with this game, her very own invention.
My goal in planning our trip was to do very little in the way of planning! I rented a "cottage" in Montecito (though nothing is much of a cottage in Montecito, home to Oprah's sprawling abode, Rob Lowe's amazing beachfront property featured in Architectural Digest, check it out). Thanks to homeaway.com I found a rental company that was fantastic, easy, honest, and summertime had just ended so rates were more affordable. I wanted to feel what it was like to live there, and that we did after about 1/2 a second!
The cottage was on a quiet little street in the Montecito Hills, complete with a water fountain out back for Luke to let his whales, dolphins and sharks swim(new OBSESSION, see ya later McQueen). Down the hills was my favorite California indulgence, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (chai tea lattes, my sister and I could live off). My first experience after a run on beautiful Butterfly Beach (home to the Santa Barabara Biltmore) at the CB&TL was an Andrew Firestone sighting! Yes, the Bachelor who was briefly married to Jen whats-her-face who now has two young children (Mae and Charlotte, yes I am still obsessed with names). Sheft. That's it. Sure enough, he works next door at the asset company where he advises Ty Warner, billion dollar beanie baby guy (seriously?) on his local endeavors and owner of a HUGE home (Ty, not Andrew) on Butterfly Beach he paid $55 million for, according to my googling. I ran by it every day and never got tired of the sight, though more so its views.
I digress. A quality I inherited from my father.
My Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf date, in her cute duds on loan from little Ella B.
Our days were never complete without a stop at Butterfly Beach. Luke loved to swim his blue whale and sharks in the pools Dan would dig up, and Sadie liked to wander freely (surprised?) on the beach.
A must-do in Santa Barbara is the amazing zoo, with a pit stop for breakfast at the East Beach Grille. The best part of East Beach Grille is the playground ON THE BEACH! As evidence in photo #2, Sadie is a pro at solo sliding!
A short hop over to the zoo. Small, hands-on, the right type of zoo for little people (as much as I love the National Zoo it is risky to promise any animal sightings except for the small mammals on crack in their little stinky house!).
Luke and I took little drive while Sadie was napping one afternoon to a sweet little beach town called Summerland. It is a place my friend Katy and I visited during our trip to California in college, and I've always been drawn to it. It did not disappoint my memory! Luke was kind enough to patiently wait (playing with the outdoor toys - yes, outdoor toys, have I mentioned I love California!) while I perused a darling little children's store, Amelia Jane, where I picked up a little picture frame for Sadie's bedroom (and eyed all of the adorable, soft clothing that I just couldn't pull the trigger on - I have a baby girl who loves to be MESSY!). Our next stop - Cafe Luna - a smoothie (pron: smoovie) for Luke and a coffee for me. I love our dates.
State Street in downtown Santa Barbara is fabulously filled with great little shops. We wandered around one day (I spent way to much time in Peanuts Children's store, is this what happens when you have a little girl, you prioritize children's stores with your very limited shopping time?!) Good thing one of my favorite boutiques is alive and well in Alexandria, Bishop Boutique, I made up for my lack of me shopping in California by finding an adorable pair of flats today. Digressing again, though this is, after all, my one creative outlet that doesn't involve potettes or puffs!
Back on track, so we braved the crowds on the Labor Day weekend and stopped in the Maritime Museum on the Wharf. What a spot! Sadie loved wandering through the tunnel to check out the lobsters swimming... she pet the starfish and even baby sharks! Luke kept out a watchful eye, enamored by his beloved Octonauts coming to life.
We are blessed to have amazing cousins who we love a whole lot, with California ties. Our cousin Amanda was to be married south of L.A., the impetus for our visit, so we got together with Maddie, Scott and Jan in Santa Barbara a few days before the wedding. Scott's mom and my mom are sisters, and Scott and my mom were very close. We love them so much.
First stop, McConnell's for ice cream, a favorite of Scott and Gramps during their time in Santa Barbara. Maddie is helping Sadie enjoy her treat!
Then off to magical Hendry's Beach, where we saw dolphins swimming (Luke thought he was in a cameo role on his favorite tv show, Octonauts!). We have fond memories of Hendry's Beach, it is one of my dad's favorites. We visited around 5:00, a little mist in the air, a fabulous mysterious California day, gorgeous mountains in the background, clouds hanging over the ocean, an incredibly lit sky. Reminded us of visiting Alissa and Matt in Oregon on Cannon Beach.
Come on, doesn't he look like he belongs on the west coast?!
A sweet hug for Miss Jan.
Running on the beach!
Luke checking out the dolphins and braving the big waves staring him down.
Beloved Maddie and Sades.
Beloved Scott and Sades.
California girl! She will be my ticket out west for college!
Looking for sand crabs, they were everywhere and the kids loved loved them.
The gang, with Dad behind the lens!
We had so many favorites during our time - Chase Palm Park is an awesome children's playground across the street from the main drag in downtown Santa Barbara, with a killer view of the ocean. Dan took the kids while I went for a run on the beach, and we played at the park for a long while (even in the rain). It has the best wide slide we've ever been, and we love park hopping and exploring!
One of my very favorite moments was our visit to Trocha Way, to the home my grandparents lived in since I was a baby, until 1989 when my Grandma passed away. My family would visit for a few weeks each year, so Santa Barbara is chalk full of nostalgia for us. My mom loved our visits, as did my dad, especially the company of my grandparents who were amazing people. My brother, sister and I were so fortunate to have the memories we do of visiting them, and that gives me great hope that my children will have those same memories of Wisconsin given our distance.
We walked just up the street to our favorite hide and seek ground as kids - Blueberry Hill.
Here is Luke hiding, Dan and Sadie found us moments later. We have yet to follow the quiet rules of hide and seek!
4971 Trocha Way.
Sadie and Daddy checking out the planes at Blueberry Hill. She loves pointing at airplanes in the sky.
Would you have imagined Dan and I could be close to wine country and not drag our obedient children winetasting? Heavens, no.
Our first stop took us to Solvang, the cute little danish town tucked into the Santa Ynez Mountains on the way to wine country. We stopped in a nice little shop owned by a lovely couple called Lucas & Lewellen (how could we not give a nod to our Lucas). Sadie wanted to rip all of the wine bottles off the rack, knock down glasses, she would have been in heaven had we let her out of the stroller. After 10 minutes of stuffing goldfish in her mouth, we were slamming our pours and on to the next.
Thought a quick stop at adorable Sunnyfields playground would help get the jitters out of these kids to ensure a more enjoyable wine tasting experience for mom and dad.
Don't let these cute little faces fool you - no such luck.
Check out this little buzzard at our first stop in the Lompoc area, Foley Vineyards. She was pulling out all the moves to infringe on our nice relaxing afternoon of wine tasting! Climbing on the ledge, dancing with her dress up, squeeling at airplanes. Fortunately, this wasn't our first rodeo. Dan would visit with the staff inside and bring me sips of wine while Luke "swam" his whale on the railing and I laughed at our little monster.
At the next stop, we got smart. IPADS. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the little munchkin to stop typing, so she kept shutting out Elmo and Nora Jones from singing about the letter Y.
Mr. IPAD himself, was in heaven, with repeat episodes of Doc McStuffins and a shark app.
Babcock Winery and Sanford were the last two stops on our wine tour. We joined the wine clubs, and highly recommend both if you come across in the wine shop. Sanford has always been one of our favorites as it was my mom's favorite (for the beautiful floral label on the bottle of course!), they recently renovated their space (interest took off after being one of the featured vineyards in Sideways, once again my mom was always ahead of her time, would you believe she also had Firestone Vineyards wine in our liquor cabinet - yes, related to the aformentioned Andrew Firestone, before he was ever the Bachelor!).
Sanford also lent itself to a little game of RUN RUN RUN (before we get back in the car and drive another hour, thank you for being good sports, no, let's put the ipad away, and RUN RUN RUN!).
Back to Montecito, I had been eying a spot on Coast Village Road that was always crazy busy for breakfast and decided we had to brave it one morning (aside from wine country, we managed to avoid all encounters with requiring children to be seated except for in car seats, as much as we love the Restaurant industry!). Jeannine's was a darling, chic but cool in that California way, breakfast spot. Our children were nightmares! Throwing food, demanding to be done, I think I wound up with chewed up bacon in my cage free, hormone free egg white asparagus and goat cheese scramble. We scarfed down our meal and regrouped with a nice stroll through a beautiful farmer's market (Fridays).
Another favorite, side note, Sakana Sushi Bar, in Montecito, we picked up take out at least twice with amazing GF options!
Wedding day! We hopped in the car and drove down the coast towards Palos Verdes Estates where Amanda and Joe were to be married.... what a gorgeous day for a wedding! Then again, as I reminded Dan a million times poor guy, every day is gorgeous in California.
A favorite stop was Manhattan Beach, home of a blogger who I love, Nursery Notations. I figure she must find inspiration in an amazing way from her surroundings as she is so talented. Decided this would be the one stop for us to make (aside of course from driving really slowly down PCH in hopes of catching Kate Hudson pull out of her mother's Malibu driveway).
Manhattan Beach - shops lined the street heading toward the water. This would never get old! I could be an amazingly successful designer and blogger too if I could wake up to this view every day! Okay, it might take a little more than being inspired by the view, but maybe possible?
Amanda and Joe! A sweet, beautiful couple married at a marvelous hideaway atop the world - La Venta Inn, in Palos Verdes Estates. We were so happy to celebrate their marriage, and spend time with family.
Poor Luke's shoes didn't fit when I tried to put them on his feet (in the parking lot) - I was panicked he'd be wearing his gross green crocs or try to pull off hippy barefooted Californian, but I ripped off his socks and smooshed his toes in barefoot. He was a trooper! Especially given that I had already forced a collared shirt on him. He doesn't do collared shirts.
The view - look closely, you can see downtown L.A.! (and maybe Jessica Alba playing with Honor and Haven at the park in Beverly Hills - or is that Jennifer Garner with Violet and Seraphina - somebody cut off my US Weekly subscription, what Blake and Ryan got married in Charleston?!).
Late night.... dress came off (maybe that was because she was splashing in the beautiful fountain, ack!)
His treat for the shoes ordeal - two wedding milkshakes!
Back to Santa Barbara for our last day of bliss... where else, Butterfly Beach!
xoxo to my mom & her peaceful spirit residing in beautiful Santa Barbara.... until we visit again!
No comments:
Post a Comment