Morning Walk

Kirk, Leah and I just went on a morning walk around Kirk's Mom's neighborhood. We walked about a mile to Starbucks and had some coffee and I had breakfast. Starbucks has this new option of some healthy breakfast choices. I had oatmeal with dried fruit and nuts. I was also able to add a protein option. This is a nice option with me needing a good balance of nutrients as a nursing mom. It was delicious and I felt good about having it instead of a danish. I feel vibrant with a walk and a decent breakfast.

We took Leah in the Baby Bjorn and she did so well. She sat foward on the way over there and enjoyed the scenery. She sat facing in on the way home and fell asleep snuggled to Daddy.

Kirk's Birthday

Yesterday, September 21st, was my sweet's birtday. He's 29! We had a picnic at a gorgeous winery, Lambert Bridge, in the Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma County. This is where the best Zinfandel grapes are grown in the country. Zin is my favorite grape for wine. The wine is incredible and there are so many wonderful boutique wineries around that really take the wine to the top level. It is really fun to learn more about wine, I add a little factoid everytime I visit.

Then we took our two nieces, Kaitlyn and Genevieve,and our two nephews, Ryan and Justin to the bookstore. This is a Christmas tradition Kirk started when Kaitlyn and Ryan were tiny. He would take them for an afternoon, buy them lunch and a bookstore giftcard. They would pick out books to read and have to figure out the math in order to not go over the giftcard amount. Kirk is so good at working in a lesson amidst some fun. Since we are not going to be here for Christmas, we did it now because Kirk enjoys it so much and it was what he wanted to do for his birthday. It was fun and I picked out some classics for Leah, she also got a giftcard even though she was at home napping with Grandma Linda.

Then Kirk's mom Linda treated us to a wonderful birthday dinner amongst the whole family of sixteen members of Kirk's family. All together a great day. Happy Birthday my love!

Picking Grapes

Kirk's stepdad, Ray Carlson, owns a vineyard where various varietals of grapes are grown. Chardonnay, Cabernet, Pinot Noir and Zinfandel are the main ones. They just so happened to be picking on Friday so we went out to see how it is done. They still pick by hand at this vineyard, but it is set up to be machine picked if so needed in the future. It was so cool to see the huge crates of grapes being weighed and loaded on the flatbed truck. Each crate weighed approximately 1,000 pounds. I tasted the grapes and wine grapes are tasty. They reminded me of gooseberries.

They have a cooperative relationship set up to get the grapes to be made into wine. Ray provides the land for the grapes to be grown, John Balletto provides the farming labor and know how and they have an agreement from DeLoach Winery to buy the grapes for wine each fall. I learned a lot.

Vacation

We are on day two of our vacation in Santa Rosa, California. Santa Rosa is in the middle of the best part of our country...Wine Country in Sonoma. We are a couple of hours north of San Francisco. It is fantastic and it is Kirk's hometown. He says it's hard to be from here since everything pales in comparison. It is wonderful, I agree. Are you jealous yet?

It's great to see all of Kirk's family and catch up with the kids who are growing like weeds. Leah did pretty well on the plane over, she did a few squeals but didn't full on rage or anything. Yesterday we went to our nephew Justins testing for his Tae Kwon Do camo belt. He did awesome and we are so proud of him. Congratulations on earning your camo belt, Justin!! We love you!!

Garage Sale

Kirk and I have been planning a garage sale for years now. It started when we moved in together and started getting rid of duplicates and old stuff we didn't need anymore. We aren't the neatest couple around so keeping order, organization and minimalist habits are important to us. We aren't there yet, but we are getting closer. Getting rid of all the junk in the garage and doing another comb over of the house will, hopefully, lighten our load and help us to enjoy life more. We have realized how important it is to not put all importance in things and more on family and good times. We made some great progress this weekend. If all goes well, we will have the garage sale this coming weekend. Wish us luck!!

My Beautiful Leah

My dearest friend in the whole wide world is Dr. Monica A. Montoya. She is a naturapathic physician, currently working and residing at Chiva Som Health Resort in Hua Hin, Thailand. She has fantastic taste in music and has taught me a lot about musicians I never would have discovered on my own. One such is, PJ Harvey, an avant garde rock musician with music that is weird, deep, addicting and beautiful. Coincidentally, she has a song called "My Beautiful Leah". Most of the words don't really make a good match with my daughter, but the name of the song sure does. Please enjoy. The video is two minutes long.
"My Beautiful Leah"

Did you see her walking ?
Did she come around here, sir ?
Black hair, brown eyes
My beautiful leah

She was always so needing
Said "I have no-one"
Even as I held her
She went out looking for someone
Looking for someone

She only had nightmares
And her sadness never lifted
And slowly over the years
Her lovely face twisted

Did she come around here, Sir?
I swear you would remember
Black hair, brown eyes
Late september
October, November, December

It never leaves my mind
The last words she said
If I don't find it this time
Then I'm better off dead