Our 1 Year Sacramentoversary

Yesterday one year ago was the start of a new chapter for our little family. We woke up in San Jose to walls and walls of boxes, got ourselves an early breakfast of donuts, and got to work helping the movers load up a truck. Box by box our whole life seemed to disappear into that moving van surprisingly quickly. Then we hopped in our cars (also loaded with boxes) and made the ninety minute trek to Sacramento, to a new home that feels as perfect for us today as it did one year ago, to a new chapter of Joe working from home instead of commuting, and to lots of unknowns. I remember feeling the normal moving stress, but also butterflies of excitement because it seemed like the best next step for our family.

Ez and Declan joined us in our new house exactly one year ago (after spending the night with my parents) and they immediately made the place their own, exploring every room, closet, and cupboard, tearing through bubble wrap and packing paper, and making their own cardboard box playhouses. We walked to the neighborhood park and let them wander through the backyard, and it's safe to say they were pretty happy with the new place.

Fast forward one year into living here and Sacramento has not disappointed one bit. It's been such a great fit for our family, with plenty of outdoor adventures waiting for us, lots of kid-friendly activities, amazing restaurants and farmers markets, and parks around every corner. It somehow strikes the perfect balance of being a city with a small town mentality. Clearly I can go on and on about all the reasons I love Sacramento, but, for your sake, I'll narrow it down to my top 5 favorites in a few categories 😉

Top 5 Restaurants

1. Coconut's Fish Cafe will always hold a special place for us, because not only is it delicious Hawaiian inspired food, but it's one of the first places we ate at here, and one we continue to go back to. 
2. Sai Varee has some of the best Thai food (we get the salmon fried rice every time) and we seem to find ourselves coming back here at least once a month. 
3. Bacon & Butter is tops for brunch, just ask the lines and lines of people waiting outside. Definitely get a bonut if it's on the menu (biscuit + donut) - seriously one of the best things I've ever tasted. 
4. Fox & Goose Pub is another one of the first places we ate at and continue to go back as often as possible. Any place with vegetarian chili automatically gets 5 stars from me. Also, the ollalaberry scone + Devonshire cream is amazing (and I'm not even a huge scone fan).
5. Baker's Donuts - it was really hard to narrow down just five places, and it's kinda weird to put a donut place on the list, BUT, Sacramento really loves donuts (they even have a donut festival) and I really love donuts, so onto the list it goes. (Fruity Pebbles is my must-have.) #basic

Top 5 Outdoor Spots 

1. Auburn is one of our favorite hiking spots, there are tons of trails, lots of trees (and shade!), and during the summer it's the perfect place to dip our toes in the river and cool off. 
2.  The Sacramento River was one our go to spots on the hottest summer days. It has some perfect shallow spots for wading, cooling off, splashing, and boat watching. 
3. Consumnes River Preserve is the perfect easy but still scenic nature walk, especially if you love birds. It's flat and easy for kids, but just don't go during summer when everything is dried out and most of the birds have moved on. 
4. Pena Adobe is new to us, but it's quickly become one of our top hiking spots. It's got cows, a tree swing, plenty of rocks to climb on, and a relatively easy (though hilly) path. 
5. UC Davis's Arboretum is mainly on this list because we once saw a river otter swimming around, and it was the cutest thing EVER, but also because we love wandering around and and all college campuses (Sac State included!). 

Top 5 Kid Activities 

1. Wacky Tacky is definitely top of the list if you ask Ez and Decky. This is an indoor playground that we visit once a week so the kids can run around for a few hours (yes, hours - they have boundless energy). This place has been a lifesaver on rainy days. 
2. Wading Pools - Sacramento (and Elk Grove) have SO MANY free wading pools just for younger kids. Last summer was definitely one of our best yet because we got to go swimming almost every day. Everywhere else we've lived the pools have either cost money and/or been super crowded because there were only a couple to choose from. 
3. Fairy Tale Town is one of those places that doesn't seem super impressive to me, but the kids go absolutely crazy there every single time and never want to leave. They also do a lot of fun holiday events (like trick or treating, or the Grinch + fake snow) so that wins them extra points from me. 
4. The Sacramento Zoo is not super huge, but they have giraffes and big cats, so that's good enough for us. Bonus points that we can see the giraffes from the street every time we drive by. 
5. The train museum is pretty amazing for kids, and even if you don't want to pay to go inside there are a bunch of old trains you can check out right by the river as well. 

Top 5 Holiday Events 

1. Old Town's Festival of Lights is a must see. Preferably several times throughout the Christmas season. We love the little bits of Sacramento history they work into the story, and, of course, the lights and fake snow. 
2. Bastaio Farms Goblin Gardens Pumpkin Patch. Halloween is the BEST time to live in a farming community, and this past fall we had our pick of corn mazes and pumpkin patches (we literally went at least twice a week all of October), but, our favorite was definitely Bastaio farms. The corn maze was the perfect size (big enough to get lost in, small enough to not take ALL DAY to get back out), the pumpkins were prime, and the giant tubs of corn kernels and mini tractors to ride were just icing on the cake. Ez still asks to go back weekly.
3. Fab 40s Christmas Lights - Ez and I have FINALLY found a town that matches our enthusiasm for Christmas. Yes, we've lived in other towns with neighborhoods that decorate, but, what sets Sacramento apart is the festivity of everyone wandering around looking at the lights. It's like an impromptu parade/party every night of December leading up to Christmas. Horse drawn carriages with lights on the horses, old vintage cars all decorated and driving up and down the streets, even Santa Clause riding a lit up bicycle. Not to mention the houses are gorgeous and so festive. Just writing this is making me miss Christmas all over again... 🎄
4. Noon Year's Eve at the Crocker Art Museum was the ideal new year's celebration for kids. It had all the classic New Year's Eve stuff: a ball drop, a countdown, dancing and a DJ, giant bubbles (if that's not part of your traditional New Year's Eve, then you're missing out), and, the best part? It's all takes place at noon. This past New Year's Eve was the first time we got to really celebrate the New Year with the kiddos, and we all had the most fun ever. 
5. Global Winter Wonderland was such a good way to extend the holidays a teensy bit for us. They had amazing light displays set up to look like various landmarks from different countries, some of which you could actually climb on or walk through. 

Top 5 Sacramento Memories 

1. Ez's first day at school is one of those milestones that snuck up on us all too quickly. Schools were one of the first things we looked at when we moved and after lots and lots of searching we finally found the perfect preschool for Ez, which he seems to love (most days). 
2. Mini kid-free staycations with Joe. As much as we love exploring with the kids, every now and then we love to drop them off with the grandparents and have a night to ourselves exploring the less kid-friendly aspects of Sacramento. Aka, drinking fancy lattes out of real mugs, eating at places that don't specialize in mac & cheese (HELLO sushi!), and wandering around without any real plans, just checking out new to us places and events like the governor's mansion, or the Sacramento Contemporary Dance Company. 
3. Garbage day!! It's basically a national holiday in our house, and this is our first place since the boys have gotten into garbage trucks where we actually put the trash cans out front (as opposed to the big communal trash bins). 
4. The hours and hours of backyard family time we've enjoyed. This is also the first really functional backyard we've ever had, and I don't know how we ever survived without one. From sprinklers and a wading pool during summer, digging in the dirt during spring, and splashing puddles during winter, we've already built so many great memories out there. 
5. Technically this would have probably happened anywhere we lived, but watching Ez and Declan's relationship grow this past year has been amazing. Maybe it's the space in this house for them to run laps, or the fact that we have five different parks within walking distance from us, but they love chasing each other, falling on the floor giggling hysterically for no reason at all, and sliding down the slide together, and wrestling...ok, usually only one of them likes that. 

Sick of hearing about my love of Sacramento yet? You guys have no idea how hard it was to narrow down our favorites to these few. And I didn't even mention the Capitol Building, or the Tower Bridge, or all the quirky little used book stores that have sparked a full on book collecting obsession in our house. One of our favorite parts of living here is that Sacramento does such a great job of fostering community, with tons of events and festivals all throughout the year, and we do our best to explore it all. If you're not completely sick of Sacramento yet, check out Lady Bird for a little glimpse into some of our favorite landmarks. Has anyone seen it already? How'd you like it? Also, what's your favorite thing about the town you live in? 

Family Goals: More Walks Together

Some of our family goals are already slipping a bit (spending less at Starbucks 👎), but others I think we're really kicking a$$ at. Family walks, for one thing. Truth be told, winter and fall are my favorite seasons for walks. There's beauty in every season, but something about bare branches against gray skies gets me every time. To steal a line from Anne Shirley:

That being said, it can be very easy to get into the habit of just staying in and snuggling on cold dreary days, (I know you East Coasters are laughing at me right now ❄❄❄) so we're trying to be deliberate about getting out as often as we can and exploring new places. 

One gem of a hike that we recently discovered has a lake, rolling hills, cows, (yes, COWS!), and, the icing on the cake, a swing on the most climbable tree at the top of the prettiest hill. We were all in love and will definitely be going back. Also, proud parent moment that both boys - well, technically all three boys - walked the whole three miles without having to be carried, or even whining too much about it. 

Have you and your family decided to focus on any health oriented goals this year? Less sugar is another one, for us. And getting in all our yearly checkups, which we're so good about with the kiddos, but tend to forget for ourselves. Cheers to a healthy year, my friends!

Date Night: Dancing & Dreaming

Last weekend we were able to drop the kiddos off with my family and have a night to ourselves. We didn't have any grand ideas about what to do with ourselves so we came up with a plan on the fly which involved good food (a must for any date night), dancing, Mario Kart, snuggling at home with a movie, and, my favorite part, dreaming about our family goals for this year. 

Funny story: one of our top goals is that we want to be more intentional with our family time and use electronics less. We actually got a white board just so we could write down our goals and have them visible daily. About twelve hours after we wrote that down, our internet went out. Just broke, out of the blue, for no apparent reason. Turns out one of the wires in a completely different room had come unplugged and we had no electronics for two days straight because we'd forgotten that cable even existed. Apparently that white board means business, once it's written down it is going to happen, one way, or another 😂 

Back to date night, we got lucky because Sacramento was doing a Dine Downtown event where you could order from a special three course menu at a bunch of restaurants in the city. We'd been wanting to eat along the river for awhile, so this was our perfect chance to try it out. As you can see below, everything was DELICIOUS. I highly recommend Rio City Cafe if you're in the area:

I got the endive salad and salmon over parmesan risotto, Joe got the clam chowder (so, SO good!) and chicken schnitzel. For dessert we split both of the options, but the creme brulee was the definite winner. And the view wasn't so bad either:

After dinner we got tickets to the Sacramento Contemporary Dance Theater's show benefiting Camp Grizzly, a camp for deaf children. Honestly, we had low expectations going in, since we hadn't heard much about it beforehand, but it completely blew us away. It was so, so good, and we were both completely immersed the whole time. Joe loved it so much he wanted to go home and watch a "dance/musical type movie" so we watched Chicago, an old favorite of mine. 

Date nights are kind scarce around here so we make sure to squeeze a lot into them - in case you hadn't noticed! What are some of your favorite date night activities?

Winter Wonderland

I feel like January is half motivation/organization/get sh*t done, and half missing Christmas. Anyone else? No? Maybe it's just Ez and I, but this holiday season flew by, and even Joe admitted he was sad when it was over. Decky, on the other hand, seemed a tad too excited to take down the tree, but he is our household Grinch after all. This year I'm thinking we begin Christmas on November 1st and get a full two months out of the season #2018goals 🎄

Thankfully, we were able to extend the season just a tiny bit by wandering through our very own Winter Wonderland, or as winter wonderland as you can expect in California. Cal Expo had a gorgeous winter festival set up with light displays, fake snow, and lots of kid activities, including a maze which I think confused Ez a bit because it was like Christmas and Halloween all mixed together. We loved it so much and would have gone again except that we didn't get around to visiting until their very last weekend.

A few other things we've been up to lately include a train show, which Ez couldn't stop talking about so we went two days in a row, visiting with my sister on her birthday, taking our very first trip to Costco in several years - which wasn't as scary as I thought it would be on a Sunday, a date night while the grandparents watched the kiddos, and surviving 4 days single parenting while Joe was out of town for work.

How's your 2018 shaping up, my friends? I've seen some of your snow photos and I'm half jealous, half thankful we get nothing more than fog because I don't have a clue how to drive in snow.

New Year's Eve

Too late to recap New Year's Eve? Thankfully prompt blog posts was NOT one of my resolutions this year 😋 You may have noticed that blogging frequency took a dip last year, and as much as I love preserving our family memories, I also want to find the balance of being present while making said memories. Balance is one of those tricky things that remains a constant work in progress and I may never master it, but, in the meantime, you can still expect to hear about our little family adventures, just maybe not in the most timely manner. Thank you for following along anyway!

This was our first New Year's in Sacramento, and we were excited to find out that the local art museum hosts a Noon Year's Eve celebration, complete with a countdown, a ball drop, a kid DJ, craft tables, and lots and lots of bubbles - all at the kid-friendly hour of noon. Pretty much all the New Year's necessities, and the kids were loving every minute of it. 

After a few hours of partying we headed to Trader Joe's, also known as, "the place with the little carts" for dinner supplies. Ez never fails to let us know, in a disappointed voice, if we're going shopping at the store without the little carts. So, despite the dangers to everyone's knee caps, letting him swerve push the cart through the aisles is a must. 

Between the party and the shopping both boys were completely worn out and we let them take nice long naps, partly so they could stay up for New Year's, but mostly so I could watch When Harry Met Sally in peace. It's one of my yearly movies and I couldn't head into 2018 without watching it at least once. 

I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

Hands down one of the best romantic comedies EVER. 

Then came the sad part of the night, taking down our tree. We tried to make it cheery by toasting the tree to a great Christmas beforehand, but Ez and I still miss our sparkly tree. It was even sadder seeing it sit in the street for nearly two weeks until they finally picked it up today. RIP christmas tree. You were good to us. 🌲

We all managed to make it to midnight, with a few minutes to spare, and watch the ball drop in Times Square followed by attacking each other with those party blower noisemaker things. 

On Monday we woke up bright and not so early to go hiking and enjoy our 60 degree weather. Sorry east coasters...

And so we ushered in 2018 in a nice, mellow, family-friendly way, which is my favorite kind of New Year's. Wishing you all the best this year!

Happy 2018!

The week between Christmas and New Year always shifts toward reflection and organization, and "oh my God, I ate way too many cookies." For some reason I got it in my head to organize ALL our videos into a "short" compilation highlight reel of our year. Naively I thought it would take maybe a day...annnnd here we are, one week later and I've managed to narrow it down to nine minutes. But the alternative was letting all those great little moments fade into forgotten Dropbox files sooo......time well spent?

2017 was a good one for our family. There were a few big changes (hello moving, potty training, and preschool) that came along with their share of growing pains, but there were no ER visits this year, and thanks to my newly lowered parental expectations, it was a good year. 😉

All joking aside, it really was a good year for us. This was Joe's first full year of working from home, which has been a huge blessing and allowed us to spend so much quality family time together. We're coming up on our one year Sacramento-versary and we're loving this town of ours more than ever. Unlike our last place, we've got a backyard now which makes me wonder how we ever survived before without one. Ez's first few months as a student brought on challenges we didn't see coming, and we'll be dealing with those more in 2018, but his growth this year has been astounding and I'm so, so proud of him.

We visited beaches, snowy mountains, Reno, Tahoe, and, of course, Disney. Four trips in the span of seven months, to be exact, including our first to D I S N E Y  W O R L D - don't worry, future posts are coming. We enjoyed lots of visits with family and friends and this year was the perfect balance of work and fun, growth and stability. If 2018 continues down the same path we'll be perfectly happy. 

Just for fun, here's a little comparison of Ez in January vs. December

and Declan, mean mugging as usual:

Wishing you all health, love, adventure, and laughter in our next trip around the sun.