A Fresh, New Look! And oh yeah, we moved...again.

Despite our record, we Holstens do not move for sport. But we did move again. We have left our beautiful apartment in the Napa countryside for a farmhouse further into the Napa countryside.

Complete with a horse, cow and some chickens. We weren't looking to move again, but a series of circumstances sort of fell into place and here we are. Well, not here. This is Isabella's farm house, and she won't let anyone move in unless you look like a chicken. Or moo like a cow. This is the real farmhouse. It's over 100 years old and sits on a 26 acre family ranch. There are vineyards, oak trees, animals, pastures and coyotes that howl at night.

It's charming. Even on a cloudy day. I have known this house since we moved to Napa a little over 2 years ago. A friend of ours, Suzanne, had moved to Napa around the same time we did and she was renting it. I was insanely jealous that she had found this house, since at the time, we were living in a one bedroom apartment (which ironically was about 3x's smaller than our apartment we had moved from in NYC). Suzanne knew I loved her little place and its accompanying space. Oddly enough, it was Suzanne who had learned about the country apartment being available to rent and we (ok, I) jumped at the chance to have something similar to what she did. 6 months after we moved into the apartment, circumstances changed for Suzanne and she ended up vacating the little farmhouse. The landlords (whom we had met several times before) were looking for tenants. I started daydreaming. I tortured myself over it because we had it pretty good already. But how could we pass this up?

And by that I mean, how could we pass this up?

Ironically (again) around the same time circumstances were also changing for our landlord and his family and there was a possibility that we were going to have to vacate the country apartment anyway. Because there was no guarantee of how long we could stay there, we decided to take the opportunity to move into the farmhouse since it wouldn't likely come around again. In short, after only 6 months in the country apartment, we moved. In moving, we inherited Suzanne's four chickens. Isabella loves them. She wants to move in with them.The Chicken Whisperer.I have to say how pleasantly surprised I am at Isabella's comfort level with all creatures great (goats) and small (chickens). Me? I love the chickens. Seriously, they make me happy. I LOVE having fresh eggs. I have no problem cleaning out their coop, feeding them, collecting their eggs, hanging out with them in their pasture. Just don't ask me to pick them up and put them in their coop at night. (That job was quickly relegated to Mark). At night they become The Feathered Beasts that peck your eyes out and claw you to death. Nope. Not for me.
We also inherited several rose bushes, which I also love. Fresh flowers in the house! Isabella is terrifed of the thorns. I guess she'll stick to animals.

I will post more pictures soon, including some of the inside of the house. Hopefully we will be staying put for a while now.

The Girl and Her Bucket

Isabella's in a collecting phase. Go for walk. Must have bucket. Her favorite collection item: black walnut shells.

No matter the temperature outside, she must collect--the hotter the better.

The loot.

She inspects her treasure carefully.

Then she's off to collect more.

This year's harvest.

Our landlord has been gracious enough to invite us to pick as many grapes as we want from his vines. This is great news for Isabella, who collects then pops them in her mouth--seeds and all.

Our little viticulturist tending to her vines.

Why I even thought to buy white pants... The girl is all dirt, all the time.

Chasing her blue ball (when she's not collecting)

Off for more adventure!

Warm Springs, Cold Beach, Renee Flemming--End of Summer Adventures

Summer for us this year was slow, lazy and low key. Loved it. Isabella started to walk, went in a real pool, and hung out in the fog at the beach. Here's a recap of our last weeks of summer.

Morton's Warm Springs. Natural springs fill the pools at 90 some-odd degrees. The pools are then cooled to 80 some-odd degrees and people come to swim. They say that because the pools are fed by natural springs that waters have healing powers. We didn't have any ailments that needed curing the day we went, but it was Isabella's first time in a big pool and she seemed to really enjoy it.






The pools.
The swimmer.
After only a few minutes, she stopped clinging to me and started kicking her legs. She liked being twirled around in the water.
Little fish in a big pond.

Getting slathered in sunblock.
Another summer highlight: Seeing Jane Beal. She made a quick trip to San Fran. so I met her and her family at Golden Gate Park for a few hours. Jane Beal: elementary and high school friend. Former roommate--she lived with us during our senior year of high school.

Dillon Beach!
The Wentzel Family was kind enough to invite us to join them at their swanky beach house (rental) at Dillon Beach. There were 7 kids, 8 adults, and lots of deer and quail.

We spent our 3 days there going on hikes,

playing with puzzles,

making silly faces,

flying kites,

playing in the sand,

and meeting surfers.

My favorite thing about this trip, aside from being with fun friends and eating Allison's Devil's Food Banana Cake, was that Isabella started walking! Prior to our trip she'd only taken a few steps at a time. Maybe it was the influence of being around the other kids, but she took off! She cruised around that house like she owned it. It was awesome. Here are the three girls, Chole, Daisha and Isabella, coincidentally all dressed in green and pink.

Renee Flemming (as in The Soprano, Renee Flemming)

My dear friend Suzanne invited me to go with her to Calistoga to see Renee Flemming preform at a beautiful venue called The Castle. (An actual castle built by a winery owner--he apparently imported all the stone from Italy).
The concert was held in one of the courtyards. The weather was PERFECT. Renee Flemming was amazing. We school teachers sat there with the elite of the Napa Valley, enjoying the performance. Suzaane pointed out many of the winery owners in attendance. (Secretly, I was amused at their bad fashion. Big glasses, Big purses.) It was a lovely night.

Teacher by day...or is he?

"Mark is a high school special ed. teacher."
This is my quick response when someone asks me what he does. I asked Mark to take pictures of his work life on one of the last days of summer school, so I could expand upon my response, because there is so much more to tell. On this particular day, however, he was on safari--in Santa Rosa (about an hour from Napa).
Two of Mark's co-workers (Christy and Greg) and one of his students, Tyler. The job is hard, but does have some perks, i.e. safaris.
The program Mark works for is a day treatment program designed for teens who aren't in a regular classroom setting. Mark's position is purely instructional--he teaches, then the kids receive other services, such as counseling.
The school day is a little bit shorter, but Mark has to teach multiple subjects. On Fridays, the kids, depending on their week, get to participate in off campus activities, such as going on a safari.

Mario. One of Mark's students.

Although he'll never admit it, this little, er, big bird will tell you that Mark is well loved in this program. It's not always easy building relationships with his students, but he pushes them and has high expectations for them.