Chocolate is for Lovers and Rainy Days

This spring has been exceptionally wet. But we are making the most of it with lots of indoor activities and also a bountiful first harvest from our little front yard veggie garden.

Last weekend Gregg and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary with a cooking class date at Kitchen on Fire cooking school. We learned the art of chocolate making with French Chef Gaby, who was equal parts hilarious and knowledgeable. We can't recommend this class enough, but beware, we did discover the limits of chocolate consumption, as our stomachs didn't much appreciate our extreme chocolatiering adventures.

Scroll down to see what was on the menu and other highlights from our weekend.

Ganache Tart

Ganache Tart Slice

Chocolate Mousse

Bacon infused Chocolate Truffles

Making Assorted Truffles

Tasting the Chocolate Lava Cake

Lava Cakes

Chocolate Pot de Creme

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Puddle Time!

Rainy Day Parade

Saturday Carrot Cake Just Because.

Behold! Those are candied carrot slivers.

We have a whole bunch of love for this guy.

(Greens from our garden)

We ordered 1500 lady bugs to hang out with our gnome in the garden.

Andy says hi!

Thrills Big and Small

I have a confession to make: I'm not the thrill seeker I once was. That doesn't mean life is slowing down, au contraire! My life is a non-stop marathon of kids, work, kids, work, clean up, rinse and repeat. What I'm referring to is that sense of death defying adventure that gives me the courage to willingly propel myself  into the air at speeds of nearly 70 miles per hour while rotating counterclockwise all to experience the feeling of weightlessness at 147 feet above the earth for about 3 minutes (AKA the Wonder Women Ride at Six Flags Great Adventure Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo).

Fortunately, there's something for everyone at our local North Bay amusement park as we joined Grandma Joelle in celebrating her birthday this past Sunday.

Here are some highlights  from our little adventure:

Julian in front of the Wonder Woman ride (that's as far as we got)

Pint size fun with Dad at the little kid's park

Do you see the resemblance?

Pop Pop shared his funnel cake!

Andy was very engaged at the dolphin show

Julian and Grandma enjoyed the show too (Julian was ready for a nap).

The Butterfly lepidopterarium was my favorite (after the dolphin show)

Julian can fly airplanes just like Grandpa Jim

We all enjoyed the view, but Pop Pop was brave enough to ride the Superman coaster. Thanks for taking one for the team Marc!

Julian went on his first roller coaster. They let him off after one full loop, after he decided it was too fast and scary. We are so proud of him!

Spring has Sprung

Each season brings its gifts and challenges-- winters are dark and cold but we celebrate our favorite holidays and take our family vacation in January; summers are hot and dry, but they are also hot and dry; fall is fire season but also Andy's birthday; and spring is, well perfect, at least until allergy season hits full force in May.

The past two weeks we've enjoyed that famous Bay Area weather we always like to brag about to our folks out of state. And after an exceptionally wet winter, our city is bursting with life. Gregg and Julian made  two raised beds full of veggies and companion plants in the front yard, plus we planted sun flowers from seeds and a bunch of herbs for cooking. Aside from one sad basil plant, we've had lots of success and Julian even got to eat some Kale fresh from the ground today...and liked it! A small miracle considering he won't touch leafy greens on his dinner plate.

Blowing kissing to the garden gnome

I was one lucky mamma who got to go on two hikes back to back with her kiddos. Once around Lake Anza with just Jules and Andy in the ergo, and then the next days we hiked in Wildcat Canyon with the whole fam and our friend Kenneth and his pup Tallulah. Along the trail that takes you to the old Sanitarium, w finally got our first family photo with Andy, which took a lot of patience on Kenneth's part in order to get at least ONE child to look in the right direction.

Wildcat Canyon

Searching for the forest spirits along Lake Anza, Tilden Park

To culminate our celebration for new life, we had our first Easter egg hunt in the garden and also made the most colorful dyed Easter eggs. 

Applied color theory

Andy's first Easter with Grandma

Family Egg Hunt 2019

Debut Family Blog Post

Welcome friends and family. This is Jessica reporting live on a simple static web page to share our family happenings in a way that is meaningful and intimate with the people we care about.

Gregg will also be contributing to this blog, and as our family grows we may move on to more complex and robust blogging platforms but for now, it's better to start small and grow slow.

Today is Sunday, April 14th and our family (that's Gregg, Julian, Andy and myself) drove up to Sonoma to celebrate Great Grandpa Archie, Grandma Joelle, Aunt Cori and Gregg's collective birthdays. Pop Pop Marc was there, and so was Marge and Uncle Ray.

We ate at The Palms (the company was better than the meal) and then drove up to Glen Ellen to see Great Grandpa Archie and Marge's property's lastest transformation since the October '17 fires. A beautiful blue 'Cape Cod' rests where Marge's house once stood, with just a few short weeks before her family moves in. Glen Ellen is so beautiful and this time of year the wild flowers are in full display.

Gregg captured a very precious moment with Julian and Archie and documented a few especially striking flowers while we toured the site.

Commenters are welcomed to name those wildflowers.

Happy spring dear fam!

Love,

Jess