Weekend Trip: Malibu

Lucas just celebrated the big 3-0, so we had to do something big. Even though I'm not quite back to work yet (1 month left in my mat leave!), I had a work conference in Anaheim, so it was the perfect excuse to spend Lucas's birthday weekend in LA. The conference wrapped up on Thursday afternoon, so Nico and Lucas flew down to meet me in LA.

We had dinner reservations at Felix, which I've been dying to try, but their flight was delayed into LAX and it felt too late to have Nico out, so we flexed and picked up Sugarfish to go instead. Maybe we were just hungry, but it was some of the best sushi I've ever had, so alls well that ends well. We'll have to try Felix next time we're in LA - such is life with a baby, I guess. :)

Lucas loves to surf, so I planned a chill surf weekend for him. We stayed at The Surfrider Malibu, which is a new hotel I discovered through Instagram and design blogs. It's so cute that I assumed it wouldn't be baby or kid friendly (ha) but when I called to inquire about it, they told me they loved babies and would put a rollaway crib in our room. It made things super easy.

On Friday morning, Lucas had an early surf session (dawn patrol, as we like to call it) and then I took a pilates class at this studio (side note: it was the hardest pilates class of my life!). We had a well deserved brunch at Ollo and then we hit the beach. We brought along Nico's trusty beach tent and he napped and lounged for most of the afternoon.

Friday night we went to the hotel's rooftop bar / restaurant for appetizers and drinks, and we had the best mezcal cocktails. We snuck away to the room to get Nico ready for bed, and once we got him down successfully, we popped back up to the roof and had dinner. We checked in on him every 30 minutes or so, but he was a total champion sleeper.

On Saturday, we basically repeated everything we did on Friday. Lucas went surfing at 6:00 AM, I took a SoulCycle class, and then we spent the day on the beach with Nico. The waves were particularly good on Saturday, and Lucas still talks about how it was one of the best surfing days he's ever had. I'm glad the surf gods were looking out for him on his 30th.

On Sunday, Lucas went surfing again bright and early, and then we headed to Venice for brunch and shopping before our flight. We grabbed Blue Bottle (you can take us out of SF but we will still drink SF coffee), had brunch at Great White, and introduced Nico to the world of Abbott Kinney shopping. We went to the airport extra early and flew home.

We always toy with the idea of moving to LA because we love the beach and the weather so much. It seems like such a fun place to raise a family. We already booked our next trip to The Surfrider in August. It's seriously such a family-friendly and beautiful hotel. Can't wait!

Day Trip: Bolinas, California

When the weekend weather approaches 70 degrees, we pack up our car and head up to Bolinas. It's a chill little beach town about an hour north of SF. Many folks day trip to Stinson Beach, but it's worth driving the 20 extra minutes to reach Bolinas, which is more low key and flies under the radar.

Nico wore his SPF suit for the first time, but we mostly kept him shaded under this tent. :) The waves are consistent but small in Bolinas, so this will probably be where Lucas teaches Nico to surf for the first time. Just the thought of it makes my heart swell.

We picked up Ike's sandwiches on the way out of SF. After eating lunch on the beach, the dudes spent hours surfing and we lounged in the sun with pups and babies.

We typically hit up Smiley's, a local dive bar, after beach days, but they don't allow pups or babes, so sadly those days are over for a while. We hopped across the street and hung out on the back patio at Coast Cafe, which was perfect for our little group. We didn't eat, but the fish & chips looked and smelled great.

We drove back to the city, and swung by Hook Fish Co. in the outer sunset for fish burritos and guacamole on the way home. Such a great day. See you soon, Bolinas. 

3 months old!

Nico turned 3 months old on Tuesday. I can't actually get a focused pic of him these days (even with our DSLR) because he's constantly kicking and squirming. He will only lay on my chest when he's really tired, which hurts my heart a little bit, but it's also pretty amazing to see him growing stronger and more alert by the day.

Month 3 brought lots of changes and growth for our little babe. He's now 12.5 pounds (give or take!) and still a long and lean little dude. We spent a weekend in Santa Cruz with our friends, and we were slightly worried it would throw off his stellar sleep patterns, but he crushed it with a 12 hour stretch. He's napping consistently in his crib (yay!) 2x / day and continues to sleep 10-12 hours straight at night. He's doing lots of social smiling and cooing, and his face completely lights up every time we pick him up from his bassinet or crib after a nap. Nico started swim lessons at 10 weeks at La Petite Baleen in Fort Mason, which is the cutest thing in the entire world. He just loves the water so much and looks around and smiles the entire time. We also just started a mommy and me class at DayOne Baby, and to be honest, I'd been really reluctant of joining mom groups, but a little extra support can't hurt, right?

Happy 3 months, buddy. Love you to the moon and back.

Weekend in Santa Cruz

One of the best parts about living in San Francisco is the close proximity to so many weekend destinations, like Tahoe, Napa, Sonoma, Carmel, and Santa Cruz. We spent the weekend at our friends' house in Santa Cruz, which is about 1.5 hours from SF. Their house is steps from Pleasure Point, which is Lucas's favorite surf spot, so we spent the weekend snuggling babies, drinking wine, and surfing (him, not me!).

Our friend, Derek, took his 4 year old out to ride the waves, and I could see how excited Lucas was about taking Nico out in a few years.

 

Some of our local favorite SC spots are:

• Verve - local coffee chain - Verve has recently expanded across California to San Francisco and LA, but the coffee shop originates in Santa Cruz. We always walk to the location on 41st Ave for coffee, kouign amanns, and the world's best avocado toast.
• Zameen - lunch and dinner spot - Zameen has great chicken and rice bowls and greek salads. 
• Penny Ice Creamery - local ice cream shop - Penny's has inventive flavors like salted butter toffee and cardamom pistachio.
• Patine - home boutique - an adorable home goods store with vintage French linens and antiques. You can also find their booth at the Alameda Flea Market every month.
• Sawyer Land + Sea Supply - local surf shop - Santa Cruz has no shortage of surf shops, but Sawyer is my favorite. It's a hipster shop with curated selection of clothes, books, and surf gear for surfers and non-surfers alike.

Berkeley / Greek Theatre Day

A few weekends ago, we spent the day in Berkeley with our friends and then saw the Alabama Shakes in concert at the Greek Theatre that night.

We grabbed lunch at this Brazilian cafe, which has tri-tip sandwiches, pork rice bowls, and mango smoothies. The weather was on point, so we followed that up with some day drinking at Jupiter, which is a local restaurant with a big outdoor patio.

The theatre sits on Berkeley's campus and is a 15 minute walk from the downtown. You can actually bring food inside, which is awesome. We picked up hot dogs (!) from a downtown spot and then followed the crowds to the theatre. The venue itself is really cool. It's a general admission amphitheater with standing room at the bottom, concrete seats in the middle, and then a big grassy lawn at the top. Something for everyone! We arrived pretty late, so we grabbed seats on the lawn (luckily we brought blankets). The pros were that the views of SF, the bay, and the campus were gorgeous (check out that sunset above). The major con was that the hill was really steep and we kept sort of sliding down. I think next time we'll try to arrive a bit earlier and snag some seats, but we'll definitely be back to this gem of a venue.