Tag: summer

  • Summer in Santa Barbara

    I wish we could spend the whole summer in Santa Barbara, but I really can’t complain about having a week there. While Kauai is our top vacation spot, it’s a little out of our reach right now. Three plane tickets are expensive, and Mr. Sandwich and I agree that Baguette is not yet ready for the flight experience.

    Fortunately, Santa Barbara is only about an hour and 15 minutes away by car (if traffic isn’t bad, which it often is). So for the last four summers, we’ve gone to Santa Barbara for our vacation. We prefer to rent a condo or other place to stay, and have had mixed success with that based on budget and timing (year 1–Motel 6; year 2–studio which I mistakenly thought had a kitchen; year 3–Homewood Suites in Oxnard, which was further away but a terrific place to stay; year 4–cottage behind the owner’s house, and dingdingding I think we have a winner).

    As on prior visits, we went to the Santa Barbara Zoo (three times), destroyed sandcastles and splashed at Leadbetter Beach (twice), visited the ducks and the elaborate playscape at Alice Keck Park and the adjacent Alameda Plaza, and drove out to Ballard to see Sicilian donkeys at Seein’ Spots Farm.

    Elephants

    DCIM113SPORT

    Ducks

    Playground1

    Playground2

    Donkey

    Because we had a kitchen, we ate breakfast in the cottage most days. While I like to go out to breakfast, I don’t like to have to go out to breakfast. We did get pancakes once at Garret’s Old Fashion, which is becoming a must-do on our Santa Barbara trips, but most mornings I was really happy with my toast and sunflower seed butter accompanied by yogurt and berries.

    We did tend to eat lunch and dinner out, although even then we brought home leftovers that covered a few more meals. The standout new-to-us place was Eureka! In addition to excellent burgers, they had an array of beers and whiskeys.

    By the way, in the past we’ve looked for bookstores in Santa Barbara. Apparently my previous Google searches failed miserably, because it turns out that there’s been an amazing one in our go-to neighborhood the whole time. It’s an independent store, and it’s got a children’s section that is large enough to be a separate children’s bookstore. So if you’re ever in Santa Barbara, stop by Chaucer’s Bookstore. You won’t be sorry.

    Chaucer's Bookstore in Santa Barbara

    And of course, we also paid a visit to McConnell’s.

    McConnels

    In the end, Baguette didn’t want to leave Santa Barbara–and, truth be told, neither did we.

  • Sand Pail List – What I Want To Do This Summer

    SandPailList

    Happy First Day of Summer, all!

    Last year I created my first Sand Pail List, and I think I can call it a rousing 50% success.

    This year’s list has some similar items, but with a few changes:

    Go to the park
    I’m pretty confident we’ll do this; we have a (mostly) weekly playdate with Bestie and her parents, and I’ve gotten into the habit of taking Baguette to the playground on our own as well. She loves the sand and the playscapes, but she also loves “running on the grass!”

    Go to the beach
    We want to go at least four times. That number is arbitrary, so maybe more. We all love the beach. To motivate us, I bought Mr. Sandwich this beach blanket made of nylon parachute silk.

    Go to the pool
    The public pool near our home re-opened last year, and we took Baguette several times toward the end of the summer. This year, we started going on Father’s Day, which fell on their opening weekend.

    Work on my photography skills
    Mr. Sandwich bought me a book that I really liked. He bought it for me probably a year and a half ago. I still need to put it into practice. Between an active subject (Baguette) and a sleepy subject (Wicket), I should be able to try a variety of approaches.

    Go to a summer concert

    I’m not sure Baguette is ready for this, and Sunday nights are not the easiest–but with a little planning, maybe we can get to one of the concerts at a park a few miles away.

    Get (a little bit) organized
    I want to clear off part of the living room bookcase for Baguette’s toys–which requires cleaning out part of the other bookcases and getting rid of a bunch of books. I don’t think it will be fun or easy, but it really should be satisfying.

    So what’s on your Sand Pail List?

    If you want to use the Sand Pail icon, feel free! You can find it on Flickr.