Tag Archives: parade

Real Life:: Dottie’s Yankee Doodle Weekend!

Real Life, Real Life : Dottie, ,

Oh lawdy, I’m tired!  But I had the best three day weekend for the Fourth. We decided to forgo travel this weekend and hunker down on the island. I LOVE a good family car trip or plane trip or (squee!) a train trip. But sometimes it’s nice to just hang out in your old stomping grounds and pump a little special into the mix.

Like making blueberry pancakes Saturday morning! I don’t know if it gets more special than that! CHOW has a wonderfully easy recipe that I have a feeling will work its way into my cooking repertoire very soon.

We also went on a “hike”  on Montclair Trail, which is perfect for the kiddos. Not too crowded and a beautiful easy shady walk. I can’t wait to go again. Brave Daddy heading the trail with Miss Peach picking up pieces of sloughed eucalyptus bark.

And we also snuck a little tag sale action into the mix. Our gal, glamorous authoress Lynn Peril (of Think Pink, College Girls and her latest book, Swimming in the Steno Pool) had a little tag sale which was choc-a-block with wonderfulness. She even had an original RECORD from the cast of ZOOM! But the best part was seeing Lynn and fellow Dame, Karen Finlay’s fabulous hats.

Why, yes that is faux netting made of straw and yes, that is a little lobster caught in the straw “net’ on Lynn’s hat. I know. Trust me, I know.

I also stopped by another tag sale a block away and scored some AMAZING finds. Like this terrific vintage floral suitcase and two darling floral vintage dresses which have both been added to the summer UFO project list because they just need minor little changes before they are fabulous. Oh, but they will be fabulous. Don’t doubt it for a moment, friends!

Sunday was rather hot for the Bay Area! So a morning bike ride to the beach was in order.  Me with my hat and the Peach with her toys. Sadly the tide was really out but the Peach had a blast chasing tiny tiny fishies in the tide pools.

And when the sun got too strong for our fair Peach, we hustled her into the little Crab Cove Nature Conservatory which was full of sweet facts and cool things to look at—like aquariums and a neato info about sharks and whales. I loved how they tried to create the feeling that you were in the bottom of the ocean by painting the walls and hanging things like this boat from the ceiling.

 

And there was also a bit of QT spent playing in that summer suburban classic—the sprinklers.

But the best was the local Fourth of July parade on Monday. What a hoot! And such great local flavor.

The Peach wore a little vintage red, white and blue number to cheer on everyone in the parade, which is always best watched from Daddy’s arms.

My favorite part was watching the oldest baton troupe in the U.S., The Pearlettes. I would have loved to be one, but I’d be too afraid of it hitting me in the head.

The weekend was a blast. We also went to BBQs, the local pool and I did bits of sewing and other little things. And danced to silly songs and marched around the backyard. And reading many many many books to the Peach.

Yup. The best part of the weekend was just being able to spend time with my sweetie and my favorite little Peach.

How was your Fourth of July weekend?

 

 

Real Life :: California Kiddo’s Fresno 4th of July

Real Life, Real Life : Alix, , , ,

San Francisco has crazy weather. It’ll be hot and sunny three days in a row and then on the fourth the wind is so cold you’re wearing a wool scarf. In July. I’m not kidding. So when the Fourth of July rolls around we high tail it outta here and head down south to visit some of our very best friends, Dan & Lisa, who live in Fresno. Now you may be thinking, “Wow, Fresno….pretty posh Alix!” but lemme tell ya, WE LOVE IT THERE! Besides getting to spend quality time relaxin’ with special friends, they live in a terrific neighborhood on this awesome cul de sac. It reminds me of that famous Bill Owens’ photo from his amazing 70s SUBURBIA book. Where this woman is leading a parade down her block, waving a big American flag. Our Fresno getaway is on a very retro cool block. Our friend’s have a pool and we swim and BBQ and just totally relax. (Lisa and I always manage to sneak away for some fun girlie time…either a pedicure or some high quality movie viewing involving something classy like, you know, vampires) One of my favorite parts is how the whole neighborhood gets involved on the Fourth of July—there is a kid’s parade, bouncey house, and of course fireworks and sparklers at night. Here are some pictures of our crazy fun weekend:

We forgot about the bike parade and had to do some quickie SUPER DOWN AND DIRTY homemade decorations for Wolfie’s bike.

I feel like I should make a joke about my hubbie’s bangin’ booty. Pop pop pop!

Oh my god it was over 100 degrees and I looked like a HOT MESS (literally)  the entire day. This is a testament to how I luv ya—I’m showing you me in all my beet-faced glory. Hewww….of course Wolfie looks rosey cheeked and cute. Damn kids.

Of course there’s always a cakewalk. Greg and Lisa both won on their first try.

The liddle kiddle parade is my fave though….it’s super cute and the kids really get into it. Our friend Flo is down there on the right pushing her lil man Alastair. She made homemade ice cream sammies with home made peach ice cream and they were DEEEEEE-lishus!!

Aw yeah! The pink Malibu Barbie car was back! Whooo hoo! This little girl is there every year. She almost ran me down, but she’s so fab I forgave her.

Our neighborhood doesn’t really have sidewalks, so we’ve been slow on the bike riding dealie with Wolfie. He finally got a little cruiser with training wheels and he was totally into it! The training wheels have that wibble wobble thing where the bike suddenly leans to one side, making Wolfie shriek (in a manly way) and totally reminded me of being a kid….remember how the training wheels would bobble and you thought for SURE you were gonna wipe out?

So that’s part of our weekend! I’ll spare you photos of us looking awesomely sweaty (but then jumping in the pool a zillion times to cool off). We came back to San Francisco and, as predicted, there was a chill in the air. Oh well, it was nice to get a lil taste of summer—even if it was just for a weekend.

What did you guys do? Did you stay close to home or did you go someplace fun?? Hope you all had a fun time too! (PS UPDATE: Greg is leaving for work and WEARING A SWEATER. I’m seriously contemplating tights with my dress. IT’S JULY SAN FRANCISCO!!! *sigh* Always the rebel….)