DeLanceys Go to Rock City - April 28, 2013

If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE rock climbing.  So, when Lance mentioned that we should take the kids to Rock City on Mount Diablo to do some rock scrambling and verrrrrry light bouldering, I was all in.  

I've been to Mount Diablo (Boy Scout Rocks, Butt Rock area) for top roping a couple of times back in the summer and fall with my friends Laura and Lydia, but Mount Diablo State Park also has some sandstone rock formations, including some cool wind caves, in Rock City that are easy enough to scramble up without any equipment. I wouldn't really classify it as bouldering (although there are some places were it would be), but it was fun for us as a family.

Logan did really well climbing!
What he lacks in skill, he makes
up with his fearless attitude!

Both RJ and Logan enjoyed
themselves.  I love this picture -
Logan was so excited when he got
to the top of his first little climb that
he gave me a huge bear hug at the top!

Logan and RJ inside a cave, as viewed from atop another
rock formation.

RJ, Logan, and I lounging inside
one of the many wind caves.

Me, on top of that rock formation

RJ and I on top the rock formation.
I went up alone first, then realized
that it was plenty easy for RJ to try.

I'm not sure what we're doing here,
but I SWEAR we are NOT reenacting
Glee's 'Don't Stop Believing' routine.

When RJ got up with no problem, I convinced Lance and
Logan to come up too.  Lance was a ball of nerves with the
kids up there the ENTIRE time, even though they were
not even close to the edge.
He's cute when he's worried about us though. 

RJ is actually getting REALLY good at
climbing.  He practices on the plastic wall
at our playground all the time, and while
the playground is easy, and this climb was
also pretty easy, he is CLEARLY ready
for more challenging routes.  I think it might
be time to purchase a harness and shoes
for him.  He told us several times how much
fun this outing was AND he was super
excited when I told him that he might be
ready to start coming on day trips with me.
If it's okay with Laura, of course.

Boys in a Cave.  RJ's grown quite a bit since the last time he
was in a Rock City Cave.
We brought him here when he was about 8 months old!
It would've been funny if he was in the same cave, but alas,
it is a different cave.  

See, different cave.  

The boys and I also managed to climb up to this connected wind cave, because
the boys were interested in the fact that people defaced the cave with paint and
carvings inside and wanted a closer look (and it was an excuse to climb something else).
Some of it is beautiful, but still really bad because it increases the already fast rate of the sandstone's erosion. 

More pictures from Rock City are here.

DeLanceys Do Sonoma/Logan Breaks His Arm

We've been in California for 6 years and had yet to get ourselves to Sonoma Wine Country.  When we heard that our friends Otte and Eva were going to be there for a wedding, we took the opportunity to try and see them, as well as go to a winery or two.

Otte was free for a little bit, so we met up with him for lunch and walking around downtown Healdsburg.  It was great getting to see him, though we were bummed that we were missing Eva, who was busy with wedding preparations with the bridal party.  The kids loved Otte (because who wouldn't!), and we had a great day so far.

When Otte had to leave, we decided to find a winery.  We decided to try out Bella Vineyards, because they had wine caves, which we thought might be cool for the kids to see (rather than just a regular tasting room).  The winery was beautiful, and they actually had a neat tasting setup where there were food pairings as well.  Some were outside and some were inside.  After hitting the outside stations and letting the kids run around on the grass and play with the provided hula hoops, when we sat on comfy chairs, we headed into the wine caves.  We got our first tastes (maybe our 3rd wine, total) inside and sat down at a table inside the cave.

And that is when Logan got fidgety and as we were telling him to sit on his bottom, instead of kneeling backwards on the chair, he tipped it and landed on the concrete on his arms.  Luckily, he didn't hit his head at all, but he was NOT calming down, which is very unlike Logan, who is normally our tough kid, who calms down quickly.  He was even reacting worse than RJ, who is known for histrionics over the slightest injury sometimes, so we knew something was wrong.  And he wouldn't let go of his left arm.

So yeah, we drove him to a hospital.

Thank goodness for PBS Kids on the TV in the ER rooms!
Great Distraction.

We probably could have taken him to a closer hospital, as I'm sure there are hospitals in Sonoma, but we made the decision to take him to Children's Hospital in Oakland, because we knew that was a good hospital and would handle his case well given that they specialize in pediatrics and he was still only 2.5.  And upon getting him in the car, he was reasonably calm, although obviously still hurting a lot (I seem to remember giving him Advil to help with that - I figured that by the time we got there and got seen and they figured out what was wrong that it would be out of his system anyway).

Broken Elbow

We got to the hospital and they took x-rays.  The first person said it wasn't broken, just very swollen and sprained badly.  Then the second person came in and said that there was a small fracture, but that it was of a type that usually healed very quickly and sometimes didn't even need a cast (but given his age, it made sense to put a cast on and prevent further injury.  It was non-displaced, so they were going to be able to wrap it quickly with him awake (as opposed to needing to sedate him and set it with surgery).  So the orthopedic resident wrapped him up in a cast and we were sent on our merry way home.

Luckily, Logan is pretty resilient and was his happy self again the next day.  And less than 48 hours after the incident, had managed to tackle RJ to the ground one armed.














More pictures of our Adventures in Sonoma/Oakland Children's Hospital are here.

Cheryl & Lance Drink Wine: The Livermore Wine Festival 2012

Lance and I like to drink wine.  We like to go and taste different wines because it's yummy (and doesn't make Lance sick like beer and mixed drinks) and usually leads to some pretty interesting conversations with people.  

In the barrel room - where we
managed to snag a free barrel
tasting (they were charging extra
for that) because I think we
looked confused to whether
we should do it or not.  The guy
at the door took us over to one
of the pouring stations like we
were old friends and we got
 hooked up!

It was my job this year to plan something for us to do for our anniversary.  So when I learned that the Livermore Harvest Wine Festival was over Labor Day weekend, and that our friends could watch our kids during it, I decided that we would just celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary a couple of weeks late.  

Livermore is about 20 minutes away from Tracy, where we live and it's home to about 50 different wineries. It's not nearly as large as Napa or Sonoma, but 50 wineries is a lot to taste our way through without having to drive an hour and a half to get to the more well known areas - and the wines are good, so I don't feel that we're suffering on quality by not making the trek North.

The Harvest Wine Festival is a two-day event, where tickets include tasting at about 40 participating wineries, access to the shuttle bus taking you to the wineries, commemorative glasses, and discounts, etc.  Some of the smaller wineries actually bring their tastings to booths set up at the larger wineries, so if you hit the larger wineries, you can taste from many wineries selections. The larger wineries also hosted more food options from local restaurants, as well as craft booths (Lance bought me a wine glass holder necklace from one!), and live music.  

Yeah, I was tipsy

It was a nice relaxing event for us and while we were planning on splurging and taking a cab all the way home (with plans to retrieve the car the next day), the cabs were so busy with the event that by the time one came for us, Lance was actually sober, so we just had the cab take us from the winery to our car (we had missed the final shuttle, opting to stay longer at the winery rather than take the shuttle and take the cab from the parking lot) to head back to Tracy.  I, being a complete lightweight, was still a bit tipsy when we arrived at our friend's bbq, where our children were busy playing with their friends.

The second day of the Wine Festival is typically a little calmer, they don't run the shuttles, and some of the

Dancing!

 smaller wineries pour at their own facilities. Since tickets were good for both days, we thought we might find a winery in the program that would be okay to take the kids to.  Fenestra Winery fit the bill with live music and a lawn, and also happened to offer a port (which I LOVE) for tasting.  This was also tons of fun because the live band was incredible, playing lots of Classic Rock, with a hilarious drummer. The kids enjoyed dancing around and were good for us, making it a nice afternoon.

 

Listening to the band

Logan rolling to the music

RJ snuggling Daddy

Cheryl Climbs Diablo - August 5, 2012

bye bye old climbing shoes

Thank goodness for my friend Laura!  I didn't have to wait long before climbing again, which was good, because I didn't want to wait another 6 years since I needed to buy new shoes (my rubber had split) and a new harness (since mine was "expired").

Although I was worried at first because I was excited to get started and got there a bit early.

It was really peaceful being there so early though.  The fog was just starting to lift and the air was fresh, and I didn't have to worry about any children getting stung by yellow jackets.  And Mount Diablo is closer to my house at just over an hour away (you can actually see the summit of Mount Diablo from our neighborhood and we've been there a few times, both with RJ as a baby and hiking alone).  

Lydia borrowed sunscreen and
found herself a little white.

The next day I made sure to get
RJ on the wall at the playground

Laura and Lydia got there and we found the climb we wanted on Boy Scout Rocks.  We were fortunate to have a friendly group next to us, who consisted of a couple taking their 11 year old nephew (and his mom/their sister/in-law) climbing outdoors for the first time.   We even swapped ropes a few times after checking each other's set ups.  It was a really cool experience getting to see a kid out there, because I got a glimpse of what I could have with RJ and Logan if they get interested in climbing too.  SO COOL!!








We focused mostly on a bitch of a crack climb, which was challenging, but good.  I didn't look quite so graceful this time out!

I think the photo credit goes to Laura, because Lydia
was belaying.

Lydia looks MUCH more
graceful in the crack.

Lydia's view from above

Can't wait to go again!

More pictures here.

DeLancey's Go to the Sunol Wildflower Festival

When I noticed that Lance had put the Sunol Wildflower Festival on our calendar as a possible weekend activity, I was at first skeptical.  Wildflowers are pretty, sure, but as a family activity?  Would the boys really be happy looking at a bunch of wildflowers.  A quick look at their website showed me that guided hikes (some specifically for children) were available, which could potentially be a lot of fun, so we decided to check it out.

We took too long at lunch on the way there and missed both of the hikes I had selected as good for the kids, but we continued on anyway since we could always hike ourselves if we wanted (we had been to the Sunol Regional wilderness before after all).

It was a pleasant surprise, but the festival activities were SO good (and SO free) that we never even got on a trail.

Each kid got a "passport" that they would get stamped when they finished an activity and when they collected 8 (out of 12) stamps, they could claim their prize (a button with a wildflower depicted).  The activities kicked ass.

They learned about animals living in the watershed and each got to color a wooden animal (RJ picked a steelhead trout and Logan picked a salamander).  They learned about bees and other insects (and collected a plastic bee and plastic moth as swag) and made coffee filter butterflies.

RJ got his face painted (a bee) and both boys got temporary tattoos (RJ got a bee and I think Logan's is a dolphin or something).



Then, the sweetest thing happened...RJ and I were walking around the bee house building tent and one of the boy scouts running the activity (the smallest one I might add - they were probably 8-12 year olds if I were to guess) approached RJ and asked him if he wanted his help in building a bee house to take home.  This boy was a natural teacher - he gathered up the materials and led RJ through making his bee house.  He didn't do it for him, and he didn't just tell him what to do - he brilliantly did the activity WITH RJ, letting RJ do what he could on his own, and helping him when he needed it.  I made sure to tell this child that he was a really good teacher and that we really appreciated his help.  And now we have a bee house to hang outside.


RJ also learned about the parts of a flower at another tent, drew flowers at another, made paper out of cotton and wildflowers, and swindled me into making him an elderwood flute while he stole the awls and dug in the mud with them.  That flute is a pain in the ass to make.  My only complain about the whole festival was that to hollow out the stick sufficiently takes a LONG time.  RJ lost interest way before we had even hollowed out all the way through and it still needs "about an hour or so more hollowing" to make any sounds.  It would've been better if they had pre-drilled some of the sticks (we were doing it with hand files and screwdrivers), so that we could've left with a working instrument - but still, it's pretty cool they were doing this activity at all since I'm pretty sure this was the first time RJ held a hand saw and he managed not to saw anyone's fingers off.

While RJ was busy at the flute station, Logan found the "mud cup" station (yep - chocolate pudding + cookie crumbs + gummy worms) and spent the rest of the day with chocolate all over his face.  RJ and I got some too when we were done, but this was clearly the highlight for Logan, who, at 2 wasn't super engaged in many of the activities, which were understandably geared toward older kids.  He spent a lot of time running around in the field and relaxing with Lance by the band (yes, they had live music there too!).


We were so impressed with the incredible activities for kids, especially considering that they were all free and there was no admission other than the park's normal $5 parking fee!  We did make a small donation because it was such a quality event.

Sheep to Shawl - March 31, 2012

I'm sure I've mentioned here before that we are CSA members at a local(ish) farm; Live Earth Farm.  We get a weekly veggie box and know exactly where our organic veggies are from.  Another perk of our CSA membership is that there are fun community events at the farm, like when we went tomato picking in August.  But not all the events are related to food!  The Sheep to Shawl event was an educational event that not only showed the process that wool goes through, starting with shearing the sheep and ending with knitting, crocheting, weaving, and felting, but also let kids and adults participate in a lot of the steps (but not the actual shearing - that was left to the professional).

We arrived just as the first sheep was getting sheared, so we watched for a while.  It was a little rougher than I had imagined with the shearer pretty much tackling the sheep to get them clipped.  Some poor sheep even had big purple antiseptic spots where they had clearly been nicked with the clippers.  Ouch!








We were also able to pet the sheep in their pen, which the kids loved!  RJ especially loved the lambs that were running around with the big sheep (the lambs got to keep their wool though!).  Unfortunately he kept scaring them trying to pet them.  And they kept hiding behind the big sheep, which frustrated RJ and Logan.

The shorn wool was left around in a pile for exploration and relaxation.

The wool was also used in the processing stations.  RJ and Logan skipped the washing station where fresh wool was handwashed and dried but were interested in other aspects of processing.



RJ was more interested in carding the wool, where he had to pick knots and missed debris out of the wool and then brush it between what I can only describe as two wire cat fur brushes.  This made it nice and fluffy and separated the fibers. His friend Maddie also enjoyed carding as you'll see in the video below!

Then we were off to the dyeing station, where he took his newly carded wool, soaked it in vinegar, put it in a bag with food coloring, then microwaved it.  He repeated this entire process until he had one of each color (red, yellow, blue, green).

RJ was also fascinated by the woman making yarn at a spinning wheel.

We (really me) also made a wool ball using felting techniques.  I made the ball from wool, RJ added the orange wool, and then sprayed it with soap solution.  Then, I was charged with the task of gently petting the soapy wool ball until it was felted. It takes 3-4 hours, but I had to finish it later because my hands were freezing from being wet and soapy in the cold rainy weather.  (The event was held in the open air barn.)




Logan enjoyed seeing the sheep, particularly once he knew the name of the last sheep to be shorn: Tinkerbell.  He kept saying, "Tinkerbell get haircut!".  However, he was much more interested in the mud puddles from the rain and the big farm dog than the wool processing activities.  He was super happy when Ashley lent him Maddie's old boots that were in their car and could splash around in the big puddles (Yes, we're idiots and didn't bring the kids boots even though it was pretty evident that it was going to be a muddy rainy day - doh!) .

And finally, both RJ and Maddie learned how to finger knit at the knitting station.

Both kids also enjoyed talking to the sheep in the truck, as you'll see in the video below.

More pictures from Sheep to Shawl are here.

DeLanceys Go Hiking at the Lafayette Reservoir - February 4, 2012

I had been itching to go do something outside, so when we got a nice weekend, we decided to give the 2.75 mile loop around the Lafayette Reservoir a try.  We haven't been there before and the path was listed on some website as being a kid-friendly hike.  So off we went.

Of course, the trip may have been ill-fated since Logan coughed and ended up spewing his juice that morning, but since he didn't appear sick, we tried to go anyway.  So of course he got carsick 20 minutes away from the place.  I need to point out here that we're not crappy parents who take our kids out when they're ill.  He was otherwise absolutely fine.  No fever, no general malaise, just random puke that was likely caused by him coughing the wrong way after drinking a lot of juice before eating his food the first time and then being carsick the second time.  This is actually something that is more likely when his teeth are pushing through and well, those two year old molars are a bitch.  We cleaned him off and pushed onward.

And we did have fun.  RJ was a little whiny, but once we started playing I spy with the nature, he was all about it.

And Logan enjoyed himself too.  Having no more puking incidents the rest of the day.

The length of the hike was good for the kids, although they both spent some time in the ergo (yes, even RJ - I put him in there thinking he would hate it, but that backfired for about a quarter mile).  I would've preferred a non-paved path to make it feel more like hiking in the woods, but at least we got out and got active.  The real bonus was that there was a playground at the end (or the beginning depending on which way you take the loop from the parking lot - we knew ahead of time where it was, so we opted for it being the reward).  The kids were tired when we got to the playground, but still ran around and had fun for a little bit.  However, when we suggested walking to the car, they staged this little peaceful protest, sitting perfectly next to the adorable "stroller parking" label.

More pictures here.