Memorial Day

My husband and I are always on opposite schedules, when I'm working he's watching the kids and when he's working I'm watching the kids, so rare is the day that we BOTH have off.  Memorial Day was one of those days and we decided to make a nice full fun family day out of it.  I started the day with a quick run to start off with a nice little endorphin rush.  Then we drove up Highway 1 and went on a long hike in Davenport along a beautiful trail.  Then we drove up to Costanoa for a delicious brunch. Then we slowly made our back down Highway 1 and stopped at Swanton Farms to do some organic Strawberry picking.  It was the BEST day ever!!!  I cannot even tell you how nice it was to have a fun filled family day where I was totally removed from my home office and not worrying about everything on my to do list.

I did bring my camera but tried to limit my shooting.  I also brought a long fixed lens (my new 135mm f2 that was my treat from my book sales) to play around with.  I'm so used to my zoom lenses that it takes a great deal of concentration for me to adjust to prime lenses, especially such a "long" lens as the 135 when I am so used to being so "up close and personal" with my shooting style.  I do these little "training experiments" when I'm with the kids to play around with new techniques and equipment.  It provides me a with a "safe" and "stress free" venue to experiment and play around.  So, all of these were taken with the fixed 135mm.

First, the hike in Davenport.

I didn't bring the camera into Costanoa because I feel a little weird taking pictures with my big ole camera inside a nice restaurant.  Plus, I really wanted to just focus on EATING the incredibly delicious food there.  Yummmmmmmmm.

Next stop was the strawberry fields.  It was REALLY windy so Ellie got all Eskimo-like. :)

Ellie was hanging back with us and then decided to take off and catch up to her brother who was running ahead.  That girl is a future track star.  I remember her running the one mile loop with me at Henry Cowell when she was just 3 yrs old.  The whole mile, without stopping...  Gavin is so NOT athletic and after a few paces he will start huffing and puffing and when he does run it's so LABORIOUS (kinda like me when I'm running, an elephant running style) and even on the flat hike he kept complaining about his "legs being tired" blah blah blah.  The poor kid is just not into physical activity at all.  Ellie on the other hand is half gazelle.  She has the most beautiful stride and is wicked fast and can already outrun her brother who is two years older.  And she doesn't even breathe heavy!  It's just so EASY for her.  I'm totally jealous, I hate running and only do it to stay in shape, although I do love working out.  So, on this first shot she is taking off to catch up to Gavin who is running up ahead, on the next shot she has caught up to him in a matter of seconds.  I really hope she does something with this talent of hers because otherwise it's a total waste of a gazelle....

Having said that, Gavin can sit and draw for hours on end and Ellie has zero interest in artistic endeavors so each child has their own individual gifts.

Examining the loot.

It was hilarious watching them select their berries, it was kinda like they were picking grapes to be used in the finest wine!