On the farm

Jack is so lucky to have a daddy that has worked so many beautiful places that he can share with him. Even though the strawberry farm came and went long before Jack arrived on the scene, it was where daddy was working when mommy fell in love with him, so holds a special place in our hearts. I think Jack fell in love with strawberries this weekend.





He ate about a dozen berries before daddy could even take the basket back to the farm stand to be weighed. But how could you deny that happy face another berry?

We continued down the coast for the weekend, staying at Asilomar with our friends Rebeccah (Tuesday/Thursday Mom) and Justin. Jack has just learned how to say "Re" for Rebeccah, but when he says it he says it more like "wheeee!" which is pretty adorable. Rebeccah is the fourth person to get called by name by Jack, quite a high honor. We spent some time at the beach (and I failed to get any photos because on the day it was beautiful the sun was in the wrong place so I thought we'd come back the next morning but then of course it was foggy), reintroducing Jack to sand, persuading him that it really is ok for it to touch his feet. I apparently haven't let my child run around barefoot enough and now he is super weirded out by the feeling of anything other than hard wood floor or carpet. What kind of childhood is he having, that he doesn't know and cherish the feeling of sand or mud or soft grass between his toes? We're going to have to make some time this summer to undo whatever psychological damage I've done with all this shoe-wearing.

Jack also accompanied us wine-tasting, and behaved himself quite handsomely, better even than some of the other clientele I dare say. He had planes overhead to ogle and a fountain to stare mesmerizedly at, telling us wa-wa, wa-wa! Because we weren't reacting appropriately for how exciting it was, evidently, he had to keep pointing it out to us. It is fun once in a while to be able to do a grown-up thing with your toddler and not feel like everyone in the place hates you. Far from it, Jack was the highlight of everyone's visit. He poked his head over the railing from where we were sitting next to the stairs and would bat his eyes and smile at elderly women proceeding up slowly, several vineyards into their wine tours. They would stop in their tracks and just gaze at him until he got bored and went back to insisting we pay due reverence to the wa-wa, and then the women would continue on their way, lit up with a little smile that wasn't there before.

At seventeen and a half months, you are more of a heartbreaker than ever, Jack.