San Juan Capistrano Hike and Strawberry Picking

With record rain in the winter and spring, everything near us was gorgeous and green for miles around. Wanting to see some wildflowers close to home, we hiked the Patriot Trail in San Juan Capistrano, which leads to a flagpole at the top and amazing views of the ocean.  We did the hike last year on Memorial Day, but it was so dry last year that everything was brown and we could barely see the ocean because it was so cloudy. This time, skies were blue, the wildflowers were blooming and the hills were unbelievably green and covered with wildflowers.

 

The rolling hills looked like a painting.

A few miles later, and some whining, we made it!

Signing the log book with our signatures at the top. There’s a little mailbox next to the flagpole to leave the book there for the next hikers to sign.

Hello ocean.

Meredith hiked the entire way there and hitched a ride on Jake’s back on the return trip, much to the annoyance of the jealous twins.

Taking the shortcut.

April is not complete without our traditional strawberry picking at Tanaka Farms.

Instead of picking in the fields, we tried the hydroponics instead. So big and juicy.

Eating our spoils.

The girls’ treat was a ginormous chocolate covered strawberry.

From strawberry picking, we went straight to duck feeding at the lake.

 

We love spring weekends!

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Strawberry Picking at Tanaka Farms

We’ve been alternating our spring berry picking between Tanaka Farms and South Coast Farms since the twins were 18 months old. This year, I took the girls on a weekday morning to Tanaka when it wasn’t too crowded. Nothing beats those fresh, huge, juicy strawberries!

Riding the wagon around the farm– not my favorite bumpy ride due to my huge belly!

The wagon stopped a few times and our guide brought over tons of fresh vegetables for everyone to try. The girls tried fresh onion, celery, kale, cilantro, carrots, and radishes– and actually ate them!

We were allowed to eat the berries as well as pick them and I thought the girls would be sick from all the strawberries they ate!

We had to keep an eye on Meredith who kept picking the little green baby strawberries.

Time to go home and devour the rest of our pickings!

Lots of love,

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Spring Strawberry Picking at South Coast Farms

Our experience the past month and a half of Open Houses and constant showings has taught us a lot about simplifying meal prep so that we can eat something healthy (or just anything edible, really) without spending a huge amount of time cleaning up, keeping the house in show-condition and getting out of the house quickly with the kids and dog in tow, sometimes for just a quick walk around the block, and others for three-hour chunks of time. We are beginning to become experts!

We are back in escrow again, and hopefully this buyer will work out, but if nothing else, one of the silver linings has been that we’ve had the opportunity to spend a huge amount of family time together the past month. Whereas normally we might have filled our weekends by dividing and conquering, splitting up the kids and doing errands, or working on projects at home, we’ve been forced to plan on being out of the house together. ALL. THE. TIME.

Sunday Open Houses have been the easiest, since Jake can take the twins to church, while I stay home with Meredith during her nap and clean the house/get everything ready. As soon as he gets home, we do a quick change out of church clothes, go out for a picnic and then fill the rest of the time with other activities, or in some cases, drive around, hoping the kids fall asleep for their nap!

One of our Open House outings entailed going strawberry picking at South Coast Farms in San Juan Capistrano. If all else fails, the girls can definitely fall back on a career in farm work as they loved being day laborers for the morning. Having worked on his brother-in-law’s farms in Washington every summer growing up as a teen, Jake had a lot to tell the girls about the farm equipment and crops, which was all fascinating to these city girls.

Meredith didn’t understand why she was picking her own lunch, instead of it being handed to her on a golden platter.

The girls have perfected the “twist and snap” method of strawberry picking and were very careful about only picking the brightest, juiciest ones.

Samantha inspects a strawberry with a small amount of green to decide whether or not it will make the cut.

Two years ago, we went strawberry picking with a bunch of friends at Tanaka and had a blast there as well. I remember thinking back then how grown up the girls seemed at the time, but looking back, I can’t believe how much of little babies they and all their friends were!

Samantha’s strawberry face!

Last year, we tried out South Coast Farms with the Smith Family. The girls look so little here too, and Meredith was just a tiny babe who spent the afternoon snoozing in the Ergo.

Back to 2017, the girls were great about helping Meredith find strawberries for her basket. She gave up on the whole thing after about five minutes and tried to escape through the rows of strawberries.

  

Farmer Samantha.

Farmer Amelia.

How do you work this thing?

After all that hard work in the sun, the girls were famished and wolfed down lunch at Ellie’s Table. Meredith stole my gluten-free quiche and savored every bite.

Since there were still potential buyers at our house, we made one more stop at Casper’s Wilderness Park. Meredith hung out at the playground and chased squirrels with her buddy, Bandit, while the twins splashed and threw rocks into the stream.  Another successful family outing!

Lots of love,

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Spring Strawberry Picking

Spring means strawberry picking! We’ve done Tanaka Farms in the past, but this year we decided to try out South Coast Farms along with the Smith family. It was crazy hot and windy in San Juan Capistrano, and we had four little red faces by the end of the afternoon– half from the sun and half from strawberries.

Jake stood back in the shade with Meredith in her wrap while I went out with Lucero, Ryan and the kids. Kennedy is always such a good friend to the twins and helped them find some of the juiciest strawberries out there.

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Amelia and her pickings.

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Samantha found a very small, green, unripe strawberry, which she picked and told me it was a “baby strawberry for baby Meredith.” She was very adamant about protecting her baby strawberry so that she could give it to Meredith later. Unfortunately, after filling her carton with her pickings, she tripped on the way back, with the strawberries flying everywhere. Many tears, scraped knees and wipes later, her main concern wasn’t refilling her carton, but finding the baby strawberry! Samantha is a sweetheart to her sister.

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Rosy cheeks!

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Watch out for Kennedy and her tractor.

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Backseat driver.

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I wonder what it will be like when the twins start learning to drive for real!

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Next door at the Ecology Center, we got some refreshing strawberry basil lemonades and the kids learned all about gardening.

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Watering the plants they arranged.

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We need a water pump like this in our house– seems like the perfect multi-purpose way to get some energy out.

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It was an incredibly hot and windy 86 degree day and I was paranoid about the less-than-cleanly environment (e.g. the porter potties were overflowing and there was no running water/soap for hand washing on site, unlike Tanaka Farms), so Meredith stayed safely in her stroller/wrap while we were out, while I guarded her from sun exposure, dirt-caked hands and prying well-wishers.

One thing we found so funny was the amount of people with babies, some as young as Meredith, in carriers, COMPLETELY exposed (no hat, blankie, cover) to the midday, sweltering sun. Compare them to me darting at lightning speed from tree to tree and constantly scanning the environment for the next shady location I could move with Meredith, and I probably looked like a basket case. I have a dermatologist friend, so maybe that’s made me paranoid! Either way, shade-finding was my major source of exercise that day.

The girls had a great time with the gardening and strawberry picking, but due to the fact that they had been running on only some snacks I brought, plus the lemonade and falafel for sale (they wouldn’t touch the other vegan options there), it was pretty much a scream fest all the way to the car when we were done. In the words of Jake, “This place is obviously run by hippies!” No complaints from Meredith though– she thought the whole experience and being out in the fresh air was great!

Granola baby!

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We had a babysitter arranged for the evening, but because we were too exhausted from sanitizing the twins/running around in the heat all day to go out for a proper date, we left the twins (who had collapsed upon arriving home and were still napping at 5 p.m. when we left) with the sitter and grabbed a quick bite to eat after grocery shopping with Meredith for our “date night.” Good thing being out with just Meredith is always a treat– she’s a star!

While out, the stars aligned when we spotted some rhubarb and knew we were destined to make rhubarb strawberry pie for dessert. It was gone before I could take any pictures.

Lots of love,

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