Big L Little L

We are still working on our list of must-sees that are right here in our area, and long on my places I have wanted to visit was the quaint little town of Los Olivos, about 40 miles southwest of us in Santa Barbara county, and the neighboring town of Ballard.  So on a Sunday afternoon we took a drive, and found a little something for everyone in this little town of 1000 that has cuteness in every corner.  And what I love about it, is that it is all real.  It is authentic cute, not fake facade cute.  Take for instance, this one room red school house in Ballard that has been in service since 1882, and still holds classes.

Just down the road from Ballard is a miniature horse ranch, where they breed and train miniature horses and allow the public to visit. 

We drove past several vineyards and lavender fields on the way to another miniature ranch, this one for donkeys.  This is a private home of a woman that breeds and rescues miniature donkeys, and invites people to visit, brush the donkeys, lead them around, and even ride if they aren’t too big. 

I had no idea donkeys could be so cute, but this little guy who was only four days old and was as soft as a baby kitten was so sweet and cute, I was tempted to sneak him into the back of the car.  He nuzzled up to Liam as he pet him, and when it was time to go, he followed him out of the pen nibbling and pulling on the back of his shorts. 

The rest of our afternoon was spent walking around the town of Los Olivos which is one wine tasting room after another, interspersed with cafes and shops, followed by dinner at Full of Life Flatbread in Los Alamos.   Their flatbread pizzas are made right there and shipped all around the country, but on the weekends they open for lunch and dinner.  All of the food and wine is local, and the sources are listed on the menu, right down to the amazing roast squid from Santa Barbara which was in a dish with beans from Arroyo Grande.  We sat outside at a table in their vegetable garden and had a memorable meal in the quiet little town of Los Alamos.  We will be making the drive again…in fact, I just let out as gasp (literally, Tim came running to see what was wrong) when I pulled up the menu and saw what we missed this last weekend for their family style Sunday dinner…oven fired lamb rack with smoked baby eggplants and fava beans and for desert, Roasted Black Mission Figs with Honey Ice Cream and Mint.  It is hard not to get just a little bit excited about food like that.  

Wow, our summer has gone by so quickly.  For the last week before the boys go back to school, we’ve been trying to get out and do some fun things off our check list.  We have spent a few days at the beach playing in the sand and water, lots of play dates, and they both picked a trip to the Avila Barn when I suggested it.  We have visited many times, but have never picked in the orchards ourselves.  Right now the galas and empires are ripening.  We were excited to run into two of Liam’s classmates, Gina and Michaela, so we spent the afternoon together picking apples, feeding the animals, and eating ice cream.

Ten days after returning from Montana, unpacking and doing laundry, we loaded up the suitcases again and headed this time to Minnesota for a great big Seidel / Mechelke celebration.  Tim’s grandparents celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary, and all their kids, grandkids, and great grandkids were there from the Pacific Coast, the East Coast, and in between.  The weather was gorgeous, there were kids of every age to play with, and the water in Washburn Lake is a lot warmer than the Pacific, so we all had a fun and relaxing vacation.  It was wonderful to see all of the family.  Liam and his cousin Gabby, who lives in Connecticut, are such great buddies.  Hopefully we can get them together again soon.

Grandma Pat and G.P.are just amazing…so energetic and no one dares tell them to take it easy.  When the ice has barely melted off the lake, Grandma Pat is out there swimming every day.  Maybe that is part of her secret to looking so fabulous.

(It is really bothering me to post pictures out of order but I’m still sifting through Minnesota pics, so just this one time, I will post out of order).

It has been a cold, cold summer here on the central coast.  I really hate to complain, but if that is the only bad thing I have to say about the weather, that’s not too bad.  I hear this summer was especially cold, so I don’t think it is normal.  Anyway, upon returning from a month of vacation between Montana and Minnesota, I was really itching to spend some time at the beach before summer was over.  Unfortunately the weather has not cooperated with my visions of summer.  But one evening when the fog bank did not start rolling in at 5 o’clock, I packed up our dinner in a picnic basket, put the boys in swim clothes (not to swim, but just to play in the sand) and we headed to our favorite beach, Avila.  We nearly had the place to ourselves and had no problem getting a picnic table on the beach where we could enjoy our pork sopes and a glass of wine, while the boys dug a big hole in the sand and tried to hide in it. 

Liam asked if he could take our picture…he did pretty great I think!  This was his first go with the non-Fischer Price camera and I didn’t crop a thing. 

On another completely unrelated topic, but because I am being lazy and throwing this picture into the same post, I had to share a picture of these lovely little baby zucchinis from the farmer’s market.  I couldn’t resist them with their beautiful little flowers (which were even prettier in the morning, right after they had been picked).  My first recipe with them was delish…risotto with zucchini and their flowers.  My second attempt was fried zucchini flowers, which I read are amazing.  Mine weren’t, but it was fun to try anyway.  Today I picked up cranberry beans, golden yellow raspberries, white peaches, strawberries, dry farmed watermelon (so sweet), tomatoes, eggplant, arugula, tomatillos, fennel, lemon cucumbers, green beans, and more baby zucchini.  I tend to overindulge at the farmers market, but I guess there are worse things to impulse buy.