Sonoma 2017

The guest house we stayed at on our friend’s property. We took over a cabin close to the main house and it was oh so cute (and all four of us Natoris slept in the same bed for three nights!)

The pool. We spent HOURS upon HOURS in the pool. The kids had the best time playing and goofing off together.

And what is a country weekend without some playing time on the ATV? I must say that I kinda want one for NYC…..

Cheese o’clock, yes please.

Due to my marathon training, I spent every morning running along the vineyards. And there was no complaining (although one morning, I kept saying I had to go running, and Cruzzie said ‘you choose to go, you don’t have to go.” So true. I got to go running. And in a beautiful scenery. No complaints.)

This was the weekend the majority of the time.

One day, we went to a winery with the 8 kids. But of course, we got in trouble for having a dog off leash, kids playing soccer, and me breaking one of the pretty decorative balls by accident.  Whoops.

The winery was beautiful. Lots of lavender….

All the veggies for the meals came from the backyard. We would literally just go with a basket and pick what we wanted. I made a simple kale salad, that apparently people loved and requested the next day (who knew?)

Dinner made by Katie Daly — the cornbread was the most insanely delicious thing I have ever tasted, and don’t you worry, I will post on blog as soon as she sends me the recipe (she had her 3rd kid five weeks ago, so has kind of a lot to do….oh and she is also a big exec at Johnnie-O, so she is way busier than most.)

We ate smores every single night.

Of course the property has its own tennis court (it literally has everything you can think of, including 7 kid motorcycles, which yes, were taken out for spins). I used to be a good tennis player, stopped playing 18 years ago, and just started up again this summer.  It is paying off!

We went out to dinner on Saturday night to Glen Ellen Star, where we gorged on roasted vegetables and pizza. And yes, Ken and I matched with our yellow outfits!

The hostess with the mostess (and Ken).

We realized that the kids don’t see stars a whole lot because in NYC, there are never any out, and in Oregon in the summer, it doesn’t get dark till past 9:30 pm (which is way too late for them)…. So we woke them up to see the beautiful sky.

Morning hike with the girls. Lifelong friends.

A special shout out to Paul Benjamin, who gets the MVP for the second year in a row. Paul is like a rent-an-awesome-dad-for-the-weekend who literally would play with the kids in the pool for 3 hours while we just sat and watched him. He engaged in every single game, made sure no one drowned, helped every kid up and out whenever they needed, and was just the most positive and fun rent-a-dad out there. Thank you, Paul Benj!

Leaving California, of course we had to stop at the In N Out, because no trip to CA is complete without a ball of grease, salt and fat.

Buh-bye, California. We love you so much and can’t wait to come back.