A Gigantically Enormous, Very Huge Day.

Saturday was HUGE! We did so much and had so much fun!!

Kael and I started the day off by visiting with one of my best friends, Renae. We went with her out to Moorpark to look at her wedding venue (she is getting married in June 2012). The place is called Walnut Grove and it is gorgeous! The ceremony takes place in the middle of a walnut grove and the reception is located near by. It was so cute and quaint. I loved every little bit of it. I can't wait to see her wedding there. It is going to be amazing.

After spending some much needed Renae time, Kael and I met Sterling to head up to Ventura to meet up with my brother, Collin. He lives in Santa Barbara and I feel like we never see him enough. We joined him for Indian food at the Taj Cafe. YUUUUMMMM!!! I feel like I can never quite eat enough when I go there. And for those of you who stick your nose up to Indian food because you 'don't like curry' you are seriously missing out. Many of the dishes don't have any curry in them at all. They use lots of fresh ingredients and the Taj Cafe offers many Vegan and Vegetarian versions of their dishes, something I think is so neat because the food still comes out incredibly tasty! Collin is a vegetarian so he greatly benefits from the Cafe's offerings, as does my tummy. We spent lunch talking and enjoying company. After lunch we walked around Main street for a minute or so before heading back to our cars and saying our goodbyes. I caught some pictures of my baby boy and my brother before Collin had to head back up to Santa Barbara.

After lunch, Sterling and I decided to take Kael out to the beach. For those of you who don't live in this area, Ventura is a little city located right on the water and where we had lunch was walking distance from the ocean. First, we took the stroller out and walked along the Ventura Pier. I LOVE the Ventura Pier. It is so raw. There are always men fishing off of it and occasionally, if you are lucky, you catch a glimpse of someone reeling in a shark or some other kind of large, unlucky scaly creature. I love to walk to the end and look down to watch the tide lick the beams holding the pier up. When the tide recedes, you can see barnacles, muscles, and starfish clinging to them. We walked a little way with the stroller and quickly decided to take Kael out so he could get a better view of the water. He loved it. That's my Boy! After the pier, we walked to the beach where Kael played with sand for the first time (last time we were at the beach Kael was 3 months old...he didn't really care about the sand) He had a blast!

Kael's first view of the water.

Touching the sand with his feet for the first time

After the beach, we headed home. On the way home, we decided to stop at a little farm stand and pick up strawberries. There is nothing like getting home from a day in the sun and filling yourself up with fresh, crisp strawberries! The farm stand we stopped at is one that we have stopped at many many times before. It is on the way home from Ventura and they always have a large selection of very fresh fruits and veggies. The farm also has a tiny group of farm animals that you can feed and pet. This is the very first time we have ever gone with Kael. Kael went straight over to the goats, who of course, walked right up to him expecting him to feed them. They have an alpaca and chickens and sheep as well, all of which were very gluttonous. At the time, Kael was nursing a very large strawberry, and the animals were going nuts for it. Such a tease hehehe....I snapped up some pictures of Kael at the farm on my phone so they aren't as good as the ones from the rest of the day, but you get the idea....

Goat Mooch!

Chicken Mooch!

When we got home from this very big day, we were all exhausted! But that didn't stop Kael from taking his first REAL steps and walking. All. By. Himself. Kael is now a walking boy! 13 months old and the day has finally come! I still can't believe it. Today, he has been practicing his new moves and falling down all over the place. It reminds me of the first time I went snowboarding (although, after a couple of hours of falling on my bum, I gave up. I had been defeated and I spent the next week sore.) I guess it is time to look into those rubber things you slip over the corners of your coffee table so your kid doesn't give himself a black eye..... We got video of Kael's first steps and I am going to see if I can load it onto here....