Down by the riverside...

This past weekend rolled around with a projected high of 111 degrees on Saturday...yes, you read that right...111.  With that kind of news, we decided it would be a good idea to get out of town!  Ben came home on Thursday with big plans for our three-day weekend.  When he came home he found us getting out of the pool and cooling off with some coconut milk and peach smoothies...

 Lilyana LOVES her smoothies and she loves her straws.  

Ben was so excited to see our first produce ready for eating!  A cucumber and, my favorite, a little Sungold Tomato!!  YUM!

My wonderful husband has been working on setting up an outdoor kitchen for me...which has always been a dream of mine.  He bought me a gas range and got it all set up while I was out of town last month.  When summer days are sunny and hot, we do most of our cooking outside now, which keeps the kitchen cleaner and the house much cooler!    

For dinner that evening, we had Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Lemon-Garlic Chicken breasts, a fresh garden Salad (with our two veggies!!!!) and I introduced Ben to a Southern favorite...Fried Green Tomatoes!  I was thrilled that he fell in love with them...a new summer staple! 

Since Ben had last Friday off, we decided to walk down to the Farmer's Market together.  We usually drive down so that he can go with me, but he always ends up leaving Lilyana and I there so he can go work hard again to pay for all of the fresh goodness we're buying for the week.  It's nice being so close to the market!

BUT, since he didn't have to work on Friday, we did some shopping at the market and then went down to our very favorite little coffee shop (a little old-world kind of place...makes us feel like we're back in Spain... *sigh*) for some iced coffee and relaxation.  Lilyana enjoyed Ben's iced black coffee.  Nope, no sugar...just caffeine, water and ice.  Ick.

Speechless. 

We left Lilyana's new shades back at my parent's house, so she likes to play with mine.  Which was nice for Ben, because it meant that she wasn't trying to finish off his drink.

Back to the market for more goodies!  This little foodie baby takes her littler foodie baby (that blonde thing behind her) to Farmer's Markets.  Lilyana loves getting fruit samples from the vendors.

We spent the rest of that day at home, just having good old-fashioned family time.  We planned our trip for the next day, got all of our swim stuff packed up, food stuff picked out and ready for the cooler, and then went to bed looking forward to the adventures the next day was sure to bring...

 We were on the road bright and early, looking for that perfect riverside picnic spot!  We found what we thought was going to be a nice, quiet, secluded area for eating and swimming...we were right on the first part, but very wrong on the second!  But that was fine...we had a nice view, lots of shade (very necessary for hot days), and good food.

See...goooood food.  Asiago Sourdough break with a Garlic-Chive cheese spread and our favorite salami.  Oh, and fruit ,chilled water, and some desserty things.

 The Pluot eating pair.

Once we were completely stuffed, we packed up and headed further north to get further away from the heat and find a good swimming spot.

 We found it!  The very perfect spot!  Next time we go, we'll bring lunch up here!  

Lilyana is ready to hit the water!

Scorching hot day...nice cold river.  

She loved just sitting on the sand and playing in the water.

Only, the longer she sat there, the further she got in the water. 

Deeper and cooler...Daddy kept a good hold on her, though. 

"I LOVE IT!"

Standing in the river isn't quite the same as standing in her pool, but she enjoyed it...

...a lot.

We ended up taking a swim down the river.  We brought her floaty ring and she had a blast...until she started getting cold.  We pulled out of the river, eventually dried off, packed everything back up and began the drive home.  We were very pleased to find that our new favorite hang-out is just over an hour from our house and 36 miles from Yosemite!  We'll definitely be back!  Soon!

Lilyana was tuckered out.  Lots of playing, boat-loads of excitement, sunshine, warmth and love...she got a good nap on the way home and woke up just in time for...

...dinner!  We stopped at our favorite Mexican restaurant in town and split a plate of enchiladas.  

The next day was also going to be horribly hot, so we mapped out our drive to San Francisco, got everything packed up again and crashed into bed so we'd be ready for an early morning...  But, you'll have to wait for the next post to see what we were up to!  Until then, enjoy this video of Lilyana in the river...