filoli.

This last weekend we were down in Redwood City for a friend's baby shower, and decided to make a day of it. We spent the afternoon at Filoli, a beautiful country estate out in Woodside. It is is one of the finest remaining estates of the 20th Century, built after the earthquake in San Francisco when all the wealthy families moved out of the city.

It was a beautiful day and, although it was pretty packed on a Saturday, the gardens were still lovely and peaceful. They reminded me of the many estates and gardens we would visit on my study abroad in Great Britain. If I had a ridiculous amount of money, I think I would build a normal sized home, and then invest in super lush and intricate grounds to wander through, á la The Secret Garden. 

The house was beautiful and enchanting, but a bit cramped to walk around with kids. Eliza had a great time outside in the garden, running around the paths, and dancing under the blossoms. She loved the big wooden theatre, and made me get up on the stage and perform with her. The koi pond was beautiful, and the dahlias and ranunculus were mind blowing. purple, fragrant wisteria was dripping off everything in sight, and there was even a wild peacock roaming the grounds.

We had a great time. Eliza had her moments, that's for sure. We are really feeling this new stage of four-year-old tantrums, and not loving it. I crowd-sourced advice the other day, and will be compiling the list of recommendations, for anyone who is interested. Let's just say, I sure do enjoy scrolling through beautiful pictures of my family after the fact and choose to remember certain moments as they were captured on camera, and not as they were in real life. (Ha!)