Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Some Folks Like to Get Away, Take a Holiday, From the Neighborhood...

Except, this time, we went with our neighbors from the 'hood. Sara and Adam were so very kind and generous to allow Kevin and I to crash their Napa vacation for a few days. We drank a lot of wine, ate a lot of food, laughed a ton and had one of the best trips ever.

Extra special thanks to Grandma Sheila for staying with the boys so we could have this amazing trip!

We visited Stonestreet for a special mountain tour that included a picnic and tastings among the vineyards.










 We popped in to Alpha Omega, where the winemaker tried to tell us we'll get essence of granite, pencil shavings and gun powder among the lavenders and vanillas in the wines. What, no baby poop?





At Merryvale, we saw "art" made out of old grapevines selling for an insane price. The handy and artistic Adam knew he could to better... all he needed were some grapevines... gotten under the shield of darkness.



 In Downtown Napa, we stumbled upon Naked Wine, where you pour your own.



 We visited Ladera, which was Sara and Adam's favorite and quickly became one of ours.



 We tried St. Clements... but probably shouldn't have.


 

 Dinner at the Goose & Gander, where my drink was like a garden.
 Bowling back at the resort.


On our way out of town, we hit up the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield.  



Sunday, November 17, 2013

Flying High on Halloween




What Does the Raccoon Say?

We knew we were pretty brave deciding to go camping in the middle of November. We didn't know just how bad ass we were, though, until we did it without a campfire (thanks to a high fire alert) and with thieving raccoons watching our every move. Had a great time at Wheeler Gorge, up near Ojai.

Kevin and Denis (sporting his new French Team jersey) took to the road after we arrived, while the kids and I did some rock jumping while waiting for the Messingers to arrive.










 We all huddled around the propane lanterns to keep warm.










We got in some rock climbing and the kids all gave it a good whack ... as did most the parents!