Wine Tour

My sister-in-law is getting married next month and this past Monday we celebrated her impending nuptials with a few of her old friends and a bit of wine.  Five of us and baby M met at Leoness Cellars in Temecula for a winery tour.  We started out the earliest we could at 10 am, so we could beat the heat.  It was sunny and warm but not too hot yet.  Baby M got to check out the winery and vineyard from the comfort of her carrier.  I love her little eye peaking out.

We started off with a few tastings in the tasting room to see what we liked.  There were a variety of preferences among the five of us ranging from really sweet to really dry.  Some preferred reds; others wanted whites.  Once we found one we liked, we headed out with a glass of it to check out the view from the wedding lawn.  It does have a beautiful view of the vineyards below and would be a lovely place to get married.
 

 

I forget the acreage, but there was a lot of it  and it was dedicated to different varietals.  We were able to sample some as we walked through the vineyard down to a golf cart.  Outside the patio near where the golf cart was parked, they grow regular table grapes that you find in a store.  It was interesting to compare them to the ones we had just eaten.  The wine grapes are much smaller because they do not receive enough water to make them plump like store bought grapes.  This concentrates their sugars for the wine. 

Because of the warm winter and early harvest this year, we were able to see some of the wine production in action.  But it was a welcome relief from the warm sun to step into the air conditioned barrel room.  They keep a portion of their barrels in this room just for events.  The rest they store at a warehouse elsewhere. 

We headed back to the tasting room to round out our tastings.  Leoness was nice in that it was baby friendly.  I was able to nurse M on a very comfortable couch in the tasting room (most tasting rooms don't have places to sit) and their bathroom has a changing table (the rest of the day I changed M in the car).  I would consider joining the wine club here.

Following our tour, we headed over to Wilson Creek Winery for lunch.  The lunch was pricey but delicious.  We had a cheese plate appetizer, some sangria that I wasn't impressed with, a delicious penne dish with shaved ham and we shared a couple desserts.  Baby M napped for most of the lunch in her stroller so it was a nice relaxing meal.

After lunch we tasted a few of the wines.  Thanks to my sister, who is a wine club member there, we had a couple free tastings.  And I believe everyone was a fan of the orange mimosa champagne. 

We moved on to Foot Path Winery, which is very different from the other two we had seen.  Foot Path is the smallest winery and definitely no frills.  It is a ramshackled property compared to the landscaped wineries.  The tasting room is a shed with all sorts of odds and ends stored that reminded me of my dad's garage or my grandpa's shop.  There is no air conditioning; just a powerful fan that you can sit by which really does keep you cool. 

They are also a certified organic farm, although not all of their wines are organic.  We got to say hello to the horses on our way in and I think they were looking for a handout from us.  Foot Path only makes red wines.  I unfortunately can't say anything about them since I was designated driver and had reached my limit, but their grapefruits taste so good and are great price!  I only bought two and I regret that I did not buy a bunch more. 

For our last stop, we went to Danze del Sol Winery.  It does have a bit of an old world Spanish feel, especially with the patio.  It was cool enough in the shade by that point that Baby M and I could take breaks from the tasting room and sit down out there.  We had been tasting for 7-8 hours by that point and my back was so tired from carrying my little chunk around.  The sales sommelier enjoyed showing off his pours and smiles for a group of attractive ladies and he made it fun for everyone. 

The girls were so sweet and bought me a bottle to thank me for planning the day and driving them all around.  I will split it with my mother one of these evenings, since without her babysitting the twins, this day wouldn't have happened.  It was such a nice break from the usual routine and M was such a sweet, well-behaved baby the whole long day.  I look forward to next time I go wine tasting.

7 Months Old

 

It is hard to believe how fast the time is going.  My itty-bitty newborn is now a chunker almost ready to crawl.  She is teething but has yet to get any teeth in.  She hasn't been sleeping as well as she used to because of the teething pain.  Hopefully that will pass soon and we can all get more sleep.

 

She normally squawks and squeals but does unintentionally say a few D, G and N sounds now as she plays around.  She rolls and rotates easily.  She is very stable sitting but still falls over every once in awhile so I keep a pillow behind her on the hard floor.



Her sisters are so sweet with her.  They bring her toys and sometimes ask her permission to take a toy from her that she is playing with.  They give her kisses and make her laugh.  I'm sure that once she is crawling, getting into their things and taking their toys there will be fights and tears.  I'm going to enjoy this sweet phase while it lasts.

Pool Day

We are currently staying at my in-laws.  They have a beautiful pool.  So my husband's mother and I invited my sister and her two kids up for the day to swim.  It was fun but we probably won't try it again until next year.   I am exhausted.  Three adults, three 3 year olds, one 17 month old who is everywhere and into everything, and a 7 month old that decided to skip her naps today.  It was a long, tiring day.

We started the morning off cleaning, tidying and baking.  I made some zucchini tots and the twins helped me make coconut macaroons.  The tots tasted good but I think I'd halve the amount of eggs and bread crumbs I put in.  I wasn't really measuring that accurately so I'm not sure how well that reflects the recipe.  The macaroons were quick and easy to make.  It was one my mother-in-law's recipes, so I'll have to make sure to get a copy. 

My sister and the kids arrived around lunch time and we all ate before heading out to swim.  Baby M even joined us in the pool.  She liked it this time since the water is much warmer than it was at the beginning of June.  We have two inflatable Cars car floats.  She spent a bit of time floating around in one and little H briefly stayed in the other, but keeping her in one spot for long doesn't happen much these days.  D and T also climbed into them.  I didn't think they would fit but they still do.  They didn't stay in them that long though.  They prefer swimming around in their life jackets. 

The toddlers got to practice what they have learned in their summer swim lessons.  The girls have mostly forgotten theirs over the past two weeks.  But at least I know better how to approach teaching them to swim so they were not wasted.  Big H just came from a swim lesson earlier this morning and he really does well.  Not yet ready to really swim without floaties, but he is getting there.

As pool time encroached more and more into nap time and the whining and tears started, we got out and rinsed.  The kiddos watched some Cat in the Hat while we organized the swim gear and my sister packed up.  Unfortunately being Friday, their return trip took twice as long because of traffic.  It was also too late to put the girls down for a nap and expect them to sleep at their usual bedtime.  So we had some grumpy, fussy girls this evening.  But they are currently sound asleep and I get a chance to update my blog.  Nothing is ever perfect; it's all about tradeoffs. 

Together Again

On Saturday morning our CRV packed with the remainder of our things was dropped off in Orange County.  We are now officially out of Arkansas.  My husband finished up residency at the very end of last month and has started his new job here in California.  Man, is he hating the commute!  Arkansas certainly has California beat for traffic. 

We are completely done with Little Rock, except for the friendships we made in our time there.  Our house closed earlier this month, so that is one less thing to worry about and huge step in lowering our debt.  It was a nice house and a good learning experience, but I am so glad we were able to sell it.  We will know better what to do and expect when we buy a house here later on.

We are together as a family again.  This morning I looked at the time and calculated what time it was in Little Rock to figure out what my husband would be up to.  Then I realized that I don't have to do that anymore!  The girls are happy to have their daddy back with them.  And I am happy to have him here helping me with the girls.  Their grandparents are of course very helpful but the girls aren't their responsibility in the same way.  It's nice to be able to share that responsibility again and not have it all on me.

I'm excited for the next chapter of our lives together here in California with family and friends watching the girls grow up.

Dora 3rd Birthday Party

Funny how the month of June just flew by like that.  On the 21st, we celebrated the twins' 3rd birthday here at my mother's house.  The girls love watching Dora and I don't mind letting them since it is one of the more interactive, educational shows out there.  I decided it would be a good theme for the party.  Only, I didn't want it to be all Dora, all over the place.  I wanted the decorations to be more subtly Dora and concentrate more on the activities now that they are at the age where they can participate in party activities. 

We don't really know any local toddlers around the same age yet and my friends in San Diego with little ones have too far of a drive to make it worth their while.  So it was a nice family party with just the cousins.

I made a map for the three toddlers and we went through it like on Dora.  "Birdhouse, prize box, cake and presents!" and repeat two more times in your best map voice imitation.  Making the map was easy and quick.  I simply searched for what I wanted on google images and copied and pasted them into Paint. 

 

I tried to stick to a orange/purple/pink color theme for decorations but almost anything could be argued to work with the Dora theme.  So the green table cloth that Oma found in her collection and the flowers/bug decorations from Little H's 1st birthday party that my sister brought all worked out perfectly.  For food we had quiches with asparagus and tomato, deviled eggs, a veggie and cracker platter with hummus and shrimp with home made cocktail sauce.  The fruit and cake came later. 

 







 

After eating, we painted birdhouses.  All shirts came off so their would be no permanent messes. I got the birdhouses for a dollar each in the craft section of Walmart along with the acrylic paints and little paint brushes.  Being a full 8 months older gave Big H the edge in painting his bird house.  The girls mixed their paints a lot making their houses a muddle-colored mess.  Big H's turned out really well though; he was very careful to clean his brush between colors.  They all had fun painting.

 

 

 

After the birdhouses, we moved on to the prize/punch box.  I followed the tutorial over at Diapers and Heels.  It is a great idea for this age group instead of a piñata, although I supposed a piñata would go with the Dora theme better.  All the kids, except baby M, got three turns punching into the circles and pulling out prizes like flutes, maracas, whistles and bubbles (all Dora themed from Party City).

 

 

I baked two square strawberry cakes with a cool whip frosting.  I mixed blended mulberries into the frosting to give it a nice flavor and pink color.  I also piped a yellow T and D on the cakes so they would know whose was whose.  They each got three candles to blow out, but Big H jumped the gun and blew out D's.  She didn't exactly realize that he had done it.  She just looked surprised that her candles went out before she blew them.  Then when we congratulated her on blowing out the candles to avoid a fight, she looked suspicious until she decided she must have blown them out after all.

 

 

My big three year old girls!



Mulberries

We have been picking a few mulberries every morning from Oma's tree, mostly just to eat immediately, but some to save for later.  It is a tree, not a bush, although as you can see in the picture below, it does look very bushy.  It has a thick tree trunk but the branches come down so low and the leaves are so full and dense that it seems like an enormous bush, just like in the song.

The berries are very sweet and juicy when ripe.  The juice is a beautiful deep red color but luckily it does not stain, otherwise we would be in trouble. 

We made a very limited supply of jam with the berries and also have been eating them over vanilla ice cream.  So yummy!

Swim Time

The girls' Leila and Pho Pho have a beautiful pool in their backyard.  So last weekend we went swimming for the first time this summer.  The girls got new bathing suits since their size 3T ones from last year a too snug.  We yelled for the camera to keep things interesting.  It's a lot more fun for them than just posing and smiling.

 



 

They practiced swimming on their own by degrees while wearing their life jackets.  Last summer T was definitely a water baby.  She still is the one who wants to go further into the pool, way before her sister is ready too.  She can now paddle around the whole pool by herself.  She even went in the deep end, which made me so nervous.  I was with her, but since I haven't been swimming in so long I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep us both afloat if something went wrong.  But she did great and the life jacket, of course, is a huge help.  

 





 

 

D still doesn't want to let go of our hands and chokes on water when she does. It won't take her long to get the hang of it though.  I'm going to sign them up for swim classes in July.  We'll see what skills they are able to pick up there.

 



 

Baby M also got some pool time.  She was not a fan.  I think the pool was a little too cold for her taste.  I brought out her little bath sling for her to sit in but she let me know really quickly that she wanted back up in my arms.

 

 She did look so precious in her tiny bathing suit though, especially with her chunky thighs.