Weekend Getaway in Napa

Devin and I went to Napa this Saturday for a post-birthday/Valentines Day celebration. His Dad works for Silver Oak and was able to make us appointments at some very nice wineries. We started at Twomey. They have the GREATEST Pinot Noir. This is my favorite wine, and my favorite bottle. Devin’s dad spoils us and brings us home a few bottles at a time.



Our second stop was Arger-Martucci. A girl I work-out with told me about it. They are a very small winery, only producing about 200-700 cases a year, depending on the wine. They are not sold in stores, only at local restaurants, and available to their club members.

Then we went to Silver Oak. Ever seen the license plate frame: Life is Cabernet? Silver Oak's slogan. They only make Cabernets and they run about $100 a bottle in the Napa Valley. Jim spoils us here too. We have a couple bottles of this as well that we are saving for a special occasion. We had a tour of the new winery, a special meat and cheese plate, and a private VIP tasting table. It was very fancy.


Our final stop, thankfully…was Pina. No thanks. The guy was kind of a jerk. He stood behind a three inch table and poured us a drop for each tasting. The wines were $75 a bottle and NOT worth it. We were there for about 4 minutes, and all we got was this horrible picture:


Please remember this is after a LONG day of wine tasting. And because Jim got us these special VIP appointments, we were poured a little/LOT more than the average taster.

We then went to our hotel, The Silverado Resort:



Nice. Despite the fact that the place reminded me of a retirement community. It is a really old country club w/golf courses and mansions. We ate dinner in the Mansion at The Grill. Dinner was OK. We tried to go to breakfast there also, but ended up leaving b/c I did’t like the menu. The room was really nice. We had a bottle of wine, Devin made a fire, then we went in the hot tub, and after the 11:00 o’clock news, we went to bed. It sounded good for a while there, huh? Strictly PG.

I'm sort of serious about putting up this far away and blurry picture.

It was very fun being with Devin alone. It has been awhile since we’ve had more than 24 hours alone. I had been looking forward to it for sooo long. I am sad it is over, but realize that we only live 45 minutes from Napa and should take advantage of that more often.

For those of you Red wine fans, here are our favorites from the weekend:

Twomey 2006 Pinot Noir-$50
2005 Merlot-$50
Arger-Martucci 2005 Syrah-$30
2003 Pinot Noir-$30
Silver Oak-2004 Napa Valley Cabarnet-$100
2004 Alexander Valley Cabarnet-$70

Screw Pina. This is not the first time we've come home from Napa HATING a winery. Plump Jack, Gavin Newsom's winery, really pissed us off last year when the single guy behind the counter ignored us and poured only for the bachelorette party of 12. Boo Plump Jack.

When Isabella met Luke <3

She fell in love. She has been talking about “baby Luke” ever since. She watches the video over and over. Now she wants a sibling. She says she will push the baby in the swing and bring me clean diapers. Well then, if it’s that easy, what are we waiting for??? Just kidding… We will wait till she is of actual “baby-taking-care-of” age =) Luke sure is cute though and pretty tempting…


She fell in love. She has been talking about “baby Luke” ever since. She watches the video over and over. Now she wants a sibling. She says she will push the baby in the swing and bring me clean diapers. Well then, if it’s that easy, what are we waiting for??? Just kidding… We will wait till she is of actual “baby-taking-care-of” age ;-) Luke sure is cute though and kind of tempting…

A weekend full of LOVE

Valentine's Day was a big deal for us this weekend. Friday Isabella had her school party where she passed out/received valentine's and candy and then had a HUGE lunch with all her friends. I got to sit in a tiny wooden chair and eat lunch with her and her friends. There was a lot of joking around, some potty talk, and a great big mess to clean afterwards. She had a lot of fun and I was able to see her interacting with her classmates. Very cute. Minus the "poo poo" talk.





That night Devin's parents had us over for a Valentine's Dinner. It was delicious and Isabella had a good time eating candy.



Saturday night, Devin and I had a couple hours to ourselves. He picked up my favorite wedge salad from the steakhouse, and made chicken picatta. We also opened a bottle of wine that we had been saving for a special occasion.

He's Here!!!!!!!!!!

Luke Richard Hansen
2/16/09
8lbs. 11oz. 21 3/4in.








Megan was a champ. Mommy and baby and Daddy are all home and doing great! I'll let Meg blog about the birth experience.

Heart's-a-burstin’

Isabella has this new obsession about whether or not a person/fictional character would be nice to her if she was their daughter. Maybe she's shopping around for a new, nicer mommy or maybe she just thinks that everyone should be nice to her even if they're not to others. I just don't know. She has asked this about the parents in the movie Matilda, and about Rhianna, Lady GaGa, and Taylor Swift. I have no idea why, but she needs to know how they would parent her.

Last week, I found what I thought to be the original CARTOON Snow White on ONDemand. However, it was actually the 1987 British version, w/real people. But she liked it and didn't know the difference, so whatever. We all remember the evil step mom that tries to kill Snow White (why are these kids stories?) and looks in the mirror to see who is the fairest of them all, blah blah blah. Well, in the car yesterday Isabella asked:

“Mommy, if the step mom was my mommy, and she was mean to me, I would tell her she was beautiful and then would she be nice to me?”

But before I could answer she added:

“What if I told her she was handsome? Would she be mean to me?”

I think answering her own question. I love her reasoning.

Yet another Heaven conversation:
My mom picked her up from school the other day and she asked about Teddy, our family dog who was put to sleep in May (devastating to all  ).

“Grandma, who is going to give Teddy food and water in Heaven?”
Grandma: “God provides as much food and water as teddy needs and he can run around and play all day with his other dog friends. Teddy is very happy in Heaven.”

Isabella, “I didn’t see any food or water when I was in Heaven.”




Grandma, “Um, when were you in Heaven.” Maybe slightly creeped out…

Isabella, “When we put flowers at Nana’s in Heaven.” She thinks the graveyard where she visits her Grandma is Heaven.