Side Note

This song should be taken off the radio. It is unfair to play it on a station that Isabella and I occasionally listen to. We like Lady GaGa and Britney Spears. There's nothing wrong with that. 94.9, 106.1, and 102.5 play them. But when this song comes on afterwards, or we catch in the middle, or she hears it somewhere else, OR SHE SINGS IT IN THE FREAKING GROCERY STORE(!!!!), I have a problem. I should call in to the stations.

And the song, if you haven't guessed:

Jeremih: Birthday Sex.

Isabella, "Birthday sets. Birthday sets." Spelled out it seems harmless, but a four year old saying "sets" sounds different.

DANG YOU JEREMIH

The weekend.

Thursday 6/18: Isabella's Graduation. Cute. Proud. Hot.





Friday 6/19: Pool. Fun. Noodles. Fights.






Saturday 6/20: Peter and Callie's Wedding. Beautiful. Wine. Old Friends.






Sunday 6/21: Father's Day. Appetizers. Dad's. Eclairs.

Ok

Some updates and pictures:

Isabella read her first word. She sounded it out on her own. Very proud of her. Does this mean she will teach herself to read? Out of all the things that I have been dreading, teaching her how to read is at the top of my list. I remember how frustrated my mom was when teaching us and how frustrated I was listening to my brother sound out every flipping word and taking forever to get to the best part of the book. Her first word as a reader: "It."




McRae had his school play. He rapped. He LOVES singing and acting and says he wished he had a solo in the play. Maybe next year...




Isabella and I have had the pleasure of spending some days with baby Luke while his Mommy is at work. We love it and Isabella is VERY helpful! And maybe had a dirtle once when both kids were crying at the same time. "Zhere's zur zirtles."




I don't have pictures of this but Isabella now has two pet frogs at her Dad's house. Bill and Taylor. They eat crickets and worms that go in the refrigerator. Gross. She is really into catching Rolly Polly's and slugs (whom she refers to as squids). One day I found 2 Rolly Polly's in her water cup on her night-stand. We now have rules in place for the bug catching.

And she stole. From me. I have a drawer of candy. I'm not proud of it. She likes these bunny candies from Easter and USUALLY asks for one. However, yesterday when I was in the shower I heard the drawer shut. I called her name. She came running over to the shower, empty handed. I asked her if she was in the candy drawer. She said yes. I asked where the candy was. She THREW it down in the hallway when I called her name. Tricky, I'll give her that, but naughty, naughty, naughty. And then I found out that she took three pieces. Two is always the limit.

The reason we got the dog.

FINALLY! Brody has been the one lab in the world that jumps over puddles, holds his pee for 9 hours to avoid going outside in the rain, and tip-toes through the wet grass. Until…NOW!! Devin and I took him on a walk the other day and went down into the creek that runs through our neighborhood. At first Brody was jumping backwards trying to get away from the creek. Then I tried throwing a “treat” which was a rock, into the creek and telling him to get the treat. He reluctantly stepped one foot in the creek and reached his neck out before him as far as it would go until he realized he was going to have to go in further. And he did.

We were happy. He is supposed to be a hunting dog, swimming through the marshy waters, retrieving the ducks.

Yesterday, as we were looking Brody’s favorite ball I threw over the fence the night before, we decided to try the creek again. We walked down and Brody ran right in. We only had to do the treat fake-out one time! He ran up and down, through the shallow and the deep parts, and loved it. We were happy. He is supposed to be a hunting dog, swimming through the marshy waters, retrieving the ducks.

And… do you know what this means for me? He tires himself out doing this and it only involves me walking him for less than a block. Plus Isabella gets to “explore”. Two birds, one stone.

Can someone please buy this for me?

I want it. Devin says, "No. Absolutely not." I've only spent a few minutes with him, but I think I love him more than Brody. I haven't stopped thinking about him since we first met on Sunday. Maybe someone could be his foster mom and dad, and I'll come by and hang out sometimes??

Here he is:


Well, this isn't "him" but a google image Parrotlet. He looked a lot like this though, just with a sweeter disposition.


And here is where you can purchase him for me:



$139.00 at the Concord Feed Store in Pleasant Hill.

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.