12/31 - I had to get up in the morning and go to work for 1/2 day. I had to get my office ready to move and work on a few things without distractions. I met the kids and Greg for lunch. I ended up taking a nap in the afternoon. We were going to New Years Eve parties and taking the kids with us. As we were about to leave Kasey told Greg that I might kiss him at midnight. It was funny. We all went to neighborhood party for a while, then Greg went to McKinney to another friends. We enjoyed food, football, friends and few drinks. Greg came back around 11. The kids were around watching movies, playing games and hanging out. A little later the ladies started dancing which is always fun. Greg thought we were funny and for some reason the kids didn't want to dance with us. Close to midnight we got out hats, noise makers, leis. We gave the kids some sparkling cider and the adults got some champagne. We counted down to midnight and I got to kiss the kids and Greg. :) Fun to bring in the new year with the kids.
12/30 - We had a bit of a lazy morning. Kids were playing, Greg and I slept in. We had some crackers, sausage and cheese for lunch (thanks to aunt Mary). Kasey and I really liked the spicy honey mustard that went with it as well. After lunch Landon had a friend over who had been out of town for a while, and Greg was watching football in the bedroom. So Kasey and I headed to the salon. She got two color mani and pedi and I got a nice Pedicure. Kasey had gotten a present from aunt and uncle that was a silver necklace and it came with an oyster in a shell with an oyster inside. We had to crack open the oyster and get the pearl out. Then we put the pearl in necklace so she can wear it. Kind of cool.
12/29 - We got up early so we could get ready. Landon was going to have a play date for the morning and Kasey and I were going to see early showing of Star Wars: the Force Awakens. Greg was going to go with us, but of course we have 3 wine shipments coming today so he had to stay home. I loved the movie, Kasey thought it was to scary, but think she was over reacting. Kasey and I went to chick fil a for lunch just the two of us. When we got home Greg was able to shower, Landon came home, and then a few friends stopped by for play date with the kids.
That afternoon we had some of Greg's cousins come over to the house. They didn't have a car so Greg went to pick them up. Kasey had fun playing with her younger cousin Macey. They played with babydolls, chased Landon around and had a great time. Landon tried to stay out of the way. The adults chatted and enjoyed a bottle of wine. Then we planned a family dinner. There were 17 of us. They couldn't fit us in at Abuelos so we went to Paesanos for some Italian which is always good. It was a bit late for the kids, but we had a nice dinner. Its fun to get to see and catch up with family. We got the kids home and in bed even if a little late.
12/28 - We had to get up because the house keepers were coming. We had a few options for us to see Star Wars today - I was so excited. Kasey and I wore our Star War shirts, and Greg even wore his new darth vader shirt under his other shirt. So I decided Kasey and I wouldn't go to early show so we could go with Greg. Landon had a BDay party and we weren't sure we could make the time work, but a few moms at the party said they would take him home if we wanted to go. So Kasey, Greg and I went to lunch and were going to see it. Then we got a text that cousins were coming in town for lunch so plans changed. We picked up Landon and eventually and then headed to Nanny's to visit Greg's cousins. The kids had fun horsing around, squishing each other, and making each other laugh. To bad they don't get to see each other more.
On the way home we stopped off for an earlier dinner at Chuy's - YUM. Kids got showers and we got Kasey to bed. Landon, Greg and I started watching Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Arc - kind of weird watching moving that's not in hi def, but fun to watch all together.
12/27 - We decided to sleep in again some, got up late, went to lunch then headed back home for more cleaning out :). We finished cleaning out the playroom upstairs. The kids organized the play kitchen and food. We cleaned out 2 shelves of Landon's Legos. We had boxes and boxes of recycle that we had to put in back of the 4runner. We also had several bags of toys to donate. It's not done but we made some good progress. I can see the floor under most of the pool table, we've seen the floors in both kids closets. It rained all day long and was getting cooler.
12/26 - The day after Christmas was a bit crazy in Texas. We slept in some, wore shorts and tshirts, went to lunch and then I was on a mission to start cleaning up the house. I started with Kasey in her closet and room, we made room for her new Callico Critters and reorganized all of her stuffed animales, and cleaned out some of the playroom upstairs. We also started organizing some of Landon's Legos (which is a big project) and cleaned out his closet and desk. By dinner time we really just had a bigger mess but I was determined to make some progress. About this time there were some severe weather storms coming through the area. We had a tornado warning. Kasey was sitting beside the toilet in the 1/2 bath scared, I was sitting on the toilet seat and Landon was on my lap. Greg was sitting in the hallway with the dog and ipad. It wasn't to long when it passed. We all sat down to eat some dinner. We had some yummy leftovers. Not long after dinner we had another tornado warning. This time Landon had bing bag chairs and both kiddos were doing note trainers on their ipads. We were watching the weather and waiting it out. Luckily nothing major happened in Allen. Unfortunately that night there were multiple tornadoes and quite a bit of destruction in Garland and Rowlett.
12/25 - We had a bit of a rough night. Kasey came down about midnight not feeling well. I got ready for bed and went to sleep with Kasey in case she got sick. Well she did. She got sick multiple times during the night. Poor thing. Needless to say I didn't sleep much. Then at 7:41 she woke me up and said we should go see what Santa had brought like nothing had happened. We went downstairs and Landon and Kasey were excited about what Santa had brought. Landon had been up but hadn't come to wake any of us up. The kids started opening Santa gifts and playing with them while I went to rest for a bit. Greg got up a bit later and made some breakfast. We all had breakfast together as the kids played with their toys from Santa. Then we all opened presents at home. What a mess the kids made but they enjoyed it. Patch even got a huge candy cane bone.
We slowly got showers and got ready for the day. Then we headed to Richardson to celebrate Christmas with Greg's family. We had great lunch with ham, turkey and all the fixings. Kasey had helped to make apple and pecan pies. She even put a K in the top of the apple pie. After that we opened presents as a family. Landon got some Legos he really wanted, cool Star Wars shirt, indoor basketball and FIFA 2016. He was excited. Kasey got a few of the Calico Critter sets. She was really excited, opened them all and played with them for a while. She also got some fun gifts to make jewelry and a bunk bed for her baby dolls.
We came home to clean up the mess some. The kids played a little and we decided we wanted to go out to dinner. Not the best idea on Christmas. We ended up going to Durkins which is one of our favorite pizza places. We ate dinner and headed home for the night. We got Kasey to bed then Landon and I played Disney infinity until it was time for him to go to bed.
We had a very blessed Christmas. I continue to feel that way as it seems many friends and family around us have lost someone close to them recently and I'm sure that's difficult on those families.
12/24 - Started off the day with a text from Landon that he missed us and couldn’t wait to see us. Can’t wait to get home and celebrate with the family. We got up early and took 6:19am shuttle to the airport. We got bags checked and through priority security in time to sit down for breakfast. We enjoyed a mimosa and yummy breakfast.
Our flight was a bit bumpy but we survived. I was able to write the blog some from our trip, then I took a nap. Greg played candy crush at least while I was awake. We got in a little early. Greg went to get the car and I waited on luggage. We ended up done about the same time. We went to pick up Kasey and Patch and headed to Grammy's to celebrate Christmas.
Kasey came right to me hugged me big and said she really missed me. She's not feeling great and wanted to hang out all evening.
We got to Grammy's and had nachos and margaritas. Then we got to open presents. The kids really enjoyed what they got. Landon got BB8, some Legos he wanted, a new book in a series he's read and a few smaller things. Kasey got a few fun things for Callico Critters, a purple unicorn she calls rainbow, and a few other things. She was excited but wanted to lay with her tiger under her frozen blanket.
Grammy and I got to give each other earings which is always fun. We also made calendars for each other which is always fun. We got Grammy and Gramps some new mugs with pictures from our Disney Trip and a blanket with pictures of kids from young til now. I also got a nice gift certificate to Salon which I love. We had a great Christmas.
After that Grammy and I finished getting tacos ready so we could eat. We all love Grammy's tacos and its our Christmas Eve tradition. Then we had some yummy dessert Grammy made apple strudel and had a yummy pumpkin strudel pie.
12/23 - We had to get up packed and check out when we left. We had another yummy breakfast, packed the car with all of our wine and suitcases, and headed to Miner. We had done a tasting once before at Miner. This time we did a tour and tasting. We basically had a private tour. Miner wines are good, but they grow very little of their grapes on their property mainly because they legally can’t (mountain is to steep). They get grapes from neighbor and other regions for different varietals. We enjoyed the tasting and tour. We ended up getting 4 bottles to make our total to ship 1 ½ cases. We also joined the Miner wine club getting 4 bottles 3 x a year. We are thinking of reducing or dropping one of our other wine clubs :)
Today was also the first beautiful day since we’d been there. We did our tasting on the patio and enjoyed the sun and nice weather.
After that we went to Buffalo shipping to send our wine to our house. We still had chicken from Ad Hoc and peach preserves from Frog’s Leap and breadsticks. We sat at a park and had that for lunch. Then we headed to our last appointment - we had decided to do Tapas pairing with Artesa wines (recommended by a friend).
This winery is Spanish owned by people that have very large wineries in Spain. They make a few different varietals that most others don’t. We enjoyed the tasting with a Taiwanese family. The dad told us that when he started speaking English well that he’s had enough or to much to drink :) We decided to get a few bottle of their Tempornillo wine because it was different. Before we left we tried a few of their cabs and sat on the patio enjoying the weather and wine.
After that we headed back to San Francisco. There was some traffic, and I fell asleep for a while. We got to town, got gas, checked into our hotel, then went to return the rental car. After that we walked around trying to find the best spot to get Uber to take us downtown. We ended up traming to the international terminal for pickup. Uber took us to Schroeders. Its a cool German place co-owned by one of my high school friends. Greg had never been there. We enjoyed a few beers and some yummy Jager Schnitzle. After dinner we Ubered back. The driver was from Poland. He knew more than Greg about MLS and talked about it the whole way back. He even tried to drop us at the airport instead of the hotel. Funny though he really likes FC Dallas, watches almost every MLS game, and even is thinking about moving to Texas.
We tried to stay up for a while but we were just tired and he had to get up early. We went to bed before 10 which is crazy, but we have sort of been staying on Dallas time (at least where bedtime is concerned).
12/22 - We got up about the same time, yummy breakfast and headed out for the day. We started at a bar tasting at Del Dotto. One that we’ve been to multiple times and enjoyed every time. We didn’t do cave tour like we have in the past because we didn’t want quite that much wine. They did let us taste a few extra things though like a Cab from Spring Mountain that we had bought before and Cave blend. We weren’t able to stick to our 2 bottle plan here. We bought a few bottles of various wines and look forward to enjoying them.
After that we headed to another favorite Frank Family Winery. We found this winery based on recommendation at bed and breakfast the first time we went to Napa. We did reserve tasting. The gentleman doing the tasting (Liam) was very dynamic and fun. We were tasting with another couple celebrating their 20th anniversary. They had 4 kids and a driver that day, but this was their first time in Napa. We talked about how on our Anniversary that we had a 2003 Winston Hill which was really nice. We bought a few bottles and headed to favorite lunch spot Taylors Refresher. It’s a really good burger place that’s just outdoor seating. Luckily it was dry enough.
We had some time before our appointment and so we did a little shopping in St Helena. Then we headed up to Spring Mountain. We had decided for our anniversary to treat ourselves to an Ellivette tasting - this is the top wine at Spring Mountain Winery and one of our favorites. We got to see the caves some, then have tasting in the big dining room of the house. We got to taste 2001, 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2012 Ellivettes. There were 2 other guys there tasting one was a wine club member as well. We had planned on buying more wine there as well because it gave us free tasting (which wasn’t cheap). We got some more Ellevettes, Cabs and Syrah as well.
After that we headed back to shop at the Bottega area for a bit. Then we headed back to face time with the kids before heading to dinner. Always fun to see their smiling faces. Landon has also been texting some which is fun.
That night at Bottega for dinner we had a 4 course fish dinner. We both tried a few different things. I had sushi served on a cold rock which was good, Greg had a salad, we both had small crab cake, Greg had lobster pasta and I had another small fish dish. Then we both had salted Trout. It was all really good and filling for sure.
We then headed back to the room and watched episode 2 of star wars.
12/21 - After going to bed early and sleeping in some. I woke up on my own 6 something and rested until close to the alarm at 7:50. We got ready for the day and headed to breakfast. We had yummy omlettes, spanish casserole, fruit and pastries. Then we headed back to head our for our first tasting. We started out at Frog’s Leap which was recommended by a few friends. It was raining but still nice out. They put us at a little table on the back patio. The grounds were nice with barn, garden and some vinyards in site. One of the differences with this winery is that they dont do irrigation. Meaning that the vines have to go deep to find water especially in the drought they have been having the last few years. She said the roots of their vines go about 25 feet vs around 8 of other that have irrigation. We enjoyed a few of the wines. They had a Zin that we didn’t hate, and we ended up getting a few bottles of the petit Syrah. We had decided we would get just a few bottles at each place and then ship them home all together at the end. After Frog’s leap it was still raining and we headed to another winery also suggested by friends to Alpha Omega. They had a bigger tasting room and it was pooring rain and windy outside. We enjoyed some of their red wines and he even let us taste a few of their single vinyard and top wines. We again got a few nice bottles and headed to lunch. We ate at Travigne pizzeria where we shared a good pizza and salad. Greg didn’t complain to much about the Gorganzola cheese (which he doesn’t like). After lunch we had a tour and tasting at Chappelett - another new winery to us recommended by friends. It was still raining so we didn’t get much of a tour other than the barrell room. Cool history to the family starting out in that spot in the 50s, and starting to do something that others hadn’t done much. They are know more for their cabs, but we tasted several varietals. The tour and wine guide was really funny. She reminded us of Mrs Szeryk. She had moved around many places and kept things lively. The other people tasting with us were playing hooky from work to go tasting. By the tasting room they had library of wines from back to 1970. The building was also really cool with a staircase in the middle leading up to the office which was pretty high with skylights.
After Chappelette we decided to do one more quick tasting at a favorite Silver Oak. I’ve always loved Alexander Valley Silver oak. We tasted a few, got our picture in front of the Christmas Tree made of lights and all Silver Oak wine bottles. They had some library wines and 2007 were $5 more than what they were tasting so we got a few of those :)
Then we went back to hotel for a bit to talk to the kids. We got to facetime and see them. That night we had dinner reservations at a place called Ad Hoc. It’s Thomas Keller restaurant where the menu changes daily. This was a bit of a risk since Greg is pickier, but we survived. It started with an amazing salad that had rice, lettuce, squash (what Greg didn’t like). Then we had buttermilk Fried chicken - yum, we had to take some with us. Followed by cheese and foccasia bread. We finished off with a blueberry tart with sour cream ice cream (Greg didn’t like the ice cream either). Overall it was great experience.
We headed back to the hotel, lit a fire, watched part of Star Wars 2 and actually went to bed pretty early.
12/20 - We had to get up a little early to drop Landon off and head to the airport. Greg and I were headed to Napa to celebrate our 15 year wedding anniversary. The kids were spending 2 nights each at the Grandparents. We dropped Landon off, had to Tell Grammy a few things we forgot and headed to the airport. We had some Starbucks at the airport.
Grammy kept kids for a little while that morning. Later Landon went to see the new Star Wars with Pops. I haven't seen it yet, but glad he got to. Hopefully he'll go see if again with me.
Once Greg and I got to San Francisco we drove up to Napa, checked into the Villagio in Yountville, and then headed to our first winery. This trip we wanted to try a few new ones. We started at Pine Ridge. Which was pretty nice. We liked a few of the wines. Our goal was to get a couple bottles at each place and then combine them to ship home. Next we went to Maisonrey in Yountville, This place is really cool. Its an art gallery and a wine tasting place for very small wineries. They had a really cool sculpture for rock paper scissors that I loved. Of course it was $4500 so Greg wouldn't get it for me. :) We tried a few different wines. We liked a Syrah and I liked one of the Cabs. Greg didn't like any of the cabs he tried.
After that we went back to hotel for a bit before dinner. We got to facetime with the kids. That night we went to dinner at a new place to us called R&D Kitchen. The food was pretty good. We had deviled eggs (we didn't like as much as our families deviled eggs) We shared some sushi and Filet with broccoli and mashed potatoes. Dinner was good but the service was a bit weird. They brought us eggs twice, brought our steaks with no silverware. After dinner we went back lit a fire and went to bed early :)
12/19 - Landon had a soccer game. We ended up with a tie game. The kids played hard and were up 2 to 0 but the other team came back. We were able to hold them and had several more shots on goal Kasey decided she wanted to stay with Grammy so she didn't have to get up early. Grandma and Pops were nice enough to take Patch home. That meant Landon got to spend the evening with us and not Kasey. We went to Spazo for dinner which is always good. And we got to hang out a bit too.
12/6 - We went to pick up the kids because we had to get ready for the Allen Parade. We had lunch and then had to be there around 1pm. Greg was helping to get Pack 708 situated - they were 8th in line. We were with Girl Scouts service unit 108 - We didn't really know we needed to bring candy or anything else. Some of the girls didn't really want to walk in the parade, but they survived. Luckily and somehow we kept them all together. We basically walked a large block plug some in our Santa hats and girls had on Daisy vests.
Needless to say we were a little tired when we got home. That's a lot to do in a weekend.
12/5 - Landon had an 8am basketball game - ugh. We made it all together even. The boys played hard but lost the game. Landon got a basket, several rebounds and I think played pretty well.
After that we went home for a bit to shower and get ready. We had an early lunch at Elkes. Landon, Greg and I all got the special buffalo chicken wrap. After lunch Kasey and I had ice skating with Santa event with the girl scouts. They gave us some treats and reindeer food to put on our lawn on christmas eve to get them to come quicker. Cute! We went to get our ice skates on. We ended up staying on the edge for a while then we had some pictures with Santa and then we started ice skating in the middle of the ice. I didn't really get any pictures because I didn't trust carrying my phone around in case I fell.
Then we headed home from there to get the boys and head for indoor soccer. They moved stands around so they are downstairs now. The kids had a really good time playing. They won and had a good time. They were a bit tired after running all game, but came out smiling. Go FC Knights!
The grandparents took the kids home afterwards because we had an adult party to go to. We enjoyed some catered Babes, margaritas, wine and good company. And of course there were some dessert pudding shots! Yum good times with fun friends. The boys were mainly watching football and the ladies were talking and enjoying ourselves.
12/4 - started off one of the busiest weekends we've had in a long time. I worked, kids had school, and then we had Kasey's friend Bday party at 4pm. She had it at a paint and pottery place. Kasey had picked to do animals. So the girls got to pick an animal. Kasey wanted a monkey, a few did dogs, cat, turtle. Some of the girls wanted 1 or 2 colors and to make the animals close to real life. I told them they could paint it anyway they wanted. Kasey got 6 colors and made her monkey a bit crazy :)
The girls had fun painting. Then we had a snack, some monkey cake, and seemed to finish up in record time. So we improvised and played a few games. We played iSpy then had the girls talk about themselves and tell us something new.
After Kasey's party we took Mattie Grace with us, Kristina dropped off Carter and Landon and we headed to the neighborhood party. There was supposed to be a Taco food truck but it cancelled last minute so they got Pizza. We enjoyed some good local beer, pizza, pretzels. The kids got hot chocolate and got to take pictures in the photo booth. they also got to see Santa. Several 4th graders were there so we got their picture together with Santa. The kids were telling him what they wanted. Somehow several of the 4th graders wanted hooverboards. We told Landon Santa doesn't have enough. Santa asked Landon if he still believed and he said Yes. Kasey told Santa that daddy touched Chip (our elf on the shelf). It was fun.
The 4th graders - boys and girls - were walking around in a big group hanging out. They went into the tennis courts for a little while. I commented that it's probably ok right now, but in a couple years we won't want them going into dark tennis courts. Wow they are growing up fast. It's time to start discussing the birds and the bees with them - how time flies. We all had a really good time.
12/3 - It was almost Kasey's friend bday party time. We had decided that Greg and I would make a monkey cake. Greg made the cake and icing and it took me about 4 hours after Landon went to bed to decorate it. It was fun but a lot of work. Kasey loved it though
12/1 - I officially got my promotion and started in new job as the WW Product Training manager for all of TI. New role, great team, and I'm very excited about what next year brings.