playing catch up

That seems to be the theme for me lately. So here I am playing catch up since my last post was ten days ago! My trip out to California - although too short to see every friend and family member - was fun-filled and a breath of fresh air. Mom, Linda, and I took my nephews down to Carmel and Monterey for two days. They had a blast at the Monterey Aquarium and we had lunch at Bubba Gump's too. This photo of the palm tree and skyline is kind of deceiving - it wasn't like it was very warm there - I think I brought some of the New England chill with me. Nonetheless, it felt good being with family and away from my usual routine.

My boyfriend and I went wine tasting with my Mom and stepdad throughout the Livermore Valley one afternoon. Betcha didn't know that Livermore Valley was the original wine country. It's home to wineries such as Concannon, Steven Kent, and Retzlaff. The rolling hills full of grapevines is such a beautiful sight. We had lunch at the Wente Vineyards restaurant and got a peek at some of the trails leading to holes on the golf course.

We did a tasting at the Rios-Lovell Estate Winery and tried about nine different wines! One of the women that poured for us is originally from Massachusetts (her Grandma grew up in Somerville - go figure!) and so we got all chatty with her and she gave us a couple of extra kinds to try (hence the nine total). She took a real liking to my boyfriend and gave him a champagne-like one to try at the very end! Needless to say, after all that tasting (p.s. we don't spit it out - ha ha), we walked out of there with something like 6 or 7 bottles. Suckers. Lushes. Call us whatever you want. Good stuff.

But of course, the bestest part of my trip was seeing my two favorite little faces! Gosh I love being an aunt! They're both getting so big - I wish they'd stay this small forever!

On to more catching up ... !