Surprise!!! Napa Valley 2011

Last Wednesday Jason came home and asked me to look at an email he was sent. It was a boarding pass with my name on it and it was for Birmingham to San Fransisco! We had been talking about taking this trip in October for forever and I was so excited that he finally booked it. With closer examination and Jason flat out having to actually tell me...the trip wasn't booked for October but for the very next day!! Jason had arranged all the details of the trip and had arranged for the kids to be taken care of. Needless to say it was one of the sweetest things he has ever done.

Napa Valley is so beautiful and is just breath taking! Jason surprised me with a hot air balloon ride at dawn...
Then we spent the rest of the time touring wineries, tasting wines and learning more about wines then we ever dreamed possible. We had so much fun!!!

Then we got Rick at Regusci Winery. We hit it off with him and since it was somewhat quiet around the winery Rick took us to the cellar and let us go barrel tasting! It was really cool to drink wine out of the barrel before it gets bottled.

Then we headed to San Fransisco!! Great city and glad we went and experienced it.

Unfortunately, there was so much fog that you couldn't even see the Golden Gate Bridge.

No worries, because there is always Alcatraz. Many of you may not know this about me but I love prisons and prison shows. Lockdown, Locked up Abroad, Gangland...I am addicted. So I was super excited about this part of our trip! Something is just fascinating about a prison to me. Our last day we spent driving up and down the cost...17 mile drive. Jason was excited about this day because he got to finally see Pebble Beach. And I became okay with this because I found my new home. Right beside Pebble Beach is the cutest, quaintest little town of Carmel. So I was trying to convince Jason to move there where he would be able to play golf at Pebble Beach everyday! Unfortunately after pulling a flyer on a house that was for sale and the price tag being $4.5 million, all my arguments lost steam.

Even with the fog, the coastline was beautiful and we enjoyed our time together. We ended the trip at a great little restaurant called Moss Distillery where you can bundle up under blankets, sit by a fire and enjoy a good meal and drinks.

Jason got huge brownie points for planning this trip! It was a great time to reconnect, have real communication and a lot of fun together. Until next time...

Fort Morgan 2011 continued...

in no particular order, we...

...ran around and explored Fort Morgan...


...spent quality time with Pop...
... learned how to do a cannon ball...

...got new goggles from Mimi and Pop that we absolutely love...

... was scared of the waves and wanted someone to hold him...

...but then Pop came and made it all better...

...loved paying in our pool on the beach...

...practiced our baywatch run...

...celebrated Kate's FOURTH birthday...

... was SUPER excited about the sparkly shoes given to us by our cousin Hannah...
...had some great pictures taken...
...spent some quality time as a family together...

...and can't wait to do it again! Thanks mom and dad for a great and fun week with the whole family!

Fort Morgan 2011

My entire family met in Fort Morgan for a week long vacation together. Needless to say we have had a lot of fun and the kids were beside each other that they got to spend an entire week together playing. These are some pictures that my sister-n-law Amy took with her amazing camera. I will be back to post more later but until then....

Happy Birthday Kate!

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY KATE!

We have been at the beach this whole week with my entire family. Now, if you ask Kate we have all come to the beach just to celebrate her birthday! Got to love four year olds!

Hard to believe Kate is turning 4. She keeps us on our toes and keeps up laughing constantly. She is fiercely independent and is determined not to have anyone help her ever. She loves her friends and doesn't meet many strangers. She is a great big sister and is a lot of help to me with Whit.

It makes me sad to think how fast four years have come and gone and I am sure she will be all grown up before we even know it. The Lord is going to keep me on my knees with this one as we are built from the same mold!

We love you Kate Brantley! Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Swimming

At the beginning of this summer Kate could swim under water pretty well. However, this past month she has learned how to swim, come up and take a breath, and go back under and swim some more. I was very impressed as I had heard that usually 4 years old is the youngest that can learn that skill. But let me tell you that since learning how to really swim all Kate wants to do is go to the pool and swim, swim, swim. Which don't get me wrong I am excited about but it is still early and having to watch her like a hawk and Whit is exhausting!!

Just the other day I was at the pool with Kate without Whit and I talked her into going off the diving board. Well that was a mistake because I have created a monster. She will jump off and swim to the side, over and over and over again! I think I treaded water for over 45 minutes the other day while she jumped off the diving board a million times (even though she can swim to the side I am still a little too scared not to be out in the deep end with her). Some bigger girls were jumping off doing spins and toe touches...and little miss Kate can't stand to not keep up with the big girls and before I knew it she was spinning off the diving board.

So looks like we officially have a little swimmer on our hands!