A.w/ B. &U. Part II....

Another one of the things we did while Tom's parents were here was a trip to a local winery. It was so much fun! Who could ask for more than a free tour and lots of free samples?? :-)
We went to Carmel Valley's Chateau Julien. The owner was actually the tour guide. We learned that the Napa Valley gets most of their grapes from our area because there's not enough land up their way for the amount of grapes they need. We got to tour the barrel room, see the machines that work on the grapes and the giant silo like things that make the wine. We also got to walk through the vineyards and eat the grapes right off the vines. Who knew that wine grapes are different from the grapes we get at the grocery store? Jack prefers the regular grapes. We learned a lot about wine, got to taste a few new wines and will definitely be taking our future guests there!!!





After the winery we headed down the wharf. It's really touristy but it's neat to see. It reminds me of the Ocean City boardwalk back home. There's always seals, otters and pelicans around the docks. We ran into a bird guy. He picked Jack out of the crowd to be part of his weird little show. Hahahaha.

Then after we washed his hands, we headed to dinner. We ate at a restaurant with great view of the bay. There was a little platform in the water full of seals.


It was like they knew everyone in the restaurant was watching them. Another fun day!

Adventures with Boobie and Umpa...Part I

We've been pretty busy the past 2 weeks. Tom finished up his first semester of prep courses at NPS. He was off all last week and went back today to start classes in his major. While he was off we had visitors. Tom's mom and dad (Boobie and Umpa to Jack) were here for about 2 weeks. It was so great to see them. Since we're still trying to figure out what's around here ourselves we just winged it. Nothing was really planned we just had some things in mind and went with it. Our first venture was 17 mile drive and Big Sur. When Tom's mom was here in July with her friends we drove to Big Sur looking for the beach but never found it. Apparently there's a secret unmarked road you need to know about. We knew about it this time and I have to say this is one of the MOST beautiful places I've ever seen. There's a reason this road is unmarked. If too many people knew about it, it would be ruined. From 17 mile drive we drove down highway 1. It's crazy. It's on the edge of the mountains and it's a super curvy road. Sandy and I were in the back and we were car sick. After we turned on to the secret road we drove for 2 more miles before we paid to park and then walked a couple hundred feet to the beach. There's this tiny little narrow beach access and then you see the coast. It looks like something out of the movies. There are these HUGE rock formations with caves and openings carved out by the waves. There's just a little strip of sand between the water and the mountains. It looks like a wonder of the world that we shouldn't be allowed to walk through. It was amazing.





Jack had a blast too. The ocean was a little too rough for him to get in but we found a wadding pool. At the bottom of one of the mountains there was a pond . It was ankle deep and perfect for Jack. Sandy ventured in there with him while he played in the water and watched the other kids.


It doesn't matter how cold it is, he loves the water. He's our little fish. After we dried off from the beach we had dinner in Big Sur and right in the parking lot was the biggest Redwood tree we've seen since we've been out here.

It was a great day, lots of fun, the beach was beautiful and we got to spend Tom's birthday with his family.

What's better than a box of croutons????

.....A fly swatter of course!!!







That's right. Jack has a new favorite toy. It's a little strange, yes, but we are glad to see he has an imagination. (That makes it ok, right?) Hahahaha. Don't worry. It's not a fly swatter that's in use. It's strictly Jack's CLEAN swatter! The love for this new item is WAY stronger than the love for the box of croutons we were experiencing last week. We have all out melt downs when it's time to put the swatter down. I'm talking screaming, shrieking, lots of tears, stiff body, flailing arms, the whole shebang! When he wakes up from his nap and walks out to the living room where does he go first? For his milk?? NO! For a snack??? NO! For the swatter....OH YEAH! He walks around with it up against his face looking through all the tiny holes. He stirs Sadie's water bowl with it and then does a drive by swat to one of us. Nothing like getting smacked by a wet fly swatter. :-) It's a strange relationship but he really does love his fly swatter. Hahahahah




He's definitely growing because nothing is safe on the table, counters or high shelves any more.