Lodi Fun

Because Drew's Tball game was so early - 8:30 - it was wonderful to have a full Saturday yet to do something fun.  So we decided to head out to Lodi to pick up one of our wine shipments from Macchia.

Well since we drove all that way - about an hour from our house - we decided to hit up a couple of new (to us) wineries.  Down the road from Macchia is Acquiesce the all white version of Macchia which is all reds.

We loved this little winery!  They have a cool front door

And the winery is inside a restored 100 year old barn.  They are a very small lot winery and I have to say we loved it!  We got a couple of bottles.  Everyone was super friendly!  And best yet, we were able to taste for free courtesy a free tasting "coupon" given to us at Macchia.  Although it would be worth the $5/taste fee they charge.  Acquiesce also pairs their wine with foods.

We will be back!

And then we decided to venture to another new-to-us winery, Heritage Oak.  Again, very impressed!  The staff was really sweet with us, and even made friends with Drew.  Not all wineries are kid friendly and I have to say they went above and beyond to make us feel welcome.  We were told about a really cool little hiking trail with a swing.

So after tasting and purchasing a few more bottles we decided to head out for a little hike.  Oh man was that worth it - especially for a little boy who wanted to do something "fun" for him.

About 10-15 minutes down the trail was this awesome tree swing near the bank of the creek.

Drew had a great time swinging and got a bit nervous when the swing would start to spin in circles.

After some play time we had to make our way back - Mom and Dad wanted to hit up the Lockeford Meat Market if not one more winery (we only managed to get our meat).

But there was one tree on the hike back that Drew couldn't pass up climbing.

The height started to make him nervous and Drew said he had to go to the bathroom.  Bad.  So instead of climbing down he jumped to Dave.

I thought it was pretty cool I caught the action jump shot.

Turns out Drew didn't actually have to go to the bathroom.  It was just the sensation he had from being so high up.  Guess you have to be a guy to understand that feeling - Dave went into great detail filling me in.

On the way back Drew found a cool stick and pretended he was one of the "Sand People" from Star Wars.

Daddy wanted to play too and found a stick.  Drew saw how cool Daddy's stick was and decided it should be his.

Size does matter even when you're 5.

And here's a final shot on the trail back to the car...

Gotta love my boys.

It turned out to be a perfect day. 

Nature Walk

The other day while Dave was off for yet another softball game or two, I decided to take Drew out for a little hike at a nearby Regional Park.  Of course when I told Drew we were going to a park, he had visions of a slide and swings.  I squashed his hopes and told him, he was going for an old fashioned walk with mom and he could go stick hunting (he remembered doing this with his friends Aaron, Mitchell and Jake in Minnesota a few months ago).

So we set out for a new park (new to us anyway) and we walked through the trees and cows.  Drew had fun asking a million questions about why cows go poop on the ground instead of the potty.

Of course I took advantage of the limited daylight left and snapped a few shots.

 As we got deeper into our hike, Drew noticed many of the trees were leaning.  I tried to explain in terms I thought a three year old could understand about the trees leaning to find the sun.... well that lead to another million questions about why they do that. 

I happened to catch him just as his little brain was processing the reason the trees lean (and why some of them fall and break).

Despite my battling yet another sinus issue, Drew and I managed to make it a great evening with a 45-minute hike followed by a dinner date at Applebees (his choice).  I guess that hike was "rough," he ate every last bite of his dinner - which doesn't usually happen at restaurants.

Evening Stroll

Have I mentioned how great the weather was this past weekend?  I have to remind myself since it's been so crummy ever since.

After Saturday's walk to the park and the gorgeous weather we decided to let Drew play outside as much as possible.  Thinking some fresh air would do his illness some good.  So on Sunday night when Drew wanted to take the wagon for a walk, both Dave and I decided to put our much needed glass of wine down and take the kid for a spin.

Drew of course had to bring his pal "Mader" along for a ride (his favorite character right now from "Cars"). 

So being the great parents we are, we let Drew direct where this walk around the neighborhood would take us.  Thankfully he was pointing with is pointer finger - and not flipping our neighbors off....

It really was a great evening.  To bad we came back only to find his fever had spiked again.  Blah.