Napa

As I started unpacking tonight, I was thinking that wine tasting is actually one of my top 3 favorite activities. The others being a) going on walks with my boys and b) eating sushi and/or chocolate cake. Then I realized that both of these activities are more fun while drinking wine. So, I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I REALLY like wine. So when Evan's mom said she wanted to celebrate her birthday in Napa, we bought tickets the next morning.

Getting There:

Evan and I were terrified to put the Chunk Nugget on a 3.5 hour flight to Cali. Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky had turned into quite the pill lately. He was acting so crazy that I actually took him to the doctor to see what was wrong. Nothing, just a weird phase. So, let's just say Mr. Screamies (as we had been calling him for a week) lived up to his name. The first hour was filled with screaming as well as that weird arching back thing babies like to do. The second hour he slept (thank God!) after bouncing him in the plane bathroom for like 20 minutes. The last hour and a half, Evan and I took turns doing anything and everything to keep him entertained. ("Look at the plastic cup, Russ! Isn't it awesome?" chunk. "Oh look at the book! It's so great!" chunk. And so on.)

We successfully landed in San Fran and picked up Missy, Deepak, Nicole and Justin. After trying 3 rental cars, we found one that would hold all of us, our luggage and the baby gear. We fought the traffic and joined Evan's parents in the lovely wine country.

Napa:

Once we were there, it was amazing! My favorite thing we did was go to a winery called V. Sattui. It was absolutely beautiful. We bought food and had a little picnic on the grounds. We also bought a bunch of wine to bring home with us. Evan's parents even joined their wine club.  Heaven on Earth. I would recommend it to anyone going to visit the area. 

Russel at V. Sattui

We drank a lot of wine but we also ate a lot of good food. The CIA has a campus in St. Helena and you can eat in the school's restaurant. It is really fancy and delish. I was nervous about taking the baby in such a nice place but I was not going to miss out. Yes, the food was awesome and yes, the baby threw up on me 3 times there. It was one of those situations that will be funny later. 

Another highlight was celebrating Russel's First Easter. Evan's parents drove their "bus" to the wine country, so we had a little Easter party on 4 wheels. Russ enjoyed crawling around all over the place and even playing with the steering wheel.

Happy 1st Easter!!

Let's be honest though. Even with awesome wine and yummy food, what is the best part of being together as a family? Family game night. Evan's mom brought some game called Headbandz (yep, with a z.) Basically everyone wears a headband with a card facing outward. You can't see it but everyone else can. You ask the group yes or no questions and try to guess what is on your card. This game was ridiculous and even more so after drinking wine all day long. Some of our cards were the following: bra, beaver, Hong Kong, and Britney Spears. So yeah, you get the picture. 

So, this morning we were not ready to leave. We wished we had one more day of wine, food, family and Headbandz. We were also dreading the trip home with Screamies.

Trip Home:

We got to the airport with about 2 hours to spare (you have to place it safe with the San Fran traffic.) Russ had so much fun crawling around and making friends with strangers. It was time to board the plane and we were in line when Russ started tooting. As I was holding him, I realized we had more than just toots happening. I grabbed the baby gear and ran to the bathroom. As I was changing him, he did the newborn boy thing and peed EVERYWHERE! I ditched his clothes, cleaned him off and ran back out to the airplane line. TOTALLY forgot extra clothes (like a beginner mom.) Evan jogged off to a souvenir shop, bought some new duds, and we ran to get on the plane (which was delayed an hour.) However, once we finally took off, Russ was an angel!! Whew! He didn't figure out how to take the water bottle cap off and dump it all over us until we landed. It was kind of like the gatorade or champagne shower celebration. We didn't care! We had made it home without a screaming baby. 

The Batt girls at V. Sattui

Deepak would bring a milkshake to a wine tasting and then add the dessert wine.

Russel and the birthday girl at Mumm

Family at Louis Martini

Russ, waiting for his new gear.

***Ok, I am so excited to announce this!!!!! I didn't include it in my original post because I wasn't sure if the word was out. I just got permission to share! Russ is going to have a baby cousin! Justin and Nicole told us in Napa that they are going to have a baby!!!!! I am so excited that I can hardly stand it!!!! YAY YAY YAY!!