Final Days of Summer

As we approach the 2010 grape harvest this week - most likely starting this Saturday, September 11th for Brandon's winery, we take a few days to wind down from our busy August. Each year we easily fill up each weekend of August with fun ways to spend our final days of summer. This year, our activities even carried into labor day weekend since grapes are ripening a little late.


It's just not summer, if we don't make it to the ballpark! Elli was three and a half months old for her first baseball game. She wasn't at the stage where she was ready to sit on our laps for much of the game, so I walked her around the park in the carrier and she fell asleep on both dad and mom for a little bit.









We took our first vacation as a family of three to Mendocino. We stayed at Howard Creek Ranch Inn, north of Fort Bragg. You have to stay there to experience the feel of this unique B&B. They were nice enough to let us bring a four month old and she behaved beautifully. The Inn has access to a beautiful secluded beach, which we enjoyed by ourselves most of the time. Besides enjoy the ambiance of the Inn, we packed our three day vacation with fun things. We stopped at a few of our favorite wineries in Anderson Valley on the way there, had a great dinner out at the Westport Inn, walked the beach at low tide both evenings and both mornings, drove inland and hiked in to the Eel river, and stopped by our favorite coastal towns of Fort Bragg and Mendocino.

For labor day weekend, we went to see our alum, UC Davis play at Cal. The football game was only three weeks after the Giants game, but Elli being four months old was now happy to sit up on our laps and watch the activity more than the Giants game. Her favorite part was listening to the half-time marching bands. She loved the music!


So that ends our first summer with Elliana. We'll spend the next few months really treasuring the moments we get to spend as a family here at home. We will be visiting dad at the winery (and posting harvest updates) so we can still flash him that winning smile. We are sure that will pick up his harvest spirits!