Beating the Heat

Saturday was H-O-T, HOT!  It hit 106 here, in June, out of control, I'm so not ready for the heat!  We were going to take a weekend trip to a "ho-towel" so that we could use the pool but then we remembered that Riley has her cast on soon, she's so normal in everyday life that we forget that she has it on, so we figured we'd wait until later in the summer to have a weekend getaway and use the pool then.  Instead we did some errands, somehow made our way to Mitchell Katz to pick our wine club up and had a few tastings.  We were the only ones there so I let the kids wander, they are in a temporary location in a barn while they build their new winery and Riley said "This isn't Mitchell's Cats!"  Girl knows her wineries!  Afterwards we tried to go to lunch in Downtown Livermore which has some really cute, yummy looking restaurants but it was after Noon and we were on borrowed time, especially with Jacob so we ended up at the Wendy's drive-thru.  While driving through we came up with the fantastic idea of doing teppanyaki for dinner so we introduced the kids to that.  Riley was afraid at first but by mid-meal she said "This is SO awesome!"  I even ordered her, her very first Shirley Temple which she insisted we bring home in her sippy cup!  Jacob of coursed loved it.  He ate more than I did!

I think Jacob's head might be bigger than mine!  But finally a decent picture with me and the kids!

They look like angels here, don't let them deceive you!

Jacob couldn't get enough of the show!

Shirley Temple time!

20th...

Riley hit her 20th trip wine tasting this weekend. My dad was in town and our favorite winery was having a release party so we headed over to Mitchell Katz Winery which is always kid friendly. Riley made friends with two little boys and I began talking to their mom and we exchanged numbers so hopefully another trip to Mitchell Katz with new friends is in our future! YaYa came with us too, she seems to be going a lot of places with us lately, I better try to find another one because her arm is starting to tear! Riley was the hit of the tasting event, after being the only person dancing to the live music, all of the older women LOVED her, one lady gave her a bracelett that she was wearing and her daughter tried to get Riley to try on her Gucci sunglasses (which Riley has no business touching!). It was a great time with good wine, great weather, and Riley's first serenade!

Lost Count

We've pretty much lost count of the total number of times that Riley has been wine tasting with us. Marc used to keep a tally on the fridge, it started with her first trip to Mitchell Katz (our favorite winery in Livermore and the place where we are club members) when she was just 2 or 3 weeks old. I had her in my little sling and I walked around a January release party there with her snuggled up against my chest. People didn't know if it was a baby or a puppy but when they saw the itty bitty baby in there they were amazed and so we started tallying how many times she tagged along with us as we made our rounds in Livermore, Napa, and Sonoma. We're even on the picture board in the barrel room at Mitchell Katz, though I have yet to find it, but the photographer for the events tells me that Riley and I are there.

Well fast forward 20 months to a walking, head strong, verbal, active toddler. We've been a bit scared to take her release parties recently. Mostly for 2 reasons: 1) Is it appropriate to bring a toddler to a wine release? (I always think of the line from "Sweet Home Alabama" when Reese Witherspoon's character is back home and runs into a high school friend in a bar and she says "You have a baby, in a bar?") and 2) The tantrums can be out of control if Riley doesn't get her way, which in this case would be running off. But this weekend we decided to brave it, mostly because I LOVE his sparkling wine and we were fresh out. So Saturday after Riley's nap we went to lunch (cause a full, rested Riley is a happy, more patient Riley) and then went over to Mitchell Katz to give this release party thing a go. We just bought the Ergo baby carrier in June because that way we can wear Riley on our backs or on our hip so I stuck her in the Ergo and headed in. They all know Riley over there so they were shocked to see how big she is now (we've missed the last few releases and since Marc can get his favorite wines at Safeway we haven't stopped in for a while), all of the ladies that work there just adore her and we're oooing and awing over her. Even the security guard at the front checking IDs commented on how long it's been and how big she is.

I must say, it was a much better experience than I anticipated. Riley was fairly cooperative in the Ergo as long as I kept moving and giving her cheese. A bunch of random people stopped us to say hi to her and talk to us, people were very open to us being there with her. We even saw one of Riley's friends, Isabella, from day care and her parents who happen to live right by us. It was fun to get to know her parents a little better, we often run into them at Peet's or at day care and say hi to them but never really got to know them. Isabella is getting ready to move up into Riley's class and Riley was super excited to see her. She did quite well in the Ergo though she started to get antsy after about an hour so I headed out front, where they have a huge grassy lawn, and let her run around (despite it being like 100 degrees out). There were a bunch of other kids (boys ranging from about 6-8 years of age) playing football out there and immediately Riley took off to get involved in their game, I'm sure that's just what they wanted, a not-even 2 year-old girl joining their game.

Off to join the boys. She has no fear!

As you can see, I lost the hair clip battle this weekend!

Waving goodbye to her friend Isabella!

Wine release party was a success!

Sunday we headed up to Vacaville to check out the new True Religion outlet, I scored 2 new pairs of jeans and Riley scored some new pj's since the last few nights we've put on her sleepers and it looks like the flood waters were on their way! She has really sprouted. They also had a bunch of footless, fleece rompers which are hard to find so we stocked up for winter. We also scored big time at lunch. Not only did Riley eat but it was a tantrum free dining experience for us! Double score!