Dad's Visit

Tuesday Dad arrived and we grilled outside. After a big day of travel for Dad we didn't do much else. On Wednesday J had a flight so Dad taught me how to make homemade strawberry jam! It was actually pretty easy and the jam is awesome! We bought the strawberries from the little place just down the road, so they were fresh and local!

Thursday I didn't take any pictures because we went to the Jelly Belly and Budweiser factories. Since J was still gone he didn't get to join in, but Dad and I still had a good time.

Friday all three of us went to Napa! We stopped at four different wineries and lunched at Ruthefords grill.

Trefethen Winery where we sampled and compared their chardonnays. This is their cork tree :)

Mumm where we took their tour for the first time since becoming members!

 Lunch at Rutheford's Grill. YUM!

One of our favorites: The Franciscan Winery

 Last stop: Mondavi Winery for their tour and some reserve tastings

Friday night I made homemade pizza and we watched the Royal Wedding (which I had recorded since it aired live in the middle of the night in our time zone). The boys were less than thrilled with that part of the day, but I enjoyed it!

Saturday the boys golfed most of the day while I stayed home and relaxed.

Sunday we all went to church. Later that afternoon Dad and I took in the Solano Symphony's pops concert. Sunday night we were watching a show that we had recorded when my brother called and told me to turn on the news. He wouldn't say why, but when we did we saw headlines that claimed Osama Bin Laden had been killed by US forces! We spent the rest of the night glued to the TV. We also popped a bottle of Mumm sparkling wine open in celebration.

Monday J left for another mini trip and Dad and I headed to San Fran and Alcatraz. We took the ferry over and did the walking tour. The weather was decent for where we were, but the golden gate was half hidden in fog and the wind was bitter! We left the island and spent some time on Pier 39 where we ate huge amounts of seafood for lunch and bought hot cookies before we headed out of the city to beat the rush hour traffic. It was a fun day!

Tuesday with J back, we ventured out to Sonoma for the first time. It looks a lot like Napa, but less commercialized. It seemed more quiet and rural. We found a winery we liked the looks of and did a tasting. They had a great red that we all liked and so Dad treated us to 2 bottles! We opened and finished one that night with dinner and bot was it good. While we were still out and about we decided it would be a quick trip across a side road over to Napa for lunch. The side road turned out to take us right over a mountain...it was beautiful scenery but I didn't envy J the drive! Wow! But lunch at Gott's was worth it.

Wednesday was Dad's last day and J had a sim. In the morning we all went to the Travis Air Museum on base. That was another first for J and I. It's small and a little run down, but still very interesting. While J was at his sim I took Dad back to the airport and our week+ visit was over. It went so fast! But we were really happy he came out and that J was around for a lot of the visit.