NAPA VALLEY TRIP DAY ONE AND TWO

So we went to bed early after the Ryder Cup day and woke up super early to catch our straight flight into San Francisco.  While we sleepily were sitting in the airport terminal Margaret said, "look at Michael Phelps." And she was right. There he was walking to his gate with his wife and baby.  We watched him walk by and so Margaret decided she wanted to go meet him.  She had her phone ready!  When we approached him, his wife got a little tiffy but he said it was okay and we talked to him for a a second about Ryder Cup and then we snapped a selfie with him.  It all happened so fast! And we look tired and puffy from all the travel and long day before! But we got to meet Michael Phelps! We were so excited!

We got in San Fransisco around 10:30 and our beloved Pat was at the airport to pick us up and then we went and picked up Robby and Foley where they were staying at the Ritz.  Once the gang was all together again we headed for Napa, making a few stops for cigars, groceries and a few other provisions.  Then it was on our way to our house.  We joined a winery last year after visiting called Aonair and one of the perks of being a member is getting the chance to rent their property.  The house is actually right next to the owner's house.  So we met their children, his wife and even his dog.  The house was beautiful and we loved it so much!

The girls getting ready to go to downtown Napa.

Since we practically had an extra day we headed downtown to see where we would end up.  We had lunch at the Bounty Hunter- which is barbecue.  Then we walked around and went into a tasting room  that I am not even sure the name of.  We liked the music he was playing and so we decided to go in.  It was fun.  After the tasting room we walked across the street to the Oxbow market to just check it out.  It was a neat little place and they had a spirits place that did a tasting and we all had a lot of fun doing that.  Once we were done with that it was around 6 and we had dinner reservations at a restaurant called MoriMoto.  But we were hungry and made our way there to see if they would go ahead and seat us.  They were able to and we had a delicious and very different Japanese meal.

Walking over to Oxbow.

The guy doing our spirit tasting.

Walking to dinner and being silly.

The next morning we had a slower morning and enjoyed bloody mary's and then Pat came to pick us up for our first tasting at Bell Winery's.  It was a beautiful morning!

Margaret, Jay and Foley in the vineyards.

Group pic.

After Bell, Pat let us know that we had a spot open in our day that might be good for a walk in.  We decided to go back to Silver Oak.  We went last year but Robby was not with us and they have a sentimental attachment to Silver Oak because they collect it for their daughter.  So he wanted to go so it was a good stop for us to make.  It was fun to revisit.  It is a fun walk in.

Checking out the private wine cellar.

The iconic tower that is on the bottle.

After Silver Oak we went and had lunch at a little market and I can't remember the name.  It was cute and fun and they had picnic tables so you could sit outside.

Foley wanted cupcakes.

After lunch we went to Aonair and their new property.  It was beautiful and the wine was superb and it was such a relaxed tasting because we are already members and get all the wines so we just chatted with our guy and enjoyed the wine and the view!

After the last winery we went to Bistro Jeanty for dinner. It was a french restaurant and it was so good.  We sat out on the patio and everyone who worked there loved our southern accents.  It was a very lively conversation and we started talking about good TV shows and I was trying to convince Robby to watch Breaking Bad.  I was explaining to him how it was the best show I have ever watched and then I cried.  So this was a big joke the rest of the week.

Crying real tears over art.  And red wine.

RYDER CUP FUN!

So many months ago I got an exciting email saying that I had been selected to buy Ryder Cup practice round tickets. Kenny was absolutely over the moon and we quickly bought the max amount which was 4.  This is a huge check off of Kenny's bucket list.  So once we bought the tickets we started looking at our calendar and realized that Tuesday was the same week as our Napa Valley vacation.  So we decided to just tack on some extra days to our vacation for this once in a lifetime chance.  We planned to go to Napa with our same group as last year.  Foley and Robby are not into golf so that helped us not worry to much when we asked Jay and Margaret to come with us to the Ryder Cup because they are very into golf!

So Monday morning we flew out for Minneapolis.  They tournament was at Hazeltine outside of Minneapolis.  When we first start talking about what we would wear the weather forecast said it was going to be around 65-70.  So we packed workout gear essentially. Figured we might be a little chilly in the early morning but that we would be fine! Well as the trip got closer the temperature kept dropping but thinking we couldn't possibly wear jeans to the course. We still thought we would be fine.  What we did not anticipate would be how windy that day would be.  It was so so so so windy.  And the weather stayed around 55 and that was with the sun out.  Towards the end of the day the sun went behind clouds and we were ice cubes.  

A few weeks before the tournament we also realized that Tuesday wold be the celebrity tournament.  So we were excited about that.  They announced a few days before that celebrities like Michael Phelps, Kurt Russell, Bill Murray and some kid from One Direction would all be there.  Along with a lot of other people.  And of course not to mention that we saw every amazing golfer in the world pretty much.  I stood within 20 feet of Tiger Woods for a long time and heard him talk.  We followed Phil Mickelson and Ricky Fowler's group for a lot of the time.  Bubba Watson was cruising around on a golf cart all day.  We saw Rory and so many other greats.  The course was beautiful and we had the best time running from hole to hole to see all the players.  Kenny was literally in heaven I think!

So of course you know I have lots and lots of pictures!

You weren't able to park anywhere near the course.  So we Ubered half an hour to a school where we then got on a shuttle for another 20 minute or so drive where they dropped you off at the gates to get in.

Kenny and I had to get our picture next to Phil on the way in. I was already kind of cold.

We got in to the main section and went immediately to the pro/gift shop where we racked up on a ton of stuff after we made sure that there was a bag check.  Kenny got a couple of shirts, couple of hats, some ball markers and a golf towel and an 18th green flag.  I got a down vest to wear that very moment to try and be warmer and a cute workout hoodie and we got stuff for the kids. Like I said, we got a ton of stuff! Kenny knew we were doing some shopping though the minute we got the tickets.  He does this at the Masters too! We stopped for a group pic in front of this replica of the trophy.

From there we walked over to watch USA hitting on the range and then they crossed a bridge where they all got together for what seemed like an hour's worth of pictures for the media.  It was fun seeing them all together though.

Team Pic!

Once they were done doing pictures we went back to the first tee box and watched everyone tee off and then started following Phil and Rickie's group.

Watching Phil walk from one hole to another.

Kenny taking a picture of me and Phil was walking by.  

So before we even left on the trip Kenny showed me this iconic bridge on hole 7.  He told me that he wanted to take a picture by the bridge.  What was funny is that somehow we managed to have the best spot we had all day watching several big golfers come by and play the hole as we stood by that bridge the entire time! It truly was the most beautiful hole I saw on the course and we took our time watching all the action unfold.  The way the hole works is you kind of come up over cliff and look down on it.  It is so pretty.  Then you walk down and walk on the path that runs along the green.

This was on the ledge of the cliff overlooking the green and our favorite picture from the day.  I don't even look like I was absolutely freezing my hiney off.  It was so cold!

Kenny watching Team USA come down the green.

All while we stood in front of the pretty bridge!

Walking over the bridge! Phil!

The PGA commissioner.

After our amazing luck on Hole 7, we had some lunch and then decided to skip over to another hole and wait on the tee box so we could see some groups tee off.  While we were standing there here comes Tiger Woods on one of his coaches carts.  It was surreal.  He was with a bunch of other famous golfers and important people but of course we couldn't get over how close we were standing to him. He was talking to other guys and I heard his voice with my own ears.  It really was so cool.  And once again Kenny was in complete heaven.

Selfie with Tiger!

After all of that excitement and being really really cold for a really really long time we were getting a little tired.  We decided that our main priorities as far as the celebrity golf tournament  went were Murray and Phelps.  Jay really wanted to get the marshmallow man that he brought from the Ghostbuster movie so we found a spot to put us in prime autograph position.  But the celebrities were moving very slowly.  And it was going to start raining shortly and Margaret and I were pretty cold so we decided to start walking back towards bag check and the entrance and we would wait on the boys.  They ended up staying longer to watch Murray and Phelps that they originally said they would but Margaret and I cut them some slack since it was the Ryder Cup after all. Margaret and I did see Michael Phelps play some of a hole which was cool!

While we waited on the boys we saw this huge tribute to Arnold Palmer that everyone was signing.  Arnold had passed away two days before which was a huge shock to the golf world.  So we decided to sign too!

Once the boys showed back up we got back on the shuttle and then got back on another Uber and finally made it back to our hotel.  We were all so tired! We went straight to the hotel restaurant where we ate soup and grilled cheese and were in the room packing for our flight to Napa by 8:00 PM.  It was an amazing memory filled day!

ELEMENTARY CHEER CAMP 2016

I am way behind on blogging because life has been super busy and then I went on a amazing vacation with Kenny and some friends.  So I have lots of posts to do on that. But before I get to that I could not possibly skip over Elle's exciting week at the annual Elementary Cheer Camp at her school. The older cheerleaders put on the camp every sing year for the younger girls.  They go every day after school for a week and don't come home until 5 each evening.  I always miss her and she is always super tired.  But she loves doing it with all her friends.  Then on Friday for the home football game all the girls in each grade do a cheer and a little dance.  She practiced all week when she would come home and show us bits and pieces of her cheer.

Friday afternoon she came home directly after school and we ordered some pizza and we were excited because Annie came in to town to surprise Elle for a visit and to come watch her cheer.  We had not seen Annie in a while so Elle was so happy. Before we left for the game we had a little photoshoot out front.

Elle and Nannee warming up their cheers.

Mommy and Daddy pics!

Twins.

Towards the end of the second quarter they make a call to all the "cheerleaders' to come over and get with their class and their cheerleaders that have been coaching them all week.  This always makes for lots of fun pictures that I am sure will be all over their senior video one day.

Hallie, Cate, Aubree and Elle

Elle and Reese.  

Group pic!

Lined up and headed into the stadium

The entire group if Kindergarten girls!

Elle did a great job and we were so proud of and her hard work over the week! Cheer Camp is definitely something we look forward to ever year!