We decided to make a weekend out of the trip (all our vacations revolve around Dada's sporting events) and headed up to Napa Friday afternoon. Emmett slept for a good portion of the trip up, but Clara did not fall asleep until we were almost there. We had to stop three times, once to eat, once to go potty, and once to nurse Emmett and finally got there a little before 5:00. Fafa and Abuela Sheri got there right after us and we checked in, freshened up, and headed out to dinner. We ate at a little Italian place that had huge portions and was delicious. Clarita was in heaven because she got a lollipop after dinner with chicle in it! She had never had gum before and when I tried to tell her it was not for kids she explained to me that it was "kid's chicle" because it was in a lollipop and she proceeded to chew it. She didn't swallow it so I'll call it a win! After dinner we headed back to the hotel and put two very tired kids to bed. Clara loves hotels and was very excited about her bed. Both kids slept great and didn't wake up until after 7:00 the next morning!
Saturday we grabbed breakfast at Panera, headed out to wine country, and took a gondola ride up to a winery. Clara had chosen the gondola from brochures in the hotel and thought it was pretty fun. We went wine tasting (a very different experience with kids) and I was surprised at how many kids were there with their parents. Both kids were pretty well behaved and it was a success! We headed to lunch and Clara threw a fit because she wanted to go to the Jelly Belly factory and we told her that we didn't have enough time and would do it the next day. Luckily she got over it and fell asleep on the drive back to the hotel (Emmett did too so it was a nice, quiet drive!). Clara and Dada went swimming when we got back and Emmett and I joined them to put our legs in. Fafa and Abuela Sheri eventually come out and we enjoyed watching the kids splash around. Emmett absolutely loved the water and kept trying to jump in. The pool was still pretty cold so they went in the spa. We went to dinner at Fuddruckers which turned out to be a disaster because it took 45 minutes for our food to come. I think they must have misplaced our ticket because Fafa and Abuela Sheri got their food within 15 minutes. When I asked what had happened the manager was extremely rude. Clara was starving as almost crying because she wanted to eat. Luckily she was appeased with the promise of ice cream. We will not be going back there anytime soon! We all went to bed early after a long day!
Dada headed out before 6:00 AM on Sunday, but luckily the kids did not wake up until around 7:00. We packed everything up and got ready before meeting Abuela Sheri to go to the Jelly Belly factory. Clara was so excited about this and had studied the brochure. She wanted to see people dressed up in jellybean costumes like in the brochure and I warned her that there may not be any. Of course there weren't, and the factory wasn't running since it was Sunday. We still got to take the tour and there were videos but Clara was disappointed and not too into the tour. Emmett loved the little hat he had to wear and kept it on the entire time (he did sleep through most of the tour). Clara refused to wear hers until the very end, but was pretty excited about the store and the jelly bean sampling after the tour! After the factory I took Abuela Sheri on a little tour of downtown Napa and the hills since I go there for work all the time and know my way around fairly well. It was a beautiful day and a nice drive. Emmett slept most of the time and Clara fell asleep right before we got to the geyser. I let her sleep while the Little Guy nursed and she woke up pretty happy. We walked around the geyser (one of three in the world called "faithful" geysers due to their predictability. Dada and I had been there years ago and it had changed a lot! Clarita declared that she did not like the geyser because it splashed her, but she loved feeding the goats! It was hilarious listening to her talk to them, "Come here cabra. No, not you Mama Cabra, I want the baby one! Good job, you ate all your food!" Emmett loved the animals too and petted some goats amidst squeals of delight. We grabbed some lunch and headed to the end of the race to wait for the guys. We didn't have to wait too long before they rolled up. They managed to ride 100 miles, with quite a bit of climbing and we were so proud of them! Dada has done other century rides, but this was Fafa's first. I hope that I am in that good of shape when I am 68!
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| All made of jellybeans! |
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| So impressive! |
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| She was pretty excited about signing a car! |
After they ate we headed back to the hotel so Dada could shower before hitting the road. We left a little after 5:00 with two tired kids. Emmett slept but Clara was wide awake. She was really excited about the windmills and the fact that they make energy. We stopped at Chipotle around 7:00 and both kids fell asleep for the rest of the trip. It was a great weekend and we are proud of Dada and Fafa for their fundraising efforts as well as their training in order to ride 100 miles!
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