I have missed a few Sunday posts. I had some trouble getting pictures transferred from my iCloud to blog, but I finally got it to work today.
Ellie's 9th Birthday:
Ellie turned 9 on September 19th. I thought I'd post pictures from that day. It was homecoming week at school, and her birthday was "senior citizen day." She was so excited to have a dress up day for her birthday but made sure she wore a "birthday girl" pin so that everyone would know it was her birthday. I took doughnuts to her class that morning and her birthday was announced on the Absolutely Mindy show on sirius xm kids place live radio station.
It was a busy day that involved tennis lessons for Mack and Emma and soccer practice for Emma. We attempted a family dinner outing after soccer, but we were unsuccessful. Ellie has a bad tummy, and after eating doughnuts, candy, and junk all day for her birthday she became very sick. We ended up driving through Chick fil A and heading home quickly before she got sick in the car.
I can't believe she's 9. She has grown so much! Her legs get a mile longer every day. She is so smart, athletic, and is obsessed with reading. She loves Harry Potter books, Raina Telgemeier books, the movie Descendants, and emojis of every kind, especially the poop kind. Ellie is still a busy body that always has an answer to every problem. She also still lights up a room when she enters. She wants to be an actress when she grows up, and she tolerates her brother and sister, sometimes. I say it every year, but I'm really not sure what I did before she was part of my life.
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| Waking up this 9 year old is not as fun as it used to be. |
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| Granny Ellie for Senior Citizen Day |
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| Emma and Ellie on senior citizens |
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| Ellie wanted to open a few gifts before she went to school. |
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| She finished opening when she got home from school. |
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| She is always fun to watch open a gift. |
Extra Pictures - Soccer, Homecoming week:
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| Celebrity day was another day for homecoming week. Emma wanted to be Janet Jackson. I went with the Rhythm Nation look as that was the safest for a 1st grader to wear to school. |
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| Ellie was J.K. Rowling |
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| Soccer season is in full swing. |
NAPA 2017
The Alabama beach crew decided a year and a half ago that we needed an adult trip with no kids. We thought Napa would be fun and began the planning of an epic trip. It was such an amazing time, not only to be with great friends but to take in, learn about, and be present in the beautiful wine country that is Napa and Sonoma California. We had 2 days of touring with a driver and tour guide named Sam. He was so incredible. He was British, but has been in Napa since the 70s. He knew so much history of the area and agriculture there that it was fascinating to listen to him. I felt like I should have been taking notes. We had a day to ourselves in between those tours. We had dinner at the famous French Laundry that night, and the following day had another tour with Sam. Thursday, we headed to San Francisco and did an Alcatraz tour, had dinner, and Friday we had a VERY early flight home. When I say the trip was amazing, I am not giving it full credit. It was unbelievable. I am so thankful Worth and I got to experience it together with some very special friends.
The first day, Monday, Sam took us to 4 wineries: Cakebread, Benessere, David Fulton, and Flora Springs. Tuesday, a few of us decided to do a segway tour of downtown Napa. We followed that up with lunch at Gott's Roadside, and then a small wine tasting room. We headed back to the hotel and prepared for our dinner at French Laundry.
I cannot speak enough good about the experience at French Laundry. As we arrived, they walked us through the kitchen to see all the sous chefs at work. We then headed through their wine room. At the very back of the wine room their was a sliding door that opened up to our private dining room. As we were seated they opened doors up to the beautiful courtyard. I felt like royalty! We had several courses of really good food. Some of it I had never eaten before, but I have never had anything more delicious in my life. It was ALL great and we ended up having a great time loosening up our waiters and hostess. She ended up giving us scoop about celebrities that had been in the restaurant. I think they had a good time with us.
Wednesday, we were back on Sam's bus headed to 3 more wineries: McKenzie-Mueller, Buena Vista, and Nicholson Ranch. It was tough to get going that day because of the amount of wine consumed Tuesday, but we all rallied and had a great time.
Thursday, we loaded up and took a car to San Francisco. There, we took a boat out to Alcatraz to tour. It was fascinating to me. I do love history though, and being in there at times was even a little creepy.
After a long walk up several hills, then Lombard Street, we met up with everyone for cocktails and appetizers at a wine and cheese place. We all headed to dinner (back down Lombard St.) and then it was off to bed early for 3 couples including Worth and I. We had to get up at 3am to get to the airport in time for a 6:00am flight. Ugh!
I was glad to get home. I had missed my babies a lot, but it was a really fun trip that I would do over again and again. I apologize, I stole some of the pictures from our shared photo stream, so the pictures are out of order slightly in some areas. I was too lazy to reorganize 120+ pictures. Just read the captions.:)
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| The night we all arrived in Napa at the Elmhouse Inn. With the exception of 2 couples, the rest of us live on the east coast. It had been a loooong travel day for everyone. R to L: Nicole, Megan, Jessica, Katie, me, Emily. |
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| Grapes on then vine at Benessere winery |
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| All of us were impressed with these wine glass holding chairs. |
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| Beautiful views at Benessere winery |
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| SOOO many grape varietals that make wine. |
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| Megan helping the tasting expert at Benessere bag all of the wines we bought. |
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| This was my favorite wine of all of the wineries we visited. They have the oldest vines in Napa. Old vines = VERY good wine, but produce less. |
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| Funny names of wines at David Fulton |
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| My favorite picture of the 2 of us from the trip at Benessere Vineyards. |
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| Stunning views from everywhere! |
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| Flora Springs winery production |
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| The guys in the cave at Flora Springs. L-R: Mike, Russell, Worth, Hughes, Eric, Ross |
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| Our tour guide and tasting expert at Flora Springs. |
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| We found Dawg fans in Napa!! |
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| Georgia is everywhere! |
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| I also found a beautiful Episcopal church. |
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| Nicole found a massive pumpkin at an open market |
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| Worth and I at French Laundry |
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| Katie and Nicole at our dining table at FL |
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| A champagne to start |
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| First course |
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| This was escargot and something else - see menu in this group of pictures. It was divine. I never thought I would eat anything like this, and I devoured it. |
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| A hen egg pudding. Delicious |
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| Katie showing off her wine. We had plenty of it at FL |
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| Another wine |
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| Dessert |
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| Dessert |
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| Unbelievable night! |
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| McKenzie-Mueller winery |
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| Taking a stroll through the grapes |
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| These grapes are really sweet. You can eat them right off the vine. |
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| This is one way to keep the air moving over the vines when it's cold during bud break. |
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| Pinot grapes |
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| Chardonnay grapes |
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| views from the bus |
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| Large redwood tree |
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| A random Raven perched up high. |
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| Buena Vista winery. The oldest in the area. |
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| Sam leading us into the Bubble Room at Buena Vista. |
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| The Bubble Room! |
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| The guys had bets on who was going to knock this display of champagne glasses over. |
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| 1950s set up in this lounge that only served Champagne tastings. |
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| Those glasses were for our group. |
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| Pink bubbly. |
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| more crazy decorations in the bubble room. |
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| Megan and Jessica toasting to good champagne |
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| This is how most of us felt the day after our FL dinner. |
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| Nicholson Ranch Winery |
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| They had a small chapel on their property which was very hilly. |
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| Right now is harvest in Sonoma and Napa. |
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| Vineyards everywhere. |
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| Fog coming over the golden gate bridge. |
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| Our first spotting of Alcatraz. |
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| Getting off the boat on the island. |
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| typical jail cell at Alcatraz. |
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| The most notorious visitors of Alcatraz. |
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| We took an audio guided tour. Worth is standing in a solitary confinement cell. |
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| Prisoners were given crafts, instruments, and games to keep them busy. |
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| The bay. |
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| A view from Alcatraz to San Fran. This is what drove most of the prisoners mad. A vibrant city was so close to them. yet they couldn't get there. |
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| A breakfast menu from the last day the prison was open still remains. March 21, 1963. |
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| We got a quick glance of the sea lions that perch on the pier in San Fran. |
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| We walked up AND down the curvy Lombard Street. |
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| Just an idea of the hills we walked in San Fran. |
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| Our gorgeous group before dinner at French Laundry. |
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| If you are really interested, you can compare my pictures to the menu to see what we ate and drank. Amazing! |
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| At Cakebread winery, the first we visited. |
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| One of the biggest escapes in Alcatraz involved inmates putting fake heads in their beds. It was never clarified how they made these fake heads and what materials they used, but the inmates got out and have never been heard of to this day. It is believed they perished/froze swimming to San Fran. |
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| #tourists |
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| Our first stop on our segway tour. We had an authentic Italian dish in a liquor store of all places. |
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| Barbara at Benessere |
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| Flora Springs |
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| The wine room of French Laundry. |
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| Another picture of our dining area. |
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| One of our dinner wines |
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| Hot and sweaty but having fun. |
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| Learning from the proprietor of McKenzie-Mueller. Mr. Mueller himself. |
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| My people.We didn't purposely line up by height for this picture. |
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| Another great segway pictures. |
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| Kitchen at FL |
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| Words couldn't describe this amazing wine room at FL. |
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| The eggplant dish. One of my favorites. |
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| Us at the end of our dinner in the kitchen. Lit and happy. |
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| THE best croissant I've ever eaten. |
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| On the bus with Sam talking us through vines. |
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While the majority of the group did the segway tour, these 4 went on a hot air balloon ride over Napa. They said it was great!
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Baby Tift Shower
We celebrated the soon to be baby Tift in Monroe this past weekend with a small family shower. Anna and Amos are expecting their first baby on October 16th. They have chosen not to find out the gender, so it will either be Henry Harding Tift (Hardy) or Daily Kyne Tift. I can't wait to find out! I took Ellie with me to the shower while Worth stayed home with the other two who had soccer games Saturday morning.
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| We had the shower in a beautiful historic home in Monroe that is affiliated with the First Baptist Church there. |
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| Jessica and Haley |
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| Molly Grace and Ellie looking from above. |
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| Ellie Bean |
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| Ellie and baby Charlotte her 3rd cousin. |
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| It wasn't a big shower, but we were so thankful for those that attended. |
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| As with any Chancey family function, there was plenty of food. |
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| Anna got some great gifts. She is so ready to have the baby, but as of last Friday had no progress to report. |
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| The hosts and the honored guest. L-R: Haley, Ginger, Anna, me, Jessica. |
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