A big family Christmas - Part II

Howdy Folks!

Day 1 and our little cowboy was ready to go.  We found these awesome hats in the main house and if you've read Part I already then you know that there were just about enough for all of us.

The first two days of our stay were pretty darn cold.  So cold that we even got some snow!  Yes, we traveled from sunny California to be met with snow in Texas.  What is going on with this weather!

The first day the cold didn't bother us too much since we spent most of the day inside unwrapping presents.  I wish I would have taken a picture of the gift table.  It was ridiculous.  And yes, we had to find a way to get all those presents home.

I think it was at least 1 or 2pm by the time all the Christmas gifts were unwrapped and even Max was ready to take a nap.  Though our baby monitor reached from the cabin to the main house, Max was perfectly content to sleep in his "fort" in the kitchen.

Let me explain.

In the kitchen proper there was a small nook, enough for a twin bunk bed and nothing else.  It also had a curtain across it. (see the picture to the right)  So this is where max would sleep each afternoon and also play fort with Uncle Matt and Daddy.

Needless to say the child was quite spoiled this Christmas.  When you are 1 of 2 grandchildren on both sides and the other can't yet talk or walk, you tend to get very spoiled.  His favorite toy was the playdough.  Here's one of many pictures of him playing with the stuff.  Even now, we have to keep it hidden or it will be everywhere.  He especially loves the pusher tool in the lower left of the picture.

That night as we headed back to the cabin it began to snow.  Like, significant snow.  And in the morning there was a beautiful dusting of snow across the ground.  I had to sit Jesse down to take his picture.  His first snowfall!  I'm sure he didn't understand, but he sure did smile big.

Day 2 headed out to some wineries.  We were, after all, in the Texas hill country.  I cannot believe how many new wineries have popped up along 290 out by Fredericksburg.  There was no way we could even hit a quarter of them in our stay.

Because it was so cold, we focused on indoor places.  First we hit up Becker, then Grape Creek, then Woodrose. Although we would have loved to visit a few more, the low 40's temperatures kept us from enjoying the outside.  Also, we'd already purchased more bottles of wine than we could drink, so it was time to stop.

Back at the house we gathered for more play time, drinks, and lively (?) conversation.  Well, lets just say it was a bunch of tired adults and two very awake kids.

Our last day at the ranch the weather was perfect.  And it's a good thing too, because everyone needed some outside time.  Max loved playing on the swing set and enjoyed the bird blind too.  Jeremy, Matt, and their dad played basketball, and the rest of us sat outside drinking wine on the beautiful sunny day.  It was still chilly enough for jackets, but feeling the sun on your face was so nice.  That night Jeremy and I even left the kids at the ranch and headed out for a date night!

We had such a wonderful time at the ranch and we were sad to have to say goodbye to everyone.  In retrospect I wish we would have booked at least one more night at the place.

Austin

Of course no trip would be complete without a stop in Austin.

After our stay in Fredericksburg, we headed back to Austin to visit with friends and enjoy some good Tex-Mex and BBQ before we left.  We were so fortunate to be able to see so many friends in the short time we had there, and to those we didn't get to see, we will catch you next time!

Of course we also enjoyed some scrumptious meals at Hula Hut, Rudy's, and Torchie's.  It was so great to see our friend Mark for our traditional lunch stop at Torchie's and even more fun to be able to randomly text him with a "hey, what are you doing for lunch Thursday" message.    We also got to see our friends new little baby boy who arrived just in time for our visit :)  I'm sure he took us into consideration when he decided to make his debut.

Though it was nice to see everyone, it is great to be home and was nice to have a few more days to relax and adjust before coming back to work.  Speaking of work, I should go...

Check out the set of pictures HERE.  

A big family Christmas - Part I

About a year ago, Jeremy informed me that he wanted to have a big family Christmas.  At the time I thought he was crazy and perhaps had one too many drinks that night.  I reminded him of the hilarious, and oh to real, movie National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.  But he insisted, "It'll be great" he said.

A few weeks later and we were still talking about it.  A few months after that the Quiet Hill Ranch was booked for the entire family, just 30 minutes west of Fredericksburg, TX.  We were committed.

So the day after Christmas, we hopped a plane at 6am and headed down to Texas.

After some short delays and the very fortunate circumstances that allowed us to get a free SUV upgrade from Alamo (thank you), we were on our way to our first stop, Torchy's Tacos!

Living in California, I cannot begin to express how much we miss good tacos and BBQ.  Even my parents in PA miss it.  So much so that they stopped by Rudy's for BBQ before meeting us at Torchy's.

While we all arrived in Austin at different times, it seemed appropriate that our first family gathering would be at Torchy's.

After some quick eats, we loaded up the caravan (3 cars for 7 people) and headed west.  Second stop: Stonehouse Vineyard.

Now, we've been living in California for about a year and a half at this point and because we live so close to Napa and Sonoma we tend to head up there fairly often.  Despite the wonderful bold reds produced in California, I've always held a special place in my heart for Texas wines.  Texas is where I first started enjoying wines and visiting wineries.  A Texas winery, Flat Creek, is where Jeremy and I went on one of our early dates and it's where we got engaged.

However, somewhere in the middle of our first tasting at Stonehouse, I realized something.  I realized that I may have turned into a wine snob.  Even those reds from Australia, the sister winery to Stonehouse, just didn't taste that great to me.  They all tasted very smooth and fruity, not bold and dry like I was used to.  We even left without buying a bottle of their signature Tawney port!  Something has changed indeed.

With two bottles of wine in hand, it was time to head to Fredericksburg.  The boys headed to the grocery store and the rest of us headed to the ranch.

A quick note about the Quiet Hill Ranch.  This place is amazing.  Because we were four families we were able to rent out the entire place to ourselves.  4 cabins and 1 main house.  The cabins were small but cozy and the house was large and beautiful.  Very Texas, very open, huge kitchen.  Also, the cabin that my parents were occupying, #4, was a handicapped cabin.  I'm not sure how we stumbled upon a place so perfect, but it was awesome.  The grounds even had a swing set for Max and an enclosed bird blind for viewing wildlife.  I could have stayed for 2 or 3 more days easily.

By the time the boys got back from grocery shopping it was already 10pm.  For those of us coming from the west coast this wasn't so much of a problem, but for the east coast folks it was pretty late, and we hadn't eaten dinner yet.  So Dad and I threw together some chicken noodle soup, we all chowed down, and then headed to bed.

... To Be Continued with Part II