The season of pumpkins!!!

Wine Tasting in the Dry Creek/Russian River Valley

We took advantage of a sunny, warm day in the Bay Area to visit wine country.  Napa and Sonoma are the most well-known of the wine regions in California, but there are so many others including the Russian River/Dry Creek Valley which we had yet to visit. Our first stop of the day was to Mauritson Wines. Mike said their cabs were so-so, but at least we had a nice view.  



Grapes were almost ready for harvest.



Lake Sonoma

Our second and last winery stop of the day was to Seghesio Family Vineyard near the adorable town of Healdsburg. This winery was recommended to us by one of my co-workers.  Mike enjoyed it so much that he purchased a half case of their wines.



We stopped for lunch in Healdsburg at Willi's Seafood and satisfied our sweet tooth with a trip to the local candy/ince cream shop.  Clearly, I was in heaven....sugar and an unfathomable amount of Halloween decor in one room...love it!

  

As if eating ice cream isn't bad enough; they top it off with a chocolate straw!



Fleet Week

Mike and the rest of San Francisco are obsessed with Fleet Week when the U.S. Navy comes to town for a week of naval festivities that concludes with a two-hour air show on the afternoons of Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This year included a special bonus because preliminaries for the America's Cup (sailing) were held the same week. 



Gig' em'!  Mike and I proudly wore our maroon.  After the air show, we headed to a bar in the Marina that the SF A&M Alumni Group has claimed on game days.  And we won! 

 

Blue Angels!



All about the the punkin' munchkin!

You've probably already guessed who the majority of the pictures feature from here on down. BRILEY! I last saw Briley in July when she was almost 7 months old and she was just starting to sit up on her own.  She couldn't even crawl!  Well, now she's a mobile lil' thing at 10 months!  Briley can crawl faster than I can, and she can pull herself up to a standing position as long as she's holding on to something. She has many more teeth and knows to smile when a camera is in her face. Briley just keeps getting cuter and cuter!



It's hilarious to see her stand on those super short legs and tiny feet!

 



She giggles while she swings.

 

Love this lil' girl!



Briley's first trip to a pumpkin farm!



Briley loves her mom!



I know...this picture is so sad, but I can't help but crack a smile at her lil' fit.  She did NOT want to sit on those pumpkins and she made sure to let everyone know!

 

Yum, straw...

Going on a hayride...yeehaw

 

Feeding the donkeys...Briley thought this was hysterical.

This duo has the cutest faces!



Papa and Nana...heading out to celebrate my mom's birthday.

 

The girls



The kids....don't you just love how Briley knows to smile at the camera...cracks me up!



Briley really enjoyed the live music at the restaurant we ate it.  She sat in my brother's lap facing the band just staring at them.

Nom, nom.....pumpkin

 

Aunt Erin can't wait to see you again soon!

Don't forget who will always sneak you some sugary, delicious sweetness when you're old enough to have sweet treats! :)

A Great Start to the Fall Season!

Hike Around Ross Lake

While it's chilly in the city year-round, it's warm and sunny when you cross the bridges.  So, we're making it a goal to spend our Saturdays exploring the Bay Area while obtaining some needed vitamin D. :)  The hike around Ross Lake is located near the town of San Anselmo in Marin County about 30 minutes north of San Francisco.  My co-worker told me about the hike, so we decided to check out it last Saturday before heading home to watch the Aggie game.

The boys....Toby always has to lead the way.

It's hard for me to believe a view like this is only 30 minutes outside the city.
While hiking, we felt like we were in Tahoe!

 

I had to zoom in on the above picture for you to appreciate Bella's "smile".
She's happiest when she's ouside walking in the sunshine.



Massive Redwood trees are scattered around the lake.
The enormity of these trees still gets to me every time I see them....breathtaking.



Apple and Pumpkin Pickin'

My favorite season to bake is the fall...not surprising given I'm such a fanatic about the holidays. I love all desserts that contain apples, pumpkin, ginger, chocolate, peppermint, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  The Bay Area is home to countless farms, so when I googled "apple orchards" and "pumpkin farms" I found several options just north of the city and to the west of Sonoma County.  We decided to visit Twin Hill Ranch which is located in a tiny town called Sebastopol known for its wine region that produces chards, syrahs, roses, and pinot noir.  After a stop at the apple orchard, we ate BBQ at a fantastic lil' place, and then went to a pumpkin farm.



Time to pick some apples!  I love that they gave us cute lil' red pails to collect our apples.

 

The orchard was pretty large.  Twin Hills Ranch primarily produces apples for juice, but they also run a small bakery focused on apple goods.



So many apples on the ground.



We learned that an apple is ready to be picked when it easily comes off the branch when you touch it.



So many apples to choose from!

The apples we picked!  Only cost us $7.00....$1/lb...pretty sweet deal!



We ate lunch at Smokehouse BBQ in Sebastopol.  Delicious!

 

We've arrived at the pumpkin farm called Peter Pumpkin Farm, which is also a dairy farm that produces cheese.

 

The farm had many expectant cows due within the month.  These large kennels are lined up waiting for newborn calves.

 

The farmer told us to visit his calf born 30 minutes before we arrived.  So, we walked up the farm road to where he housed his cows and this is what we found!!!

And here are the pumpkins!  This was our first visit to a real pumpkin patch...so fun.

I found the perfect one!



To pick a pumpkin from the vine, you just twist it.

 

Before we left the farm we stopped by to take a peek at the calf again.
She had moved much closer to the fence and was curious about us.

Mama standing guard.



The lil' thing tried walking through the fence...she was precious!



Here is the apple pie I made with the apples we picked from the farm.
It's a recipe from a Junior League cookbook and it was delicious!



Here's a close-up view of the leaves I cut from leftover dough for the crust.
I was pretty impressed with my first-ever apple pie to make!