Labor Day Weekend, 2010

First, I’m a loser.

Today is Jeff’s, my older brother, birthday and of course I kept telling myself to call him and I got interrupted about a million times and its just now 10 PM, I am sitting down and thinking and here I remembered…I didn’t call Jeff!!!! ACK.

Too late now, he’s one of those hit the hay early kinda guys.

sheesh.

I’ll have to call tomorrow. Better late than never, I guess…Oh wait, that’s my motto! ha.

UGH.

Anyway, how was your labor day?!?

Despite the fact that I didn’t get to go to Florida with Brandon, mine turned out just fine. 🙂 I mentioned on Saturday that I decided to take the kids to my parents. That was a good decision, as they had a blast and I enjoyed getting some much needed rest.

My mom just returned from Englad where she was there visiting her family and the kids hadn’t seen her for several weeks, if not a month. They were so excited to see her! She brought back all kinds of goodies from England {*ahem* Gollywogs, Elisha! ha} and the kids were in Heaven. Also, my dad’s cousin Shelby, his wife Joyce and their son Steve were up for the weekend from Southern California.

My dad and Shelby own and operate a vintage midget racecar. Its so adorable and if you follow Evy’s Tree at all, you know that the race
car inspired a little boys hoodie called “The Ronnie”. The Ronnie will be making a comeback this winter, with a little special twist, I hope! Anyway, it has special meaning and I hope to tell you all about it sometime soon. But for now, here is the racecar, Jake, my Dad and then Shelby {on the far right}. They are cousins, not brothers, but don’t they look like twins?!? These pictures were taken in front of my parent’s guest cottage.

Please forgive my little man in his PJ’s. When we woke up that morning, the property was filled with that WONDERFUL thick morning fog that Sonoma County gets so I quickly bundled my kids up and started out for a walk in the fog. We didn’t get very far as my dad and Shelby were out working on the midget and I couldn’t tear Jake away. He was so excited he had on his Ronnie hoodie, so I ran back inside to get the camera and by that point, the beautiful fog was gone. 😦 I was kinda bummed I didn’t get my chilly walk.

Anyway, ignore the PJ’s is the point there. Ha.

So our walk…we took a hike down the hill and down my parent’s driveway, which is lined with Kendall Jackson vines.

This is from the driveway looking back up at my parent’s house. So beautiful. Notice the “baby grapes” as Jake calls them. It’s almost time for harvest. Harvest time is so wonderful, you can almost smell the grapes in the air.

I would venture to say the majority of vineyards are cared for by migrant workers. Sonoma and Napa Counties have a very large influx of workers who are here strickly to work on the vines. Most land owners allow the migrant workers to grow a lovely garden somewhere on the property, and as long as the owners get some of the fruits of it, the workers can plant and grow pretty much whatever they want. These corn were planted by the migrant workers who oversee these beautiful vines. The garden is filled with tomatoes, squash, onions, etc. Jake was so excited to see corn grown right by the driveway.

The property that my parents live on was once a giant ranch {over 600 acres} that was entirely at one point a cattle ranch. It was called the Jamison Farm and was farmed by the Jamison family. The property goes back to the late 1800 and is one of the oldest farms in the area of Santa Rosa where my parents live. My dad bought the ranch from the original owners over 15 years ago and has since subdivided the land, handing portions over to the Kendall Jackson company. This barn is one of the older barns {there are several original on the property, but I don’t think this one is} and was on the homestead of the property…it is just gorgeous. S
ome old vines grow up the side.

And of course, true to his oppositional ways lately, I ask Jake for a picture and this is what I get…

Much better this time

On Saturday night, I took the kids over to my dear, dear friend Heidi’s house. Jake LOVES her kids. In fact, he tells everyone he is going to marry Emma Love, Heidi’s daughter. Here are the three musketeers…and Evy in the background, bless her heart. ha.

And Emma with her little brother Jude {who is a walking miracle, more on that someday} and Evy.

All day Saturday, my dad worked on building me a rack to hang my hoodies on for our Ladies Retreat that is coming up this weekend. I have a booth and I needed a rack, so of course, instead of buying one, we build one! yikes…that was a lot of work. ha. I’ll get some pictures of the finished product this weekend.

Bless my Dad’s heart, I love him.

And on Sunday night, it was hotter than a pistol and perfect weather for a swim. Acutally, my dad doesn’t believe in heating the pool {no joke, he doesn’t believe in air conditioning either, I know, crazy} so I didn’t brave the fridgid water, but Jake and my dad did, and it was so cute. My dad was pretending to be an alligator that was eating Jake up and they had so much fun.

It actually brought tears to my eyes as I remember being Jake’s age and my dad doing the same thing. He always had those big hands that would pop out of the water and scare the life out of you. ha.

The view from my parent’s pool, seriously stunning.

And again, they could not have had more fun.

Well, that was my exciting weekend. Despite missing Brandon terribly, we had a wonderful time. I hope you all did too.

xoxo