Friday, May 9, 2014

Weekend Get Away

 Our 5 year Anniversary is coming up.
To celebrate Joe and I decided to head out for a long weekend trip.
At first we considered an all-inclusive in the Bahamas,
but after having difficult finding all inclusive flights that worked with the times we needed and difficulty staying in our budget we decided to look for other options.  

My parents had agreed to watch Collin from Friday morning till Sunday whenever.  
We had friends who did a Bed and Breakfast in Charlottesville, VA which was unique because part of the B& B was a wine tour on Saturday.  
After looking at reviews and doing some research,
we decided this would be the perfect long weekend.  

Friday morning after dropping Collin off at my parents we headed to Charlottesville.
It was about a 2 hour drive.

We stopped at Trump Winery.


I have been wanting to go to this winery because it is one of the few wineries that lets you taste sparking wines.  
The inn keepers had told me that this was not a winery they took us to on Saturday so it was on my to do list. 
It was an amazing day- nice and sunny and cool.
We did a tasting out on the patio- $7 a person to taste 7.


We then decided to get a bottle of bubbly and celebrate because we had nothing else to do on a beautiful day.  





We stayed until about 4 pm when we headed over to the B& B to check in.
Our room was cute and just what we needed.
We check in and then check out and took a serious nap.

Around 6 pm after having a glass of wine and cheese on the Patio,
we headed downtown where on Friday's they have concerts.  
We got a small bite to eat at the SkyBar and then headed down to the concert.  
Very relaxing and enjoying evening!

Saturday, we woke up ready for a fun and relaxing day.  


We started off with an amazing breakfast!!!!


Then spent some time relaxing. 




We then headed out on our winery adventure.

Our first stop was King Winery.  
The tasting fee here was $7 per person.
They had an excellent Rose and Dessert Wine!



Then Pollak Winery
Our tasting here was free.
The wines here was ok- they had a nice patio which was great for relaxing.  
The Inn Keepers packed a nice cheese/meat spread for us.
With Chocolates!!!


Followed by Grace Estate Winery.
This winery was a huge mansion at the top of the hill.
Wonderful views.
This place had the best reds.
Free tasting here if you purchased a bottle. 





Last was Stinson Winery.
This place was nice and relaxing and had an amazing white!
Tasting her was also free if you purchased a bottle of wine.  



We left for the wineries around 11:30 am and were back at the B&B by 5pm.
The inn keepers drove us around in a van which was comfortable. 
We took a little nap and then decided to head out for dinner.

The B& B owners has a lot of recommendations for dinner, they sent us a whole list in fact.  
I forward this list to a friend who actually went to school at UVA for his input.  
After the B&B recommendations, and our friends, we decided on Mas Tapas.
If you know me- I love two things 1) Mojitios and 2) Tapas. 
We headed out about 6:30- Mas Tapas does not take reservations so we had to wait about 45 minutes to sit outside.  
It was worth the wait!
The Mojitios were wonderful and the food was amazing.
We ordered 6 different tapas which consisted of Papas Bravas, Bacon Covered Dates,
a Pork dish, flatbread mini pizza, and dessert.

It was an amazing dinner for $60!!!!

We headed back for a relaxing evening.

Sunday we awoke to another amazing breakfast and then headed back home to pick up bug.  

It was amazing to get away and have some adult time with wine and good food!








Wednesday, May 7, 2014

I hit the TARGET....


First off it is NURSES Appreciation week!

It is also Teachers Appreciation week.

Do not get me started on the fact that we have to share the same week and lots of places are doing stuff for teachers but not for nurses.... urrrrrr.

Anyways, I was looking for something cute and easy to do for Collin's teachers.
He currently has three and I love them.
I know he is totally ready to move on to the next class- hopefully will be moving any day, 
but I will miss his teachers.
They are awesome and just totally great with him.  

So I asked my friend, who's mom is a teacher for some recommendations and she sent me this Pinterest Link.  

I fell in love with the idea and went to work making it my own-
i.e using stuff I already have and a template that I found on the computer.
I put three of them together for his teachers.



It is a Target gift card with a little note from Collin that says,
"I really hit the TARGET with getting YOU as my TEACHER!
Happy Teachers Week!
Thank you for taking such good care of me,
Love, Collin David Hecker"

And then printed out another two pictures to put with a bag of chocolates for his old classroom (he still visits his teachers there) and the front desk staff.  
I changed the wording a little.




 They turned out great and it was super easy- less than 30 minutes and 5-10 of those minutes was trying to get our wireless printer to connect.

Happy Teacher week....

AND NURSES TOO!!!

Monday, May 5, 2014

Agua.... please

Collin is constantly babbling now days- most of it does not make sense.
But in the last two weeks more words have started to flow.  

Bird


Apple
Which I am accrediting to the play fruit he received

Blue Berry

Blue

Owl
......
and....

Agua
Seriously!!! 
Collin's teachers at school speak Spanish, which I personally think is great and encourage them to speak to him in spanish as the earlier he is exposed to it the better.
So Thursday he came home saying- Agua when ever he wanted water.
We have been trying to say agua and water so that he learns it has two names but it is "agua" to Collin.