Napa Valley Road Trip

Grandma Jo took all of the girls in my family, except great granddaughters, to Napa Valley, California for a five day spa get-away.

I wondered if we would see Andrew Firestone from the Bachelor, but we didn't, we didn't even see his winery. Oh well, we still had such a great time relaxing and eating AMAZING food! It was so wonderful to sit down at the table and not get up once until it was time to leave. I didn't have to cut anyone's food or watch for anyone choking. I didn't have to clean up spills and best of all, I got to eat HOT food!

I had uninterrupted conversations and I got to sleep in as well as sleep all night. I didn't change any diapers, although I did have to go to the local hospital and rent a breast pump because the manual one I brought along did not work, ouch! I got to hang out by the pool and sit in the hot tub without getting splashed on.

I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the day spa! I can officially say, I am addicted! We had such a great time being pampered with pedicures and all kinds of massages and scalp treatments and facials and body wraps. We had a great time relaxing in the hot tub and drinking lemon water and eating fresh fruit. It was so peaceful just to hang out in our robes and sit by the fireplace with nothing to do and nowhere to be.

We rented a bus and visited some of the vineyards. If you drink, you can pay $10 at each vineyard to sample their wine. The views and landscaping were amazing!

I convinced my sister to rent bikes with me and tour the area. She hasn't been on a bike since she was 9 or 10 so she was really hesitant at first, but I finally got her on the bike. After about a mile she finally got the hang of it, but the first mile?

Oh man, I haven't laughed so hard or for so long! She was so afraid of crashing that out of nowhere, she'd scream, "SISTER"! Most of the time it was because she thought she was going to fast and wasn't sure how to stop.

At one point she very seriously asked me why her handle bars kept shaking? We had a good, hard laugh when I told her it was her that was making them shake. She almost gave up and tried to hitchhike back

but eventually she got the hang of it and we ended up riding 22 miles! We even stopped and ate a few grapes along the way!

We missed some pretty big events while we were in Napa, like Gram's 55th wedding anniversary and Burt's 37th birthday and Candice's 3rd birthday but we celebrated with them in spirit! Happy Anniversary Gram and Gramps and Happy Birthday Burty and Candice!

I had such a great time with my family. It was so fun to just be silly girls together and eat and shop and take pictures and share memories and laugh together. It was so much fun to be roomies with my little sister again, oh how we laughed, even when I fell asleep on her during a pretty significant conversation, oops! We all live in different states or cities and life passes us by so quickly that I'm grateful for the chance I had to slow down and reconnect with my family, especially my sister, we had a blast together! I also have the sweetest, most loving sister-in-law ever and I'm so grateful to you Sage, for missing Candice's birthday to hang out with us. Gram thank you for making this all happen, like you said, "it's probably a once in a lifetime opportunity", so thank you and I love you! Thank you Tara and Lindsey for all your hard work planning our schedules and making all the reservations, our trip was a success! I had a wonderful and very relaxing trip but I wouldn't trade the quiet, single, carefree life for my loud and crazy family EVER, I missed them so intensely and I'm glad to be home!