Monday, October 15, 2012

Arrington Vineyards

Last night we went out to Arrington Vineyards.


The vineyard is only about 8 miles from our house.  On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings, they have Music in the Vines.  It's a free event and there is live music being played.  You are encouraged to bring a picnic and purchase a bottle or two of wine.

The band was called 9 Volt Romeo - they were great background music as we explored the vineyard.


It was supposed to rain on Sunday but it never happened.  So it was not crowded at all.  The weather was perfect for us - a little cool, breezy, and overcast.


A rare family photo :)


My mom and I did the wine tasting while Brian watched the boys (no kids in the tasting room!).


The tasting is free and you get to pick 4 wines to taste.



I really liked 3 of the 4 I tried and I'm not a wine drinker.  Though I'm starting to enjoy it more.

My mom purchased one of her favorites for us to share.


I had packed cheese and crackers and we ate and drank at one of the picnic tables above the grapes.

Carter provided the entertainment by dancing on a huge rock next to our table.


When the wine was finished, we headed down to the vines to explore some more.



There weren't many grapes but Carter was so happy whenever he found some!



We headed out after about an hour and a half.  On the way out, I made the boys stop for a quick photo.


We all had fun and are looking forward to returning soon!


Saturday's Fun

We had a super busy day on Saturday.

We started the day off by going to Touch a Truck in Thompson Station.  Brian stayed home but my mom and I took the kids.  We got there just before it officially started at 9 am and were able to do a ton with no lines at all.  Last year when Brian and I took the kids, we got there later and the lines for all the trucks were super long (especially for the construction vehicles).

Our first stop was face painting.  After Carter's good experience with getting his face painted the night before, he was willing to do a full mask of Spiderman (though the woman that did it wasn't very good at all!).


Carter was thrilled though to be Spiderman!

Next we stopped by the painting station and painted little cars.



And then it was off to see some trucks and collect more free stuff!  First was a backhoe.


Mr. Independent was able to climb in all by himself.





Rylan decided he was independent too and climbed into the bulldozer on his own.




The boys love cement trucks.  We see a lot of them in our neighborhood since there are still a lot of houses being built.  Whenever we see one while driving, there is a lot of screaming and pointing going on in the backseat.  Both boys were excited to sit in a real cement truck!



The party bus was a little scary but the boys loved the poles in it.  It was a little gross in there though.



The FedEx truck was much better (in my opinion)!


I locked everyone in the "paddy wagon".



Carter loved running up and down this trailer.





We left Touch a Truck around 10:15 am to head over to Carter's soccer game.  Brian met us there and brought all the stuff I forgot (like soccer balls!).  Carter's team only had 6 players show up (with one of them not playing) so we had to modify the teams a little bit.  I had 3 of our boys on my field against 4 boys on the other team.  Since Missy only had 2 boys from our team, the other team gave her some boys so they could have a more even game.  Ultimately it worked out fine.  The team we played the week before had the same situation with a lot of their team missing and we had to reorganize teams.  It's all good though because we just want the boys to get to play as much as possible and have fun - which they did!  And Carter scored 2 goals!  He was SO PROUD.  Carter has been standing back just watching a lot lately.  I've been trying to encourage him to get in there and be more aggresive.  Nothing has been working so before the game I told him it was okay to push some.  And he did - the other coach even told him once to keep his hands down!  So my advice helped Carter score but hopefully it doesn't turn him into a "dirty" player (we already have one that pushes everyone constantly!).

After the game, my mom and I took the kids to a Brentwood Fire Station (they were having an open house on Saturday).  We've recently read some books about firehouses and there was a new Handy Manny episode about firemen so Carter was really excited to go.  We got to tour the firehouse and see were the firemen hang out between calls and where they sleep.  I think Carter really liked it!




After the Brentwood Fire Station, we headed downtown for Oktoberfest.  The festival was okay - it was really crowded and packed into a small area which made using the double jogger really difficult!  After getting some beer (Spaten) for my mom and me (what else do you do at Oktoberfest!?!), we headed over to the children's area.  It was adjacent to the largest stage and we listened to music for awhile.


 Carter is really random sometimes :)


There were free pony rides and Carter was very excited about getting to ride one.



Rylan wasn't really interested in riding but my mom put him on anyway.


He wasn't too happy about it!


Carter really liked getting to pet his pony.


After enjoying some more music and snacks, we waited in line for balloon animals.  The line was long and I was worried that the kids would pop their animals right away (as they did the only other time we've gotten them), but they are still doing well 2 days later.  These are some amazing balloons because the boys have not been gentle with them!



Saturday was super fun but I think we are still recovering from fitting so much in!  It doesn't help that we haven't stopped since my mom got here and still have a lot of fun stuff planned!

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Self Portrait

Another of Carter's self portraits ...


Saturday, October 13, 2012

Turtle Anarchy Brewing Company

My mom flew in last night for a visit so Brian and I took advantage of our free babysitter and did another brewery tour this evening.  I came across a Living Social deal for Turtle Anarchy Brewing Company a few weeks back and got two tours with souvenir glasses and samples for $8 total - can't beat that!  The brewery has only been in business since July but they are in a bunch of local restaurants or bars already.  According to the brewmaster, they can barely keep up with the demand.  I can see why though - their beer was great!

We had signed up for the 5:30 pm tour and since we were a little early we decided to get a sampler in the taproom.


We got the basic sampler which included their 3 year round beers and one rotator.


The brewery is in an office park but once you are in the taproom, you forget about that.  It's not huge but pretty cool inside.  I thought this set of canvases was really awesome ...


The brewmaster did the tour and we actually learned a ton.  The brewery only has 4 fermenters so far but they have plenty of room to expand, which they plan to do soon.

After the tour we decided to try the stout sampler.  I'm finally becoming a fan of dark beer (or at least craft dark beers!).  The most interesting was the Smoke & Mirrors which is made with dried chipolte peppers and cinnamon.  It was a bit too flavorful though - I'm not sure I could of done a full pint of it.  A sampler size though was perfect.


The souvenir glasses are pretty cool:






We are both big fans of all the beers made by this company.  I'm sure we'll be getting one soon at a restaurant that has one of their beers on tap!