Aunt Amanda's California Vacation

May ended with a visit from Aunt Amanda!  We picked her up from the airport and headed into San Francisco for the afternoon.  Amanda had been wanting to head to Haight Ashbury to replace her missing tie-dye from our first visit there with our parents (over 10 years ago)... so, we went and had a nice lunch after getting new hippie tees.  Andrew and Amanda bought matching shirts (which we somehow never managed to get a picture of them together in). Afterwards, we headed to the Golden Gate Bridge, where we freezed our tushies off, but got a few cute pictures!

Before Aunt Amanda even got her bags to her room, she gave Andrew his presents - a Phillies outfit and a Baby Elmo book... he loves books, and he loves his Aunt Amanda even more!

 

The next day we headed to Napa Valley. Mike and I had both been there before, but not yet with each other.  Mike went there on a romantic trip with Josh Russell post high school, where they took a gondola ride to the top of a mountain at Sterling Winery.  Love kidding him about that... of course, my trip included a romantic hot air balloon ride during college - with my parents and Amanda. So, needless to say, the "romance" of Napa Valley has still escaped us, since this trip included a 9 month old and a Sister (-in-Law).  Despite that, we had a great time getting lunch in Napa and then visiting two wineries - V. Sattui and Beringer.  V. Sattui was a mob scene, with hundreds of people picnicking beneath the trees. Surprisingly, Beringer makes more than just White Zinfandel... and some of it's not half bad!  It is the oldest continuously operating winery in Napa, and we took a short, but interesting tour (2 wine tastings were included). 

Andrew making friends at V. Sattui

                                         

The Beringer Estate

In the caves at Beringer

Central California had not a parade in site to celebrate Memorial Day... that is except for the parade of cars headed to the orchards.  So, we embraced our new Cali culture, and followed the crowds and picked cherries - Andrew's new favorite fruit!

Peek-a-boo!