Polo at the Point

This past weekend we stayed home for at fun event called "Polo at the Point" in Fairhope.  I had no idea that people played Polo on a regular basis down here, but this event is put on every year to raise money for different charities and Ben's company was one of the title sponsors this year.  Friday night was the "Player's Party" with a band, dinner, and drinks.  Then Saturday we just watched football and cooked out with friends all day (ugh, sad about Auburn's season, and Alabama's game was a nail biter, but Ben was certainly glad they pulled out that blocked kick for a win!).   Sunday, was time for the all day Polo event.  We got all dressed up in our Sunday's best and headed out to the Polo fields! It was a gorgeously clear but little bit chilly day!

my momma & daddy came too!

Ben (far right) & his coworkers handing out the trophies to their winning team!!!!

Fall has Arrived

Our weather finally changed and it was time to break out the jackets last Friday.  All of a sudden after our usual 80 degree days, we had temps dropping into a low in the 40's!!!  I guess you could say it was a welcome change, because we were headed up to the hunting camp and its always fun to sit around the bonfire and bundle up in warm jackets.  My parents were up there already and we joined them Friday night, then just rode the Bad Boy Buggy and 4wheeler on Saturday throughout all the property getting it ready for hunting season.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and as we were sitting in one of the fields and Ben was training Harper,  I couldn't help but get out my camera and snap these pictures...

if you look really hard, you can see Ben (and in the 1st picture, Harper's tail) in the green field and gorgeous blue sky.

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Later that afternoon, Ben and I headed up to Tuscaloosa for the Alabama vs. South Carolina football game.  We met up with Ben's parents and brother Adam at the SAE house before walking to sorority row to check out all the Homecoming decorations.  We stopped by the Phi Mu house, Ms. LeJean's sorority:

before going up to the game!  It was SO cold, and I originally was wearing a dress and tights but had to change into pants and 2 COATS! You never feel fully prepared for just how cold its going to be the 1st cold weekend of the season, and this was no different.

Way Too Many Wines

Our highly anticipated family vacation to Napa has come and gone and I feel like I am still recovering!  The 8 of us (Momma & Daddy, Natalie & Stephen, Rachel & Hollis, Ben & I) enjoyed 5 days of incredible California scenery, delectable food, savory wines, & hilariously fun company.    I do well with schedule and order so I'll go through our trip in the order that it happened (BEWARE: this is probably my longest post ever)! :)  

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The beginning of our trip didn't quite go as planned... here's the long story: Wednesday morning Ben and I had a 6:30 AM flight out of Pensacola, it was delayed leaving because of weather in Atlanta (but it was gorgeous in P'cola). So we sat in the airport for an extra hour before we boarded the plane thinking we would still make it to Atlanta in time to make our connecting flight to San Francisco.  Then we sit on the runway for another hour and it become apparent that there is no possible way to make our connection  (I am talking to Rachel the whole time who is in Atlanta and aware of our situation to pass on to the rest of the family).  When Ben and I finally arrive in ATL, we find out that the next flight from ATL to San Francisco won't get in until 4pm (rest of the family arrived in SFO at noon)... and that it is FULL! So Delta puts us on a flight (leaving IMMEDIATELY) from ATL to DALLAS, TX (weren't planning on going there today!) and then from Dallas to San Francisco!  What a whirlwind!  With a few more inconveniences (the tram in ATL not working, having to run to the next terminal, and our flight from Dallas to SFO being delayed too!) we finally made it to San Francisco.... but THEN our bag wasn't on the plane with us!  Luckily our bag made it on another flight 20 minutes after us, so we waited for it, and got in a taxi to take us to Napa to meet up with everyone else.  Of course this taxi driver had never driven to Napa before so he didn't know the best way to go... but the important part was, WE GOT THERE (6 hours late)!!!!  so let the fun begin :)
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on the Dallas TRAM... decided to smile despite the craziness

The first night we went to dinner at Bistro Jeanty, where they have the most delicious Tomato Soup (and I'm not even a big fan of tomato soup)!

We were very fortunate to be able to stay at an incredible house called the Baldacci house at Baldacci Family Winery b/c my parents did a house swap w/ some friends out in Napa where they got to stay at our beach house and we got to come stay here!

Thursday morning we headed up the mountain bright and early and at our first wine tasting at Erna Schein/Behren's Family Winery at 9:30 AM!  This was such a fun time to visit Napa becuase it was CRUSH where the grapes are coming off the vines and they are in the process of crushing the grapes to become wine (in a basic sense... of course it is much more technical than that, haha)... last time, when Ben and I went to Napa in March, the vines were dormant and there wasnt much to see, so this was a great experience (you can see out last trip here).

Next we went to Sherwin Family Vineyards, right down the road.  The setting here was gorgeous with a quaint little house overlooking a lake:

we got a little picture happy here

Next went to Fisher for lunch and a tasting with Scotti, who Ben and I met last time we were out here.  The hospitality program they have to serve a multi-course lunch outside while tasting their wines, is the way to go, I think!  We visited the caves right before lunchtime too!

Next we went to Barnett... I mean, you just can't beat all these amazing views every place we went!

And our last stop of the day was at Fantesca (the owners of Best Buy! such nice people).  Rolling hills & a fun place to sit to look at it all!

That night we enjoyed an early dinner at Rutherford Grill before heading back to the house.  You can imagine after going that strong all day long, it was nice to go to bed a little bit early at night!

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Friday, our first stop was Cakebread Cellars where we did our tasting in their courtyard/garden area:

Then we went to Caymus.  This was the first winery Ben & I went to last time we were in Napa and we have always loved their wines and their Barrel room is so impressive!

For lunch, we went to the "famous" Mustard's and all enjoyed hamburgers.

Next we went to Darioush, where I didn't get any pictures (it was a short stop).

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Then we were on to Del Dotto, an impressively built/decorated winery that was the show stopper of our last trip here.  It didn't fail to impress once again!  Compared to other wineries, here you get to taste the wines straight out of the barrel instead of out of the bottles.

goofy kids trying to ruin our picture in front of the fountain

We had such a good time there, that we decided to cook dinner back  at the house instead of going out to dinner.  So we headed back to our house on the hill:

and sat out on the porch, cooked steaks, watched TV, had a little MORE wine, and enjoyed our early night in!

Saturday morning, we headed up a different mountain to Viader... who had some of the coolest dogs (almost every winery had atleast 1 dog, all so diverse!)

Our next stop was pretty unique because they are primarily known for their Champagne, rather than red wine like the rest!  Schramsberg was a fun experience with a new perspective of bottles aging in the caves rather than any barrels.  It was also a pretty romantic tasting setting!

After this tasting we were pretty ravenous & scarfed down several pizzas for lunch at Pizzeria Tra Vigne before going to Duckhorn for our last tasting of the day (no pictures there either).

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Our last night there, we went to Reynolds Family Winery's Fall Harvest Party (they are the people who stayed at my parents' beach house) & had a great time enjoying the music, wine, & dinner.  

Sunday morning came very early because we all had to drive back to San Francisco.  So Ben & I said goodbye to the awesome view we had awoken (is that the correct word?) to every morning,

then we all headed to San Fran, driving over the Golden Gate Bridge (Ben's 1st time):

seeing Alcatraz (from afar)

and the seals on Pier 39

all before going to the airport together to head back home!  We packed so much stuff into those 5 days and had such a great time!  I highly recommend a trip to Napa!  If you made it to the end of this, the longest post ever, I commend you! :)  

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If you haven't had enough, the REST of my pictures from Napa are here!