sommelier in trianing

Noah is officially a sommelier in training.  He got his first taste of Napa at the young age of 4 months and loved it (parents of the year? I think so).  Ben and I talked repeatedly about going over the last few years and just never found time, so we decided we might as well go while Noah is so young and easy to travel with.  I was really nervous about the 5 hours flights and time change but shouldn't have been because, like everything else, Noah handled them like a champ.  We got so many complements on his behavior on the plane - he was happy when he was awake and slept a lot of the time.  When we got there we pretended like the time change didn't happen, which meant I was waking up at 3:30am.  The benefit was that wine tasting at 9am seemed totally appropriate along with our 5pm dinners.

Before we went I did a lot of research and found several family friendly vineyards as well as an excellent nanny service.  We took Noah to a few tastings and had a nanny 2 afternoons/evenings so we could do some tastings on our own and have a nice dinner.  We couldn't have been happier with our nanny, who was a female Hispanic version of Arnold Schwarzenegger.  We also loved a lot of the wineries we visited.  A few of our favorites were Elkhorn, ZD, Frank Family, Rombauer, Frog's Leap, Neyers and Artesa. 

Elk Horn



Cuvaison

Silver Oak



Neyers



Frog's Leap

Noah had the privilege of seeing Jake and Jocelin again and meeting our friend Leigh, who lives in San Francisco.  Jake and Jocelin joined us in Napa Friday night, and Saturday afternoon we all went to San Francisco for dinner with Leigh at Burma Superstar, which was amazing.  Speaking of food, Napa did not disappoint.  Granted we were starving by the time we got to dinner, but still, we were impressed by Bottega, Farmstead, Boon Fly and Bouchon.

Boon Fly Cafe

Artesa

Cuvaison

Things at home have been great too.  Noah got to have a play date a few weeks ago with Henry and Mads while the parents enjoyed some wine.  He also loves his nanny, Delaney, and I love having him here so I can see him when I take a break from work.  Unfortunately work has been incredibly busy, so I haven't gotten to spend as much time with him as I'd like, but I am hoping things calm down over the next few weeks.  Noah and Delaney started a music class, lap sit story time at the library and a gymboree class.  He apparently loves them all - he is the youngest one in the music class and it sounds like the bigger kids like having him there.  I am hoping I can take him sometimes if I can sneak away from work for an hour because they sound like the most fun things ever. 


Noah's nanny, Delaney

I could go on and on about the amazing things he is doing but figure pictures and videos (!) are more entertaining.

Highlights of the last few weeks:
- Wine tasting (for mommy)
- Seeing Jake, Jocelin and Leigh
- Jumping and playing in the exersaucer
- Sitting in the Bumbo
- Laughing
- Rolling over