i will start by saying this...i had received this tomato in my co-op the week we left and it looked so delicious, i couldn't leave it at home to go to waste. i knew we could eat it in california. so he made the journey with me on the plane, in the car, to our rented homes, etc....you will see it in the background of several of these photos. it kind of became our traveling partner. his name was diego. it was a running joke...obviously :)
this is our view from our rented home in dry creek...the house was called bliss house...and it sure was!
this is at one of the wineries we visited...walter hansel...it is our favorite pinot noir...delicious!
the man, mr. hansel himself telling us about his vintage...
diego and his favorite wine...
chad was so excited to see walter hansel, he had to celebrate with some push-ups....
we took a bike ride through dry creek valley and stopped at several wineries along the way. we also went to dry creek store to pick up a picnic lunch that we ate at lambert bridge. most of us had fun...it was a little longer than what was expected...we actually witnessed allison get a little upset...which i had never seen :) she was done with the bike ride at this point if you can't tell :)
allison and me at lynmar
the 4 of us at another favorite winery...hanna.
our view from our rented house in point reyes.
chad relaxing while studying up on the birds he's going to see around this "wildlife sanctuary."
chad and diego enjoying the hot tub on our porch one morning.
we took a hike to tomales point where the tule elk reserve is...it was beautiful. we saw probably over 100 tule elk within yards...chad
wished he was hunting :)
wildlife we saw on our canoe ride in tomales bay
enjoying our canoe ride
we took anther hike to the point reyes lighthouse. it was beautiful!!!!
the girls...
matt and alli left on sunday and then chad and i had several nights to ourselves. we stayed at the most amazing place ever called mankas lodge in inverness. this is the front door to our room and you see the outdoor tub in the background.
my new favorite food and destination...oysters & a delicious sancerre at the marshall store & oyster bar overlooking the bay...amazing!
the truchard vineyard where chad volunteered for harvest
diego found his final resting place under a very old fig tree at the truchard vineyard. it seemed quite appropriate and i know he is happy :)
well the time finally came for chad and me to take our 2nd vacation without tyler!!! this time i was gone for 7 days and chad was gone for 16 days. fortunately for all of us, the lord blessed chad and me with a wonderful vacation with no worries about tyler and the ability to completely focus on US and tyler had a wonderful time entertaining both sets of grandparents. joining us on our little adventure was my cousin matt and his wife allison. we all spent 3 nights in a beautiful home overlooking vineyards in dry creek valley and then another 2 nights in marin county--point reyes--overlooking the coast. we drank lots of delicious wine, ate amazing food, hiked, canoed, rode bikes through the vineyards, laughed a lot, and even saw some really cool wildlife along the way. it really was the perfect vacation.
getting his standard cookie snack from grandad...yum
thanksgiving dinner
me and tyler with holly's donkeys
tyler was definitely intimidated by the large horses..but did manage to pet them just a little 
then i think he was a little worried about his hands after he touched the horse :)
we had a wonderful and relaxing thanksgiving this year...with just a little bit of craziness thrown in at the end just to keep life interesting :) we started off thanksgiving week in diana with chads parents for 3 days. tyler LOVED running around their property...he was in his element for sure. chad and i determined it's time for us to own some land...whatever that means :) nana and i had decided to have a thanksgiving of all new recipes and we ended up having a lot of fun cooking...and then eating. on friday, we were supposed to cut down our christmas tree in tyler as a family but came upon a slight detour when we filled chad's truck up with water...instead of gasoline. of course, we didn't know this at the time but the gas station had a water line break and this was the cause. luckily, my wonderful aunt holly & uncle paul, who live in tyler, picked us up and took us home with them for the day. chad ended up having to stay the night with them (his truck wasn't going to be ready until the next day) but tyler and i were able to drive back to dallas with zuzie (she had happened to be in tyler that day for holly's birthday...what a relief!!!) it was a nice little treat to spend the day with holly and the family. god was really watching out for us that day!!!! and just so you know, chad did surprise tyler and me with a christmas tree when he came home on saturday....christmas was saved after all!!!!
