Wine Making Season In Lodi

Take four guys with a love of wine, families, living in wine country (Lodi appellation) and what does that leave you with???

FOUR WINE WIDOWS!

Well maybe just 3 since most of the grape crushing and fermenting is taking place at my house.
Here are some recent photos of the wine making experience. More will be posted at a later date. Any ideas for the wine name???????

Mike

Jason

John

Matt

Zachary

Vincent

Chris

Anne-Marie

Patrick

Jenny - The Wine-Widow

Jason and John crushing grapes.

The Lodi Grape Festival

Here's some pics from our Friday night outing at the Lodi Grape Festival.

Reptile exhibit

Swing ride.

View from top of the ferris wheel.

Our super heroes soaring through the air!

Zack in front of a tractor mural made of grapes.

Zack, Drew, and Joel playing with the Harmonatras.

Twinkle Variation A

The boys had their second violin recital yesterday. They both did the Twinkle Variation A (Bunny, Bunny, Hop, Hop rhythm to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) very nicely.

Our First Egg!!!

This morning I discovered our first egg! I don't know who the mother hen is, either the big white Zacky or petite brown Vinny. Here's Vincent showing off the egg and some updated pics of the girls. I'll have to post a Vinny pic at a later date.

Zacky

Brownie

Lindy

Zacky and Buddy in a face off.

More pics from Santa Cruz

Strange dude on the streets of downtown.

Carrots at the Farmer's Market.

Radishes

Edible flowers at the market.

Pedicure Anyone?

Last Hoorah Before School Starts Tuesday

We carpooled with Jason to his office in Mt. View. Then the boys and I drove on to Santa Cruz for a day at the beach and boardwalk:

Is eight enough???

You're an Octopus!

Thoughtful and reflective, you always appear to have tilted your
head slightly to one side. You like stretching out your languorous body wherever
you can, but not everything is always relaxed. You wear your emotions on your
sleeve and have a terrible poker face. And when you feel most threatened, you start
writing things down furiously. If there's a sucker born every minute, there's one
of you born roughly every day.


Take the Animal Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Rest in Peace Gramma...

Ione Mary Molloy

March 25, 1914 - July 26, 2007

5 Favorite Things That Begin With "S"

1.Songs
2.Sunflowers
3.Sandals
4.Silliness
5.Salad

San Francisco With My Bro!

Yesterday was a day spent in Japantown and Chinatown of SF. My brother is into Japanese culture and language. It was a first for both of us to check out Japantown. The restaurant was good but kind of funny how they had to triple check with me on my order because I wanted vegetable teriyaki instead of beef. You'd think in the city, they would have it on their menu or at least not be surprised if someone ordered it. After lunch we walked around, looking for Japanese reading material for Ray. We found a nice market with newspapers and magazines. After further investigation we happened upon a couple of nice malls. One had a large book store full of original Japanese books and translated American books. He was in heaven and wished he brought more moola.

Ray's Rice Bowl

Mall in Japantown

Soon afterwards, we made our way to Chinatown. We each found a souvenir or two. Ray bought a Chinese shirt. We walked up and down hills on Grant St. (the main drag of Chinatown). We decided to stay till night fall to see the lit red lanterns draped across the street and the lights of SF buildings.

Peace dude.

Gangsta Priest

Two different Asian cultures: Chinatown was so colorful and busy. I suppose it was busier because its in the downtown area. It might be more touristy too because of the flashy colors and people. Japantown was neutral with subtle details. The majority of people seemed Japanese yet in Chinatown there was more of a mixture of people from around the world. Beggars were on the streets of Chinatown, a lady literally pulled us off the streets into her restaurant. We were ready for a walking break and some food so it was good timing on her part. The hustle and bustle of Chinatown was more exciting but dirty and the stores started to look the same. Japantown was cleaner, more relaxing. I enjoyed both. I'm glad they were different from one another!
Grant St. in Chinatown.

The lady from the restaurant.

The landscape of Japantown.