The End of February

Well, it has rained practically every weekday in February. Last year I would have been pulling my hair out with my horrible class, but I haven't really even noticed the rain this year!


Janet came up this weekend and I took her to a great place in town, Buttercream Bakery! We went for breakfast and it was packed. A great place in Napa for breakfast.

Afterwards we went upvalley for a little wine tasting. Stopped at the easiest winery to turn around in! Ha ha. It happened to be Robert Mondavi. A little more touristy than we usually do, but beautiful! I asked if they did Napa Neighbors, which most wineries do, and they stopped it. Napa Neighbors is usually some kind of deal that varies at each winery, that they reserve for people who live in Napa. But, the man was nice enough to do it for us anyways. Robert Mondavi is huge and beautiful, it looks like a big mission, and a great place to sit for a while.




Once again, this past Sunday, it was raining again. So, Donnie and I had trouble even getting out of the house, but I managed to convince him to take an outing to pick up some of our wine. We're members at Madonna Estate Winery because Donnie works with one of the family members. A great winery when you're driving into town in the Carneros Region. Our wine wasn't even ready (wrong month) and they didn't even have us on the list (seemed they had the wrong list). But, at least if you're members, while you're there you can taste all of their wines. And I mean ALL of their wines. So, we might be trying to pick up our wines on the wrong month again!

Balloons in Napa

It seems people in Napa are sometimes whiney. It's like life is easy enough here that they have to find something to occupy their time. Like complaining about the ballooners.

Personally, I absolutely love seeing the hot-air balloons on any given morning. Sometimes at school in the mornings, when all of the kids are lined up for the flag salute, anywhere from 5-8 can be seen in the sky. Yet another reason to love living here!

Donnie can hear them in the mornings on the weekend. I still laugh when he says, "balloon," when we're waking up, and I don't believe him. But, every time we run out into the yard and without fail is a hot-air balloon near our house. I don't mind it and love seeing them whenever this happens. I don't even hear them and would never hear them without Donnie pointing them out. But apparently, people get furious with them in the country. I happened upon a blog devoted to bashing the ballooners.
Citizens for Safe Ballooning

I guess I have never experienced what these homeowners have. But, I still think I would be understanding if a hot-air balloon had an emergency landing near us.