Wine Country Weekend

All I wanted for my birthday was a trip to wine county in Texas. I'd been hearing about the charming town of Fredricksburg since we moved to Texas and it was on my Texas bucket list.  

My dad happened to be in town around that time and it was the perfect opportunity to sneak away for a birthday trip.  

When we headed out we started looking at the route and realized we'd drive right through Dripping Springs, TX where my new favorite vodka was distilled.  Vodka and wine trip makes for an even better birthday!  We had an assortment of drinks at the Deep Eddy's distillery before making our way on into wine country.

The terrain starts to change quite a bit as you enter into Hill Country.  It looks so different from our little corner of the world to be only 2 hours a

Fredricksburg is a cute little German town with wineries you can walk to door to door among other touristy shops and restaurants.  We spent the evening there since we could walk from our hotel.  

The next day was Sunday and since the wineries opened a little later, we made a pit stop in Luckenbach, Texas.  It wasn't quite what I would have expected but now we can say we have been!  

Next stop was the most famous and likely our favorite winery.  Grape Creek is one of the largest in Fredricksburg.  We took the tour of the grounds and learned a bit about their wine making processes before going to the tasting room to sample a few of their latest blends.  

We got to try several wines aged differently straight from the barrel.

I really enjoyed seeing the vines growing along the hillside.  

But what I really loved is 24 hours with this guy and a couple glasses of vino!  

This view was spectacular.  Perdanales Vineyards boasts the best views in the Hill Country and you can see here why!  

The last winery we visited was a newer vineyard called compass rose.  The customer service there was superb.  They had a great patio and even a friendly mascot!

On the way out, we happened upon another distillery.  This time it was whiskey and Jason couldn't resist stopping.  Garrison Brothers is now one of his favorite whiskey brands!  

We headed home but vowed to come back again, even bringing the kids to do a little more exploring of the nature around the area.  It was a great way to celebrate my birthday!  

Christmas Break is a Beach!

It's the day after Christmas.  It's also 88 degrees.  Everyone has the day off and we have literally shopped till we dropped.  Living in South Texas gives us the luxury to choose to go the beach for the day.   With Nana and Pawpaw in tow, we packed the car and cooler and headed to Galveston, oh Galveston!  

We stopped at our favorite resturant waiting for the intense fog to burn off.  

We took the ferry over to Crystal Beach where we could drive on the beach.  The fog didn't burn off.  It got worse!  It was so think you could barely see your hand in front of your face.  It didn't phase us one single bit.  I wasn't really planning on Lillian swimming but I should have known you can't take a kid to water and NOT let them swim.  Isn't that some old saying or someting...

We had the best day playing in the surf, laughing at the fob in our hair and collecting on our eyelashes.  We had the ENTIRE beach to ourselves.

So this is what December 26th looks like

in Texas!

Elf-capades

It isn't Christmas without a little Criddle and Twinkle to sprinkle a little magic and mischief into the season!  The kids are always thrilled when the elves show up and make breakfast. This year was a little later than in years past, I think they got hung up making some last minute toys in the North Pole and had to work a little overtime.  

When they came, they brought breakfast for both the kids AND themselves.  They brought tiny little elf sized donuts that were a big hit among the deFoor kids.

The elves even brought pjs for the children AND special matching pjs for Lillian's Bitty Baby.  She was a little overwhelmed at first but she quickly learned to jump up and look around for the elves until she found it.

The elves were clearly overworked in the North Pole this season and their daily antics showed their lack of motivation sometimes.  They are also getting on up in age and we all know how things slow down when you are over 30 (in elf years of course).

Yep, he had to make one appearance this season.  Lillian knew better than to touch the elves.  She did it anyway and Lincoln was devastated. See, Lincoln remembers what happens when you touch the elves and he was trying to protect sweet Lillian.  He's a mean one.  Mr. Grinch.

Can we talk about how adorable this is and the fact that it came with bribe money is epic!  Lincoln has the sweetest heart and it's easy to see what people love so much about him!

Lincoln and his dad were growing Crystals and the elves were very interested in the expiriment that was going on on top of the fridge.  I just hope they don't report the dust level up their to Santa.  I'll be on the naughty list for SURE!

The elves brought their pet reindeer to stay with us this season as well.  The best part of it is he CAN be touched.  Lincoln and Lillian took turns sleeping with him.  He left the same night as the elves but we hope he will come back with them again next year.  He was soft and cuddly.

These two crazy kats can get themselves into some tight spots!!  

I really loved this!  Even the elves think I'm pretty cool.  This was after I helped the trio build their gingerbread house and decorated it even more after they went to sleep!  I'm happy to see the elves noticed my effort and gave me a personal shout out in Candy!  I'm gonna bet Jason would disagree with them many times but it's written in elf candy, I ROCK!  

The elves usually end up with a cold at some point in the season.  This year their illness required bandaids.  Well, nothing other than elf bandaids would do!  

Then there was the day that we woke up to Snap, Criddle and Twinkle.  They gave Crackle and Pop the day off and they stood in on the cereal box!

They left us with a SUPER messy message of "see ya next year" on Christmas Eve morning.  Some days I'll  miss those guys and some days I'm glad they aren't coming back for 11 months!  They make me tired!