Our Weekend in Napa

May 31, 2008
Nathan and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary on May 29th.

When we got married we decided to alternate who planned the anniversary each year so we could take turns doing nothing, and in turn, getting spoiled. This year was my year and it was a biggie as it was our first with a baby... obviously :)

I wanted it to be really special because our biggest fear is to lose our amazing relationship to the demands of work and children. We have vowed not to let that happen, but it requires work and conscious thought to maintain.

I started planning this trip 8 months ago, back in September. I asked my Mom if she would babysit that weekend so I could surprise Nathan with a weekend away. She said yes, which is just funny as I was still only 6 months pregnant! I made the hotel and flight reservations before Katherine was even born. The most amazing thing about this whole master minded plan is that in 8 months neither my Mom nor I slipped once! My Dad was filled in a month or so ago. I didn't tell anyone else really as the more people who knew the bigger chance a slip would occur and spoil the surprise.

I waited until the day before we left to tell Nathan. My parents had come up on Sunday. Nathan thought they were staying a few days and then on their way to Colorado, as they had brought the RV. Nathan and I went to Costco to go shopping. While there I asked him if he wanted to know a secret. He said yes, and I told him I didn't have to work the next 3 days. He was very confused as I'd set the expectation for weeks that we were going out to dinner on Thursday night (the 29th) after I got off of work. I told him I was taking him on a trip for our anniversary. He was super surprised and excited and asked where. I told him it was a surprise, but that we had to pack bags when we got home as we were catching a flight in the morning. The rest of the day he was super excited but also a bit nervous about leaving Katherine for 3 days.

Wednesday morning we got up and got ready, got the baby up for some snuggle time and to say good bye, and were off. We got to the airport and when I went to check us in (this is when Nathan found out we were flying into Oakland) the Kiosk couldn't pull up our tickets. We quickly discovered that our flight had left 2 hours ago! I had looked at the arrival time, not departure time! It worked out beautifully though, because by the time we got re-ticketed and through security we only had a 20 minute wait before boarding. If we had made the original time we wouldn't have been able to snuggle with Kate as we'd have to of left the house at 4am and we'd have been exhausted all day.

We got to Oakland, got the rental car, and headed to San Francisco to go to the Fisherman's Wharf. It was great. We ate lunch at Nick's Lighthouse, toured a WWII submarine, and went to the Aquarium. We then spent an hour stuck in San Francisco trying to get on the 101 North. What a nightmare their freeway system is! We finally made it out, with some help from the locals, and were off to Napa!

We got to Napa and checked into the wonderful Yountville Inn. It was beautiful, the nicest place we've ever stayed. The room was beautiful and huge with a fireplace, private patio, wooden beams in the ceiling, living room and mini-fridge (yea for the breast milk).

We had a wonderful dinner that night at an Italian restaurant with a live Jazz band. The next day we had breakfast out on our private patio and then headed down the road to rent bikes. We planned to go on a nice scenic route that took you in a loop around the wine country and then head back to the Inn to get the car to go to the various wineries. After about 40 minutes of amazing views and breath taking scenery I realized that none of the wineries we were passing were on our map. We'd been going on a down hill slope for about 15 minutes when we decided to pull over at the next winery and call the bike shop for directions. (Apparently we get lost in cars AND on bikes!) We were told "No problem, you're on the 15-20 mile loop." We said "Oh shit!" We got directions and kept on going as we were not about to peddle back up hill the way we'd come. We were un-prepared for this long ride, not only because we had no water and no sunscreen, but our bottoms were not accustomed to riding this kind of distance (I'm still sore if you're wondering). We made it back, and in good spirits, and headed off to V. Sattui Winery.

This winery was amazing... gorgeous. We bought some cheese, sausage, bread and had a wonderful picnic on the grounds. The we walked around, went down to the cellar where they store all the wine barrels, and then did the wine tasting. We had a great time and enjoyed ourselves immensely. We bought a bottle of red wine and plan on opening it on our 10 year anniversary.

Dinner that night was phenomenal as well, the most delicious food, in a cute restaurant, out on the patio. Nathan tried his hand at wine ordering, now that we were experts, and enjoyed a nice red.

The way back was a breeze, only one missed exit fiasco (not bad considering our track record) and the airport was empty. We were a little worried about the milk I'd pumped. After 3 days we had just over 2 Nalgene's full of milk! Clearly this is way more than the allotted 3 ounces of liquid, but they were all wonderful and it wasn't a problem at all. You just have to declare it to all security personnel before they find it.

We missed our baby, of course, but for our first trip away from her I think we did amazingly well! We called her when we got up, before bed, and once through out the day. I don't know if that's excessive or not, but for us it was perfect. My parents did an amazing job watching her and we appreciate it so much!