One more week.

My weekend went by fast. We drove to Tyler on Friday when Chris got out of school. We loaded up Brandy and our laundry, grabbed dinner from the Watsonburger (yes, a real place that's not very good) and headed towards Tyler. The nice thing about being in Sherman is that Tyler is only about 2 hours away. Thus, we don't use a lot of gas and right when the trip starts feeling like it's taking forever, we are there!

Usually, when we go to Tyler, it's a weekend of laying around, playing cards, watching movies and visiting. This time, I decided to shake things up a bit. I tenatively planned going to a winery called Kiepersol Estate Winery and then playing bocce in the park on Saturday. So we got up, I went running and then we had breakfast. We started off our little adventure by going to the winery's tasting room that located in Tyler. There I met Chad, the tasting bar manager. He told me a little about him while my in-laws and Chris looked around the shop, where they not only had their wines but other Texas wines. Chad told me about his 23 years experience of teaching and when I exclaimed that he looked so young (he did indeed look 35 at least), he told me all about his Botox trade he does with a surgeon where he brings the wine and gives her a massage in exchange to Botox injections.

Then we tasted some wine there. Chris really liked the Tempernillo and I really liked the Syrah. But we actually wanted to visit the vineyard, which was located about 20 miles out of Tyler. So we loaded up again and went to the vineyard.

FAN.CY.

This place was gorgeous. It being a beautiful day, we went on the patio with our tastings and discussed what our picnic options were while overlooking the vast acreage of vineyards. This place has 51 acres of vineyards. 51!! In East Texas!! It takes work, money, prayer and more money to keep vines alive in East Texas. You have not only to deal with Pierce's Disease, but with mold, mildew, rot, etc...

The rest of the wines I tried were fabulous! They only had one white, which I thought was a little odd, but it was Semillion, one of my favorite whites. It was good, but I prefer Semillion to be aged sur lies in oak, it gives it a more round, creamy flavor. This one hardly had any finish but was real clean and crisp.

The 3 barrel reserve merlot was excellent as was the Sangiovese. Chris got a bottle of the tempernillo from his parents as his birthday present (it's this upcoming Sunday!) and I purchased a bottle of the Sangiovese. I think we will have it with pizza this week.

After deciding on Subway, we went to the park and had lunch. The day was gorgeous! Absolutely clear, bright and high in the low 70s. Chris introduced Ben (brother in law), Noble and another guy from Tyler to the game of Bocce. The little girls, the nieces, were also enchanted with the game. When the toss was over, they would race to the sitting balls to pick them up and they were the official holders of my ball and of Noble's. Sometimes we would let them throw the white ball and they loved that.

After that, I ran with the girls to the stage of the amphitheatre of the park where the girls ran across the stage, showing me the Peter Pan ballet moves. They saw the ballet the day before.

Then we all went back to Karen and Noble's house for rest time before having dinner that night. We had crab legs! They were good although a little hard to eat.

Sunday was a lazy day, we slept in, went over to Chris' grandparents for lunch, visited Jennifer and Ben in their new home and then loaded back up and drove home.

And basically as soon as we got home, I went to bed since I have one more week of getting up at 4am. Thus, I didn't have time to download the pictures I took this weekend (which I didn't take as much as I should have). So, when I do, I will re-edit this blog and put in the pictures. Fun!

Today I have a lot to do. I work until 10am, then I am going to workout, and then I will be doing schoolwork until at least 5 or 6.

Have a great Monday everyone!
Michelle

PS Here's a picture I do have of the little girls from about a year ago. They are sitting with Noble (or Bobo), Chris' dad. Katy is on the left and Lyssa on the right: