Bold Rockers

As fate would have it, Bold Rock Cidery opened when I arrived in Virginia.  I dislike beer, I enjoy most wine, and I LOVE hard cider.  So I was slightly excited to hear that in between the microbreweries and wineries someone had built a cidery. Caroline, Andy and I went to investigate as soon as someone recklessly offered to watch six children.  The owner gave us a tour and it's a pretty fascinating story that we were thrilled to hear about on the air conditioned part of the tour.  Anyway, our part of the story is that it's the best cider we've ever had and I bought four cases since it isn't distributed outside of Virginia yet.  I should say that I bought a six pack for Sean so he isn't wondering where the rest of it went.  Come on, he isn't going to be home for ten weeks still.  That is like 70 days, right?  Oh dear, I better slow down because the rate I've been going I won't even have 6 left.  Maybe I should just delete this post.

 Anyway, here are the delicious vats of cider.  My camera was on the wrong setting.

 This is an expensive piece of machinery.  I kind of want one.

Slightly out of focus banners in the non-air conditioned tasting barn.

Caroline mulling over the choices.

How much room do I have in the Acadia?  It's going to be tight.  I could always fly some kids home with their bags...

This was towards the end, we look so happy, so oblivious to the total chaos awaiting us back at Stoney Creek.  My photo with Andy was blurry, again, wrong setting on my camera, but there is a shot of all three of us on their facebook page.  John told us we were his favorite tour group.  Of course we were, it was pretty clear that I'm going to be a big customer.  Don't quite have the cash flow to be the big investor he is looking for to build the restaurant part though.  Cheers!

Random fun at Nana's house

 Once in a while Emily just does something that makes her look like a big girl.

 ND versus SBU corn hole game thing.  Patrick declared himself the winner with every single throw, even if he had to go up and put the bean bag in the hole directly.  He was pretty good at it though, I see potential for corn hole hustling at tailgaters.

Megan thought she was the winner too.  Sorry, I forgot the trophies!

Poppers with Pops

 Popper distribution by Pops.

 Slam them down.  Emily would jump at the same time for added oomph.

 Don't eat it!

 Whoa, watch this one.

 Kind of into it...

 Hmm, what's the weather like in Tokyo?

Fourth of July poppers were a huge hit of course.  And no one popped them between their fingers or put them in their mouths or ears, so I was happy.  Pops and Uncle Joe were caught on their smart phones though.... I know some videos were being sent to Sean though so that's allowed.

Fourth of July, Wintergreen Style

While traditions are good, I think it's better to mix it up once in a while and make different memories so all the holidays don't meld into one memory.  Remember the time we went to the club to see fireworks? Five years in a row?   The only way I keep all those memories separate is by if I was pregnant or not and which kids were with us.  Well, no one will forget this year, definitely different.  We sat out on the ski slope with thousands of other people, listening to the live bands, eating too much kettle corn and red, white, and blue Italian ice (hence the blue faces), and then watched the best firework display we've ever seen.  Patrick was very enthusiastic about it, such a great age.  He had to describe every single firework to us and most of them were GIANT!  Or Christmas!  (Red and green).  Most people thought he was a charming four year old.  Anna thought he was beyond annoying and she kept asking us to shut him up. It was such a great show that I didn't want to miss any of it while looking for my camera so I didn't get any photos.  We all know what fireworks look like, right?

Anyway, here are some random photos from the evening for poor Sean who missed all the fun:

Blue lips

 Kids dancing with the band.  Connie did take Emily down there and put her on stage which confused her.

Some of the crowd

 Anna loves all the older cousins.  Here she is talking Cailin's ear off.

 A brother and sister not fighting.  Is there hope for Anna and Patrick some day?

How innocent does he look??

 Here he is staring down this girl because he wants her to get off the swing and give him a turn.

 A little down dog on the blanket.

 Discussing going to dance with the band.

Megan insisted on bringing her Kindle to keep her busy while we waited for the fireworks.  She was reading by glow stick at the end when it was dark.

Operation Tire Out Boy

It wasn't foggy but it was steaming hot!  And my camera lens fogged up.  But that didn't stop Patrick from demanding all the attention he could from the unsuspecting Lowry Crew.  I always tell the kids to stop competing over every little thing and I remind them that I don't have any trophies to hand out.  Well, if I did have a trophy Joe would get it for outstanding effort in the heat.  Not only was he shagging balls for golfer Patrick but he then turned it into baseball with golf equipment.  Considering how much Sean and I do not umm, appreciate baseball, it was alarming how well Patrick did hitting like that.  And then while waiting hours for the fireworks to start up on the mountain, Joe played a game where Patrick would race into him and then he'd lift him up in the air.  Many, many times.  I was relieved to see Joe walking around normally today and not in extreme back pain.

Blogs collide

After years of watching the Finnegan kids grow up on their blog it was surreal to finally meet them in person and have them hang with my kids, their self-declared new best friends.  Here are some photo highlights:

Emily and Avery have to be best friends because they match.

 Patrick and Parker both share an excess of energy so Garrett arranged some races down the long length of the house and they would slam into the front door, where Patrick would declare himself the winner no matter what.  Slight competitive streak.  Or personality.

Patrick teaching the girls the fine art of ruining every photo you are in.

 Poor suffering Garrett... he put up with a lot of littles.  Next time we will bring the girls and they can discuss Star Wars and Harry Potter.

Patrick attempting a normal smile.

Carrie and I on our way to Cabana for a child-free meal.  Kevin wins Man of the Year award for the endless babysitting he did for us.  The next day we took the girls shopping with us and he entertained all the boys and then took them out to a movie alone after we decided the girls weren't up for it.  No idea how I could ever repay him other than bring Sean next time and let them go do some man stuff.  Both guys are on a golfing hiatus so maybe they will want to go shopping?

Driving driving driving

The littles and I avoided most the mistakes made six years ago when I drove the big girls at these exact ages to Michigan while we waited for our first Kansas house to finish being built.  I didn't get them milkshakes to spread all over themselves and the inside of the vehicle, instead I made them shovel them down in the restaurant at least.  I also got much faster at pit stops so as to keep up the Cannonball Run style trip I was aiming for.  Made record time getting to Nashville (I raced against google directions, 12 hours, whatever google, I did it in 10ish), thanks to a wide open left lane.  Numerous times I would see what appeared to be an evacuation going in the other direction, making me wonder what I was driving into, hurricane?  More like extreme heat but I can assure you that I came from extreme heat so I don't know where they were headed.

We had the best weekend in Nashville.  Krauts and Stouts live in the most fabulous neighborhood near Vanderbilt, walking distance to coffee shops and restaurants, including Taylor Swift's favorite one that we gorged at on Saturday night.  I keep forgetting to tell my girls about that as they are obsessed with her right now.  I must say, egos have to be different in a big city where celebrities live.  Will I offend big fish in small towns?  Pretty sure those types don't read my drivel blog and everyone else knows exactly what type of person I am talking about...  Big cities give you perspective on many things.  Anyway, the Finnegans have the nicest house I've ever been in, a new house built to fit into their historical neighborhood.  Amazing details and if the kitchen had been white I would have plotted a way to make it mine.  So instead I will use it for inspiration.

Parker/Patrick and Avery/Emily are so much alike I was afraid of what would happen when they combined.  Lots of energy to say the least.  When mine discovered the third toy area at bedtime I thought they might explode from excitement.  They were frantically racing around trying to see everything before I could drag them out of there.  I assured them they had two whole days to play with it but they were taking no chances.  Lots of races and sword fights and jumping on an air mattress.  I expected them to sleep all the way to Virginia on Monday but no such luck.  Emily had slept four hours on the way to Nashville so I had high hopes.  I think we are feeling the pain of sleep deprivation today, crabby kids.  They have also been terrible eaters, mostly feasting on fruit snacks, so that doesn't help either.

The drive wasn't as bad as I expected but perhaps I am just used to verbal abuse from the children.  I ignored their demands when they were screaming at me but only because they were strapped in and couldn't punch me.  Such darling children.  Emily is talking more these days and now I remember why I wasn't concerned about verbal delay which she probably has.  Yes, because now she can say things to me like, "poopy diaper on mommy's head! hahahahaha!"  Over and over and over.  Apple of my eye.  Patrick finds her hilarious of course.  I found that I was rather dazed when we'd make a stop and I'd encounter people who were living their normal lives, not one trapped in a screaming car.  One time we stopped at Wendy's and Patrick screamed all the way from the car to the restaurant and when we walked in everyone turned to see what the racket was.  Patrick had the decency to be embarrassed and he stopped crying long enough to get in the bathroom where he let loose on me again, obviously not realizing that people could still hear him.  Wow, all that because I wouldn't unlock the car door and let him shut it again after I shut it by accident.  It was 112 degrees on a black top parking lot, are you kidding me?  I dragged them to the a/c as fast as I could.  OCD tendencies are ignored when it's that hot.

So we are in Virginia now, reunited all four kids, fighting has resumed.  We will get into our condo up in Wintergreen this weekend where we can enjoy some cooler temps.  For now we are down at Stoney Creek and more family is on the way for the 4th of July celebrations.  The girls are sad to not be with their Manhattan friends for fireworks and party at the club but we are making new memories.  We certainly need the distraction this year with Sean gone.  Sean is missing us of course, even worse when we are with his family, but he at least has tomorrow off and the USO has brought in some pro football cheerleaders.  Not the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders but considering the female situation over there no doubt even the Viking's cheerleaders are appreciated.  I am holding out hope that the Kenya medcap will be cancelled or postponed and maybe Sean can catch an earlier flight home.  I would be happy if he just avoids going to Kenya though, not looking good over there.  Enough for now, I will post photos soon.

p.s. My house has nothing of value in it and I have retired neighbors all around who are watching it, in addition to two house sitters and an alarm.  If you still feel the need to break in, please appreciate how clean it is and if you mess it up I will be pissed.