Definitely feeling pregnant...

I've been super tired the last couple of days, I'm not sleeping well, I've been on the verge of a migraine all day, my back was hurting from sitting in the car today, then I got tired fast from walking around and I've had heartburn a couple of times this week (which is easily fixed by Tums luckily).

10 weeks to go...

Weekend in Napa

It's our second wedding anniversary tomorrow, so we thought we'd get away for a nice weekend away together since we won't have too many more chances to do that in the future for a while!

We decided to go to the Napa Valley since I haven't actually been there yet (it's the local winery region). We stayed at Gaia Hotel and Spa which is actually in American Canyon - about a 15 minute drive away from Napa - it's "The Gateway to Napa". It was fairly cheap, looked nice enough, and had massages there which I thought would be nice. It was also touted as an "Environmentally Friendly Hotel and Spa", and had a lot of environmentally conscious initiatives, so that was an extra little interesting thing about it.

Being a bit further out of Napa definitely wasn't an issue and the hotel was nice enough. It was more like a very classy motel than a nice hotel, but that was fine too. The walls were a bit thin, but the beds were comfy and we slept fine.

So we arrived Friday night, then on Saturday did absolutely nothing all morning. Slept in, then just lay in bed watching cartoons and reading. Went for massages at 11, then after that we decided to go for a drive into downtown Napa. We ended up going to a bunch of wineries instead! I wasn't drinking, so Andrew got to have all the wine and Napa is very different to other wine regions we've been to. They charge for the tastings - the first few we went to were all $15 for 3-5 wines, and you can't pick which ones you want to taste, it's a set "menu".

We found some cheaper ones though which had much better selections and a more laidback atmosphere, and would waive the tasting fee if you bought some wine. Andrew was beginning to feel pretty tipsy since it was nearing 2pm, it was hot, he was doing all the large portioned tastings and we hadn't eaten! So we went to Rutherford Grill for lunch which I'd heard very good things about. And it was a fabulous choice! Andrew had ribs which he claims to be the best ribs he's ever had - the meat just fell off the bone. And I had ribeye steak which was also delicious!

We went to another couple of wineries after that, got back to the hotel about 5:30pm and were both ready to sleep!!!!

Then today (Sunday) we went on the , which is a gorgeous old train that slowly makes it's way through Napa, then back again. We got one of the lunch options which was a 3 course meal and the food was once again divine! For most of the trip up we were in one rail car where we sat in lounge chairs and had appetizers served, then when we neared the turnaround we got seated in the dining car where the 3 course meal was served, and we finished dessert not long before we got back to the station.

Everything about the weekend was wonderful and relaxing and just how we wanted to spend our anniversary weekend. We also came home with 16 bottles of wine, so our wine rack is nice and stocked and should keep us going for a while (especially since I can't really drink anything at the moment, and won't be able to for a while!

And here's the wineries we REALLY liked:

Baldacci Vineyards - I think $5 for tastings, but they waived that if you bought wine. They ask for reservations for tastings, but we walked in on a recommendation from a couple we met at another winery, and they were happy to accommodate us. We bought a Gewurtztraminer and a Syrah (Shiraz) from there.

Miner Wines - $10 for tastings, and they served 5 different wines, all of which were very good and I'm pretty sure he didn't charge for the tasting since we bought wine. We also asked if they had any Shiraz, which wasn't on the tasting menu, so he opened a bottle for us to give us a tasting of that as well which was very nice. Andrew's not a big Merlot fan, but their Merlot was very good - we got that, a Sangiovese and a Viognier from there.

Whitehall Lane Winery - also $10 for tasting, and had I think 5 wines which were also very good - one of the few to do dessert wines. The wines were very tasty, and they also waived the charge since we bought wine. We got 3 bottles there also including 2 of their Belmuscato dessert wine.

BV Wines also get a special mention because we just wanted to try their Syrah, which wasn't on the tasting menu, so the girl opened a bottle for us to try and didn't charge for it which we thought was nice...

Note to those who haven't been - I recommend paying for one tasting between 2 people since the servings are pretty big and visiting a larger number of wineries. There's guides around which have the prices for tastings, so use that as a guide as well. I grabbed one and will scan that sometime soon and link to it for those who want to check it out.

Note to self

Must go here for dinner sometime - CreoLa Bistro looks like it's got lots of authentic, yummy looking New Orleans style food.

Only in America...

Right near the ranch we were staying at, there was a small private airport. There's a small housing estate next to the airport which has streets wide enough to taxi your plane down. So people can fly in, and drive the plane right up to your plane sized garage next to the house. Crazy!!

Weekend at a ranch!

We joined our our friends Eric and Katie at Eric's mum's house for the weekend. She lives on a 200 acre ranch out past Sacramento. The property is owned by Eric's grandfather, who also has a large, beautiful house on the property.

The houses were gorgeous, there was a couple of ponds there, one with a deck and gets dredged and cleaned of weeds and so forth so is great for swimming. They've got a sweet 18 month old German Vizsla who was a sweet, energetic lap dog and Eric's sister was also there with her 3 month old Labrador. The 2 dogs were great fun and had a great time playing and wrestling together.

On Saturday we drove out to the local river where there's little rapids to swim in. The water was clear, fresh and cool, and just what we needed given the temperature was 30+ degrees!

Sunday we had breakfast at the local country club and looked at the local multi-million dollar homes. After we got back, we went for a walk, then jumped in the pond for a paddle.

Overall it was a fabulous weekend, nice and relaxing, great company, and lots of laughs watching the dogs playing!

Here's some pics!

The river



View from the top of a hill on the ranch



Cuddling with the dogs - they were both lap dogs!



Floating at the pond

Uni results

Got my result last night for my computer subject for uni and....

I GOT A HD!!!!!!!!

I can't believe it. I've never gotten top marks for anything before I don't think. I'm pretty darn pleased with myself :-D

So I got 91.5/100 and 95/100 for my 2 assignments, and 100/100 for the in class activities (you got full marks just for completing the work), and for my final exam I got 79/100. And that was with completely skipping 2 questions worth 15 marks total. So if you exclude those 2 questions, I got 79/85 - almost full marks! One of the questions required definitions for a hub, switch, router and something else and I had no idea. I knew Andrew would kill me for not knowing those.... ;-) I can't remember what the other question was now...

I'm so excited... Now hopefully I can keep up the higher marks - I got B's for my last 2 subjects, and drag my GPA up a bit more.

Awesome cartoon

I've found this awesome cartoon strip called Baby Blues. I've been going through the archives having a good giggle. This is my favourite so far :)

Milestones!

I have now less than 100 days to go on the pregnancy (98 until the due date), and I think I'm now officially in the third trimester. Different websites and books have different dates, but I've got 3 months and a couple of days until the due date, so that's close enough for me :)

Here's a new belly pic as well! And yes, terrible posture, I know. I must work on that....



Things are still going well, the little guy is kicking and jumping around lots - he's a very active little boy!! He's waking me up at about 5:30/6am every day with his morning exercise routine. Andrew and I love to just watch my belly ripple and jump from his movements :) I haven't had any major problems with the pregnancy so far. The worst thing has been occasional heartburn, but a couple of Tums fixes that within minutes. I'm constantly tired as well, but not working gives me the opportunity to nap on an almost daily basis. I find if I don't get my daily nap, I'm absolutely wrecked by the end of the day. It's taking me a while to get to sleep at night, and I wake up at about 3am often (possibly from the kicking), and again at 5:30ish, and I don't normally get much more sleep after that since Andrew gets up and ready for work, so the nap is definitely needed!

We're starting to plan strollers, car seats, and the last bits of furniture that we need. We still need to get rid of the queen sized bed in the spare room so we can convert it to a baby room, but I believe we have a couple more visitors over the next month, so we'll wait until they've come and gone before we get rid of the spare bed.

It's all very exciting :)

Who needs a Kwik-E-Mart? I doooooooooo.....

Twelve 7-Elevens across the US have been rebranded as Kwik-E-Mart's for the release of the Simpsons movie and we're lucky enough to have one just down the road! WOOHOO!

They've got Squishee machines, pink frosted donuts, Krusty-O branded cereal, Buzz Cola, Radioactive Man comics, Kwik-E-Mart branded Esky's and a bunch of other fun things.

I'm going to head back tomorrow to pick up some more Squishee collectors cups, try and find the Radioactive Man comics and some other bits and pieces for myself and some friends back home.

Here's some pics from our outing!