Just another snowy night in St. Charles

This blog comes to you as the snow/sleet is gently tapping on my office window. We just received that most magical of phone calls, "There's no school tomorrow!" Ahhhh, the joys of being a teacher in Missouri where the fear of the weather produces days of freedom! Today, we had rain which by mid-day was freezing... by noon less than half of our student body was at school. Pretty amazing! As a kid who grew up and attended school in Detroit, I find all this hoopla pretty incredible. In 18 years of life, I never saw a single snow day.... perhaps this is another sign of how life is different today than in the "old days!"

So enjoy the photos of my grandsons.... Gabe is in a superhero mode right now. I think he'd live in these Spiderman jammies if he could. Both shots were taken while the boys stayed with us in November.

Asher Goes Barefootin'

Asher's Walking! I copied this video clip from Kate's YouTube site! Wanted everyone to see how totally cute the little guy is!

So much to be thankful for...

We spent the Thanksgiving holidays with the grandsons in Wisconsin. We had a marvelous time! Great food, great weather, great fun. A highlight of the visit was being there to celebrate Asher's 1st birthday. And after we left for home on Sunday, Asher took his first steps...what a great time!

The Vintner and his Products

The labels for our wines came out beautiful... I highly recommend Lightning Labels out of Denver, CO! Here's a shot of all four varietals with their full caps and labels on them. Had to add this photo of Ed the night we finished working on the tasting room. Here's to a great venture!

Rolling Meadows Tasting Room

Thought some of you might like to see what the tasting room looks like at the winery. It's very cozy and it worked great on our opening weekend!

Rub-a-dub dub... Asher's in the Tub!

Asher and Gabe have spent the past 11 days at our place, and it's been a totally special time for us. We have been on several adventures. Asher has been all smiles for the whole time! Gabe has been the best big brother ever! We have been to Chuckie Cheese together, had dinner at Bob Evans, and just had loads of fun.
One night at the vineyard, Asher was getting ready for bed and we realized we only had a shower. No problem, we did have washtub.... (mostly it gets used for chilling beverages) so we filled it with bubbles and the little guy had a blast. Their parents come home tonight... I guess we'll have to give them back.

Why Dogs don't drink

Chas has a little "secret". He can't hold his wine.... but you can see he enjoyed the grand opening of the winery as much (or more) than anyone. Fortunately, he also doesn't drive, so mostly he just makes a good ad for Greyhound Winos Anonymous.

It was a busy weekend.

We held our grand opening for the winery this weekend. Both Asher and Gabriel were with us for the special day. Over 60 people came out to see the vineyard and taste Ed's wines. It was a great time and very special to see so many people at our farm.