Wine and Waterslides with Heather

Heather took advantage of the long holiday weekend to come for a quick visit.  We had just finished our hardest and most exhausting week of the summer at VBS and having Heather at the end of it was a grand celebration!  As always, Heather is up for adventure, so we packed her 4 days with as much fun as we could!

First stop was at Ella's gym so she could show Auntie Heather her world.  Though she is not a lover of heights, Heather was an amazing sport, allowing Ella to show her the ropes and not taking too long to make it all the way up the walls!

Delia was able to get in on the climbing too!

Ella is at the gym almost every day.  She's enough of an expert that they pay her to teach.  But still, I had not visited since she first started this hobby and I loved seeing how much she's grown as a climber this year!  See that tiny speck on the ceiling in the above pic?  Yep, that's Ella.  She flew right up there!  And no, you don't need to rotate the picture below.  It's Ella who is upside down!

Heather's second day was spent at the water park-- our favorite summer tradition!  We lazed in the river, we surfed waves, we climbed a million flights of stairs, we raced, we braved the big, scary, dark slide, we got stuck, we tried to set Delia up with a cute lifeguard, and we screamed for our lives when we were sure our family raft was flying straight off the water slide walls!

We had the best time and plan to keep this outing in the books every time we are together in hot weather!

Heather's third day was a bit more relaxed.  We explored a new-to-us wine country, doing a little tasting, picnicking, and bookshop browsing.  One winery specialized in sparkling wines and we thought it was fun to taste all their unique flavors-- pomegranate, peach, and almond being some of my favorites.  Made me think of Moira Rose's funny fruit wine commercial! ;) IYKYK.

Of course Delia found all 5 bookshop cats while we found a pile of used books to buy!

This day ended with good eats!  A friend recommended we try her favorite waterfront restaurant, Boathouse, which was pretty and delicious, but a little chilly.  We then drove to the nearby Ghirardelli Factory for our dessert where fancy hot fudge sundaes and hot chocolate warmed us right up.  

Heather's last day was church, 3rd of July BBQ, Jackbox games, campfire, and sparklers.  Auntie Heather got to know Ben, as together we all we roasted marshmallows. listened to patriotic playlists, and laughed till we cried about hilarious Jackbox creations like Smacky Cracky Stucky, Drunk Madonna's cones, and Jazz Hands Church.  Don't ask me to draw a vacuum cleaner or Heather to draw a tongue!  Haha!!

We love you, Heather!  Thanks for making time to visit us and for giving us a reason to squeeze so much summer fun into 4 days!