Napa

I'm way behind in blogging, but I'm trying to catch up!  So April 16-18 I went to Napa Valley for Brooke's bachelorette trip.  If you can believe it, it was actually the first time I have flown by myself without a friend or husband.  I absolutely love flying.  I never get bored of the feeling of lifting off the ground and looking out the window for most of the flight.  Everything looks so small and insignificant...but not in a depressing way...in a calming putting-things-in-perspective way.  I think I should have been a pilot.

We met up in Oakland and then drove to Napa.  I think Napa might be the most beautiful place I've ever been.  The pictures I took don't really do it justice. We went to a bunch of wineries, but my favorite was Kuleto and the runner-up was Artesa.  They were my favorites because of the architecture and landscaping; I don't know if they have the best wine.  One place we went really explained the chemistry behind how grapes grow and how to make wine and how to properly do a wine tasting and everything.  It was very interesting, but I still can't really taste the difference between good wine and bad wine.

I had a great time celebrating with Brooke and having a girls weekend.  The maid of honor planning everything beautifully.  She even did a bunch of cute things like having us play a wine trivia game (of course I lost!).  It was nice to get away and do something different.  On the plane ride there I was thinking "Usually I'd be teaching math right now, but instead I'm flying over the Rocky Mountains." :)  I love that feeling.  But it was hard to leave Hannah.  I told her goodbye Friday morning and she looked at me with a very confused look because instead of me taking her to daycare it was Steve.  Pat said Hannah had a really rough day on Friday.  She got along fine with Dada over the weekend, though.  It is tough being a single parent and a lot of guys aren't up to the task.  However, Steve took care of Hannah without once calling to ask me how to do something or where to find something, and he even got lots of dishes/laundry/vacuuming done, too!  I feel so lucky to have an amazing husband and Hannah is lucky to have such a great dad.

Everything was smooth sailing until my flight out of Oakland got delayed and that meant I was going to miss my connecting flight in Denver.  The airline set me up in a hotel in Denver (another first for me) and booked me on the first flight out Monday morning.  This meant I had to miss another day of work, but my wonderful teaching partner got me a sub and then told her what to do since I didn't have any sub plans ready.  I made it back home around noon on Monday...12 hours later than I was supposed to be home.  Hannah hugged me for a long time and didn't want to let go. ;)