The Purcells: Lance and Barbara come to town...

After Riley and I made it home from Texas we were excited to get unpacked and ready for our next set of visitors...Lance and Barbara...or "Guncle" and "BeBa" as Riley says...Lance is Riley's Great Uncle so he is going to be called Gruncle...hehe!

On Friday Jason had to work...but since it was our anniversary he did make a trip home to bring Starbucks and Red Roses for me...how sweet!

During the day Lance, Barbara, Riley, and I ran some errands, ate lunch at Strings, and hit up Larry's Produce (the farmer's market) for some food we were cooking for dinner!

While I was working on food for dinner Riley and "BeBa" played in the kitchen...they were doing their own cooking!

Jason has been wanting to do Beer Can Chicken for awhile so he finally tried it and it was GREAT! He cooked two chickens as well as a tri-tip steak and we had homemade mac 'n cheese, fried okra, bread, and dessert...a great meal to celebrate our anniversary!

We had the Cameron's over to celebrate with us and we feasted after Riley and Cooper were down for the night!

Lance and Barbara...

Jen and Paul...

The lovebirds...hehe!

So...Jason is not much of a sweet eater but his favorite dessert that I make is Strawberry Pretzel Delight...it has the best crust EVER consisting of pretzels, butter, and sugar and then there's cool whip, strawberry jello, and cream cheese in the rest of it...it's a great summer dessert. To celebrate I made it for him and even got cheesy and decorated it!

On Saturday Riley went to play with Cooper all day and the four of us headed to Napa for several wine tastings! I had really been looking forward to this because even though we have frequented Napa we had not had the chance to really spend a whole day checking out wineries, learning about wine, and trying different kinds...so this was our day!

We started out at Freemark Abbey which was my favorite...the tasting was very personalized and it was not commercialized or crowded and the wine was very good! I have always claimed that am not a red wine drinker because they all taste like cough syrup to me, but I was finally converted! Come to find out I have just been trying bad wines...I learned about the aromatics, how to sip it, and how to really enjoy the flavors. I am still partial to a sweet white wine, but I actually enjoyed some reds as well!

The entrance to the tasting room...

Lance and Barbara...

Jason and I being silly...

Jason and I being "normal"...

The four of us out on the balcony...we had a blast and our tasting was supposed to consist of 5 wines but I am pretty sure we had 8 or more by the time we were done...the lady ended up liking us and thinking we were pretty funny!

After several hours at our first stop we decided to grab some lunch so we headed to Trattoria for some margherita pizza and salads and then we were off to another winery...Grgich Hills!

We weren't too fond of this one and their reds tasted like cough syrup to me...we joked that we started out getting me used to reds with some of the best out there so I was a snob in the making...I persevered and drank all the wine at Grgich even though I have to say that I didn't enjoy it too much...and I wasn't alone!

Our last stop was at Jessup Wine Cellars and it had a great atmosphere. The tastings took place in an art gallery and the staff was great...they even brought us a cheese tray! We had mainly red wine here and I enjoyed most of it...we even bought some Zinfandel Port to take home...it's a dessert wine that you MUST drink with chocolate...that will be hard to do around here!

Check out how huge the wine glasses are...

The girls...

Thanks to the Cameron's for watching Riley all day...we really had a blast and it was a nice treat for our anniversary!

After our day in Napa we met up with the Cameron's at Texas Roadhouse for some dinner...this is a brand new Texas Roadhouse and one of the few that exists in California and this was our first time to eat there because it opened right after we moved here and has been PACKED ever since...I'm talking 2 hour waits even if you call ahead...these Californians must think the world of this place!

Here's "Guncle"...the official keeper of the sippy cup!

Cooper and Riley ran around like crazy kids while we waited...and waited...and waited...and we had called ahead!

Finally we were seated and had a nice dinner...we were all pooped after a long day!

On Sunday Lance and Barbara were flying home out of San Francisco so we decided to head to Fisherman's Wharf before dropping them off at the airport to have some clam chowder!

We got all dressed up in our warm gear to head to the city...