Framily Time

September was a wild ride! For a while I thought I might not blog about it because I am still fairly exhausted, but here goes:

We tailgated at the first home game. It was fun to get out for a change of pace. I usually prefer to stay home while my town transforms into a sea of crimson and cream but a friend of mine was in town and we had to go to her winning tailgate.

We celebrated Scott's grandmother's 87th birthday!

The soccer circus season started up for the Little Ones, softball for the Emster. And we attended a few kidlet birthday parties. Yay for outdoor parties!

I got to attend a conference in Tampa where there were many discussions about harmonic filtering and urban canyoning and launching satellites (doesn't that sound like a cool name for a band?).  I drank from the GPS firehose and I liked it! 

This was a fun gathering!

I squeezed in some time with my mom and my sister. 

Eating Columbian food at the Tampa Bay History Center

And I went on a boat ride in the same river where the alligators were...but this was way southwest of the gators...

Then I was home for a weekend to unpack, do laundry, repack and try to host David's 8th birthday party. I said "try" because it got rained out and thankfully we got a reprieve to punt for 2 weeks. 

And I traveled to Napa for work again. I won't lie, I totally enjoyed this trip and am so grateful that I got to go!!! One day I will go just to help with harvest. #willworkforwine

Black Rock Zin Pomace (this smelled heavenly to me)

I need some wine barrels for my back yard...

I wanted to nap in this area at VSW... also, I want Scott to make us a bar like that for our backyard!

Look at the pretty grapes! I want to grow some!

When I got back from Napa, I had a day to recoup and regroup, then the lake party and Oktoberfest happened. In between, there was soccer and softball.

Love seeing the kids playing and getting creative outside

We didn't stay at the lake party for very long because we had Oktoberfest later. Some friends of ours host this party every year and it's walking distance from our home. The kids have activities and a bounce house, while the adults sip German beer and dine on German delights. I brought fondue this time because I wanted to be a contributor. We so love this gathering of friends and this year, just like last year, we brought the Little Ones' birth father with us. Love that we can do that. What a great visit and time we had!

And I love their dogs!

Last, but not least, these guys celebrated 19 years of marriage.

Feels like 24!

September was very full and fulfilling and I am thankful for every bit of it!