A, B, and We

Twenty-nine bottles of wine

April 22nd, 2014 by brendan

Mountain Girl Winery may not have any mountain girls right now, but that doesn’t stop the winemaking process!

I sanitized, filled, and corked twenty-nine bottles which are now standing in the cellar. Tomorrow they get turned on their sides and sit for at least a month before they are ready for drinking.

Siphoning wine is not as tiresome as it sounds, though the wine doesn’t taste perfect yet. It requires some oxygenization in the bottle to be truly ready for drinking.

The bottles are not full because you need some space for the cork.

I rented this big heavy contrivance – the corker, from Fermentation Solutions, free of charge. It squashed the corks then pushed them down into the bottle. I am sure it made the job much easier. I only mangled one cork, which was lucky because I had 30, for 29 bottles.

Posted in Life in the Santa Cruz Mts | 5 Comments »

Looks awesome! Can’t wait to sit out on the new deck and try some 🙂

Comment by alex — April 23, 2014 @ 1:08 pm
Were you tempted to try it?

Comment by Mum — April 24, 2014 @ 1:07 am
Very impressive. A great project #justwaitingfortheonelineordering

Comment by Craig — April 24, 2014 @ 2:27 am
How about #justwaitingfortheonlineordering

Comment by Craig — April 24, 2014 @ 2:30 am
I am really bad at siphoning…

Comment by brendan — April 24, 2014 @ 6:34 am

Children’s Garden

April 4th, 2014 by alex

Posted in Page, Sienna, Travel | 3 Comments »

Beautiful photos of the four of you. Very nice.

Comment by Craig — April 7, 2014 @ 12:20 am
How beautiful. Little Snow White and her little friend with a hair clip.. How magical

Comment by Grandma Anne — April 8, 2014 @ 1:58 am
Such a joy to watch them grow. And looks like the new home has plenty of magic places for the girls to explore.

Comment by Ayla — April 11, 2014 @ 4:18 pm

Spring Flowers

April 3rd, 2014 by alex

Posted in Page, Sienna, Travel | 1 Comment »

Beautiful expressions. Well captured.

Comment by Craig — April 3, 2014 @ 8:54 pm

Florida bound

April 1st, 2014 by alex

We left Los Gatos at 3:30am… My girls were such troopers. Page has been so excited to see GG and Kat and SB was up for an adventure. SB was so proud to be in her own seat. We made it and the girls are tuckered out. Looking forward to some beach time tomorrow!

Posted in Life in San Francisco | 1 Comment »

Have a lovely time in Florida

Comment by Grandma Anne — April 2, 2014 @ 3:25 am

Lil’ Rascal

March 22nd, 2014 by alex

We got the camera back, needed a new mirror. But now Auto takes these really interesting pics. I think this one is high key, Craig? Pretty cool.

Posted in Sienna | 3 Comments »

It’s like looking into the face of Brendan!

Comment by GG — March 23, 2014 @ 3:31 pm
Sienna has grown so much since last I looked at the site. She is beautiful.

Comment by Ayla — March 23, 2014 @ 5:12 pm
I think Sienna has control, not Auto.

Comment by Craig — April 3, 2014 @ 8:51 pm

Photo wall

March 13th, 2014 by alex

I always wanted a large hallway wall to use as a photo wall and now we have one. Its time to go through old photos and find the favorites. Page and I thought we would take photos of Page on the empty photo wall so we can add a new one to the mix. Its way over exposed but I think she looks so pretty, those freckles pop!

Posted in Page | 3 Comments »

It is not overexposed; it is High Key and I like it.

Comment by Craig — March 13, 2014 @ 4:39 pm
Love this shot. YOu had freckles too when you were that age. So cute.

Comment by GG — March 20, 2014 @ 7:37 am
It is a beautiful photo. Maybe I’ll try and paint you Page.

Comment by Ayla — March 23, 2014 @ 5:10 pm

Mountain Girl Winery?

March 9th, 2014 by alex

We are testing our first batch of wine before we make the big commitment of planting a bunch of vines. Brendan bought me a wine making kit for Valentine’s Day… So cute. I came home on V-day and Page rushed out to meet me at the car. “Mom, Mom, hearts, hearts!” Page and Brendan had laid a trail of hearts that led from the car to the downstairs bathroom where a ton of wine making equipment was awaiting. We dove into the science experiment last night and produced our first batch of Pinot Grigio. In a couple months we will find out how well we fared.

What do you like better… Mountain Girl Winery, Shady Vines, Sierra Azul Vineyards…

Posted in Ball and Chain, Life in the Santa Cruz Mts, Nerd, Page | 2 Comments »

Mountain Girl Winery

Comment by Craig — March 10, 2014 @ 1:55 am
Mountain Girl Winery.

Wow, what fun!
But it is a lot of work.
I helped a friend in SMA who started out as a hobby and
it got HUGE! She now sells her organic wine (fantastic)
all over. It’s a real business espeicially at picking time, then bottling, weeding, etc. etc. etc.

Comment by GG — March 16, 2014 @ 10:15 am

Santa Barbara

March 9th, 2014 by alex

Katie sent us some great photos from Santa Barbara over New Years, love these!

Posted in Ball and Chain, Flashbacks, Page | 1 Comment »

Like to clean shaven Brendan so much better.

Comment by GG — March 16, 2014 @ 10:16 am

Blank Canvas

March 8th, 2014 by alex

The septic tank is in and now we can start planning the landscaping.

Page was excited because she nows has a stage! This area will be where we fence in our veggie garden. Above this area will be the two new decks going in.

Where Brendan and Page are standing will be the veggie garden, underneath that we will have a play area with grass. We are removing the existing decks off the house and adding in 2 new decks.

This is our lower yard where we will add a jungle gym, picnic table and a trampoline.

This is the yard from the large lower flat spot looking up to the house. Next step is putting on the retaining walls and the stairs!

Posted in Ball and Chain, Life in the Santa Cruz Mts | 3 Comments »

A great start to the project(s)

Comment by Craig — March 9, 2014 @ 2:06 pm
Does the straw come from the ‘old” house?

Comment by Grandma Anne — March 10, 2014 @ 1:57 am
What a gorgeous property and what fun making it “yours.”

Comment by GG — March 16, 2014 @ 10:35 am

Which way do you want to go Page?

March 7th, 2014 by alex

Maybe in Colorado people wouldn’t look at me funny for pushing a stroller uphill with Page sleeping inside and then also carrying Sienna in the Baby Bjorn. But here in Los Gatos, they look at me funny… It only lasted about 10 minutes and Page woke up ready to ride her bike which was the original goal. She is so fun to watch cruise up and down the trails on her Strider. “Which way do you want to go Page?” “Left!”

Posted in Life in the Santa Cruz Mts, Page, Sienna | 2 Comments »

Is that a “selfie”?

Comment by brendan — March 7, 2014 @ 2:10 pm
Follow me Mum!

Comment by Craig — March 9, 2014 @ 2:10 pm