To Birthdays...CHEERS!

So, last January (I can't believe it has almost been a year...) my older sister Stephanie, passed away.  It has been a pretty rocky year for the Madre - understandably so.  We mulled over many ways in which to celebrate Stephanie's birthday for her, in her absence.  The idea was to celebrate, not be sad, but be happy and raise a glass to her.  So...what better way than to go wine tasting?  My sister loved wine, and my mother is a cheap drunk...so, it worked out well for everyone.  We packed up the cars and headed up to picturesque Sutter Creek.  It's totally cute there, it's an old gold rush town North? Maybe East(ish) I kind of suck at directions.  Anyhooter...it's a great little place to visit and a good way to toast to my sis.

 We parked on one end of Main Street and walked down to the other side, sight seeing and window shopping and doing a little actual shopping too.  The shops there are unique and reasonably priced. 

I took this picture of Mason, Lexie and Zander in front of this totally adorable little house right on Main St.

Don't they appear to be completely angelic and sweet?  Deceptive isn't it?  Of course this was the start of our trip, so they weren't all hopped up on the candy and soda their Aunt spoiled them with.  Who would do that?  What kind of sick masochistic person would supply these sweet darling children with sugary sweets and set them loose on this quaint sleepy little town?  Me of course.

 All of the houses here look like this one in the back ground.  You can't take a bad picture here.  The flowers around this town are pretty spectular too. 

 Isn't Zander just so darn cute??  See what I mean about the flowers?  They are spectacular and vibrant all through the town.

Look...it's 5 butts and 1 ass!  If you know my family personally, you know why that's funny.  I crack myself up sometimes...

I TOTALLY want this sign!  It would match so well with the anti-welcome mat that I have on my front porch that reads: 'LEAVE'.  I love it!!  And, doesn't my nephew Allen do a bang up job of modeling it for us?  P.S.  Stephanie was his mom and since he wasn't 21 yet...I made sure to have a glass of wine for him too...I'm just that caring of a person.  If you look close you will the sign I am contemplating getting for my Step Monster.  How much do you think I could tick her off by placing that sign in her driveway??

Ah...yes...Sweet and Delicious Melons.  Yes, they are sweet, they are real and they are spectacular!  I love that quote...it never gets old...

This is where we ended our trip in Sutter Creek.  We toasted a few glasses to my sister and then made our sauced way back down to Sacramento. 

We ended up stopping at an old mine shaft and we took the kids panning for gold.  There was an old scary looking gold miner there that looked very creepy in a Scooby Doo caper kind of way.  He was definitely creep-tastic!