Do you have the Captain in you?

Since the guys are gone, the wives of our squadron decided to go to the Halloween party on base. Originally we were trying to think of something we could all dress up as, but then we just decided to let everybody do what they wanted to. So last minute I had to figure out what to do...

This is what I came up with:

Here's a picture of our whole group:

Some more randoms from the night:

We had an India sari, Alice in Wonderland, Sailor Girl, Catwoman

Medusa and Sailor Girl

An "old fart" and Amy Winehouse

Our fearless leaders went as Catwoman and her Bad Kitty

Check out Medusa's crazy red eyes!! A little creepy

Hope everyone has a fun halloween!!

Some day I want to be able to do this...

Our friend Boucek is an amazing photographer. I hope to learn how to take amazing pictures someday. I am currently looking for a photography class to take or someone to teach me. Until then, enjoy these pics Boucek took...

Be proud, make a sign

It's fun to drive around the neighborhoods and see squadron signs in the yard. Every squadron has patches for their uniforms, and the same design is often put on a yard sign that you can put in your front yard to say "Hey, look at me, I'm in VFA-???" Well our new squadron did have someone that made these for them but apparently he turned out to be not such a nice guy, and he didn't do quality work, so they no longer work with him. So while mom was in town I put her to work! (And yes I did help, even though I'm not in any of the pictures working...) We made our own sign...

This is what we needed to make:

We went to Home Depot and bought a 2x2 piece of wood for $7. Went to Michael's and bought paint in the correct colors for about $10.

First step was to sand and prime the board...both sides. We painted the back side in a coat of the navy blue paint so it would look stream-lined all the way around.

 Step two was to put the "mach wave" and the light blue circle. We went and measured another sign and did our best to get the angles right. We discussed that there needs to be a template that the squadron hangs onto with the exact measurements...it would have made things so much easier!!

 Step three was to put the navy blue around the outside. We did about 2-3 coats of paint for each color.

Step four was to put the four diamonds in the correct place in the middle (I didn't a get a picture of this step). The diamonds are navy blue (hence Blue Diamonds...actually they are supposed to represent four hornet flying in the diamond formation with the mach wave)

Step five was to spray a sealant to help guard against the elements. I used a glossy Mod Podge spray paint sealer. As we are entering the winter and rainy season we'll see how well it holds up.

I still need to get a post to attach it to so I can stick into the ground, but right now I just have it leaning up against the house... Here is our finished product, not perfect but hey it's home-made!!!

It's been a week...let's go to Paso again!!

Yep we went again...only a week later! This time we went with Kevin and Jackie, who were getting ready to move and had never been! Our other friends Paige and Greg went with us as well.

Stop #1: Eberle

Great place. We've been here numerous times before! It's got great wines and a great military discount (40%!!!!!) One time we went and they were grilling tri-tip, ribs, and duck sausage but every time we went back they never had it...until this time!!! This meat is amazing. The duck sausage is a little spicy. The tri-tip is cooked perfectly. I haven't had the ribs but they also look really good. The bigger guy in the tye-dyed shirt is Gary Eberle, the owner of the winery. He was out there cooking and grilling throughout the day. 

Every year for the harvest season Eberle comes up with a theme...this year was Spongebob... so here's their truck that goes through vineyards to load the collected grapes on:

 Stop #2: Twilight Cellars (previously known as Thunderbolt Winery)

Mike and I have been here before as well. Their wines are amazing, and they pair their tasting with appetizers! So you got little bites of food with every glass you taste.

A shot of our group:

 It was actually the Harvest Festival weekend in Paso. Twilight was letting you bottle your own wine from a barrel. So of course we did that! What fun... We got to fill it up from the barrel and put it into the wine bottles...

Then we had to put the cork in it

 We had lunch at the Odyssey World Cafe, great stop! None of us had been here before so it was a good choice and the food was amazing. I had lamb gyro and Mike had a lamb burger. I highly recommend this little cafe as an eatery. It's on the main square in downtown Paso.

 Stop #3: Sculpterra

Neat place, sculptures all over the place, very neat sculptures. But their wines...not impressive. They also have pistachio trees on their property and had those as snacks in the tasting room, and those, those were very good.

A little bit more of the harvesting at work

 Mixing up the grapes in the fermenting tanks

 Stop #4: Cass Winery

Pet friendly. 15% military discount. Great wines. Friendly staff. They also have a lunch cafe that had what looked like a really good menu. Might have to go back and try that someday, with Sunset of course!

A favorite pastime...

Yep, we went wine tasting again! The weather was nice, it was a little warm out at times, but we had a good time none-the-less. Mike and I went with my mom, Kate, Clay, Will and Leslie.

Stop #1: Maloy O'Neill

Tasting Fee: $5 (waived for military)

This place was so cute! They had a couple of bar stools on one side of the bar so you could sit and taste. They had a few whites, but mostly reds (Paso is more a red region). Their reds were good. A few of their blends were really good.

Here is the winery dog, Trixie I believe.

 And this little guy was just crossing the drive-way headed to get some wine.

 We went during harvest season so a lot of the wineries were working their presses and such. Here are the guys at Maloy O'Neill getting the juices out of the buckets of fermenting grapes.

 Stop #2: Pear Valley
Tasting Fee: $5 (waived for military)

This place was so pretty. It sat up on a hill and looked down towards the valley of Paso and the other wineries. Pear Valley had a greater selection of wines, they had whites, a rose, and a dessert wine. They were all pretty good. I didn't taste the dessert wine though (not my style). I'm not usually a rose drinker either but theirs is decent and I would have a glass of it.

Close up of the grapes (like I said we went during harvest season so their grapes all over the vines)

Stop #3: Rio Seco
Tasting Fee: $5 (waived for military + military discount)

Great wines, great company, and an interesting story. This place had a few good red mixes that made for easy drinking and a great table wine. Now for the story of this place...the current owners bought it from the state? how had acquired it after a police raid. Yes, a police raid. This property had at one point been a pot farm and drug selling location. If you looked around at this red barn you could see bullet holes from the shoot out at the police raid.

If you like port wine, they had a Zinfandel port that I hear was good.

Stop #4: Peachy Canyon
Tasting Fee: $5 (waived for military + military discount)

This winery is mostly known for its zinfandel's, which I'm not a huge fan of but they were actually pretty good. Their other reds were only ok. The place was pretty cute, I especially liked this sign which asked "Who's the skipper?" Gave me a little laugh.

 This building, now the winery tasting room, used be an old school house.

 Stop #5: Zenaida Cellars
Tasting Fee: $5

This place was very neat. The owner is a veterinarian in a town nearby. It had great wines. Everything I tasted here was amazing. Even their simple table wine was good.

 Stop #6: Edward Sellars
Tasting Fees: $5

This new tasting room was beautiful set in the middle of their vineyards. Gorgeous views. We came here  on the recommendation of another winery, but we weren't all that impressed.

Another successful day of wine tasting. All the stops were new places as well, which brings my grand total to over 40...only about 200 to go!!