Labor Day Weekend

To top off the summer, at Maria's strong suggestions, Michael took a few days off before Labor Day weekend so the family could enjoy some day trips outside of DC and the final days of summer.  We went on a day trip to Virginia Wine Country, crossed off some of the items on our to-do list around the house, and actually got a chance to relax.  It was a great weekend, and this morning everyone was sad that Michael had to go to work (particularly Michael).

 No family outing would be complete without Skylos the Wonderdog, so Maria found a winery, Barrel Oak Winery (BOW), in Virginia Wine Country that permits dogs to come and even hang out in the tasting room.   It is of particular note that this was Jack's first wine tasting not in-utero.  Maria found out she was pregnant with Jack after a weekend in Napa and Sonoma (so really this wasn't Jack but just a cluster of cells that had decided to multiply) and then at the start of the second trimester (again, not arguably Jack, but just a larger cluster of cells) Maria and Michael went to a wedding in Paso Robles which included an all day wine tasting as part of the wedding events, where Maria had only a sip of what Michael determined was an amazing wine the entire day.  

Skylos enjoys a treat while Jack looks on.  It was decided by everyone that the Norton grape produces gross wine that tastes like dirt and no one in the Robbins family cares that Thomas Jefferson used to make his wine from it.  The Viogner, on the other hand, was lovely and a bottle of it, along with two dessert wines, came home with us.

Grape harvesting time!  Maria and Jack observe workers sorting out grapes that will later become wine.

Skylos and Jack exploring the grounds of the vineyard.

Then we were off to an apple orchard a few miles away to pick some apples!

Jack picking apples.

Maria and Jack hanging out in the orchard.  It was hot. We did not last long.

Of course, no weekend would be complete without a trip to the playground at some point.  Michael and Jack headed to Stead Park while Maria was at yoga on Saturday.  Jack was showing off his University of Michigan pride, even with the depressing loss to Bama that followed that evening.  Hopefully the rest of the season will provide more reasons for him to shout "Go Blue"!

Finally, on a dreary Labor Day, the entire family headed inside and decided to watch a movie, "Dr. Suess' the Lorax".  This was Jack's first full length feature film!  While we usually do not condone letting Jack watch TV, it was a nice way to end the weekend, all of us sitting together watching a cartoon.

Now onwards to Fall!  Will the humidity please break now?