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Savannah Wolach

 

Super Girl

Every year at Rancho, the kids need to do an Enrichment Project. This is something that they work on all year that allows them to use their creative side. It can be whatever they want. This year Hayden decided to make a movie.

I taught her the general steps of making a movie: write the script, draw the storyboards, shoot the scenes, edit the film. She learned them and did them (except for the editing part, a little too tough for a 5 year old - but she watched while I did some of it).

Practically every day she wanted to work on her movie. She loved the process and couldn't wait for it to be done. When she presented to her class, you could see how thrilled she was by the glow on her face. They loved it and asked her all kinds of questions about how she did it.

So without further ado, here is Super Girl:

A Power Napa

We took a trip to Napa with our friends Chris and Amanda Campo. We had never done the "wine thing" before so we were excited to take a leisurely trip up there. Special thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for watching the girls and making it happen.

The trip started wonderfully as I surprised the Campos by upgrading all of us to First Class using miles. They were elated when we told them in the car on the way to the airport.

After landing in Oakland in the afternoon we took the easy drive up to Yountville, a small town just north of Napa City (but still within Napa Valley). Even though Yountville is tiny and has just one main street, that main street is loaded with world class restaurants and is a destination for foodies. 

In fact, that was a surprise to us. Of course we knew Napa was huge on wine, what we didn't know was that the food was just as big. Everyone was always asking us, "Where are you having dinner tonight/tomorrow?" And people would always talk about this restaurant by this chef, and that chef opened this place. As a food guy, that was a major win.

The most famous of places is called the French Laundry. It is a prix fix with 9 courses, and all the dishes change each night. Plus, no ingredient is repeated throughout any course. All that for a cool $270 per person. We said thanks but no thanks.

Sav and Amanda at Bottega

So after checking in at our hotel, the Napa Valley Lodge, we took a leisurely stroll to our first restaurant, Bottega. It is an Italian restaurant (woo-hoo!) and is so popular that we waited 45 minutes even with a reservation. But we made the most of it by sitting on their patio and sipping wine while having some hors d'oeuvres. 

We decided to go family style which was a great decision as we were able to taste several different dishes, each one delightful.

Mud baths!

The next day we split up, the girls went to the spa while the guys went golfing. The golf group played Hiddenbrooke, a nice spot 30 minutes south of our hotel. It was windy, but fun. The girls did mud baths, massages, and facials. They said the mud baths were like "floating on clouds" and they loved it.

Then we had lunch at Mustard's Grill. Amazing. Lots of terrific dishes that were scrumptious. 

Later that afternoon we met up with my college friend, Stephanie Demasi.

Wine tasting with Stephanie

Stephanie is the GM of a Napa winery called Juslyn Vineyards. What I didn't know was that Juslyn is a boutique winery with bottles in excess of $100 per. Stephanie treated us to a private tasting with her and her boyfriend at her tasting house called Ma(i)sonry. It was a very cool place with lots of art filling a beautiful interior of stone.

Stephanie freely poured her many wines as we chatted about Napa with her and her boyfriend, Brian. It was cool to learn about Napa from locals, and the wine was terrific. We each drank about 5 or 6 glasses and we were feeling good by the time we left a few hours later.

We went to Ciccio for dinner, a local favorite. It was Italian themed as well, and they were known for their handmade pizza. It was really busy and really good. 

The next day was Saturday, time for our wine tour. After the girls got coffee and morning treats at the uber famous Bouchon Bakery, our private tour guide, James from Flex Wine Tours, picked us up. James is a sommelier so he knows his stuff when it comes to wine. We had told James we didn't really know what we wanted and that we trusted him to take us to some cool places.

It is a good thing we did.

James scheduled 4 wineries for us that day so we headed out. The first stop was ZD Wines. They were very good, but we could tell there would be more to come. James himself said it was a good warmup. That it was.

Ish explains the wines

Next was Spring Mountain Vineyard. Boom! This place was awesome. The grounds were gorgeous and we sipped wine in the vineyard itself while our guide, Ish, enlightened us through the different types and vintages. Ish was smart and funny as he told us about the history of the vineyard and the valley itself. And the wines were terrific (my favorite of our whole trip was the Spring Mountain 2008 Cabernet). We made a few purchases, shot some pics, and headed off. 

We then went to lunch at Gott's Roadside Grill. After so much upity wining and dining, this was a spectacular change of pace: a good old fashioned California burgers and shakes drive in. These may have been the best burgers we'd ever tasted.

Then we went to Reverie. All of the wineries James took us to were boutique wineries, meaning they

A dining table in the Reverie wine cave

produced only a small amount of cases each year (which meant they took only the best grapes, ergo got the best wine). But Reverie was the boutique-est producing just a few thousand cases per year. You had to go through another winery's property just to get to it.

Our host, Guillermo, took us into their wine cave right away. It was so cool as we saw all the barrels and we recalled our trip to the Scotland Whisky Distilleries. They even had a dining table in the cave. How cool would dinner there be???

We then went outside to their Circle Tree Grove. There is a group of trees that make a perfect circle, and they kept the sun out making it wonderfully cool. We could have stayed in there a long time. Then we tasted and these wines were the favorites for Savannah, Amanda, and Chris. They were outstanding. Another few purchases were made.

Sipping wine on the patio

Last was Madrigal Family Winery. The biggest winery we would see, yet still small in comparison to the ones everyone recognizes. These too were great, though at this point we were so full of wine that some of the last ones were difficult to put down. But the views from the patio of the mountains amidst the setting sun were lovely. Yet more purchases happened.

That night we went to Bistro Jeanty for dinner. It is a very popular French place. We had also heard the food was heavy. Ding. That it was. On our first night, the Bœuf Bourguignon and Coq au Vin would have been awesome. After several days of gluttonous food and drink, it knocked us out. Which was too bad since it was yummy. We decided next time we would do it first. 

The next day was our day to go home. It was also the day of the AFC Championship where the Broncos would host the Patriots. We knew when we booked months in advance that the Broncos may be playing in that game, so we booked a flight that left just after the game would finish. It worked out as we were able to watch the game from an Oakland airport bar. There were lots of Broncos fans in the bar and it was cool to see them win and make their way to the Super Bowl (we will try and forget what they did there).

It was another terrific trip, and our first with our great friends the Campos. There will be more.

Napa Trip

Thanksgiving in Utah

We spent Thanksgiving in Utah and it was a great time. We stayed with Grandma and Grandpa and got to see the cousins, Zoe and Zachy.

The weather was good enough that Matty was able to play golf with Grandpa at their Club, which is beautiful.

Watching Aunt B Play Hockey

We also went to watch Aunt B play hockey in a pickup game. She has kept with it all these years and still has the skills to pay the bills. She scored 2 goals as a defense-woman and did great. It was fun to watch her and she played on the same team as her new beau, Vince.

Savannah and I left the main crew and went out to dinner Friday night with her and Vince, as well as all the kids: Bethie's (Zoe, Zachy), Vince's (Reese, Ella), and of course ours (Hayden and Ellie). It was a good opportunity to get to know Vince better and we really like him. We are glad that Bethie is happy.

Going Skating

After dinner we went ice skating at Aunt B's rink where she is the manager. It was Hayden and Ellie's first time skating and it was, um, an experience. That is to say a difficult one. Major kudos to them for trying so hard because they fell A LOT. But they kept getting back up and trying harder. I distinctly remember the pain in my back since I was bending over holding them up the entire time. It is quite a strain.

Thanksgiving itself was great. The food (the traditional spread) was terrific. Also in attendance were Aunt Diane, Uncle Brian, and cousin Kacie, along with Aunt Nina.

Fun with Grandma

Grandma also found some time to make both a gingerbread house and cookies with all her grandkids. It doesn't get any better than making yummies with Grandma.

Saturday was game day. My dad, since he is a CU booster, has gotten to know the CU Athletic Director pretty well so he not only had the AD as a guest at his Club for dinner Friday night, but we were able to go on a private tour of the brand new, first class Utah Football Facility with all the Colorado people. (Tour Photos)

The Utah Locker Room

My business sense was screaming since the Utah people will giving a tour of their new facility to the Colorado people. The CU top dogs were taking pictures and notes of everything as it was intricately explained by the Utah people. They are competitors in the recruiting world so I couldn't believe they did that. But apparently it is fairly common practice. Still, weird to me.

Nonetheless it was a great experience to see all the new stuff. The facility was amazing to say the least. And then even cooler for us, just 4 days after our tour, the CU Board of Regents approved a new $143 Million Athletic Center. Ha! We were part of that!! Very cool.

Confused

Then it was game time, CU vs. Utah. I love both teams so this game is always tough for me because a good offensive play means a defender did something wrong. So my emotions cancel out and I hate/love every big play. In truth, the game sucks for me because I don't get to express my true football emotion and I end up stoic the whole game. Savannah of course, wishes I were like that EVERY time I watched football.

On Sunday we had to leave. It was another great trip with our family and one we will remember for a long time.

Click to See Slideshow

Aces Bowl XVII

Holy cow I can't believe we've had 17 of these things. Nuts. This one was in Athens, Georgia. Greg came through big and hooked us up with accommodations since his boss (Rick) is a big UGA fan and has a "cabin" about 30 minutes from the stadium. So we all stayed there.

Now this cabin is anything but. It has like 6 bedrooms, 2 fireplaces, a full kitchen, 2 living rooms, and sits on a pristine private lake in the middle of 800+ acres of land. It didn't suck.

Rick the owner stayed with us and he is a terrific guy. He cooked us food, set us up with golf, and played Mexico (a great dice game) with us late into the night.

On Friday morning we played golf at Reynolds Plantation which was a great, albeit difficult, course.

Then Rick took us on a tour of his property which spans some 800 plus acres as mentioned. It was a pleasant evening as the jeep motored through the woods and meadows.

The next day was gameday. Rick's son, Jason, met up with us to go to the game. He was a cool kid who had set up our attendance at a tailgate with his friends. We picked up some southern BBQ on the way to be our contribution. It was a lot of fun, and especially unique as we were close enough to the bars that we went bar hopping mid-tailgate.

The game was good times too as the Dawgs played Kentucky on Senior Day. We had great seats (booked by yours truly!) and most of the early touchdowns happened right in front of us! Unfortunately, the Georgia star QB, Aaron Murray, tore his knee during the game which will hurt his draft status for sure.

Georgia crushed them so the home fans (which included us for that day) went home happy.

All in all it was another great trip for the boys and one we will remember fondly.

Click to See Slideshow

Tin Cup Tour Season Finale

Matty and his caddie talk strategy.

The end of the Tin Cup Tour season is capped with the ever dramatic Tour Championship, followed by the Champions Dinner. For the Tour Championship, we wanted to class it up a bit so we decided to have caddies. We each asked a buddy or family Member to caddie for us and it was a blast. Most of us have never had caddies so it was a great experience to be able to play with one.

For me, my buddy Brock caddied for me and he did a great job. We also had a professional photographer come out to take some pics and he did such a good job that the photos looked PGA Tour worthy.

Jason Malcolm won the 2013 Tin Cup

The event culminates the season long points competition, which was won by my good friend, Jason Malcolm. It was a great time and everyone had a blast.

Then that night, we had the second annual Champions Dinner. It is fun because the wives were also there so we were able to share the fun with them. We gave out awards, thanked our wives for letting us out of the house, and crowned our Champion, Jason. It was a terrific night and another fantastic finish to the year.

Tin Cup Tour Championship

Tin Cup Tour Champions Dinner - 2013

Daddy Daughter Cardinal Game

I had planned on attending the Cardinals vs Texans game with some friends, but each of them cancelled for different reasons...either that or they found out how I get at games.

So I sold 2 of the tickets and Hayden and I took the other 2. This was not technically her first football game, as she had been to a playoff game when she was 7 months old. But this would be the first one that she could remember and the first where she had some idea of what was happening.

It was Veterans Day and the crowd did a sign trick which was really cool. That was the highlight for Hayden. Plus the Cards one so it was a fun time all around. We will be back.

All Hallows Eve

Halloween is such a fun time in Arizona. The weather is perfect and the community embraces the holiday beautifully. Adult costume parties are more common than kids parties. Savannah and I attend one done by her office every year because two of the main partners are HUGE Halloween fans.

Like huge.

They alternate who hosts but the house is always decked to the nines with crazy amounts of props, and scary lighting, and sounds, etc. It is most impressive.

We didn't know what to be this year so we went as Sully and Boo from Monster's Inc. This was at the suggestion of Savannah's boss, Ryan, who had an extra Sully costume.

I must say that for Savannah, this worked well. She looked super cute as Boo.

For me, not so well.

The costume was too small and tight in all the wrong places. Plus I looked like a giant, fuzzy, nincompoop. But the party was fun and the food is always great so I forgot all about it quickly.

Then we went to the Morris' for Halloween night. It was a lot of fun and it's always great to see the excitement on the kids' faces.

Click to View Slideshow

Pumpkin Patch Pleasure

In late October, when Oma was visiting, we went to the pumpkin patch and had a great time. See the pics and a video below.

Pumpkin Patch

Scooter and Tracy's Wedding Weekend

Scooter and Tracy were going to get married just an hour from Boston, and since Savannah had never been to Boston, we decided we needed go a couple of days early to see the town.

Savannah's Jump!

On our first day we hit the Freedom Trail, the 2.5 mile walk through the city that hits the historic sites. It was
a lot of fun to see some amazing stuff that helped kick start our country.

Mike's Pastry

The walk was a long one and it gave us a great work out. That night, we needed to refuel which was perfect since we had dinner scheduled with the Carmodys and Cyrus in Little Italy (The North End). Dinner was wonderful, and after dinner we went to Mike's Pastry, which is legendary. They feature a huge selection of desserts, sweets, and treats. We got 4 for the table and dug in. Not surprisingly, the Boston Cream Pie won our votes as the best.

The next day we walked some more, including to Fenway Pahhk, the beautiful Newbury Street which has some great shopping and strolling, and down to the Charles River.