Tangy balls

Ben (for the last 3 years) and I (for the last 2 years) have played for the Tangy Balls softball team.  This past summer we were supposed to play every Thursday night.  For the last five weeks, every Thursday night it has rained and our games have been cancelled.  This week was the last week of the regular season and we have now played 5 of our 9 games.  This past week we had two games on Tuesday night to make-up the games from the previous weeks.  Up until this point we were 0-3 (weird since we went undefeated last year).  Tuesday night a new leaf was turned over and we crushed our opponents 12-5 and 17-6!!!!   Not quite sure why it took us all season to win 2 games (maybe because we were so mad for missing so many games) but the season ended on a positive note with back-to-back wins!  Below are some pictures from Tuesday night.

Team Tangy Balls warming up.

Getting the line-up.

Ben at bat.

THE Tangy Balls

The front nine

At dinner on Thursday night; Chris, Ben, Kirk, and I started talking about golf.  Chris and Kirk have been working on their golf game and Ben and I have been playing periodically throughout the summer.  So... the four of us decided to play bright and early Sunday morning.

When I woke up on Sunday I checked outside and it was raining.  I was pretty bummed so I checked the weather report and the rain was supposed to stop by 8:30 and we were scheduled to tee off around 10:15.  I hoped for (and got) sunny, clear skies!  Hooray! 

Ben and I left around 9:45 to head over to East Potomac Golf Course.  We got there and Chris and Kirk were at the driving range warming up.  At 10:15 we were off and running (and sweating).  Below are some pictures of our adventures from the front nine.

Getting ready to tee off.

Look at that great golf form! 

Ben showing us why he is awesome.

Chris is rocking the golf course.

Kirk teeing off on the third hole.

Kirk rocking the most awesome golf bag.

The Potomac Cluster

Saturday, Ben and I decided to go up the Potomac to historic Leesburg to visit a few wineries.  The Potomac Cluster is about an hour north of DC and was an incredibly scenic drive with views of mountains, farms, fields, and of course the Potomac. 

To the wine!

View of some of the grape vines.

Our first stop was Fabbioli Cellars.  We turned down a dirt road and travelled about 3 miles down a peaceful, tree-lines path that took us to our first winery.  Doug Fabbioli opened his own winery in 1997 after spending several years working in Sonoma Valley.  When we stepped out of our car the first thing we saw were 2 enormous cats that must have weighed 20 pounds each.  Once we stepped into the store and wine tasting room we were swept into a rich family history of the Fabbioli family.  The ceiling and walls were decorated with old model train sets that Doug's children used to play with and pictures of family everywhere.  We enjoyed seven wines during our tasting and even purchased a bottle of red for later.

After Fabbioli Cellars we continued down the road to Lost Creek Vineyards and Winery.  Bob and Carol Hauck own the winery that is 52 acres!  They started in 1995 and have been making wine ever since.  We enjoyed nine different wines and some local patrons dropped off some desserts so we got to sample those as well!  At the end of the day we decided that Lost Creek Vineyards was our favorite winery.  They had great wine and a fabulous wine staff (they were very knowledgeable about all of the wines).

Lost Creek Vineyard

After Lost Creek Vineyards we went next door to Hidden Brook.  Eric and Deborah Hauck are the son and daughter-in-law of the owners of Lost Creek Vineyards (that's right, keep it in the family).  Haha.  They opened their doors in 2002 after taking their hobby of wine making to the next level.  Their store and wine tasting room is a rustic cabin full of delicious wine.  We tasted seven wines at this beautiful winery and enjoyed learning about the family history that brought about two wineries side by side. 

 

After Hidden Brook Winery we headed to our last winery, Tarara Winery.  On our way down the road we passed an incredibly random thing - an ostrich farm!

After I was done taking random pictures of even more random ostriches we decided to continue on our journey to Tarara Winery.  The founder of the winery is Whitie Hubert, who planted his first vines in 1985 and opened the winery in 1989.  The location of this winery on the Potomac helps naturally regulate temperature for the vines and the rolling hills (he owns 475 acres) allows them to grow a variety of grapes without any problems.  Whitie passed away in 2008 but the winery is still run the way he ran it and the tasting room provides detailed information about the history of the winery and all of the wines made on the premises. 

Ben and I really enjoyed learning the history behind all the wineries and the reasons all of the owners had for leaving behind their "regular job" to fulfill a passion or hobby and turn it into a living.  As I said earlier, Ben and I agree that Lost Creek Vineyards was our favorite of the four and we look forward to going back in the future.

Rock at the Row

All summer Ben and I have been members of the Tangy Balls softball team.  We are scheduled to play every Thursday from the beginning of July through the end of August.  So far we have played three games and had fives game rescheduled (due to rain, sun, or whatever). 

This past Thursday we were supposed to have two games back-to-back.  Fours hours before first pitch we received an e-mail saying all games were cancelled due to the fields being flooded out (it had rained all day the day before).  I was highly agitated upon receiving this e-mail but then I remembered that our friend Chris was getting people together to go to Pentagon Row to enjoy an outdoor concert and dinner & drinks.  I e-mailed Chris to let him know that we would now be able to make it since softball had been cancelled and he told me to meet up at 7. 

Chris found a table at Asia Bistro where all seven of us could fit and we were near the stage and could listen to the band.  That night a swing band was playing and Cathy & I thoroughly enjoyed watching all the "dancers" break it down in the courtyard.

Ben and I had a great time with our friends and really enjoyed the Sushi and Chicken Fried Rice!

Erik, Christine, Cathy, Me, Ben, Chris, and Kirk

The end of Star Trek

Every Monday night since the beginning of June Crystal Screen has been going on down the street from our house.  This year the theme was Star Trek (all the movies).  Last year was Super Hero films (that was pretty awesome).  Ben and I made it to about half the movies this year since it rained the first half of the movie season (and I am not going to sit in the rain to watch Star Trek). 

I really enjoy going to Crystal Screen because in Atlanta we have Screen on the Green and I used to love going to that with my friends and having a picnic and watching movies.

Every week at Crystal Screen there was a different contest or theme.  A few weeks ago there was a costume contest and this past Monday they were throwing Tribbles out to the audience.

Every week they also share updates about what is going on in Crystal City like hot yoga, zumba, the farmers market, and other free things to do and see.  I really like going to the Farmer's market on Tuesdays and I have yet to try the "hot yoga".  Anyway, we sent Ben to see if he could score a Tribble and he came back with a big, goofy grin on his face.

Below are a few pictures from our Crystal Screen outing.  Next year is "Movies by the Numbers" and includes movies with numbers in the titles like Airforce One and Sixteen Candles.  I am super excited for the movies next year!

Ben and Scot (and the Tribble)

Ben and I getting ready for Star Trek to begin!

It's a bird, it's a plane...

Saturday night our friend Chris invited us to Gravelly Point Park to enjoy a picnic, some bocce, and a little plane sighting.  After getting to the park, Ben and I realized that we have been there before, just on our bikes.  The biketrail we take runs through Gravelly Point and up along the Potomac. 

We got to the park and watched the boys toss around the football before settling down with some fried chicken, fruit salad, and macaroni salad.  Yum!

After dinner we played an intense game of bocce.  Apparently you are supposed to play to 15 points but I convinced everyone to play to 10 points.  Hahaha.  Playing bocce with 4 teams of 2 takes awhile...

I love a cutie pie and her name is...

Emmie!  This DC housewife took a road trip down to South Carolina to visit friends and eat a lot of good food.  On Monday I drove from DC to Columbia and had lunch with my friend Josh in Hartsville.  Monday night I had dinner with my great friends Libby and Mollie.  I had such a great time catching up with everyone.  I haven't seen Josh since I got married and it's been 3 months since I've seen Libby and Mollie (at Libby's wedding).  While in Columbia, I stayed with my friends Stacy and Paul and their cutie pie Emmie (and my favorite puppy Franklin).

My favorite puppy!

My favorite niece!

On Tuesday, Stacy and I hung out around the house with Emmie and then had dinner with my old college roommate Dana.  It was so great to catch up with Dana and she and I had a great time watching Emmie inhale cheerios while we were at Olive Garden.  I think Dana and I learned a lot about babies that evening (especially since there was a screaming kid next to us and Emmie was perfect).

Isn't she the cutest???

Emmie is so happy!

On Wednesday, Stacy and I got up early to take Emmie to the zoo before it got too hot.  We got to the zoo around 9am and saw a bunch of animals.  Emmie was really into anything that moved and loved the birds because they were loud and flapping around.

This is a Toucan we saw in the morning.

One of the kangaroos we got to see.

Stacy and Emmie at the Giraffe exhibit.

After the zoo we went to the stadium and I picked up the new Carolina Football posters from Jake.  After the stadium we headed home and I left to meet Ricky my old roommate for lunch.

Ricky enjoying his lunch.

After lunch I went back to Stacy's house and met up with her and Emmie for a relaxing afternoon.  Wednesday night we went to dinner with some friends from Stacy's church and had delicious sushi!

On Thursday we got up and took a long walk around the neighborhood and then relaxed at home before meeting our friend Brook for lunch.  Lunch at Grouchos was, as always, delicious!  Thursday night Stacy made pork chops and then I got in the pool with Emmie.

                                        

 Emmie and Franklin at the pool.

After the pool we went for a walk and said goodbye to Stacy's friends down the street (they are moving on Sunday).  After we got back we put Emmie down to sleep and hung out with Paul until it was time to sleep.

I woke up early on Friday morning and drove back to DC.  Six hours into my drive, the traffic stopped on

I-95 and I got off the highway and onto Highway 1.  It took me an extra 3 hours to get home.  But... when I got home I found a surprise left by my husband...

Ben surprised me with flowers, chocolate, and champagne!

Camping!

Last weekend we met Ben's brother and his girlfriend in Pennsylvania to go camping.  We have been to this campground a dozen or more times and know exactly how long it takes to get there.  On Saturday morning we took our time getting ready and packing and we planned to leave at 12.  Woopsie, 12 turned into 12:30 and we were on our way. 

An hour into our drive we are cruising along and all of a sudden there is this horrible scraping noise (I knew we had not blown a tire because we did that 3 times last year so I now know what that sounds like).  Ben pulled over as fast as he could and we were crammed into this teeny, tiny little space on the left side of the highway.  Ben got out to investigate and found this:

                                
So after we called AAA and got towed down the road, we learned that all we needed was a new screw because the screw had broken due to old age (or something).  So yay!  We were at Sears for about 15 minutes and then we were on our way again.

Once we got to the campsite (almost 2 hours late) we set-up our tent and started a fire. 

                                      

                                          

 

Once Ben's brother and his girlfriend got back from white water rafting we enjoyed a good evening with hot dogs, cheese balls, s'mores, roasted corn, and card playing. 

I had such a great weekend and really enjoyed "being out in nature".  After getting home Sunday afternoon I just sat out on our balcony and relaxed.  I wonder if maybe someday we will live out in the
middle of nowhere and enjoy nature all the time....