Tales of the Flowers: July 4th in Napa

It's the July 4th weekend and we're heading up to Napa to see my brother and his family. Let's fly!

Starbucks seems to be a common treat for us when we're at the airport waiting for a flight. Don't worry. He shared with Theresa and it's decaf.

Making sure to review the safety information card in the seat back pocket in front of us, just like the flight attendant said.

Working on his selfie skills.

It was still early so Ian had plenty of time to hang out with all his cousins before bedtime. He was totally swarmed by them.

Enjoying the first of many delicious meals on the picnic table my brother built.

The next morning we started the day just hanging out at the house. Emma showed Ian how to draw on the chalk board.

Then Jon and I went to a nearby park with all the kids.

Ian practicing a new skill. As soon as he dropped, I caught him. Immediately he said "More?"

Sure thing buddy.

Later we visited the pool. His hair is just long enough to spike.

The kids got a brand new board game, and Ian was very interested in watching/playing.

The next day was July 4th. I got up with Ian and we played in the room until everyone woke up. That boy loves stuffed animals.

Eating breakfast while watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Later we'd go to another nearby park to play for a while.

Then came back to the house to grill hot dogs.

And would go out again for a hike along the marshlands.

Ian went to sleep around 8pm, before any of the fireworks kicked off. T and I were worried they'd wake him up once they started, but took precautions with a white noise maker.

The city display was being set off in a park about a mile away. From Jon's driveway we could hear the music and watch the fireworks. I was surprised it was so long! It was seriously a 20+ minute display. T and I watched Ian's baby monitor and he stayed asleep the entire time.

On our last day there, we had planned to go on a hike in one of the local parks. There were signs up though when we got there saying it was closed due to the drought. What else is nearby? How about the Jelly Belly factory? Sweet!
I love the sample bar. Here you can try any of the current Jelly Belly flavors. You're limited to sampling 3 flavors at a time, then you have to get back in line. T and Jess trying to figure out their 3.

They have all the flavors, including the gross Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans (skunk, dirt, earthworm, etc). I've tried them all before though, so this time I was on the look-out for delicious flavors.

Delicious new flavors like the Pancake & Maple Syrup Jelly Belly! It was so tasty, but they could have called it Maple Donut, or even just Maple. That's the only that really came through.

And it's awesome there's bulk beans of every single flavor (even the gross ones) along the wall. It's $10 per pound, but military gets a 20% discount. Not bad.

Ian loves Jelly Belly beans. He calls them Bucka Beans for some reason.

Even though we didn't go on the factory tour Ian still got a hat. The weekend factory tour wouldn't be as good as a weekday factory tour. None of the floor production is going on and you're just watching what happens on tv monitors.

For lunch Jon made us all homemade pizzas!

You know I'm a big fan of trying new sodas. When I saw Jelly Belly sodas, I knew we'd be sampling a few during lunch.

Split 8 ways, we each got a 1.5 oz sample of each flavor. In general, the flavor of each of these was enough to make your tastebuds tingle. Jelly Belly always goes big on flavor, and these sodas had a punch to them.
Lemon Drop - Sweet and lemony.
Pineapple Crush - Very similar to Fanta Pineapple. Wasn't anything special.
Strawberry Jam - Strong strawberry flavor.
Sour Cherry - After all the sweet, I was curious to try a sour soda. I liked the contrast against all the sweetness, but it would have been hard to drink an entire bottle.