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Part of our Valentine’s Day celebration yesterday was a picnic at Tudal Winery.

Discovered on the Napa Vintners site, this winery fit all our criteria: family-friendly, picnic area, low-key atmosphere.

And it was indeed quite low-key as you can see below the manner in which we were greeted (that there is Cheyenne, we found out).

We proceeded to a [...]

The scene: A cave tour at a local winery

Samantha: “Oh no! He doesn’t look very happy!”

Tom and me, simultaneously: “Actually, kiddo, he is REALLY happy…”

Honig is a small, family-owned winery and was one of the first tasting rooms Tom & I visited when we moved to the Napa Valley five years ago.

That was, of course, pre-kiddo. And while we had a wonderful visit then and have been long-time fans of their wines, we hadn’t thought of the winery as being kid-friendly.

That is, until we [...]

The Napa Valley Vintners have a great website that’s just chock-full of information on everything from events and history, to grape varietals, and of course, wineries.

They even have this nifty little Winery Finder tool. An option on which is Family Friendly.

While there aren’t necessarily reviews posted, there are a lot of great details on each winery.

Who: The trip planners; Napa aficionados

What: An [...]

Up to now, Casa Nuestra is our favorite kid-friendly winery.

So, that’s not an easy proclamation to make. There are a lot of wineries in the Napa Valley. A lot of wonderful wineries in the Napa Valley. And a lot of wonderful kid-friendly wineries in the Napa Valley.

But, Casa Nuestra stands out for us.

In the simplest terms, we [...]

Eskimo kisses at Benessere Vineyards this past Sunday.

We really had a great time at Benessere Vineyards yesterday.

Today I’d like to share more about what Samantha did while we tasted wine and then enjoyed our picnic.

First, she danced on the garden patio immediately adjacent to the Tasting Room (that means she was able to be independent–as were we–but that she was within sight at all [...]

Today (even though home and work chores beckoned) we decided to go to a winery for a picnic.

After consulting the Napa Vintners website, we dropped by Sunshine Market for our favorite selection of cheese & charcuterie and headed north to Benessere Vineyards.

Part of the Napa Vintners family-friendly winery list, we were not disappointed.

In fact, we had [...]

So, these the last few days, NaBloPoMo has gotten hard.

I feel unmotivated, uninspired and unprepared.

I need more material. And more creative space. And more time.

Perhaps Tom, Samantha & I can head out to a new winery tomorrow. We’ll see…there are chores, holiday preparations and workitywork to do.

In the meantime, I have the following to share:

This photo was [...]

I’ve previously, at length, posted on our awesome family-friendly experience at Casa Nuestra.

All you need to know, really, is in this photo here. They have goats.

Kids + goats + good wine = fun for all.