HAPPY BIRTHDAY DELANEY
This year, just like every year, Mark and I have gone to see Delaney for her birthday. Her birthday fell in the middle of the week this year so she opted for us to come see her the weekend after her birthday. We asked her what she wanted to do and she asked if we could go to Fredericksburg for a day just to get out of town and celebrate her birthday AND to celebrate the end of Zach's first semester in Physical Therapy school. Unfortunately, Henley wasn't able to join us because she had finals the week following the weekend and she just didn't feel like she could take that much time away from her studies.
Mark and I decided that we would spend the weekend in Fredericksburg instead just spending a day there so I got online and started to get hotel rooms booked. We started planning this in mid-February and for some reason I kept finding that all of the rooms in town were booked. I soon discovered that this was because there was a big Bike Rally planned in Fredericksburg that same weekend. Long story short, I eventually was able to get ONE night booked in Fredericksburg- Friday.
Mark and I flew into Austin on Thursday night. Delaney and Zach had to work until noon on Friday so as soon as they got home we drove to Fredericksburg and we were there by early that afternoon. We bummed around the downtown area for a little bit to stretch our legs after our drive and then decided to go to the National Museum of the Pacific War. For those of you who haven't had the chance to see this museum, it is worth your time to see it. We spent about 2 hours there before it closed for the day.
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| On the grounds of the Museum of the Pacific War |
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| Mark's Grandfather Graves was a Seabee in WWII |
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| Delaney and Zach |
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| On the grounds of the Museum of the Pacific War |
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| On the grounds of the Museum of the Pacific War |
After leaving the museum we ended up finding a bar that had a small combo band playing in their courtyard and we sat outside in the glorious sunshine and enjoyed a bottle of wine and some nibbles.
When we finished there we walked around the shops for a little while longer and then went to dinner at Silver Creek Restaurant and ate bratwurst and drank beer/wine under the stars. Between the weather, the company and the food, it was a beautiful night.
The next morning we got up and went back to the museum and spent another couple of hours there before we headed out to the vineyards. There are about 15 vineyards in the Fredericksburg area and we could have gone to several of them but Delaney just wanted to go to Becker Vineyards.
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| Becker Vineyard |
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| In the cellars at Becker |
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| Delaney and Zach |
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| In the Lavender fields |
It is a gorgeous location and as it happened the annual Lavender Festival was going on that weekend. They had food, crafts, tours of the vineyards and of course WINE so we spent the rest of the day relaxing, eating and sampling the wines. We closed the place down and we drove back to Austin.
None of us were particularly hungry when we got into Austin but we didn't want to go back to Delaney's apartment so we decided to go to Moontower Saloon which happens to be right down the street from where she lives. Since we got there early in the evening, we were able to get one of the Cornhole tables and the four of us spent the next few hours playing Cornhole, drinking Lone Star Beer and enjoying the evening. Zach was the big winner that night after skunking Mark and me about a dozen games in a row!
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| Mark playing Cornhole |
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Delaney and Zack- the winners!!
Before we knew it, the weekend had come to a close and Mark and I had to fly back to Denver. We had a great time with the kids celebrating Delaney's birthday and enjoying our time together.
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