Trish in the hood: July 2014

Every Summer Solstice I try to document the entire day from the time we get up until we go to bed, just for fun and sometimes for laughs. This year was no exception, lots of fun was had and there was a lot of laughing...and some wine too.

The day started early, we had a swim meet against Somerset Old Creek and I was also a stroke and turn judge that day. The 9 year old looks happy and perky in this picture but she was really just being a ham. Saturday morning summer meets are fun except for the early morning get ups. Unless...you get to be me (I like getting up early) and as you can see I had to do extra warm up of my arms since the weather was a little wet to start. I didn't want to pull a muscle or anything that would effect my ability to enjoy the rest of the day, which as you read below, would include many glasses of fine Virginia wine.

These four girls rocked the 100 medley relay for 9-10 girls, they were fast enough to even beat our boys 9-10 medley relay. It is pretty fun when the girls you train with all year can be your summer teammates too. These four have been together all year and although one moves up to 11-12 they still get to swim together in the winter.

The swim meet ended on time and then it was adult time!! Plus it was Vanessa's birthday (she is so lucky to have the longest birthday every year!) and we were heading to Greenhill Winery in a limo bus to celebrate. If the morning was all about summer league swimming and kids then the rest of the day was all about celebrating the summer, being with friends and having a good time.

Here are some shots of us before we left, slight delay waiting for the limo bus to arrive, then all of us in the bus on our way to the winery in Middleburg. Check it out: www.greenhillwinery.com

Once we got to Greenhill it was time to sample the wine. Since the last time all of the girls had been there in April they had added a Riesling, that was pleasantly dry and delicious. There were 16 of us so some of the guys stood behind the HUGE table in the members only clubhouse and sampled from there. Please note that even our friend Marcia was drinking wine that day, and she doesn't like alcohol! All because of summer solstice and maybe the fact that we were at a winery.

Then we really started to have some fun! I mean we did selfies (well Usies actually) with a photo bomber, thanks Brad!

The we surprised Vanessa with a delicious chocolate cake and we had to sing to her!

Of course after singing happy birthday the next song we sang was the Canadian National Anthem, I mean it's summer solstice and we are at a winery in Middleburg, Virginia of course that's the next song!

Our resident Canadian put his hand over his heart and was somewhat impressed that some of us (mostly me) knew most of the words. It's a great anthem, I think everyone should learn it and as a bonus there are NO super high notes to screw up.

The girls had to all go out on this very decrepit boat dock and pose for a picture. I will note that the sign on the grass before you walk on the dock says please stay off...it's a bit old and falling apart in places, but we got the shot!

Sadly, after a few more sips of wine, a ride in a crazy golf cart, some lovely music and lots of good memories...it was time to make a few more as we danced our way home in the limo bus to really loud and awesome 80's music!!

When we got back to the pool to pick up our cars, who was there to greet us? It was Mason, the high school graduate! What a nice guy to sit with us for a final summer solstice picture!