Air Force Ball

This past Friday night Jason and I attended the 61st Birthday party of the USAF, also known as the Air Force Ball. We had a great time with our friends and were honored by the presence and speech of a Vietnam Vet and POW. Here are a few pics!

Ladies of the Chapel


My friends Tracy and Michelle


Our First AF ball! :)

Champagne Adventures

Overlooking the Valley of Champagne!

Last week I left Jason and the kids ( Sam and Ging!) at home and took for a much needed girl vacation with my wonderful friend Joni. I am stealing part of her post and making it mine because she has such a better way with words than I do and besides, I took all the pictures on our trip!

Monday morning I flew to Brussels and Joni picked me up from the airport. Three hours later we were driving along the AutoRoute in France surrounded by thousands of hectares of vineyards, for as far as the eye could see in every direction. The sun was shining, the grapes were growing, and we were ready for some fun!

At the Vineyard of Moet Di Chandon



We zipped past Reims, the biggest city in the region and continued out through the countryside, crossed the River Marme and arrived in the tiny village of Reiully where we had a room booked for two nights. The Bed and Breakfast was perfectly quaint. We crept up the creaky old steps and found our little room, overlooking the garden, complete with old exposed timber roofing. The proprietor recommended a fabulous restaurant where we enjoyed some local cuisine and table wine before heading out on our first outing.

Our B&B's Owner's Garden with the B&B in the background


We drove a few kilometers down the road to the town of Hautvillers; or as Joni calls it... Hauviliurseusrssssuieursssuuuuuu where we wandered around and found a small Champagne House (Maison de Champagne). We tasted our first champagne, sat out on the lawn, admired the scenery and just soaked in the beauty of the moment in time. This town is famous worldwide as being the home of Don Perignon, the Benedictine monk who perfected the techniques for making champagne in the 18th century, however the Maison which actually the makes the champagne after his namesake is in the town of Epernay just down the hill.

The next day we had the chance to focus on the town of Epernay which is home to most of the big-name Champagne houses in the region. Beneath the city is carved hundreds of kilometers of cellars, which store millions of bottles of champagne. The cellars are carved into the chalky limestone which provide the perfect aging environment for the wine... cold and moist.

The first stop of the day was Champagne de Castellane where we got an in-depth explanation of how champagne is made, from the first fermentation to the second fermentation, aging on the riddling racks, disgorging of the sediment, topping off and finally corking. It was a great way to start things off.

Riddling Racks in the Cellar

Second we toured the cellers of Mercier. Mercier was somewhat of a revolutionary in the field of marketing. This winery is the one that was advertised at the World Fair in Paris in 1900 from a hot air baloon. They also brought the world's largest wine barrel, by mule train to Paris as one of the most noted features at the World Fair. The champagne was great and we bought lots of souvenirs in their boutique. We rounded off our tour with the famous Moet et Chandon! We had clearly saved the best for last. This is the champagne house which actually makes Don Perignon among other fine bubblies which we got to taste at the end of the tour. We were on the last tour of the day and had a fabulous tour guide. Down in the cellars we could actually see our breath as we walked through only a small portion of the 22 kilometers of tunnels they own. It was absolutely immaculate down there. We even got to see the carved barrel that was a gift to Moet et Chandon from Napoleon who always stopped there to stock up on champagne before going into battle... except for when he went to Waterloo... and we all know what happened there...hmmmm...

By the end of the day we were all champagned out so we had a nice little dinner and went back to our room for some much needed sleep. The final day arrived and we sent off our postcards and packed up. On the way back north we stopped in Reims for some shopping and to visit the Notre Dame Cathedral. We arrived at Joni's parent's house that evening at sat down to a wonderful home cooked meal complete with Mom's apple pie!

The next morning Joni, her Mom and I headed into their little Dutch town and did a little shopping until it was time to catch our plane back to Italy!

Me and Joni at Mercier

Hodge Podge of Happenings

It's Sunday evening, I am packing to leave tomorrow morning to meet my wonderful friend Joni in Belgium so we can drive to the Champagne region of France and spend the next few days touring the vineyards... Jason is upstairs on the old computer watching the footballs games. "Why" you ask "isn't he watching the TV?" Oh, that would be because the small tornado that ripped through our neighborhood took down our antenna. It also took tile shingles off the roof, several neighborhood trees down, and a light post. The big tree next to our house was struck by lightning. Thankfully no one was hurt. BUT It's opening night of the football season and after Jason and our friend Tom's attempt to climb up on the roof and repair the antenna, it was no use. Thankfully tv stations broadcast on the internet now. BONUS, he's getting a cultural / language lesson because the station is in German. But he is yelling and very happy right now, so all is well in the world.

In other news Jason and I made the decision last weekend that we are going to adopt! We are very excited, and scared abotu this journey but after much prayer on both are parts, we feel this is the road to pursue right now. We still want biological kids, but really feel this is right now us; so please keep us in prayer as we start the begninings of A LOT of paperwork!

Ok, I need to finish packing and get some sleep, got an early flight! I will post pics of my adventures when I get back. In the meantime, here's 2 storm pics from today....


Damaged Tree next to our house


Beautiful Rainbow and Reminder of God's Promise!