When in Pasco...do like the Pascans and drink wine!

Last weekend my parents sponsored a little family reunion down in Pasco where my brother Pete and his wife Vanessa live. They agree to put us up in a hotel and entertain our kids if we would agree to make the 2 hour drive down. Not a bad deal.

My sister and Caden wanted to ride in the mini with us since Justin wasn't getting off work until really late (note to Kristi: minivans hold a boat load of people - throw your pride out the window and get on board) so on Friday I picked up Caden at noon and kept him with us all day so he'd be nice and nap free for the drive down.

This is the boys hamming it up at McDonald's. I also wanted to get them nice and full so once we hit the road they'd pass out (and for the record my plan worked out pretty well - they both slept for at least 1/2 the ride). The ride.

On Saturday Vanessa's friends graciously offered to let us come over and check out their new ponies. My little fun hater was on his best behavior and actually rode the pony around the barn. Yay for him!

After our little farm visit we went wine tasting for the rest of the afternoon. This is yet another reason why I'm nominating myself for mother of the year. Did you know babies are allowed in wineries?

We just had the kids with us at the first one and then my parents took them back to the hotel for naps while the 5 of us powered on to 5 more wineries (5 because there was no Matt). Matt stayed in the hotel room and missed all the fun because he's obsessed with getting good grades in the MBA program. Damn logical priorities.

No pictures after we left the first winery but this was where the real adventure began. All the wineries in the area have these fancy tasting rooms and beautiful landscaping. Very sophisticated. Which we were clearly dressed for in our fleece and college sweatshirts.

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Anyways.

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We were driving along and there was a big piece of plywood propped up on the side of the road with the words 'Old School Winery' spray painted on it. I like to blame my brother for turning off the road but I think we were really all intrigued.

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We get there and its this old shanty building with wine barrels and old restaurant equipment all over the place outside. Inside there was no floor. Just dirt.

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There were 3 mangy dogs running around.

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There was music playing but it was hard to focus on it with the bug zapper zapping at the bugs every 2 seconds.

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And then there was the winemaker. Oh my word the winemaker. He made us pay $10 to taste his crappy wine (every where else was free), he scratched his big belly, he kept taking off his flip flops while he was talking to us and I don't think his feet had been washed in 3 years. He was nasty all around.

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The worst was that he yapped our ears off about how everyone else does it wrong and he does it right. If you're the only one that does it right why can't you afford flooring for your winery? Why isn't your wine found in supermarkets like everyone elses? I really felt like if we turned and ran he would have someone waiting by our car ready to kill us so we stuck it out as long as we could.

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After about 40 minutes or so we snuck away 1 by 1 and hid in the car. I could continue on and on about all the weird stuff that went down in the 40 minutes but I'll stop. My hair is itching just thinking about all the gnats flying around.

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So that was the weekend. Thanks Rick and Irene for treating us!