I love my nieces to pieces!

We're back in Minnesota for a month or so to organize BradFest again. It's been a terribly busy time since I'm not really able to take time off, but I did find a bit of time this weekend for visiting. I finally got a chance to meet my niece Taylor. She's unbelievably tiny and sweet!

 

 And I had a blast with Ria, who is now 19 months old. She's got an incredible vocabulary already and my heart just melts every time I hear her say "Auntie!"

Picking raspberries

Eating raspberries with "Papa"

Peekaboo!

Open Workspace

I obviously haven't gotten around to posting in quite a while. Summers always seem to fly by, but this one has been particularly busy. A few weeks ago Ear Duo (the duo that EMMI recently collaborated and toured with) was in town. It was the perfect opportunity for EMMI to host an open house at their Belmont workspace.

Beer was on tap and Troy's hand-roasted coffee was brewed for the occasion

Loads of friends and supporters came to check out the space and find out about the recent tour. The robot builders were on hand to explain and demo their recent creations and to show a movie that chronicled the tour.

EMMI & Ear Duo outside the workspace

Fourth Fun

Nothing says 4th of July like a BBQ, friends and fireworks. This year we were happy to enjoy all of these things. Thanks to Steve and Aurie for hosting!

Troy made a wonderful BBQ sauce and some delicious (but dangerous) watermelon drinks with rum and white wine.

Troy making dangerous drinks

Ian (who is 4) provided the main entertainment for the night (besides the fireworks). He impressed us with his vocabulary and demonstrated the versatility of a massage brush. He used it in a seemingly endless guessing game and as a dance prop!

Sarah and Jaimee

The party was also a going away celebration for our friend Sarah. She arrived in C-Ville the same year as we did. Unfortunately for us, she's returning to Canada this week. We'll miss Sarah. I'll especially miss her enthusiasm for dancing and singing karaoke. Parties definitely won't be the same without her!

A Brew Ridge Birthday

You probably already know that Troy and I are beer lovers. This region is known for having lots of wineries but in recent years, more and more local breweries are cropping up. We have often ventured to the Blue Mountain Brewery as it's only a short drive from Charlottesville. My birthday was a good excuse to venture a bit further to check out the rest of what has been dubbed the Brew Ridge Trail. Our friends Steve and Aurie volunteered to drive, which was sweet.

We started out at Wild Wolf Brewing Company in Nellysford. Right now, they have a home brew shop and a place to buy growlers for a great price. If you buy a growler, they let you taste the beer. We were pretty impressed with the quality of their beer. Their Alpha Ale features some of the delicious, West coast hops that I love. Their Strawberry Schwarzcake is really good too--it has some serious strawberry flavor, but isn't too sweet. I also enjoyed their Belgian wit (something I don't say often about that style when attempted in the U.S.).

This fall Wild Wolf is opening a brewpub/restaurant and they hired the sous chef from a place called Staunton Grocery, which is well known around here for its food. We'll be happy to have an excuse to go back!

Next we ventured to the Devil's Backbone Brewery. It's a nice building but more reminiscent of a hunting lodge in Montana (with elk and deer heads on the walls) than what you'd expect to find in rural Virginia. The food was tasty (I had a pulled pork sandwich) but the beer was mediocre. I feel like they're trying to do too many beers and they don't really do any of them well. Still, it's always fun to do tastings.

They made me wear the goofy headband

After DBB, the plan was to go to Paul's Creek to cool off and try out the natural rock slide. Unfortunately, the water level was too low. But we still enjoyed the scenery. We even saw a little turtle.

We finished up with the Blue Mountain Brewery, where Sarah, Dave and Laura met up with us. It was a beautiful evening on their patio overlooking the mountains. And their beer and pizza are always incredible. They have an ÜberPils on tap as well as their Mandolin--a Belgian-style beer that actually tastes Belgian!

We were pretty exhausted by the end of the evening, but we topped off the night with a decadent cake that Troy had made for me--buttermilk-chocolate with chocolate ganache, cherry butter cream icing, and blueberry-pomegranite glaze. It was divine!

Good beer, food and friends, what more can you ask for on your birthday?