Well….it’s summer vacation for the kids (aka Lizzy and James)! Don’t we all miss the days of summer break with nothing to worry about but how to stay cool! That said, I’ve been watching our kids over the last couple weeks and it’s reminded me of some of the unique things of growing up on a ranch and now a winery.
There are definately some disadvantages, I have to say. For instance, I never learned to skate board and I never got TOO attached to any animal. Our vacations were infrequent and the pay I earned pulling leaves one summer wasn’t anything to brag about. (I think I earned $1 at 10 cents a vine) But, I also got to do things most kids don’t ever experience. I remember riding to the winery with my dad, climbing up on my tippy toes to get our weight tag for our load and then controlling the mechanism that dumped our gondola of grapes into the crusher. I also have vivid memories of searching for the biggest bunch of grapes for the grape festival and riding through the vineyard to my friends house.
Hopefully, my kids will have similar memories that stick with them….like helping with pressing (their favorite job), driving the quad or forklift, helping on the bottling line, and getting to run back and forth to their grandparents at their leisure. How many kids get to do these things at their age? I always tell people that Ian probably knows more than I do about what’s going on in the vineyards and this summer is no exception as he has been spending lots of time checking vineyards with Kyle. This is our life, not just our work, and they have definitely been involved from day 1!! And, I do have to admit that they think its pretty cool that they have their names on a bottle and vineyard!! Enjoy a few pics of them enjoying the ranch and winery life.
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