That’s right, today is my beautiful mother’s (Avery’s G-Ma) 60th birthday! As we speak, I have Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones heading to her home for a private concert and just to hang out.
If you’re confused by me saying “as we speak”, that’s kinda what I was going for. Obviously we aren’t speaking, just like obviously I could never afford a private concert for my mom with some of her favorite bands. Yeah, yeah, corny joke, I know, but that’s just how I “roll”. Yep, just like “The Stones”.
For your last birthday, I shared several pictures of you and Avery. This time I’ll share the very beginning at 2 days old…
And then most recently….
Lot’s of changing happened in between, but your love remains unwavering!
Anyway, Mom, no one could ask for a better mother or G-Ma than you. I love that Avery gets the privilege of growing up with you in her life just like I have and look forward to many years to come. Although I don’t always act like it, you mean the world to me and I am grateful for everything you have done and still are doing.
Happy 60th Birthday, Mom / G-Ma! We love you!
PS: I asked Avery to work her magic with about the private concert and she’s taking the task pretty seriously…..
Be on the lookout for a band with a big mouth as their logo and a band with a big mouthed singer.
Having done the Revolver Brewing brewery tour two days before, the next obvious stop with our visiting family was a local craft vodka distillery. This is not just any vodka either, it’s distilled using mainly black-eyed peas, the world’s first!
Before the tour, we met at a cool little joint called Lili’s Bistro for lunch. Any place that is happy to accommodate my request to do or add less is an instant favorite, and they pulled through! Actually, we all enjoyed our meals and the service was good too.
But Avery was on the wild side (no surprise) and we quickly found out highchairs are NOT acceptable. Instead, she switched between my wife or my mom and me as she danced around on the booth. Thankfully, G-Ma’s sunglasses case kept her somewhat preoccupied.
Good ol’ Grandma in the background. Isn’t she pretty? I would never believe she was in her 80’s if I didn’t know her. One of my mom’s friends joined us for lunch and took my grandma out shopping afterward since she didn’t care much about trying vodka. I think she was burned out on drinking after this visit!
For the rest of us, good thing we had vodka to look forward to right after because Avery made it necessary! Okay, not really, but it sure does help! The distillery was only a few minutes away and we went right to it after paying our bill.
The name is TreyMark Vodka, and is located in an old fire station in Fort Worth, Texas. The creator, Trey (obviously), put together everything with the help of his business partners/friends and started distilling the world’s first black-eyed pea vodka.
He chose black-eyed peas since his family had a large farm with the legumes and it just wasn’t turning a profit, so why not make alcohol? Check out his story and look out for a bottle near you!
I first spoke with Trey’s mom/manager (how cool is that?) who arranged the meeting for all of us to meet for a private tour. No charge, no hassle, and he opened the doors just for us! The only drawback was having no A/C on when we visited, but I can’t blame him; gotta keep costs low!
That’s the distillery behind the lovely ladies and handsome young man.
Trey kindly greeted us at the front and gave us an excellent history of how he got started and gave a great summary on how he produced his one-of-kind vodka. Leave it to me to poke and prod with too many questions that he couldn’t answer due to being a family secret and what sets him apart from other vodkas. Hey, gotta try, right?
It’s crazy to think just a couple guys were able o put all of this giant equipment together! The entire place smelled heavily of alcohol (duh), but it wasn’t overwhelming. I actually kind of enjoyed the scent. What none of us enjoyed was the very hot, stale air, but we were provided a little relief when we went up stairs for tasting and he opened a window.
Going Mom is not a big fan of vodka and opted out of the tasting, so she kept watch over Avery as she danced around the wooden floors. She really enjoyed the loud tapping noise her Soft Star Shoes made when tromping around the room.
She also explored a little and since we’ve never had her up stairs like this before, she was fascinated at the view from below.
Well, at least for a minute, then Kelley had to give up her phone to keep the peace.
While Kelley was watching over our crazy toddler, we were learning more and more about the vodka world as we tried TreyMark’s vodka alongside another top Texas “handmade” competitor. Holy burn, Batman, the stuff I used to think was good had nothing on the smoothness of TreyMark!
All of us tried the competitor’s vodka, which Trey ingeniously keeps on hand for comparison, and came to the same conclusion; TreyMark took the trophy, hands down! Check out Paul’s action shot with all of us except our escapee toddler.
I could hold his vodka in my mouth without a major burn, but the other stuff just lit my mouth up instantly. I never would’ve thought there is so much of a difference, but it’s all in the processing, and Trey has it down pat.
After feeling the burn of one, lesser vodka, and enjoying TreyMark’s smoothness, we were feeling the family love and posed for a few pics.
Lucky to have these beautiful ladies in my family! Love you, Mom and Tammy! As G-Ma went to get money to buy a bottle of vodka, I guess Avery thought it might be for her college fund or something….
I think my mom is saying “Silly girl, this is for vodka, not edu-macation.” Avery remained expressionless, and hardly cracked a smile when I tried to pose with her even as I held the almighty phone.
Everyone enjoyed the tour and I’m thankful to Trey and his mom for providing a great experience for all of us. This was the last time for us to see Paul, Tammy, and Grandma before they headed back up North to PA, so we said our farewells in the parking lot.
It’s crazy how fast time flies and we never seem to realize it until after the fact. Still, it was great seeing my family and look forward to flying up to PA with Avery when she’s a little older.
Have you ever visited a distillery?
Would you prefer spirits, wine, or beer or something else?
Kids in highchairs. How do your act in restaurants?
After the quick mani-pedi and bounce house event the day before, all of us went out to visit Revolver Brewing for local craft beer and to hang out with our visiting family members. I was able to fit in a workout thanks to Kelley for watching Avery as I went through my sweat session.
The drive took about an hour and we arrived right at noon, when they opened for tours. It was already hot and cold beer was sought by all as a way to keep cool. Well, that and standing in front of a giant fan. Which obviously makes you look cool!
See how these beautiful ladies all have their hair flowing in the wind as if they just finished washing their hair with Herbal Essences shampoo? G-Ma and Avery had to take the stage all to themselves to show off the extra flowy hair G-Ma has.
Avery was not impressed.
I was hesitant about getting my hair messed up, but finally gave in and took a windy picture with my mom and Avery too. The beer helped give me courage.
Phew, my hair was unscathed!
Paul and Tammy played it smart and posed out of the way of the wind. Turned out to be a great photo!
Don’t worry, there was more posing. How can you not pose in front of these revolvers?
Grandma kept it cool with her shades. Guess that’s what happens with a bright future. Kelley was behind the camera for most pictures, but we were able to get a nice “shot” together. See what I did there? Guns, puns….eh? Okay, I’ll stop………..sike, I never stop!
Speaking of never stopping, Avery had G-Ma dancing to the live music when we moved out to the large patio.
She eventually tired of dancing on the patio and went to explore further outside where there were rocks, sticks, and a crazy Uncle Paul!
The brewery had a couple large rock piles for kids to climb, so I decided to walk with Avery over there and test how well her Soft Star Shoes allowed her climb.
She didn’t have a problem with traction, but lost interest in scaling the mound when she found all she needed at ground level. ALL THE ROCKS!
That girl can squat!
The sun was in full force at this time, so we brought Avery back inside to cool down and have a banana snack thanks to G-Ma who brought it from home. We also refilled on the beer.
From there, Avery’s mood was went up and down with high and low points.
High – crazy scrunched nose smiles with G-Ma
Low – Attempting to sit and read in a loud, crowded area.
High – Stealing G-Ma’s and Mommy’s phone and taking pictures while rearranging the apps and layout.
Low – Mommy’s phone died.
High – Daddy’s phone still has battery life!
High – Family selfie!!
High – Sitting on Daddy’s shoulders and hugging his head.
Notice the empty beer glass. With the heat and just holding I glass, I was drinking it as if it were water. Being the light-weight that I am, this meant I became very woozy.
Begin side thought….It didn’t help that I was already a grump. Whenever we go out, I tend to do that since I really don’t eat food in most restaurants and I was beginning to get hangry. It’s my own fault, I know, and I’m sorry to all who had to be around me. I’m working on my going out skills and will start bringing more food of my own to eat. I’m extremely particular about food and where it comes from, and to me, food is something meant to appreciate and not just used as a means of fuel. I’ll spare you the novel of reasons behind this and just say read Deep Nutrition and you’ll see where I’m coming from.
But still, no reason for me to be a grumpus every time we go out, so hopefully I’m making an improvement starting now! For my wife, for Avery, and all of my friends and family!….End side thought.
Avery’s temper started going downhill, fast, and it was time for the brewery to close up shop anyway. We stopped at a nearby hole-in-wall Mexican restaurant where I refused to eat anything but their homemade salsa and everyone else got some much needed food in their body. Avery was still crazy/cranky inside and once we were done, we took off on the hour long drive home. It was already past nap time, so we were hoping for a little nap on the drive.
Seems like they always fall asleep in the car when you don’t want them to, and then vice versa when you do. Well, that happened this time for the most part. She did give in for a little while as shown with her dormant and spread Soft Star-clad feet.
Once home, she ran around like a wild child (nothing new), and no nap was had. Meanwhile, I spent the rest of the day recovering from too much beer while cooking and eating. Yeah, this further confirms my desire for sipping on spirits rather than drinking beer. You just can’t drink spirits like water which is easy to do with beer.
Despite my poor attitude, we had a memorable time with the family and I’m glad we got to hang out. But we weren’t through, there was more touring to be done, this time at a distillery. Right up my alley! Stay tuned for the story!
Do you take your kids to local breweries or go alone?
What are your thoughts about eating out? Are you very particular like me, or just go with the flow and eat whatever’s available?
An at-home dad on a mission to keep it real when it comes to food, fun, and raising a healthy, happy family.