Thursday, January 24, 2013

Week 4 of 2013 - Sleepy Creek - Fairmount, Illinois

I am sitting here tonight drinking a really cold glass of Three Amigos wine from the Sleepy Creek Winery in Fairmount , Illinois. I thought I would tell you a bit about our wonderful weekend in central Illinois last weekend. 

 My granddaughter, Heather Snook married Evan Davis in Danville, Illinois on January 19, 2013. It was a beautiful wedding and family event.  Since we live three hours away, we would need a place to stay while we attended the wedding and reception.

In the fall, we were introduced to the Sleepy Creek Winery when we attended a bridal shower for Heather. We were given a tour of the vacation rental or B & W part of the Winery and decided that we would stay there for the wedding in January. We had an unknown number of relatives who would come from Michigan to attend this special family event so it seemed like a perfect place to stay.

I did not get a photo of the entrance. But here is a link to their website : http://sleepycreekvineyards.com/

And their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/sleepycreek

Wine tasting bar and service desk
 
View of the winery from the tasting room
 


Wine tasting and event center

Winery Gift store
My sisters arrived in the Chicago area on Thursday after taking the train from Michigan. On Friday morning, we loaded up and headed for Danville. In the afternoon, we assisting with the decoration at the Knights of Columbus Hall where the reception would take place the following day. We made our way to Fairmount, Illinois, to check in at the Sleepy Creek Winery around 5PM. We had just enough time to sample a couple of wines before hauling our suitcases up to the second floor living quarters which we would use for the next couple of nights.

The second floor of the winery has a two bedroom living quarters with a sleeping loft which is warm and inviting. It is a post and beam barn structure full of rustic charm. It easily provided ample room for my husband and I and my three sisters to sleep and remain refreshed during the busy weekend of family events. I was a little concerned about the fact that there was only one bathroom but it is large and we had no problem getting ready for the Saturday afternoon wedding.

Well equipped Kitchen
The kitchen was well stocked with everything we needed. I wished we had an extra day to actually make a meal in this kitchen. It would have been fun. So that just means that we will need to come back! 


Living area with a leather couch, two chairs and cable TV was very comfortable.

Loft with two beds and spiral staircase
The loft with it's wine bottle windows were beautiful in the early morning light of sunrise.




The Winery side of the wine bottle window! So creative!

 Looking down on the living quarters from the loft.

 
The deck and entrance from the back of the Winery overlooking the vineyards...

Bedroom1 with queen bed

Bedroom one

Bedroom 2 with a king Bed
 I apologize for not taking this pictures before we hauled all our things in or after we hauled all our stuff out but when I took these pictures I had really not planned to blog about it. I had planned to just have fond memories of a wonderful weekend.

We were so impressed with the staff, the beds, the living quarters, and the whole atmosphere that here I am blogging about our wonderful weekend in central Illinois. And the WINE! It's awesome. At least one of the resident cats begged at the door nightly, in an effort to get to know us better, as only a cat can. We are cat people and would have loved to let him in. SO if you are ever in the neighborhood of Fairmount, Illinois, make sure that you stop at Sleepy Creek Winery. And if you are there for the weekend...It is the best place in the area to stay!

Sue, Sharon, Greg, Jan and Pam
We are happy customers with fond memories of a winter weekend in central Illinois! 






Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Week Three of 2013

It is my brother's 50th birthday! Wow...It is a great day for a party, don't you think?  We had a surprise birthday party for him on New Years Eve this year because some of us can not be there with him today. For the party, I made him a slideshow of old photos of him. It turned out pretty long....so today  I made a shorter version and posted it on Face book. Check it out ...It's a few minutes long with some of the same pictures and some other favorites.

On the blog here, I have the ability of sharing with you some of the stories behind the photos...


Sharon is checking out her new baby brother - 1963
 Mark was the first baby brother we had in our house.  Sharon  had to inspect him pretty closely to make sure that everything was OK!


Mark is making sure that this baby brother is real! - 1964

In 1964, Matt was born and now there were two brothers.  Mark had to make sure that this little guy was real and not just a noise maker!

Mark driving his first car at the Peach Festival in Romeo - 1965













September always brings the Peach Festival to Romeo and with it comes the carnival with it's rides and cotton candy.  In this picture the older kids are anxious to get to go on the "big kid" rides but Mom makes sure that we all  wait patiently while Mark gets his turn!


Cooking Hot dogs in the Fireplace. 1966

 Sometime in the dead of winter, my dad would start a fire in the fireplace and we would roast hot dogs for dinner and marshmallows for dessert!

Teaching her son to fight. - 1966

Mom teaching Mark to box.  What is funny about this is that my Mom was so gentle.  She was the last person who could teach someone to fight.   But she would watch the Red Wings with my Dad and get so excited when a fight broke out!!!!


Vanderbilt Vacation - 1964
Mom took the watering can away from Mark to use it to rinse Pam's hair.  Needless to say Mark was not very happy! Yes, sometimes when we were camping we did wash our hair in the lake!

Losee Reunion in Lapeer in 1964

 Mark go bored at the Losee Reunion so the big sisters took him to go play on the playground toys!  Check out the old cars in the parking lot.  They were new then!!!!!















Ready to go camping - 1965
Sue and Mark are checking out the Camper. Getting ready to go on another Smith Camping adventure!


Sharon and Mark - Boston 1967
Sharon and Mark in Boston in 1967. We were following the Freedom Trail along with a bunch of other tourist.  We tried to duplicate this photo in 2010 when we all returned to Boston together when my brother Matt ran the Boston Marathon.  Not quite right but a great photo anyway...

Sharon and Mark -2010



Mark in Arizona at the time of his wedding...Mark loves his Raider!!!  Can you tell?
Mark and his favorite meal in Denmark - 2010
Mark and his hotdogs in Denmark.  I do not know how many of these he ate but he got the biggest kick out of theses long skinny hotdogs!

I am wishing my brother the best birthday!!!

Happy Birthday, Mark!

Love, Jan