This was family outing day, and there were eight of us on our winery tour. David's girlfriend Tammy had never been wine tasting, so a quick tour around Sonoma County was organized. One of the two cars we took was mine. David drove it to the first winery, and then I decided that I didn't need to spend the day drinking, so I became the designated driver for our group (including Eric, David and Tammy). I had a few sips, but that was all, and that was fine.

The weather was decent, if not spectacular. We saw very little sun or blue sky, but some fairly dramatic clouds. At least it was warm and pleasant, and we never felt uncomfortable.

We made several stops, but there wasn't much organization or order to the proceedings. We drove back and forth across the county several times, backtracking and circling and ending up passing the same landmarks more than once. Maybe it was better that way, because nobody ended up hammered. We just didn't drink enough to get blasted, and the drives in between the wineries were long enough to tone down any buzz we got.

I'm glad I was driving, although I made up for falling behind on the wine drinking once we got back to Suzanne and John's house for the barbecue. Even though I was fine while I was driving, I'll still feel it in the morning. I'm happy about the way things worked out, though, and I'm glad I finally got to meet Tammy after hearing about her for the last few weeks. She's funny and irreverent, a lot like David. They're very amusing together, and I've never seen him happier in a relationship. They seem to be good for each other, which is a pretty positive sign.

I also got a chance to talk to Eric tonight about his life and his plans. He seems to be headed in a direction that makes him happy, with a lot of schooling still ahead of him but a definite goal that he'll eventually reach. It'll be fulfilling for him to get there, but (and this is even more important for the time being) the forward momentum he's getting is satisfying in itself. I'm thrilled to see both my nephews taking giant steps forward in their lives.