Thanks to all the veterans today and everyday too. Freedom isn’t free. I’ve got some great veterans in my family, including my own father and two great dads!

But this one weekend is a real dinger. Denise and I are finally getting married! Yes, the date has finally arrived and it’s all going to happen on Sunday, September 26th, 2010. Through the graciousness of our wonderful friends Vern and Nancy, we’ll be holding the ceremony in their garden-like backyard on a hillside here in Vacaville. Intending to keep the wedding very small has proven to be quite a challenge, but I have to give thanks to so many great friends for stepping up and helping put all this together. As if it wasn’t already obvious, planning weddings large and small is a very complicated endeavor. There are loads of “moving parts” that all have to work in perfect synchronization. And thankfully, we’ve been blessed to have some friends and family members who are up to the task.

It’s clear throughout the preparations and rehearsals so far that this has the makings to be a very beautiful wedding and what could be more amazing than marrying my best friend. The absolute breathtaking beauty of Denise, both inside and out.  Finally becoming married this weekend will not be the beginning for our family, but only a way-point along the journey on which God has placed us.

I’ll post photos and maybe even a movie or two after this weekend for you to see. Although it’s still early and we’re not yet married, I want to thank everyone for being so kind, thoughtful and helpful for Denise and I. We’re continually reminded of what a wonderful family we have and such caring friends.

Getting fitted for our tuxedos!

We had a terrific show with the Sargent Tucker band on Friday night in downtown Vacaville (big thanks to all who came out!). We were marvelously entertained later by The Rhythm Method band too.

We attended the Dixon Mayfair parade on Saturday morning and then came home and ventured out on a refreshing 15 mile bike ride with Denise and Wyatt to the Morning Sun Herb Farm on Pleasant’s Valley Road for their pre-Mother’s Day extravaganza. We got a flat along the way, but that’s typical. A quick tire repair along the road and we were back on our way. Later that night Denise and I attended our monthly Wine Club meeting. Chardonnay this month. (after your first two tastes, they really all tasted the same. Can you tell I’m a red wine guy?)

And then a Mother’s Day visit from Denise’s parents yesterday. We all visited the Dixon May Fair later and watched as Lauren and Elizabeth’s 4H rabbits won ribbons galore! Lauren’s rabbit won 2nd in breed and first in the costume contest. and their entire 4H unit won 1st place in having the cleanest cages.

Elizabeth and Rosalina

Elizabeth and Lauren made today’s edition of The Vacaville Report for participating in a local 4H event where they demonstrated their presentation skills using their rabbits and presentation boards they had created. Elizabeth even got her photo in the newspaper too. We’re so proud of them for being in 4H. It’s such hard work, and even harder work for Denise in coordinating, transporting and helping keeping everything straight. Way to go girls!

Here’s a link to the article in The Vacaville Reporter.
http://www.thereporter.com/ci_14496791

2009 was a tough year for me personally. Giving this battle with tonsil cancer all I had was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. There were times during the treatment when I felt like I was never going to have energy, or even feel healthy and strong again. All those thought are behind me now. I’m feeling better all the time. Good enough to take a trip to Europe earlier this year and a Christmas trip to Disneyland with my family. I have been blessed with a wonderfully loving and supportive family. And my friends have been there for me all the way through this challenging year. So let’s say goodbye to a difficult and not-so-great 2009 and hello to a much more prosperous, healthy and happy 2010!!

Since our kids have another set of parents, Denise and I spent a relaxing Christmas morning by ourselves and went for a nice breakfast. Our road trip later that night would require me to drive through the night non-stop, so we took the opportunity to take a long nap during the afternoon in anticipation of the crew arriving later in the evening. We planned on leaving at 10pm and driving the 6 hours to Anaheim. When everyone arrived, we celebrated a Christmas night together around the decorated tree and then packed up and headed out. The drive to Anaheim was uneventful and I was able to pull into the Paradise Pier Hotel at Disneyland at 5:00am, right on time!

Our 5-day park hopper passes allowed us early entry into the park on 3 separate days, so we enjoyed a quick breakfast in the hotel and walked across the street to the park for the opening at 7am. We spent the day at the park and during the afternoon, we all started to crash and burn from lack of sleep, including me operating on zero sleep. We napped back at the hotel and went back to the park at night for the Fantasmic show in Adventureland. All I can say is it was amazing! Fireworks, costumes, watershows, sailing ships. Disney really does these types of things the right way.

Anyway, to make a long story somewhat shorter, we spent the next 4 days skipping back and forth from Disneyland and California Adventure, standing in lines, using Fastpasses, eating yummy food where we could and really enjoying ourselves. One thing that was helpful for us, is realizing that feeding our 6-person family at Disneyland easily gets to $60 or more for every meal, so we went grocery shopping outside the park and carried our own snacks and made sandwiches back at the hotel whenever we could. We really saved some money avoiding park meals when we could. However there are some occasions like eating dinner at the Blue Bayou in Adventureland that you just have to do.  The meals we all had were really good, and the service there (like everywhere in DL) is great!

So on our 5th day at the park, we were all pretty worn out and it had started to rain too. Denise and the girls made it into the park early for Mickey’s Tunetown Madness while the boys and I packed up the truck. We joined them

in the park, went on a few rides and all decided we’d had enough. Our drive out of LA was terrible with traffic worse than I’ve ever seen, but once we had hit the Grapevine, things smoothed out and we arrived home in Vacaville at midnight. Just in time to celebrate Elizabeth’s 13th birthday party on New Year’s Eve!

A few post-trip thoughts:

• Everything at DL is pricier, but worth it. The cast members, parades, environment, food, amenities are all top notch. They pull out all the stops.
• If you have a birthday at DL you’re in for a treat. Wearing the birthday button on your short means you’ll have cast members telling you happy birthday all day long.
• Get to the park early as it really fills up later in the day and the lines for rides get very long.
• Take your own food, drinks and snacks when you can. In a backpack!

If you’re interested in seeing photos of our trip to DL, you can following this link.

http://gtaber.smugmug.com/Family-Photos/Disneyland-Christmas/10827459_99QBK

Also Saturday started my week long (9 days actually) stay-cation over the Thanksgiving holiday. I’ll be hanging around the house, finally getting to chores I’ve been postponing for months. Icky things like cleaning the gutters of years of pigeon poop and fixing the backyard fence.  Oh yeah. Jealous?

In Winters

On Saturday, Denise and decided to take our first Fall bike ride. The ride was actually my first in nearly a year and something I had been looking forward to for a long time. We felt we could make the 18+ mile ride into the small city of Winters and back, for a nearly 40 mile ride. We left Vacaville at 10am and as luck would have it, we suffered our first flat tire just outside of Vacaville, near I505. I had never changed a flat tire on a road bike, so this was a good learning experience for me, although I can honestly report my mood wasn’t the most pleasant at that point.

I got the tire patched and repaired in short order and we rode on northward. The fall weather was great for riding and as we got about 2 miles outside of Winters, Denise suffered a flat tire. Our second of the day! Seems like I might have angered the biking gods somehow this day. Nevertheless, we pulled over into a nearby walnut tree orchard and I repaired my second tire of the day. By this time it was getting into the early afternoon and neither Denise and I were in the mood any longer for the ride back. So we stopped into a local Winters coffee shop, called a close friend (Sara D.) and were graciously taxied back to Vacaville. We got in a solid 18 mile ride and for my first lengthly bike ride post-treatment, I think I did pretty well. Although when I got back home, the tidal wave of hurt and fatigue came over me, pretty much keeping me out of action for the remainder of the day. If anyone has any road tire advice, feel free to let me know!

Next time (hopefully soon), I’ll pre-load more calories and we’ll make the ride there and back. Can’t wait!

Mt. Shasta

Well after a 5 1/2 hour drive back into Vacaville on Tuesday, we finally made it home. Just in time to attend Elizabeth’s 4H awards event in Vallejo. Yeah, I know..more driving. Actually the drive home was very relaxing and beautiful as we drove through the rest of southern Oregon and into some scenic mountainous country of northern California. I always love driving past

Shasta and seeing it looming in the distance. However it was a little disappointing driving past Lake Shasta as the water line was quite low. I can’t imagine how low the boat launches must be to get boats into such low water. I was also amazed to feel the change in temperature from Ashland (46°) into Red Bluff (82°). Quite dramatic!

Elizabeth's 4H Award

The 4H awards event was pretty long at just about 2 hours, but it was great to see all the 4H’ers and their various awards. 4H is a very well run organization and takes good care of all it’s members who in turn work very hard. Elizabeth won an award for her presentations for her rabbits.

The Hood Canal

In Ashland, OR

At Safeco Field

Wine in Woodinville

We’re having such a great time on this 1+ week vacation to Seattle and our trip back through Oregon and into California. We had originally intended on flying back, but the lure of a nice drive back home was much too strong for Denise and I. So on Sunday, we took the ferry into Seattle with my parents and rented a car from Avis for the return journey home.

With no agenda whatsoever, we began our drive south through Washington, hoping to make it to at least Roseburg, OR before nightfall. Denise thought it would be nice to stop in a visit her friend Julie B. in Vancouver as we passed through. Julie and her family had moved from Vacaville to Vancouver only the week before, so we’d be seeing her family’s new home here in WA. We spent about an hour’s visit in Vancouver and headed south, driving through some of the most beautiful landscapes I’ve seen. I typically fall in love with places we visit pretty easily, and seeing WA and OR was no exception. I’d move up here in a heartbeat. Cooler temps, more rain and beautiful scenery make for a great place to live and work. And with the economy tanking, house prices with acreage are amazingly affordable.

We pulled into Roseburg at about 9:30pm and promptly had a nice dinner at a local steakhouse. After a restful night’s sleep, we were off once again, trying to get to Medford and Ashland for the next night. It was foggy and cold most of the trip and when we arrived in Ashland, it was still very cold. Probably in the high 40′s. We did some shopping in this picturesque little town and found a nice B&B named the Lithia Springs Resort. Ashland is known for its Shakespeare festival and we were hoping to catch a show, but all the stages are dark on this particular Monday. So we went out to listen to some live music at a local bar/cafe and then found our way back to the B&B for the night. Brrrrr, it’s cold up here when the sun goes down.

There are a lot more pictures here.