What better time than to announce the obsolecence of this blog by forwarding you to Elise's second birthday post on our new blog, to which Julie is sure to post far more faithfully than I.

We welcomed Elise Joy into the world yesterday evening. She's the fourth of four beautiful girls, and we're happy to have a healthy mom and healthy baby home tonight.

Sarah turned 8 on Friday, and she had a great birthday weekend. One of her best friends spent the night after we had dinner at Applebee’s, cake and ice cream at home, watched Sarah opened some gifts, and then watched half of the new “Narnia” DVD.

On Saturday we had a real treat – (Great-) Uncle Stan walked Sarah and her friend around on horses through a beautiful landscape on a gorgeous day. They also finished “Narnia”, bought a few things at the garage sale at the Lynden Fairgrounds, and we got to see Sarah’s friend’s new house!

On Sunday we went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house after church, where we had a great birthday dinner that ended with strawberries on angel food cake. Sarah got her biggest present – a combined gift from many relatives – a real live basketball hoop! I don’t doubt that a “real man” could have had it assembled in an hour or so, but it took this man about five hours. Still, I finally completed it last night before the sun went down, so Sarah and I were able to play a few minutes before bed.

The Seahawks played a good game on Superbowl Sunday, but they didn't have enough to win. A number of questionable calls by the referees didn't help, either. But, it was fun to have a team to really root for, and fun to hang out with friends for the big game. Did the Seahawks make a fan out of me? Maybe I'll actually watch their first game of the next season...

Yes, the Seattle Seahawks are going to the Superbowl. This football season has been vaguely reminiscent of the 1995 Seattle Mariners; then, too, I wasn’t much of a fan until they started to win, at which point I began to watch faithfully. I watched both playoff games this past Sunday, and much of all four playoff games the Sunday before, and a number of other games ever since the Seahawks had accumulated 10 or so wins for the season. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy watching football before; I’m just a bit of a fair-weather fan. Like most people, I have a lot more fun when I can watch my local team win. So, come Sunday after next, I’ll be staring at some television somewhere, rooting for our team. Go Seahawks!

In case you haven’t heard, we’ve been getting a lot of rain in these parts lately. We’ve basically had rain every day for the last month. Seattle had its 27th consecutive rainy day on Saturday. We had a reprieve this weekend, and actually got to enjoy a bit of sun, but the rain is back with a vengeance today. Generally speaking, I don’t think that we deserve our rainy stereotype, but even I am ready for a change in the weather. The combination of dark skies, hard rain, and faded road lines make for a stressful commute, and daily lunchtime walks are a lot less enjoyable.

Today wasn’t all gloom, though; the kids had the day off school, so Julie brought them to Bellingham and we had lunch together at the “wood fire pizza” restaurant near the office. We all enjoyed our pizza and a little extra time together.

When you haven’t blogged for a while, you realize that there are a few important life events that you haven’t mentioned. It’s rather unlikely that I have any readers that don’t already know this, but just in case…

Julie’s pregnant! If you have any questions, please check the FAQ:

Q: When is Julie due?
A: Mid-June. She’s glad that’s before the hottest summer months.

Q: How has Julie been feeling?
A: Pretty well. She didn’t feel great for a while during the first trimester, but she doesn’t get morning sickness as badly as many other women, so she took it in stride.

Q: Do you know what you’re having?
A: A human. (Har!) We don’t know the sex of the baby, nor do we intend to find out (until it is born, that is).

Q: Did you find out with any of your other kids?
A: No. We like the surprise.

Q: How many kids do you have, anyway?
A: When we bring the new baby home this summer, we’ll have four kids in the house.

Q: You currently have three daughters, right?
A: Yep.

Q: I guess you’re pretty outnumbered, ha ha.
A: That’s not a question.

Q: Wow, that’s three weddings to save up for. Maybe four!
A: A question, please?

Q: Sorry. So, you must be hoping for a boy, eh?
A: I’m good either way. Another girl would be easiest, of course, but I think we’re up to the challenge of raising a boy.

Q: The more girls you have in a row, the more likely the next will be a boy, right?
A: I think we have at least a 50% chance of having a boy.

Q: Have you decided on names?
A: We have a number of possibilities, but no definite names yet.

Q: What are some of the possibilities?
A: None of your bee’s wax. You’ll just have to wait like everyone else.

Q: Are you praying for a happy pregnancy, a safe childbirth, and a healthy addition to the family?
A: Absolutely.

Welcome to 2006! It seems unlikely that I’ll manage to start posting to this blog on a regular basis again, but it’s a new year, so I should at least give it a try.

I was reasonably productive at work today, considering it was my first day back since Thursday before last. I had a great time on vacation. We didn’t have to do any traveling this year, because our families came here! We had Julie’s two brothers in town with their wives, and my parents! Along with the normal fellowship, food, presents, etc., there was also some serious gaming – Settlers of Catan, Euchre, and Rook! We watched our share of football, spent some time looking for eagles, read books, visited extended family, went bowling, drank coffee, and all manner of other memorable activities. But now it’s all over, and we’re left wondering when we’ll get to do it again. As soon as possible, I hope.

My family was invited by friends of ours to a free (!) premiere showing of The Lord of the Beans, the latest VeggieTales movie from Big Idea. It isn’t even released yet, but Child Evangelism Fellowship got hold of it and gave a free showing in the beautiful Mount Baker Theatre in downtown Bellingham. I had the honor of taking Sarah and Bethany to this amazing event.

I should be ashamed to admit that we own every single VeggieTales episode ever released. (In fact, we bought our first VeggieTales videos before we even had any kids!) Combine that with my love of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, of which the VeggieTales movie is a parody, and you’ve got a match made in heaven. We really enjoyed the show; for my part, the parody aspect could have been better, but it definitely had great moments.

Thanks again to the Alberts for inviting us! I’ll be surprised if the DVD isn’t part of our VeggieTales library by the end of the year…

Julie and I went to our first and last Mariners game of the season on Friday. We had a great time. Some of the highlights:

• Julie’s parents offered to watch the kids, so the game was really a date! Thanks, Mom and Dad.
• It was Dan Wilson’s last game in the Major Leagues. He was set to retire this year anyway, but an injury kept him off the field for most of the season, so he played catcher one last time for the first inning of play, and walked off the field for the last time at the top of the second. Not only is Dan my favorite baseball player, he’s also the last Mariner that was on the team during their 1995 season, which “saved baseball in Seattle,” and got Julie and me hooked.
• Dan Wilson caught for Jamie Moyer, another of my favorite players. It’s always been clear that Wilson was Moyer’s favorite catcher, so it was fun to see them together one last time. They embraced when Dan left at the top of the second, and I daresay there were quite a few moist eyes in the stadium as he left, including mine.
• Willie Bloomquist, yet another of my favorite players, had been getting a lot more playing time this season before his recent injury, and won an “unsung hero” award. (Eddie Guardado got “best pitcher” and Richie Sexson got “best player”.)
• Julie and I shared a big pile of garlic fries. Yummy.
• Ichiro, the shining star of the Mariners, managed to break another record. He hit his 200th hit of the season, and became the first player to do so during each of the first five years of his Major League career.
• The Mariners won 4 to 1, sealing Moyer’s perfect record at home at 10-0. It also maintained Julie’s record; the Mariners are undefeated at home whenever Julie has been in attendance.
• The kids stayed the night at Julie’s parents, which meant that Julie and I got to sleep in a bit on Saturday morning. Rebecca has a knack for waking up by 6 a.m., so that was a real treat. Thanks again, Mom and Dad!

I’m in my prime again – I turned 31 this past Friday. I had a great birthday weekend! Our tradition at Logos is to take coworkers out to lunch on their birthdays, so I had a great lunch at Lemon Grass Café (Thai) on Friday afternoon. On Friday evening, we had friends over for dinner, with whom we watched the latest VeggieTales video with my daughters, and then played a rousing game of Settlers of Catan!

Julie and the girls took me out for a birthday dinner on Saturday night. It was my choice of restaurants, so I picked On Rice – I do love Thai food. We started with three inexpensive appetizers, hoping to find some things that the girls would enjoy (we did). We followed that up with spicy soup (for me), garlic chicken (for Julie), and fried rice (for the girls). Our waitress found out that it was my birthday, so we were serenaded with the birthday song, followed by complimentary fried bananas and coconut ice cream, which I’d never had before, but were delicious. It couldn’t have been better.

On Sunday, we went to church, and then had Julie’s family over for a great dinner. I even got a few more presents, including two Settlers of Catan expansions, one that extends the game to support more than four players, and another that adds the Cities and Knights rules. I can’t wait to play!

On my way home from work on Friday, I stopped by Best Buy to spend some birthday money – I bought a nice portable CD player that plays MP3 files, so that I can record a number of albums on one CD. I got a car kit with it for free, so I was able to rock out to another of my birthday presents on my way to work on Monday – the latest Switchfoot album, Nothing is Sound.

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday weekend so much fun!

Last night was “parent night” at Lynden Christian, so Julie and I got to spend some time listening to Sarah’s and Bethany’s teachers talk about how the school year will go. It sounds like Sarah and Bethany have a lot of learning to look forward to, and a lot of fun as well. I think both teachers are just what Sarah and Bethany need to have a great year.

Rebecca is sleeping in her "big girl bed" tonight. She's had a few good naps in it, so we're making the transition. The crib is still in the room in case of an emergency, but we'll be dismantling it soon. Before and after:

My new commute is better than I thought it would be! My old commute from Mount Vernon was about 30 miles, and took at least 35 minutes. I carpooled consistently, which saved gas, but added another 5 minutes or so. My new commute from Everson is 16 miles, and usually takes less than 25 minutes in the morning. (The afternoon commute is a bit busier, but still takes under 30 minutes.) It doesn’t seem like much in print, but “under 30 minutes” somehow feels a lot closer than “nearly 45 minutes”. I’ve also shifted my schedule a half hour earlier, which means I get to leave work at 4:30 pm each day, which gets me home at 5 pm, which gives me almost an hour more time with my family each evening than I was getting before. All in all, it’s turning out to be a great deal.

I neglected to mention that I completed our taxes a few weeks ago and got our refund lickety-split. I'll not talk about the fact that our federal tax burden is down around 1% this year; I talked enough about that last year. A friend of mine reminded me that I'm still paying lots of money to Social Security and Medicare, though, so I shouldn't feel too unburdened...

If you haven't done your taxes yet, be sure to do and submit them online, for free! Just go to http://www.irs.gov/, click “Free File”, “Start Now!”, and then click on your favorite provider. Mine was TurboTax – they've been doing online taxes for years now, and it's free for everyone through the IRS link, even if you itemize. That's how I did my taxes this year, and it worked out wonderfully.

I've been either too busy or too lazy lately to blog, but I wanted to reassure my many readers without any other way of knowing (ha!) that our family is fine, if still off-and-on sick. All of my girls have a cough of varying severity; I seem to be largely spared, for now. We're hoping that spring will bring renewed health and happiness.

I leave you with a direct quote from Bethany: “I never sleep. I just stay in bed for a long time.” She's something else.

We’ve been having our share of fun these past days. About a week ago, we discovered lice in Bethany’s hair. We did the whole lice thing – shampoo and nit-picking and bagging and vacuuming and the like. We’ve been doing multi-daily checks of everyone – Bethany has been clean, and nobody else has had any… until last night, when we discovered one lousy louse in Sarah’s hair. So, we did the whole lice thing, again. And everyone is nit-free, again. We’ll be diligent for the next few weeks; hopefully we will have finally seen the last of it. I’m told that lice are hard to get rid of… <sigh>

So, we had a busy night last night, and we had a busy morning this morning. I’ve never felt more like a “soccer mom” – I brought everyone to drop Julie off at her dentist, then brought the kids to Sarah’s dentist and waited there for her short visit, after which I brought the kids to Sarah’s school and dropped her off, after which I brought Bethany and Rebecca to Bethany’s school and waited for it to open and dropped her off, after which Rebecca and I picked up Julie at her dentist and went home, after which I was finally able to head to work. Fortunately, that’ll be Julie’s last trip to the dentist for a while (she’s not fond of dentistry), and Sarah’s minor orthodontics are going well.

Anyway, I was finally on my to work. I got all the way to Bellingham and drove happily down Holly, a minute or two from the office. I was in the right lane of the three-lane one-way road that is Holly. The car in the center lane, slightly ahead of me, stopped for a pedestrian on the left side of the road that wanted to cross the non-signaled, non-stop-signed crosswalk. So, I stopped as well. Unfortunately, the Ford F-250 behind me did not.

I didn’t even see it coming; perhaps that’s best. The rear bumper and tailgate are pretty tweaked, and my left rear turn signal is out. The damage somehow cascaded all the way to the driver-side door, which I can no longer lock. Amazingly, the truck still runs fine, I think, except when I wonder if I’m hearing new noises… The damage would cost $2,700 to fix at the body shop – approximately 270,000 times the “fair market value” of the truck – so I’m sure that the Ford’s driver’s insurance will declare it totaled. We shall see what tomorrow brings; I’m waiting for a call from his insurance company.

I’m okay, but understandably sore. I was convinced by, well, just about everyone, that I should see the doctor, so I did so – on the Ford’s driver’s insurance’s dime, of course. She told me to expect to be even more sore tomorrow, and for the next few days. Ibuprofen and I shall be good friends. Otherwise, I’ll probably be fine. But now I must retire, and pray that I can get out of bed in the morning. Good night!

I hope that you had a nice day! I had a good evening with my four valentines, but our primary celebration was Saturday night. We went out for Thai food and then to Dairy Queen for dessert. I’m sorry to say that the Thai food wasn’t a big hit with Bethany or Rebecca, but I’m quite glad to say that Sarah liked it a lot! Of course, she simply had fried rice – nothing too savory like Julie’s garlic chicken, or too spicy like my Tom Kha Ghai soup – but that’s a good step in the right direction! For me, the only thing better than enjoying a Thai meal is having leftovers. I am forever indebted to my boss for introducing me to the joy of Thai food when I arrived as an intern over ten years ago. I could go on and on, but enough about Thai food. The ice cream we had a Dairy Queen was enjoyed by all, which ensured that everyone had a great Valentine’s celebration.

Update: Actually, tonight did turn out to be an eventful Valentine's evening. Julie and I had some quiet time together as a couple, if you know what I mean – we painted the kitchen and the dining area! Woo-hoo!

We went to Jungle Playland a couple of weeks ago – we got a free pass for our whole family as a Christmas gift from good friends of ours. We had a great time! Jungle Playland is a big “play place” for kids – tubes and slides and the like. It recently moved to a bigger location, so it’s really cool now. It even has a miniature climbing wall. The real shocker is that they have decent food. Well, probably not all of their food, but they bake Papa Murphy’s pizza, so that was quite nice.

Most interesting was watching Rebecca. They had a nice area for toddlers, but she wanted to roam most of the time. The “big kid” stuff was a little intimidating for her, but she managed. Until she saw the giant monkey head, that is. It’s a large head that kids can crawl into from one of the tubes, and is high enough in the air that I can barely reach it. She saw it and instantly fell to the ground staring at it. I’m not sure if she was afraid she’d bump into it, or that it would fall on her, or eat her, or what. She wasn’t terrified, per se, but she was not anxious to walk under it. I eventually coaxed her to walk around it, and she was fine – until she saw the giant tiger head and responded similarly. I suppose fear is a natural reaction to the slavering fangs of a giant tiger; I should be proud of her instincts.

This past week was not a favorite for our family – this was the week of the dentist. On Monday morning, I had a dentist appointment. On Tuesday afternoon, I took Sarah and Bethany to the dentist. And on Wednesday morning, Julie had a dentist appointment. I don’t actually mind the dentist much. The girls put up with going to the dentist, but just barely. Julie… let’s just say she’s “not fond” of the dentist and leave it at that. In any case, I won’t go into all of the gory details – our dental health is acceptable.

This weekend was better – all three girls got to spend Saturday night at Grandma and Grandpa’s, and Julie and I got to start painting the kitchen and dining room and then hang out together for a while. In fact, she actually watched Gattaca with me, even though she finds it a bit boring. Inconceivable. Anyway, I think everyone had a great time. Still, it was nice to see the kids again today when we drove up to Lynden for Sunday dinner. Now we’re all back together again and ready for a new week.

Did I mention that we’ve been under the weather? We’ve all had various stages of a cold in the last few days, though we also seem to be getting better. We’re also under the weather in a real sense – I’m beginning to wonder what a cloudless sky looks like, not to mention the nearby star around which this planet revolves…

Yes, Christmas. I had a great Christmas holiday, and I feel bad that I never managed to tell you about it. Not that you care terribly, of course. So, considering that you don’t really care, and Christmas is long over, I won’t blame you in the least for not reading the rest of this summary of our Christmas joy.

• We had a fun Christmas party in Coupeville with Julie’s mom’s family.
• Julie put her back out quite severely while reaching to pour milk.
• Pam and Jeff, good old friends from Michigan, stopped by for a visit.
• Mom and Erik visited for five days – not nearly long enough!
• Mom, Rebecca, and I forged a new walking path in the bitter cold.
• We had a nice dinner at the Skagit River Brewery.
• Mom and Erik taught Julie and me how to play pinochle! (It’s a card game.)
• Rebecca had a fairly high fever with no other symptoms through Christmas.
• We ate great food and opened great gifts on Christmas Eve.
• We went to church and then to Lynden for a nice Christmas Day.
• Julie’s dad made his “famous” salmon – I love brown sugar…
• We opened excellent gifts from Julie’s family on Monday night.
• We attended a Christmas party with Julie’s mom’s mom’s extended family.
• We finally opened our last but not least gifts on New Years Day.

I hope that your Christmas was as merry as mine! Glory to God in the highest!

Winter is here! It started to snow up in Bellingham on Thursday – enough, in fact, that I left early so I wouldn’t have to drive in it in the dark! By Friday morning it was bad enough up there that we felt it prudent that I work from home instead of braving the elements in my pickup truck.

Well, last night the snow came here as well! We woke up to a winter wonderland, so of course we had to spend plenty of time outside in the snow. Not as much as the snow storm we had last winter, but enough to get a few decent sled runs down the street, and to make a few snowballs, and to build a very short snowman. The girls had a great time with their neighbor friend, a young girl about Sarah’s age that we hardly ever see – except when it snows!

Much of the snow has already melted away – but the forecast calls for possibly more tonight, so we’ll see what the day brings!

I don’t get really sick very often. In fact, I was feeling quite confident that I’d made it through another family illness unscathed. That is, until Sunday afternoon.

Don’t ask what I had for lunch on Sunday, because it is unlikely that I’ll ever be able to eat it again. After lunch, I started feeling cold, even though the house was reasonably warm, and I started feeling sore, and tired, and needing-to-lie-down, and needing-to-get-up-again. It soon became clear that I was ill, and that my illness was going to demonstrate itself in a most unfortunate manner. So, though I could not determine the time of said demonstration, I at least was able to determine the place. The rest of the evening was no better, as I was too sick and sore to fall asleep, and thus spent the entire night in a horrible daze, no doubt keeping Julie awake, who caught the same bug during the night.

And so it was on Monday that the kids had no parents, because Julie and I rarely had the energy or stomach to stand, let alone move. Fortunately, sleep came easier Monday night, so the kids had about one full parent with both of us home on Tuesday. Wednesday was a reasonably normal day – I even made it to work – and we’re both feeling a lot better today.

Because I’m so seldom sick, I easily forget how miserable it is – the horrible violence of your body rejecting its contents; the constant shifting of positions in a feeble attempt to find physical comfort; the inability to form a coherent thought or do anything productive. I realized my lack of compassion for the sick, even when they are my own family members. Many sick and elderly live like that, or worse, day after day, with no end in sight; how blessed I am to generally live in good health, with a healthy family.

Unfortunately, it’s not been as happy as I would like. I’ve had a nasty sinus infection for the last few days, but I could have easily managed enough happiness for the new year if not for the fact that the rest of my family hasn’t been feeling well, either. We did manage to have our own early evening New Year celebration with the kids – right before Bethany demonstrated that she wasn’t feeling well all over her bed, followed closely by a similar demonstration from Rebecca all over me. Repeated demonstrations were the theme of the evening, until about 2 a.m. this morning, when all was finally quiet. Sarah and Julie weren’t feeling well either, but they fortunately had no demonstrations of their own.

So, we missed the celebrations, the fireworks over the Space Needle on television, etc. We also had plans for today that have been replaced with rest time. Still, it’s 2005 today, and we’re praying for a good year.

Wow, it has been a while since I’ve written here. I should try to catch up on everything, but considering I had to ask Julie to remind me what we did only yesterday, that would be a fruitless exercise. So, I’ll just hope that you all had a nice Thanksgiving and move right along to this weekend.

Well, first I should mention that Sarah had her Christmas program this past Wednesday, and Bethany had her Christmas program this past Thursday, and they both sang very nicely.

Yesterday morning, we went to Sarah’s first real piano recital. What, I didn’t mention that Sarah is taking piano lessons? Well, she is, and she’s doing exceptionally well. She played two Christmas songs for her recital, and I’m sure she’ll play them again for my parents after they arrive for the holidays later this week.

Yesterday afternoon we went to pick out our Christmas tree – our annual Christmas tradition is to go to Alpine Meadows with Julie’s parents. Alpine Meadows is a “you cut” Christmas tree farm on Highway 9 between Bellingham and Lynden. They’ve got great trees and a nice warm cabin to drink hot chocolate in when you’re done. There was hardly anyone there this year; apparently the Saturday before Christmas is a bit later than normal. In any case, we found a very nice tree, and it looks lovely in the corner of our living room. Oh, and I should mention that I was very happy that we had to drive only one vehicle to the tree farm – in years past, I would have driven my pickup separately from the minivan, but now that we have a roof rack, we could just strap the tree to the top and go!

Today I had choir practice before church and choir practice after church, because this afternoon we had our annual Candlelight Service. The choir and the Sunday School kids were involved, and I think the service went really well. Julie did most of the planning for the service, as well as directing the kids, so she deserves a big round of applause. Julie’s parents came down to enjoy the service as well, so we hung out with them at our house this evening and had some tasty snacks, all provided by Julie, of course. She’s amazing, isn’t she?

Before the service, we finished decorating the Christmas tree, which is now beautifully covered with lights, ribbons, berries, and ornaments. I’m looking forward to all of the festivities, and I hope that you’ve got fun plans as well. Merry Christmas!

It was Julie’s thirty-somethingth’s birthday today! (I’ll give you a hint – it’s a prime number, and she won’t be able to say that again about her birthday for another six years. Not that she would ever say such a thing. For some reason, I’m the only one around here that seems to take interest in the mathematical qualities of our ages.)

She claims to have had a great birthday weekend, even though I didn’t have to wasn’t allowed to buy her a gift. She decided to build “credit” for new living room furniture instead, so we visited a couple of furniture stores on Saturday, including the gigantic Costco Home warehouse. We didn’t find anything too promising, but we’ll keep looking.

We also went to the new-and-improved Everett Children’s Museum, which was really fun for all three kids, and great for Julie and me to watch them have fun. After that (proving that, in fact, we were celebrating Julie’s birthday) we went to Wight’s Home & Garden, which is having a huge Christmas extravaganza with all manner of Christmas stuff for sale, including millions of ornaments, a few of which were purchased and brought home. For dinner, we had tasty Mexican at El Gitano.

Sunday was also an exciting day. We went to church at the host church for Bethany’s preschool, because Bethany and her classmates sang a few songs for the congregation. (Bethany did great!) Then we went to Applebee’s for a birthday dinner (i.e., lunch) with Julie’s parents! (The old-fashioned Reformed man in me wants to assure you that going out to eat on Sunday is an incredibly rare occasion for us; in fact, Julie’s birthday falling on a Sunday is probably a prerequisite.) After dinner, we went home for cake and gifts, graciously provided by Julie’s parents.

So, I had a great weekend, and I think Julie did, too. Other festivities will come later this week, of course – Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a good night. I’m going to bed.

I returned to work today after a bit of a vacation – my mom arrived in Seattle this past Tuesday, and hung out with my family for about a week. I brought her back to the airport this morning – hopefully she survived the long flight back to Florida.

We had a great time. The best part was that the kids got to spend some quality time with their Grandma Freeman, of course, but we also did some special things, like watching the Red Sox win the World Series, attending Bethany’s preschool’s Harvest Party, going to the Children’s Museum in Bellingham, eating at Billy McHale’s, celebrating Rebecca’s first birthday, carving pumpkins with friends, and having a nice Sunday dinner with family.

Our house is your house, Mom – come back any time! We miss you already! And drag that husband of yours along next time!

Julie's parents invited us on a nice three-mile hike today at the Stimpson Family Nature Reserve east of Bellingham. Rebecca enjoyed the view from my back, and the rest of us followed a trail loop that wound its way through a dense forest with lots of moss, leaves, mud, and a few bridges, which are always a highlight. It's good for the soul to get away from the sights and sounds of modern life every once in a while...

Update: Corrected the name of the reserve; added a link for more information.

I had a great birthday party last Friday evening with some of my best friends – ten good friends from work.

As I said, it was a great party, and not just because I conquered the world. The evening started out with “gourmet” pizza from a local pizza place and some non-work-related conversation. Then we started the games – half of the party gravitated toward the kitchen table, where a rousing game of Monopoly was played, and the other half to the card table, where an interesting game of Risk took place. Various snacks were available throughout the evening.

I'm told that James (a fellow developer) ended up the grand monopolist. I staked my claim in New Zealand early on in the game of Risk and played it safe until I was finally able to capitalize on an opportunity to conquer Asia, then North America, and then the rest of the world. A side game of Stratego was also played, won by John.

Thanks to all who came and made my birthday that much brighter. Thanks particularly to Julie, who planned the whole event and made sure that the available food was truly all-you-can-eat! A great start to my next decade of life.

Yes, it’s true; I’m now an old man in my thirties. It’s not all that bad, really.

I’ve had a great birthday celebration so far. Last Thursday, on my 30th birthday, Julie surprised me by coming to my work with Rebecca, some black balloons, and Krispy Kreme doughnuts for my coworkers! That evening, we went out for dinner and dessert, and I got to open my birthday present – a Timex Ironman Data Link watch! It’s very cool, and I’ve been having fun uploading alarms, appointments, phone numbers, and even a simple Yahtzee game to the watch from my computer. It’s a fun toy, to be sure, but I hope to get good use out of it as well. Of course, the best part is that I can look to my wrist when I forget what day of the week it is!

I also got a lovely card from my favorite daughters… On Saturday, the girls went to Lynden to hang out with Grandpa and Grandma, so Julie and I got to stay home and do some chores that needed to get done. Saturday evening, we went out to eat with friends from church – we drove down to Everett to eat at Chang’s Mongolian Grill. Very good stuff – I ate far more than my fill.

Today (Sunday), Julie and I went to church together – without kids – almost like old times – and then went to Lynden to reunite our family and have Sunday dinner with Julie’s parents. We had a good dinner and dessert, and I got to open another present – the Babylon 5 Movie Collection! I can’t wait to watch them! I’m also very thankful for the cards, gifts, and birthday wishes I got this past week from others in my family. Thanks, everyone!

So, I’ve had a great birthday, and more is on the way – Julie has graciously planned for me a birthday party with friends from work this Friday night, which is sure to be a great time.

If I am to grow old, I’m so glad I’ll be doing it with my wonderful wife Julie. I have no doubt that the best of life is yet to come – Lord willing.

On Friday evening we enjoyed the annual Carnival at Mount Vernon Christian School, where Sarah attends first grade. Unfortunately, the weather was a bit drizzly – autumn has come early to the Pacific Northwest – but they moved many of the attractions into the gym, so it wasn't so bad. We had hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, and a drink for dinner, followed by a variety of games and activities in exchange for tickets, which were purchased for 25 cents a ticket. There was a bouncy castle, popcorn, cotton candy, a throw-the-ball-into-the-hole game, and a bunch of other activities we didn't participate in, including a dunk tank and pony rides! Our final activity was the Cake Walk, which is a little bit like musical chairs, except that it's not so competitive, and the winner gets a cake! We won a tasty white cake and had some of it for dessert this evening.

Anyway, it was a good time, and it's always nice to help the school. The event seemed well-attended, so hopefully a good amount of funds was raised.

It's video time! Click on the pictures below (and wait!) for short videos showing Sarah, Bethany, and Rebecca in motion!

Yes, Sarah is back to school this week. She’s now in first grade at Mount Vernon Christian School. Kindergarten last year was five half-days per week – now she’s in school for the full day every day. I think she’s going to have a great year.

Was she excited for her first day in the first grade? We report; you decide:

I have an irrational fear of spiders. You’d think I’d have had the common sense to marry someone that would be willing to squash them for me. On the contrary, I managed to marry the only other human on the planet that is more terrified of spiders than I am.

Thus it was that a large spider fell out of a paper towel roll and froze in fear, hearing the deafening scream of a grown woman. It was then covered with a Cool Whip™ bowl and the room quarantined until the “man of the house” returned home. It was he that was required to move the spider to an undisclosed location, release it, and then stamp it into oblivion lest it spread its genetic material and breed the next generation of even larger spiders.

I will admit, it was very big – the biggest our house has seen. Now it is very dead.

This past weekend was nice. Friday night we went swimming at the YMCA in Bellingham. Well, the girls swam, anyway – it’s a pretty shallow pool, so I just walked around and made sure that Rebecca didn’t find a way to get her head underwater. The girls are making good progress, though.

After swimming, we went to Billy McHale’s for dinner. It was great, especially since we got to use our “thank you” gift certificate from Mike and Susanne! Thanks, guys! It’s a really great family restaurant – not terribly expensive, fun atmosphere, great food, and small portion desserts for less than $2! We’ll definitely be back.

Saturday was a standard chore day. I rented a lawn roller to try to smooth our back lawn out a bit – not sure if it’ll have any permanent impact, but hopefully it improved things a little. We finally got some rain in the afternoon and evening – in fact, it rained buckets, which seemed quite unusual after weeks and weeks of sunny weather. Unfortunately, Saturday night was spent at a five-hour emergency school board meeting…

Sunday was a nice, slow day – church, newspaper, etc. We also drove the girls and their bikes to a student parking lot of Skagit Valley College so that they could practice riding. Bethany is doing really well with her training wheels, and Sarah is making great progress without them! If we could just get her on the bike a little more, I know that she’d be a pro in no time.

And let’s not forget the Olympics. I’ll be glad when they’re over so that I won’t be tempted to watch so much television any more, but it has been fun to watch the Americans do their thing.

Last weekend, that is. I haven’t had much opportunity to blog this week, what with the Olympics and all. So, let’s start way back on last Thursday night, when I went to the bachelor party of Julie’s younger brother Mike. I joined the group at Cornwall Park, where we played a round of Frisbee Golf – I even bought my own set of discs for the occasion. We had a good time, and I even managed to get a birdie once…

After golf we ate dinner at Diego’s, a good Mexican restaurant in Bellingham. We went from there to one of Mike’s friend’s house, where there was plenty of gambling, drinking, and smoking. I participated only in the former (I dislike beer and have never smoked), but had a successful night playing various forms of poker. Beginner’s luck, I assure you. All in all, it was a great party, and I’m very glad I was there.

Friday was dedicated to wedding preparations, the rehearsal, and the rehearsal dinner at Julie’s parents. Saturday was the wedding. My three daughters participated as three of the four flower girls! Julie, Jen (Julie’s older brother’s wife), and I served as hosts at the reception, though the women did all of the hard work – I was mainly along for the ride. The wedding was beautiful, and the reception was great. Congratulations, Mike and Susanne!

We stayed in Lynden on Sunday for church, a birthday party for Bethany, and farewells to Mike and Susanne, who drove back to California for their honeymoon. Monday was a family day as well – some of Julie’s immediate family drove to Artist Point at Mount Baker and hiked around a bit. It’s beautiful up there.

Vacation ended when I drove back to Mount Vernon for a school board meeting on Monday night. To see the weekend in pictures (except for the bachelor party – sorry), be sure to check out our latest photo albums.

Julie claims that she’s never attended a Mariners game where the Mariners lost. If there was any season where that string would be broken, you'd think it would be this one – but she just got back from watching the Mariners scrape by the Minnesota Twins.

I wish I could say that the winning run was scored by my favorite player, Dan Wilson, but at least it was Willie Bloomquist, another of my favorites. It sounds like a good time was had by all.

Bethany turned 4 today! She says it feels completely different than 3. I think she’s going to make a great four-year-old.

Julie and I just returned from celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary! Neither finances nor our nine-month-old baby allowed us a Hawaiian vacation, so we did the next best thing – we spent a night on Orcas Island. We had a really great time. The pictures tell the story, so be sure to check them out.

Special thanks go to Julie’s parents for watching our kids while we were gone, and to Rebecca for not crying the entire time, and to Sarah and Bethany, for being good girls and having lots of fun with Grandpa and Grandma.

We’ve been having exceptionally hot weather around here lately – at least for us. High temperatures have been above normal for the past two weeks. In fact, this past Friday and Saturday, we experienced 90-degree weather. This is status quo for other parts of the U.S., of course, but we’re not used to it around here, and I’m looking forward to some cooler weather. Particularly because the air conditioning unit on my side of the building at work isn’t able to keep up with demand, and I really don’t enjoy working in 80-85 degree heat.

We have no air conditioning at home of course, so we’ve had to make use of our two fans to keep cool, as well as the 500-gallon swimming pool we bought recently. That’s enough water that I have to worry about chlorine and all of that business, but it’s been worth it to beat the heat…

Recently Sarah lost two teeth in as many days – here’s a picture of her new smile.

She’s playing on a playground near Lake Padden, where Logos had its annual company picnic this past Saturday. We had a great time eating, playing, and chatting. The girls and I even waded around in the lake a bit – fortunately, we didn’t get Swimmer’s Itch like some of my coworkers and their kids. Of course, nobody realized that the lake was infected, or we wouldn’t have touched it. Live and learn…

As you probably know, I’m a big fan of really spicy food. The best way to “pump up the volume” of my favorite Mexican dish is to add some hot sauce, so I enjoy trying different varieties – the hotter the better.

Julie’s parents recently got back from a trip to Hawaii and were kind enough to bring me a gift pack of tasty hot sauces from Hawaii! There are plenty of mediocre (or worse) hot sauces out there, so I was happy to find that these sauces are really quite good.

All three sauces have scotch bonnet peppers as their main ingredient. I wasn’t really familiar with that pepper, so I was surprised to find out that it is very like the habanero, the hottest pepper you’ll find at a grocery store, and just about the hottest pepper you’ll find anywhere. (In fact, the scotch bonnet and the habanero are the same species; you’ll have to ask my brother-in-law what is required for two different peppers to be the same species.)

Thanks for the great gift! The best thing about really hot sauces is that you can’t use much at a time, so they last a good long time! Frozen chimichangas for lunch aren’t so bad with a good hot sauce…

It's time for the next exciting installment of the Rebecca video saga: “So Big!”

RebeccaSoBig.mpeg (830 KB)

Our family had a nice Fourth of July weekend. Saturday was a normal day of chores and such, though we did watch a couple of movies – the girls watched the Lion King 1½, and Julie and I watched Miracle, which was a good movie about the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey team. (I’m afraid I was too young to remember anything about the actual game, though the 1984 Summer Olympics certainly put a soft spot in my heart for the Games.)

On Sunday we attended church, had a nice walk/ride/skate with the kids, and watched fireworks on TV that night – the whole family watched A Capitol Fourth, and Julie and I watched the Boston Pops. So, a relatively quiet Independence Day for us, except for the war zone outside our house – fireworks are still legal here in Mount Vernon, so it was a long, loud night. Running fans in the girls’ rooms provided enough white noise to keep them asleep all night, thankfully.

Today was a big day – Sarah finally got to eat “real food” again after her surgery. She’s back to her old self in that regard, often eating more than I do! The girls also started their summer activities today, with their first gymnastics lesson this morning and their first swimming lesson this afternoon. Sarah also practiced piano – she practices every day between lessons. We all went to the park for a late lunch and had a great day.

If you’d like a more visual take on our weekend, be sure to check out our photos, organized and captioned by Julie. Hope you all had a great Fourth of July weekend yourselves. Happy 228th Birthday, America!

I've got plenty to blog about, but it's hard to write this late at night. I'm going to bed. Hopefully the frantic pace of life will slow down enough to blog soon...

We have reached a new milestone – our third child is now mobile. She's officially “into everything,” which is a first for this house. We're learning what isn't baby-proof by trial and error.

We were somewhat prepared, though; a few weeks ago we bought and installed a safety gate at the top of the staircase. Now to remember to keep it closed.

In the grand tradition of Rebecca milestone videos, I proudly present:

RebeccaCrawls.mpeg (890 KB)