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Danielle's Birthday

Today is Danielle's Birthday.  Since we're in Ojai California I figured that I would take her to the word famous Ojai Resort and Spa the only catch is you can't go to the resort without purchasing a spa package.  So today at 1pm we're getting scrubbed and rubbed.  I'm the Moroccan and Danielle the Pomegranate. 

MOROCCAN  MINT  SUGAR  SCRUB
Adelightfully invigorating scrub made with fresh leaves of mint and spearmint relieves stress and awakens the senses. Includes a scalp massage, hand and foot massage

POMEGRANATE  HONEY  PEARL  BODY  POLISH
Adeliciously rich body polish that is high in antioxidants and coupled with crystallized honey, this polish helps the skin look younger and feel
healthier.  Includes a scalp massage, hand and foot massage

Never done anything like this before (she has) so I'm feeling a little sketchy.  On a cool note we have the whole afternoon to hang out there as the camp is taking care of our kids today.

Big trip

Today was the first day of our big trip.  I was invited to speak at a camp in California called Forest Home for two sessions at the beginning of July.  Since I have a missions trip I'm helping lead at the end of July it was a bit tough to go into this month knowing I'd be gone a lot. 

We packed the car and started driving to California today.  Driving instead of flying is just easier for a family of 5 plus Danielle and the kids are staying out in Cali while I'm in Romania so renting a car for a month and buying 5 airplane tickets just didn't make sense.

Sitting in a hotel room in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  Just figured out that Las Cruces is almost exactly 1/2 way between Dallas and San Diego.  Today was a long day of driving and tomorrow will be too but it's nice to know that it only takes two days to get home.  (by home I mean the opposite place on either end of this trip)

Baby Girl turns 3

Today our baby girl Anneliese turns 3. It's both a great thing and a scary thing. She's such a big talker and "controller" of our house. I can't believe our kids are 7, 5, 3. Seems like we did something perfect to have them spaced out like that.

Big party today for her in the backyard. I just blew up a pool and I got so sweaty with the heat, humidity and my own out of shapeness for blowing things up.

Hello "Dora the Explorer" cake.

Great weekend and last week of school.

Not a lot to post from this weekend. Our good friends James and Rachel were up from Houston. James and I went to SPU together and we lived together in Pasadena when we went to Fuller Seminary. They are our friends in Texas that we've known for a long time and feel like we can be "normal" around. It was good to see them. Tomorrow is our all staff lake day where we eat, hang out and try to be nice with all of the people we regularly work with at the church. It's a fun, awkward day that usually ends with a weird contrived tug-o-war. Danielle and I are going a couple hours late as tomorrow is Soren's field day and then family picnic.

So stoked that summer is here. But, my forehead is read because I forgot to put on sunscreen.

Castle Rood Day #5 no Mama

Danielle has been gone for five days already and things are starting to look grim at Castle Rood. For dinner I ordered Pizza and wings and after dinner took the kids to the park to tire them out. :)

It hasn't been so bad though. I realized how much easier it is being a guy in the mornings. Today I threw on a Oklahoma t-shirt I had in my drawer and with uncombed hair and a smelly stench I got all the kids to school and then came home and showered.

Just bought a new domain name that I directed to this site. I wonder how much that might change things.

Danielle gone day #2

This week is going to seem that I am pretty focused on my wife. Danielle left for London yesterday afternoon and is gone until Friday. I miss her. I'm stoked that she gets to go on this trip though. She's such a great mom and wife and really deserves something like this. The last seven years as we've had 3 kids, moved to two different churches and ultimately left friends and family behind to move to Texas have not always been easy. Sending her on this trip for me was a way of saying that I get it and that I want her to be able to have some of the adventure back you lose when you have three kids to raise.

I think I may be a little different than other dads in that when Danielle is gone I really love being around the kids as much as I am. I enjoy getting to be a part of more of their everyday lives. I enjoy being forced out of bed in the morning by a demanding two year old princess who just wants juice, cereal and Dora the Explorer, I enjoy taking the boys to school (which I do everyday anyways) but it's different being the one who is getting everything ready in the am.

Today when I picked Kaije up from school he told me that I didn't give him any pudding in his lunch but that I gave him two spoons. He wasn't mad just informative.

One of my closest friends is coming into town tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to spending some time with him.

Swimming Lessons and a Crawfish Boil

Today our plans are pretty simple. The boys are starting swimming lessons at the YMCA (praying it goes well) and then our neighbors are having a crawfish boil. I've never been to a boil before but as Keith is from Louisiana he assures me that eating "Mudbugs" is sort of a right of passage that everyone should go through.

Danielle is heading to London tomorrow for 6 days. I surprised her with a ticket for mothers day to go visit her friend Dawn who's been working as a nanny. She's pretty stoked to go and after a long process of getting a train ticket to Sheffield she's all set now.

I had a great time in Princeton this last week. I'm going to put my thoughts down in a longer post in the next couple of days.

This is a particularly crazy month for our family. I'm heading to Bolivia in a week with some of my youth staff for a short missions project/pre-trip to see if this is going to be a good place for us to take students next summer. I'm looking forward to going but it's coming up quick.

Something is Dead at Castle Rood

A couple of days ago we began to notice a pretty foul odor coming from our kitchen. Being that we have three small kids at first we suspected that they somehow were responsible for the noxious smell. After about a day though we realized that something was dead either under the house or in the walls. Our maintenance crew from church was over here digging in the walls and going under the house but they found nothing. I was glad for their help but sad that the smell is still here. We've been trying to mask the odor with some air freshener but it is not working.

Sadly Castle Rood is now the stinky place. I guess we'll have to forgo the dinner parties for a while.

Two times $50

It's not very often that I blog about things that I have done and done right. Today though I had a couple of back to back great experiences that I need to talk about.

This past weekend our mini van (Windstar Sport Model: with a spoiler) started acting up while we were out in the desert. Took the battery out and it was fine. So, that meant it was probably the alternator. I dropped it off at the dealership yesterday morning. Fortunately when my inlaws originally bought the car they added a 100,000 mile warranty. We have used that warranty a ton and it has saved us 1,000's of dollars. Replacing the alternator only cost $50. That's the first great deal of the day.

The second great deal also includes the minivan. I took it to the carwash because it had been destroyed inside by the kids and their snacks. Last time I had it detailed it cost a couple 100 bucks and I was sad. Well today I just paid $50 to have them steam the carpets. What they did was vacuum and steam everything. Looks perfect inside and all I had to do when I got home was wipe down the seats and it looked like an expensive detail. Seriously who wants to pay big money when its just going to get dirty again. So my advice is to never go for a full detail and instead just get the carpets done.

That's my advice for the day. At least its useful if you own a mini-van.

It's a Star Wars Halloween

Here's a cute shot of my kids from Halloween.