The heat hit us last week, but someone decided that warm was not good enough. It is expected to be over 100 degrees for the rest of this week. Thank God the air conditioning in my office was fixed last week.

Jennifer and the boys will spend the day at the local waterpark in Roseville. She had promised the boys that she would take them and they kept missing the mark. They decided that today would work best for them and it is supposed to top out at 103 degrees today, so I can't imagine a better scenario for the kids. In fact, I envy them. After a nice three day weekend and a great trip to Reno/Lake Tahoe, the work is dammed up in my office and waiting for me to unclog the works.

Our trip was really fantastic. The accomodations at the Atlantis Casino were first rate. We drove up after church on Sunday. Jennifer was her regular zombie self after a night on the town with friends Saturday night. She was a trooper and kept her eyes open during the service and chattered away on the drive up to Reno through Interstate 80. We stopped in Auburn for fuel and breakfast and she began to look a little more human. Our plan was to spend part of the day at the beach in Lake Tahoe and then drive on to Reno in the late afternoon. It was idyllic weather at the lake and the beach was overflowing and closed to anymore cars. We stopped along the road, Jennifer took pictures and we decided to drive on to Reno rather than hike into the beach. We took our Subway sandwiches and drinks out to the pool after we checked in and enjoyed a picnic on the sundeck.

Jennifer decided to get her nails repaired at the nail salon of the hotel before dinner and Darla told her to bill it to the room. She had broken a nail and needed it repaired. Jennifer and I walked down to the Players Club where she signed up for a card and I inquired about a comp for dinner. They gave us $120 at the Atlantis Steak and Seafood restaurant on the second floor.

We had a wonderful dinner. Jennifer ordered the petite filet mignon and shrimp scampi with a Ceasar salad. They prepared the salad at the table beginning with the anchovies and mixing the dressing. They dried the lettuce and tossed it right there. Darla had the mushroom soup and I had a tossed green salad. After the soup and salad they came and served us champagne poured over a small dollop of sorbet. It was a classy meal and we really enjoyed it. I had a 16 ounce prime rib that was like butter, it was so tender. Darla had prime rib and coconut shrimp. The dinner proved to be one of the best that I can remember and Jennifer said that it was by far the best that she had ever had. She sat mesmerized watching them prepare her salad. I joked that they were going to have a small boy come out and feed it to her between bites of grapes as two men stood by fanning her with large fans. It was a lot of fun.

Jennifer's name was put into a drawing for $2500 as a new Players Club member and they drew for $50, $100, $250, $500, $1000 and finally $2,500. Her number was close on a couple of occasions. It would not have surprised me to hear her name called at all.

After dinner we sat and played video poker from ten o'clock until two a.m. I quit after hitting four Aces with a 2 on a triple bonus game and winning a $100 jackpot on a nickle machine. Jennifer could not catch a cold the entire weekend and Darla and I would have been way up for the weekend if we weren't feeding her habit. We figure between us we gave her about $100 in gambling money. Darla and I ended up down about $50, so figure we were up $50 for the weekend. We were up about $125 Sunday night, but made a deposit at the casino in Tahoe on Monday.

We have arranged a week's vacation through RCI (the time share group) in Tahoe for August 14-21st at the Tahoe Beach and Ski Club on the Lake at Stateline on the California side. We stopped by to see the facility and were thrilled with the sandy beach, tennis courts and pool on site. The facility is very nice and makes the older time share that we stayed at near Heavenly Valley ski resort last year pale in comparison. The location is excellent in the redevlopment area of Lake Tahoe. It is across the street from the Heavenly Valley gondolas and has a Marie Callenders on site. I'm excited for our vacation next month already. The boys will go up with us and then head home on the weekend. I'll work Monday and Tuesday and then Darla and I will go back up for the balance of the week.

Darla and the boys leave for their vacation at Lake Almanor on Saturday. I'll drive up with them and drive back down on Sunday night. I don't have much vacation and we have to use some of the bonus points this year that we got from RCI when we bought the time share in Hawaii. Darla gets extra vacation time, so will enjoy Almanor and then the week in Tahoe next month. I already took some time off for the trip to Vegas and for the Reno trip yesterday. I only have four days left.

We had a scare on the drive back from Tahoe yesterday afternoon. We were on Highway 50 on the road out of Tahoe on the Highway 89 bypass and had a woman pull out in front of us from the side road. I think she was following someone and when he pulled out, she drifted out behind him. There was a car coming in the opposite direction and no room for her to get by me. I slammed on the brakes of the Explorer and we fishtailed. The woman somehow managed to whip her car into a U-turn and we just avoided her. My only comment as this was happening was, "Unbelievable!!" when she began to drift in front of us. If she had continued, we would have T-boned her and likely knocked her into the oncoming car. Darla spilled a Diet Pepsi that she was drinking all over herself. Jennifer's comment in the back was, "You're not big on using your horn are you, Dad?" The Lord was looking out for us and for the numbskull in the compact car.

We stopped in El Dorado Hills and had dinner at one of my new favorite restaurants, an Italian outfit called "Strings". It was a marvelous little vacation and we got some good quality time with Jennifer. She professed to having a great time and I'm sure she did.

I am grateful to all of my family and friends that prayed for Jennifer's safety while she was in Iraq. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Ciao.