Samantha and Jennifer will be here tomorrow!!

We are taking a few days off this week and taking Jennifer and Samantha up to beautiful Lake Tahoe. The kids arrive tomorrow night at 10 PM from Vegas (Jennifer works tomorrow). We have reserved a King Junior Suite at the 3 Peaks Resort and Beach Club in Lake Tahoe for Tuesday night. We will leave mid morning Tuesday and will spend some time at a Snow Park near Truckee before driving up to Lake Tahoe. We stopped and picked up a snow disc this week and had completely outfitted Samantha with a snow bib, boots, hat, gloves, goggles and sunglasses for her birthday in December. We also got Jennifer some snow pants, gloves and snow boots. Darla and I will get soaked, but the kids will be fine.

This will be a short update as it is a little later than usual on Sunday night. I sat and watched the golf from Hawaii and it went into a two hole playoff. I will return next weekend with pictures and stories from our trip with Samantha and Jennifer.

I played golf on Friday with an agent that I have known for over thirty years. He was gone for a year on a mission trip to Muldovia and returned in the Fall of last year. Bob invited Pete and I out to his country club in Rancho Murietta. We wanted to tee off mid morning, but he was only able to get an 8:15 tee time. The cost out at RM is $60 for guests, but one of the Assistant Pro's out there used to work at Diamond Oaks and comped my round of golf. It was bitterly cold. The fog was thick and wet and the sun never did show it's face the whole day. The course was wet and marshy in a lot of spots as many of the local courses are because of the inordinate amount of rain that we've had. I managed to muck around the course for a 44+44=88. I also played golf today in the Captain and Crew scramble tournament and we struggled a bit, but put up five birdies and no bogeys for a round of 67. I was lucky enough to get in a group with Neil. I don't think we did too well as I left shortly after the round and we were in second place (only two groups were in at the time).

I met with our webmaster to discuss the job and he flipped again and now wants to stay on as the webmaster. He does an okay job, but is often late with updates and his communication is terrible. It is okay by me as I was actually looking forward to a break from the board this year. The President asked if I'd be willing to intern with the webmaster and be there as a backup if he flips again. I think I will pass and just let them figure it out.

I worked out everyday this past week and only lost one pound. Many people would be discouraged, but I'm good. I figure I'm on track to lose over 50 pounds this year and will be at the weight I carried in ninth grade when I'm done. Darla is dieting as well and fixed soups this past week. We had French Onion soup, taco soup and tonight Won Ton soup. It is nice when it is wet and cold to enjoy hot soups. Today was about 45 degrees, but the sun did break out this afternoon and Darla mentioned that I was sporting a bit of a sunburn this afternoon.

I got home from golf today and was watching the football game and fell asleep for about an hour on the couch. It was nice, but I woke up with a headache that is just now starting to subside. I think maybe I was hungry, having skipped breakfast and grabbing a hot dog at the turn today. Darla and I took down the Christmas decorations this weekend and I took down the Christmas lights on the house this afternoon after my nap and we got all of that packed up and back into the attic this evening. We were going to leave it up for Sam, but figure we will be gone and she won't really get a chance to enjoy it. Also, Darla has a meeting here at the house Thursday night and wanted everything cleaned up. We did leave Sam's stocking up and their gifts around the fireplace hearth. We also left up the jazzy Santa that plays the saxophone and Samantha runs to turn it off when I start him up. It is a little joke that she and I have and I wanted it there when she comes.

The weather looks "iffy"for our trip with snow showers due in Tuesday night and into Wednesday. We will get up and have breakfast at Heidi's in Tahoe on Wednesday morning and then head back down the hill. Hopefully chains are not required on the trip back down. We will meet Earl and Frances back at the house and have dinner with them Wednesday night. Lucas will join us as well.

Well, as warned, this is just an update. I will be back at the computer next weekend with stories and pictures of our trip to the snow with Miss Samantha. Have a great week! Ciao.