"Vaca" Pictures

If you think it is lame and cheesy to refer to a vacation as a "vaca," you are right. It is a joke from the movie "Stranger than Fiction," one of my new favorites. Anyway, all that aside, here are some pictures from our recent trip to the Napa Valley. Karina, Matthew, Jack, and I joined my side of the family there a couple of weeks ago. We all stayed together in a house for a week. The house looked out at a river, and Matthew and I braved it a few times. He was pretty nervous about going into it, but he was able to adapt decently. Mostly, we waded across the river, sat down, and then threw rocks. He loved throwing the rocks, and he also loved watching me dunk myself. Everything else was pretty scarry to him.

One of the highlights of the trip was that this was the first that that Matthew (and Karina and I) were able to meet Hadleigh. Hadleigh is the daughter of my sister Ami and her husband Dave. Matt and Hadleigh had a good time together. He now talks a lot about how he misses Hadleigh, and he was also quite taken with Uncle Dave. Dave is pretty tall and Matt commented at one point, "He's so big and high!"
Speaking of Dave and Ami, here they are with Matt and Hadleigh. Dave and my brother Chris also served as our wine experts (being in wine country and all). They were tireless. That's not to say that they drank too much, just that they went all over, exploring vineyards and wineries.

And, speaking of my brother Chris, here he is with his wife Rubie. They are both doing graduate work. We had a lot of fun hanging and talking. Their the only couple in our family with more kids, but they are probably better with kids than any of us. Matt had a great time with them.

Finally, here are Mom and Dad with Matt (being a ham, as always). We not only got to spend the week with them, but Matthew and I (and the rest of the family except Karina, who is too pregnant to fly) got to spend last weekend in SoCal to celebrate my dad's retirement from his second career. He has been volunteering as the full-time executive pastor at their church for the last five years. Now he is moving on to his third career with Action, an organization that looks to mobilize believers to serve in their communities. It was a great time, and it was fun because we all surprised my dad by showing up on Friday. He had no idea we were coming and then the door opened and Matthew walked in. It was fun.

Now we have no more trips for the Summer and we focus on preparations for Jack. The due date is in the vicinity of August 30th. We shall see. We can't wait to meet our new son (and Karina can't wait to no longer be prego).

Oh, before I forget, I put up some new movie reviews for those of you who enjoy it. It is sequel time, so I put up my thoughts on Spiderman 3, Ocean's 13, and Live Free or Die Hard. You can click on the link on the right.