Grandma's Birthday Dinner

Family all gathered at Moody Springs for Aimee's mom's birthday dinner.  Andy, Aimee's brother, came down from Portland for the occasion.  We all had a great time visiting with each other (as usual).

Summit Fire

View Larger Map
(This map is from the San Jose Mercury News. Be advised that they messed up their links to videos, so clicking on them will resize your browser window, but you can stretch it back out and see the video.)

Here is some info on the Summit Fire for anyone who might be interested (like those of you who aren't in the area ... or country). As of this posting, 3,840 acres have burned in the Santa Cruz Mountains west of Morgan Hill and there are a total of 3,089 people working to fight the wildfire which is 35% contained. The estimated cost of fighting the fire (damage is not included) is 5.9 million dollars so far.

We've had helicopters and planes flying overhead throughout the day (We're still in Morgan Hill). On his way home from work Friday, Glen watched a helicopter pick up more water from "Water Tenders" (several water trucks) just off of Santa Teresa Road on the North side of town. The sky has been very hazy and you can smell the smoke outside, but it didn't keep Glen from planting and mowing for a few hours on Saturday.

Due to the proximity of the fire to Mount Madonna, Tom and Anne (Aimee's parents) moved several things down to our apartment just in case they needed to evacuate. According to the Cal Fire maps, one end of the burned area (9 miles long) is about 3 miles from Tom and Anne's place as the bird flies, but Cal Fire says not to rely on their maps - the maps are approximate.

This is all over the news locally, so you'll find a myriad of articles if you do a Google News search for "Summit Fire." Many of the local news organizations have photos and video online. Below is video posted to YouTube of a report from Ch3 in Sacramento (There were other videos, but the quality and color were terrible.).




The official info is available at www.fire.ca.gov, there you'll find links to Google maps that show the fire perimeter and links to more information, including links to press releases.

Update May 26,2008: The latest press release from the California Department of Forestry and fire Protection says that the Summit Fire has burned 3,920 acres, but is 60 percent contained and is expected to be 100% contained on Tuesday May 27, 2008 around 6 p.m. The estimated cost of fire suppression is up to $8,160,000. The American Red Cross is taking donations to help those who have been affected by the fire.
American Red Cross - Santa Clara Valley Chapter
American Red Cross - Santa Cruz County Chapter

My first Mother's Day

Sunday morning I woke up to the smell of French toast! Glen and Gage sneaked out of the bedroom early so they wouldn't wake me up. The morning went great and we even made it to church early. I was a little worried because I lead the music for the 1st hour of church (sacrament meeting), and Gage was due to eat at anytime. After asking Laurie Franke to be on the alert and lead for me in case I wasn't back in time, she agreed and then worked it out to have someone else that wasn't a mother lead the entire meeting. It was nice to not have to worry about it and I enjoyed the meeting, especially Andy's talk.


After church we headed out to my parents house where we had a delicious dinner prepared by the men in our family. It was quite impressive. We had almost the whole family there which was fun, but we did miss Emily and her family. Here's a picture of Liz, my mom and me.

It was such a beautiful day. After dinner we chatted, some of the guys played Frisbee golf and the kids played outside.

Nathan and Gage couldn't get enough of the rope swings!

It was a fun day, and I am looking forward to using my new gift...Baby Signing Time DVDs. I plan on teaching baby sign language to Gage, we'll see how it goes.

Can you "Gage" our excitement?

Gage has arrived! Both mother and baby are doing well. Gage is still (as if much time has passed) on the newborn routine - wanting to eat every two hours or so and not sleeping as much as we expected. He is pretty content as long as his belly has something in it and his diaper isn't messy.

Labor was quick - When we arrived at the hospital around 7:30 pm 3/3, Aimee was concerned that we would be sent back home. The midwife on duty admitted Aimee after finding that she was dilated to 3 cm. Some time around 10 pm Aimee received an epidural and was dilated to 5 cm. After that, the midwife and nurse commented numerous times on how quickly things were progressing. Gage was born at 12:59 am 3/4, about 5.5 hours after Aimee was admitted. At birth, Gage was 7 lbs. 12.7 oz. and 19 in. long.

Gage reminds Aimee of the babies in the Anne Geddes' photos, especially when he is in deep sleep. Glen suggested that we dress him up in a big flower outfit and "plant" him in one of our big planting pots in the backyard (the ones we use for tomato plants) and snap some photos. We'll probably wait until he is a bit older (or at least until we can find a good flower costume).

(No, Glen did not post this from the hospital - we back dated this post to Gage's birthday and time.)