Happy Father's Day in Ventura, CA

For Father's Day we spent the morning in Ventura, CA at the beach (Marina Park). It is a great beach with a jungle gym and grassy area right near by. We went with the Fitch's and the Schneider's so there was a total of 5 kids under 4 years old. We set up our beach sun tent compliments of Grandpa & Grandma Stutelberg and spend most of the time digging holes and making sand castles. We also flew some kites, played on the swings and slides, and had a picnic lunch. Matt was scared of the waves so we didn't go in the water. He also wasn't feeling to good (he is still not himself). Micah loved watching all the kids play in the sand. Both the boys fell asleep instantly on the way home. We had dinner at the Crane's which made for a busy Father's Day.

Cherry Picking

We went to Leona Valley to pick cherries this morning. The weather was beautiful! We went with my brother and met a friend's family there. Matt had a great time picking cherries. We gave him his own bucket and let him go! The only rules were to look for snakes (there was a large King snake roaming around the orchard for awhile until it was caught) and to have help if he wanted to eat some cherries! After picking cherries we grilled burgers and let the kids play.
Thank you to everyone who has been thinking and praying for my dad. He is doing MUCH better. He continues to take it easy but is up and moving around now. Hopefully in a few days he will be 100%!

Clark's Graduation

Happy graduation to Clark!! He is an official Quartz Hill High School graduate! Wow...that is something to brag about! He is off to Cal. Lutheran next year. Karl and I are proud and excited to see him attend our alma mater! We put together a little post graduation party at our home after the ceremony. Clark and about 10 friends came over and hung out until almost midnight. My grandma, mom, sister and Jon were also there. My dad wasn't able to come and Karl showed up late because he was with my dad...more on that later! Matt, Micah and Luke slept through the whole party!My poor dad came down with a horrible headache last Friday night. He lasted until my brother's name was called at graduation then had to go home. It turns out this was more that just a typical headache. He went to the ER on Saturday and had multiple tests done including MRA, CT scans, and a spinal tap. All test turned out negative. It turns out he is leaking spinal fluid. This was is probably what was causing the headache on Friday and since the spinal tap the pain has accentuated. Basically his head hurts so bad because there is not enough cushion for his brain. He went back to the hospital today and had a blood patch injected. This will hopefully "patch the leak." He may need 2-3 more. As of this evening he is doing a little better.
My parents and brother were supposed to leave for Italy yesterday. Obviously this didn't happen. They plan to work on rescheduling the trip for later in the summer after my dad is better. Italy in July or August will be more fun anyway...hotter, more humid and stinkier!!
Please pray for my dad. What he has is not terribly serious, just painful and could take a week or more to resolve.