This week was a bit more fun.  While the rest of my family went to VBS all week, I did homework and group projects for school.  We had a lot of kids at the house all week because parents still work, but their kids did VBS and then would come to our place rather than to their empty houses.  Our house was messy and noisy much of the week as a result, but that’s OK.  One of my son’s friends, Apollo, started playing my guitars, which I understand are better than his guitars.  Turns out, he’s better than me on both electric and acoustic, so I invited him to play in the band this week… and so he did.

The band played behind the big curtain, just like we did last year at the end of VBS.  It was a lot of fun for the band.  This year, however, I would be in the congregation rather than behind the curtain.  After church, Bill and I took down the big curtain using my 16’ extension pole for solar panels and a 15’ ladder.  It was just enough for the 25’ tall backdrop/curtain.

After we had completed this, my family went home.  What the kids didn’t know was that we had planned a three-day “food and wine” get-away to Napa and Sonoma for my birthday.  The kids packed quickly and then we were off.  When we got to Napa, the first place we hit was the “best burgers in Napa” joint, Andie’s Café.  I think the press was right – awesome burgers.  We then proceeded to the nearby Napa Premium Outlet.  We window shopped a lot.  The kids and I had a demonstration of some of Bose’s new gadgets.  Right before we left, my son bought a $260. Leather jacket for $60.  Now that’s a savings!  After we left there, we went to the Oxbow Market, which was a lot smaller than we thought it would be.  We dropped our stuff off at the Wine Valley Hotel, our hotel for the next few days, then went to a WONDERFUL tapas style dinner at Carpe Diem Wine Bar.  I highly recommend this place.  Even with all the food we ate (and champagne I drank), our bill was just under $100.  What a great way to end our evening!