Jason's Visit to Napa for Sales Kick Off

Last week Jason went to Napa Valley, California for a Sales kick-off event sponsored by the West Coast Sales division of his company. The event was held at the Silverado Resort in Napa. It was a great time to meet not only the sales people but also all the members of his own team. These sales events are great pep-rallies providing useful information on the direction of the company and strategic sales efforts in the west coast. This two day event included a stay at the Silverado Resort with each of the attendees getting his or her own cottage suite.

On the night of the first day, the teams were treated to a winery tour and banquet. The winery tour was at Francis Ford Coppola's Rubicon Estate. The tour included a visit of the winery grounds, the winery for wine tasting and a visit of Copolla's museum at the Chateau which had many of his Academy Awards and other museum pieces. After the winery tour they were taken to a banquet at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. The banquet included a four course meal and a different wine for each course.

On the second day, there were several technical presentations and an awards ceremony. Jason received the Tenacity Award from the Sales team. Unfortunately, Jason's team left before the awards ceremony and Jason's award had to be sent in the mail.

That evening Jason visited with the Moody family. Dinner and time with the Moody family was great as usual and Jason looks forward to visiting with them the next time he is in the Bay area.

More Snow and Game Night with Some Friends

Furtak's Get a Case of Cabin Fever

We have had three days of snow here in Renton. On the first day we had close to 10 inches of snow. The snow has litterally left us stranded in our house since the streets are nothing but ice. When one is not battling the ice one is battling the stranded cars which have been left behind after three days. Jason went to Redmond on Friday for work and braved the dangerous streets through Renton and Issaquah. Redmond apparently has the resources to clear the roads since when Jason arrived in Redmond both the main streets as well as secondaries were clear. Jason's friend at work also stated that this weather system was worse further down south in our area of Renton. Debra and Jason are amazed how ill preparred these towns are for these storms. We asked our friends on Friday night, who have lived here for over 15 years, if it's gotten this bad before and they stated that it just hasn't snowed in this area like this since they've lived here (until of course the Furtak's arrive. Jason probably should have taken pictures since this is history in the making). Debra and Jason asked about salt for our drive-way at several stores and we got odd stares and laughs. Between not having plows to clear the roads or basic treatment for the roads, this area just isn't preparred. We lived in Maryland and had snow twice as bad as here and within a few hours the roads were safe to drive. When Jason drove home from Redmond he almost didn't make it through our neighborhood because of the ice on the hills leading to our home. We regret that we're also going to miss church because of the ice conditions as well. It hasn't gotten above freezing so the ice and snow aren't melting yet and until it does we'll be home bound.

Snow Related Article from the Local News:

• Snow Sneaks Back Into the Pugeout Sound Area
• Even Sand Can't Rush the Icy Roads to Melt
• Artic Air to Hang Around All Weekend
• Snow Snarls Evening Commute; Ice Threatens Morning Drive
• Snow Leaves Snow, Ice, Stranded Cars

Game Night at our Friends House

Debra has made some good friends in the neighborhood so they offered for us to visit them to get us out of the house. We enjoyed a night with dinner and games. Debra and Jason introduced them to Sharp Shooters which was well received by everyone and we played a round of Scene It: Movie Edition. These friends also have kids that are the same age of our kids, so they kept themselves entertained upstairs while we enjoyed our game night. We had a great time and we're pleased to find friends with so much in common. It's also great to find friends in our neighborhood who share our same faith as well. We look forward to our next get together.

Gabrielle Looses Her First Tooth...

There's many first times we remember over the years and loosing your first tooth is one of those milestones. Gabrielle was the last of the Furtak kids to loose her first tooth last night (for those that don't know Joshua lost his first two teeth simultaneously with a hot wheels car). Gabrielle, knowing that her tooth was very loose and having the prompting from her older sister Madisynne, spent nearly one hour and a half pulling on her tooth until it eventually came out. As Furtak tradition would have it, Gabrielle's tooth is safely stored by the tooth fairy who left behind a generous gift of 5 dollars (I guess she has had to keep up with inflation).

[image by Deviant Art]

Furtak's visit XXX Root Beer and Boehms Candies

Jason has a friend at Boeing that has turned into a local tour guide for the Furtak family. Each week he tells Jason about another location that is a must see in our area of Seattle (he was the one that suggested the Salmon Days Festival). Jason's Friend was surprised to hear that we hadn't seen XXX Root Beer or the Boehms Candy factory in Issaquah. As it turns out it's in a area of town that we have driven by but it's situated in such a way that we have always passed it.

On his advice, today we went and had burgers and a root beer at XXX Drive In and afterwords checked out the decadent chocolates and other confections at Boehms Candies.

The XXX Drive-In in Issaquah is one of a only a few XXX Family Restaurants left in the U.S. This restaurant is the only one that has the full size root beer keg left on the roof. The inside of the restaurant is full of old fashion car pictures and pop-culture memorabilia on the walls. The kids enjoyed the pictures of Elvis and the Monkees the best. Jason liked the old fashion car cam shafts and the old full size shell sign. Jason doesn't think he has been in a restaurant with so many fascinating things on the wall since the Bubble Room in Sanibel Island. On the advise of his friend at Boeing, Jason and Debra had a 32oz glass of XXX Root Beer and he was right, it's the best root beer they have ever tasted and worthy of the world class status. Sometime around the spring time XXX Drive-In has a classic car show where hundreds of old fashion cars come from miles around.

XXX Drive-In Links

• Issaquah XXX Drive In
• XXX Family Restaurant Main Page
  

Boehms is just down the street from the XXX Drive-In and according to the Boehms website, "From the most exquisite, rich, European-style , hand-dipped chocolate truffles to our classic chewy caramels and nut clusters, perfection is found in every bit that bears the Boehms label. "

This is the type of Chocolate Factory one instantly smells once one opens the door in the parking lot. Their location in Issaquah against the mountains really gives this architecture a feel as if we're in the Swiss alps. We did the window tour and watch some workers making various candies and we had the hardest time walking away without buying the entire store filled with chocolate.

Boehms Candy Link
http://www.boehmscandies.com/

Gabrielle turns double hands age today...

Happy Birthday Gabrielle!

This morning when I asked Gabrielle how old she was, I noticed that she had to wedge her brush in her arm to put up two hands with 6 fingers. I know that I'm not the first father to think that time goes by to quick, but as I see my youngest daughter flip the double hands age, I have had the epiphany that time really does escape the unsuspecting father and I'm yet again caught in this twilight zone without a chance to regain the time back. I think I have many of the same regrets that father's have about time and the balance between professional, personal and family time but overall I believe I've been good about finding time for my children and I thank the Lord daily for the blessings that he has bestowed on me as a father in this regard. I look forward to the future rewarding challenges that Gabrielle's life brings to me and Debra and our family and I look forward to seeing her turn double hands and a foot age.

Charlotte's Web

As a family tradition, we typically celebrate birthdays with a fun activity and a lunch or dinner to a special restaurant. For Gabrielle's fun activity, we took her to see Charlotte's Web at the movies. It was great seeing Gabrielle enjoy the movie through both the sad and happy moments. During one particular sequence in the movie, Gabrielle started to get the type of laugh that she gets when she anticipates something about happen and then to see the follow-up explosion of laughter when it finally occurs was such a joy. Gabrielle was also quick to point out, to my embarsement in the crowded theater, that daddy was crying but at the same time I was filled with joy when she offered me her hand for comfort. I don't think I have to mention it but Charlotte's Web is one of those jewels of a movie that comes by every now and again and reminds us that Hollywood can produce something that a family can be proud to see. I gave this movie two thumbs up and would recommended it anyone.

Dinner at the Rainforest

Gabrielle has been looking to go to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner for quite sometime so when we asked her where she wanted to go the answer came quickly with little thought. I later found out that she was anxious to go because she had never been before and heard her older sisters speaking of it from their visit in Downton Disney, Orlando. We had a great dinner and we ordered up a "Volcano" for Gabrielle's desert and the waitresses sang happy birthday to her. What was funny was that there were a lot of birthdays tonight and each time someone would get something Gabrielle thought for sure it was for her so when her's finally came it was truly a surprise. We didn't fool her though; she just knew she was going to get one.

Gabrielle's Cheeseburger Birthday Cake

The other night we were at Fred Meyer (a local mega grocery/retail store) and asked Gabrielle to pick out a birthday cake. Showing her personality, she chose a birthday cake that looked like a giant hamburger. Not a typical birthday cake but at the same time the perfect birthday cake for Gabrielle.

Please join me in celebration of Gabrielle turning the big double hands!