Donnie Passed The Academy!

Donnie passed the Fire Academy! He's been there before, for the Engineer Academy in summer of '06, but now he had to go back for the Firefighter II portion for 6 weeks. He was offered a permanent position before he left, so all he had to do was pass the academy and come home to a permanent Engineer position at Napa station. We're VERY excited of course, Donnie never has to go back to the academy and now both of us have permanent jobs! With the pink slip scare in the school district and how hard the academy was, we're both so, so relieved it's all over and we're set for now.

Yup, it's true!

Donnie and I are expecting our first little one. We're very excited! The little blob, as I call it now, is due November 5th. It was hard to keep it a secret (Donnie and I both hate secrets), but we're excited to tell everybody now! And since we both hate secrets/surprises, yes, we will be finding out what it is and telling everyone soon.

"The Blob" back at 8 weeks in March


The blob becomes a big-headed-alien at 12 weeks in April

Donnie's Spring Break

We've had an eventful month. Just got back from my cousin's beautiful wedding. Always a great time with family.

Donnie just got back from a trip to Palm Springs too. He was asked to chaperon 4 high school kids going to the Fire Explorer Camp in Palm Springs. So he and another guy got to drive them down, hang out at camp when they wanted, and hang around Palm Springs for a week!

March

Well it's been a while since our last post, but because we've been busy working out our fat dog! Not all the time, but we've been spending a lot of time walking at the park. Just getting out and trying to get Jazmin back in shape. I don't know how a dog can be so big when she only eats 2 cups of food a day! Only 2 cups, but I guess she just sleeps all day when we're gone.

So, a great walk in Napa is Alston Park. Especially since they allow dogs off leash.



Nothing else new to report. My spring break starts next week! And is Donnie home to spend it with me? Nope, he gets to go to Palm Springs! Definitely exciting since he's never been, and he gets to go chaperon 4 fire explorers who're going there for camp. I get to paint whatever I want while he's away!

The End of February

Well, it has rained practically every weekday in February. Last year I would have been pulling my hair out with my horrible class, but I haven't really even noticed the rain this year!


Janet came up this weekend and I took her to a great place in town, Buttercream Bakery! We went for breakfast and it was packed. A great place in Napa for breakfast.

Afterwards we went upvalley for a little wine tasting. Stopped at the easiest winery to turn around in! Ha ha. It happened to be Robert Mondavi. A little more touristy than we usually do, but beautiful! I asked if they did Napa Neighbors, which most wineries do, and they stopped it. Napa Neighbors is usually some kind of deal that varies at each winery, that they reserve for people who live in Napa. But, the man was nice enough to do it for us anyways. Robert Mondavi is huge and beautiful, it looks like a big mission, and a great place to sit for a while.




Once again, this past Sunday, it was raining again. So, Donnie and I had trouble even getting out of the house, but I managed to convince him to take an outing to pick up some of our wine. We're members at Madonna Estate Winery because Donnie works with one of the family members. A great winery when you're driving into town in the Carneros Region. Our wine wasn't even ready (wrong month) and they didn't even have us on the list (seemed they had the wrong list). But, at least if you're members, while you're there you can taste all of their wines. And I mean ALL of their wines. So, we might be trying to pick up our wines on the wrong month again!

Balloons in Napa

It seems people in Napa are sometimes whiney. It's like life is easy enough here that they have to find something to occupy their time. Like complaining about the ballooners.

Personally, I absolutely love seeing the hot-air balloons on any given morning. Sometimes at school in the mornings, when all of the kids are lined up for the flag salute, anywhere from 5-8 can be seen in the sky. Yet another reason to love living here!

Donnie can hear them in the mornings on the weekend. I still laugh when he says, "balloon," when we're waking up, and I don't believe him. But, every time we run out into the yard and without fail is a hot-air balloon near our house. I don't mind it and love seeing them whenever this happens. I don't even hear them and would never hear them without Donnie pointing them out. But apparently, people get furious with them in the country. I happened upon a blog devoted to bashing the ballooners.
Citizens for Safe Ballooning

I guess I have never experienced what these homeowners have. But, I still think I would be understanding if a hot-air balloon had an emergency landing near us.

Sunday the 13th Burn

Do you know how the rich stay rich here in Napa? When they decide that their huge house isn't good enough anymore, they donate it to the fire department to burn down. The fire department can do training with it for a couple of days. The people donating get a huge tax write-off for it, and they get a free demolish of their house! So they can build their new huge house without having to pay for anything!

Donnie had one this past Sunday right down the street from his station. The houses they donate do have to be on a big enough property, so the neighbor's houses aren't effected. Lots of people line the streets to watch. I guess it would be exciting on a Sunday to watch your neighbors ugly pink house get burned down!

First Week Back

First week back at school. Always rough. Although the kids are always really nice. It's like they're scared of me again, and I love that. Although, unless you're a teacher, you have no idea how hard it is to have a whole week of rain. Stuck inside with 20 kids all day is no fun. They turn into little animals!

So, Stacey and Heather came up to visit on Saturday! I love it whenever anybody comes up and I can attempt at showing them around Napa. I'm still learning and always trying new places. Soon enough I'll have a couple favorites to show people. I'm still looking for free places that are just nice and friendly.


First we went to Domain Chandon. Sparkling Wine (I hate calling it that, why can't we just call it Champaigne too?) is always a good way to kick off a day. Domain Chandon was beautiful yesterday, the first day all week that the sun came out and there was no rain. If you ever are thinking of going, just know that it sometimes gets pretty crowded, since it's one of the first places going up-valley, and it's a teeny pricy ($15 for 3-4 tastes). If you're thinking of buying any, just wait! Don't buy it there, it's cheaper in the grocery store.

So, we make our way to Rutherford and head over to the Silverado Trail to go to Rutherford Hill winery. Nice there again. We were one of 3 groups there, and they had more old guys working there than people tasting. We all chose the red flight, which is $15 for 5 wines, plus port (which he brought out chocolate blueberries to taste with, so good!), and he added on another taste. Pretty good deal there! Always works for 3 girls to schmuz it up with the pourer (especially helps when he's a guy pushing 60+) to get some free tastes.

Ah, so the best part is that after Rutherford Hill, we stop for lunch, directly underneath at Auberge du Soleil. It is this beautiful mediterranean hotel on the hillside overlooking the valley. And we're lucky that it's nice enough to eat on the patio. With a view like this, we decide we are going to stay here as long as possible!

Heather had been here before and said the calamari is amazing. All she had to say is calamari at all, and we're already sold. Our calamari comes out with our wines, and it looks amazing, tentacles and all. If you're one who's scared of the tentacles, just do it! I swear they're better than the ring ones.

We all share a salad and pasta. 3 of us sharing 1 salad and 1 pasta and there's still leftovers. We decide we're too full for desert. That is, until the host brings out profiteroles to the table next to us and pours chocolate sauce all over the top. Yeah, we will be having desert. We had been debating over this warm cookie plate all afternoon and decide to it order, but please put a scoop of ice cream on top. I wish I had taken a picture of this plate of cookies! 12 cookies, chocolate chip, peanut butter, and oatmeal. All with ice cream on the top.

So, our day was amazing. On the way home I show them the parking lot where our party bus stopped and we met Donnie. (If you didn't already know, Stacey was the one who planned Heather's bachelorette, where Heather dragged Donnie out of the supermarket and gave him my number.) And they want to see the fire house, so we drive down the road. Donnie shows them around (no pole at Donnie's station), and give Donnie our many leftover cookies on the way out. Great day.

Stormy Day

The storm hit today. Donnie and I noticed how bad it was when the power went out at 9am and he immediately got called into work. He got called in for Swift Water Rescue Team, how exciting! But, that meant I'm stuck at home, with the power out and nothing to do. So, he brought me his little volunteer radio so I could listen to the fire calls all day. So, my last Friday of vacation I got to stay in bed reading all day, trying to keep warm, and listening to his radio. And, turns out, this thing is more interesting than television! I felt like a little old lady trying to listen to neighbors gossip. And a lot of interesting things get called in, propane tank busts, floods and roads closed, tons of tree and electrical wires flying, alarm sounding in a elderly home room turns out to be kids breaking in and smoking, and even a head-on collision (that was the sad one). Even Jazmin knew something was wrong because she kept trying to jump into bed with me, and she would never even try that on a normal day.

Well, when the power went back on in the early afternoon, I took Jazmin to the garage to let her out. And, sitting on my car are Donnie's fishing waders and boots. I don't know if he left them on accident or put them there for me. I started laughing when I saw them, could you imagine me trying to get through the flooded streets in his fishing waders? It was very nice if he did leave them for me, but I don't think I'm going anywhere.

Happy New Year!

What a fabulous year and 2008 is going to be even better! We came up with a few easy resolutions that hopefully won't be forgotten.

1. Wear more jewelry. I think that’s any easy one! (Obviously only my resolution! Donnie is not allowed to participate in this one!)
2. Get organized. We know it will be even harder with kids, so we would like to get organized now!
3. Try to save some money. This would be an easy thing for me to do, but I guess my goal is to try not to nag Donnie too much to get it done.
4. Find all of the best hikes in Napa.
5. Find a couple good wineries that allow picnics! And a couple more with free tastings.

I think those are easy and obtainable enough.

It was so sad to be away from Donnie for New Years, especially when he got to work and found out he could have had the day off! But LA was fabulous, Katie and I got to do the regular girly stuff we always used to. We watched a ton of movies, got a bunch of magazines, went shopping, went to some good eats in LA (Jinkys!), and went hiking in Hollywood.

New Years we got to see a bunch of girls from Chico that I haven't seen in a while.

I even brought home some Coffee Bean mix so I can have a my own Coffee Bean in Napa.

Hope everyone had a great New Years! (I guess some of you don't know that my hair is brown. Yes, I got bored and changed it. My hair doesn't really like it and it gets lighter every day. So, it will be back to blond probably by the spring!) Here's Donnie and me on my bday when it was darker: