Jamie, the girls and I just got back from our 07' Summer Vacation. We drove down to Jamie's grandparent's ranch north of Sacramento. We stayed there for a few days which allowed us to catch up with them and allowed me to help her grandpa do a lot of the work he hasn't been able to get to due to his age.
We then drove down to the bay where Jamie's dad lives. While in the bay, we were fortunate enough to be able to make it to Camp Yahoo!. We had a BLAST! There were too many activies to list here. Jamie and I are going to try and take our yearly Cali vacation so we can hit up Camp Yahoo! every year.
After a few days in the bay we headed back home. We made sure to leave at sunrise so we could hit up Crater Lake on the way home. Jamie and I were sure glad that we did make it to Crater Lake because it is absolutely gorgeous. The water is so blue and the scenery is breathtaking. We definitely plan to head back before the end of the summer for a camping trip.
Hopefully we can make the trip during Labor Day weekend which Jamie and I now have open. We are selling our Dave Matthews Band tickets for that weekend as we are now going to Hawaii. Jamie has never been to Hawaii and is extremely excited. Our good friends, Crystal and Jason are going with us, which absolutely ROCKS! We are going 10/3-10/7 and the flights are very desireable. We will have 5 full days and 4 nights. We cannot wait!
This is Kaena Point and we will definitely be traveling there.
Waikiki Beach.. where the hotel is. Diamond Head in the background and will be hiking up there for sure.
The vacation pics can be seen here:
Now that I have my site: www.burch-family.com going, I am using 360 to host my blog. I am hoping people will start reading my blog at: http://www.burch-family.com/blog.html . I figure that I should start giving people something to read. Maybe one day I will hit 3 readers. 
Lately I have been extremely busy at work. I just finished my first big project as supervisor. I restructured my entire team and the leads and I really feel that this was needed and will help us all out. After the dust settles, we will definitely be taking some time as a team to have fun together. It has been a stressful past few weeks and I TRULY appreciate the team's patience with me and the changes I have implemented. This is a short term pain.. for a long term gain. As we head into Q3, my entire team has such an opportunity to make great strides and I am positive that we will. Q3 Baby!
Jamie, the kids and I have a fun couple of weeks coming up! This Sunday is the Yahoo! Customer Care Summer Picnic. We all go to the Oregon Zoo and have a very nice catered lunch and cold beer. The kids have a BLAST at the Zoo and having all of my fellow Yahoos there with their kids, just makes for a fun day. Wednesday, the fam and I are heading to Cali. We will spending a few days with Jamie's grandparents at their ranch near Sacramento. Then we head to the bay where will be spending a couple of days with her dad. Hopefully I will be getting the Yahoo! luxury box for Friday's San Fransisco Giants game. We are all really looking forward to watching the game.. especially from the box. By coincidence, the main Yahoo! Summer Picnic, Camp Yahoo!, will be that same weekend. I was going to take the fam to headquarters, but Camp Yahoo! will surely be more eventful. This vacation is definitely needed. I don't remember the last time I took more than 2 days off. (of course I will have my laptop and will be staying up-to-date on happenings). Jamie's van is broke down so we are renting a car. When we get back.. I am taking it to a shop, having it fixed then selling it.
We are moving the last week of August. My sisters family and my family are going to be living in a pretty big house together. This will allow us to save thousands of dollars on rent. Once we have a nice amount saved, we will be buying a house. Short term pain.. long term gain.
Jamie and I are headed to our yearly Dave Matthews Band 3 day trip to the Gorge over Labor Day weekend. We are really looking forward to the time alone. It helps to have a few days without the kids. While we DO miss them dearly (we tear up at night), it helps Jamie and I to really just hang out and talk for a few days. We wake up leisurely, eat breakfast over looking the river, we have a peaceful afternoon and then finish the day with a Dave show. 3 days of this in a row, does the soul good.
Well.. I talked everyone's ears off.. so that's all for now folks!
Because I do promoting for O.A.R., Jamie and I were hooked up w/ some backstage passes to the Portland O.A.R. show. We were able to hang with the band for quite a while. Being that Jamie was a winner in their Charity contest, they all remembered her and we were able to have intelligent, meaningful conversation. (I am glad we weren't the couple who came back with like 50 articles of schwag for the band to sign 
) The entire band was VERY cool. We had a BLAST!
P.S. We had pics of us with each member.. somehow the pics with Richard and Benj didn't make it. 
Jamie, Marc Roberge (Lead Singer) and Me!
Chris Culos (Drummer) and Jamie!
O.A.R. Head of Securty and Me!
After a very long winter, I am really looking forward to getting out and checkin' some live shows. Here is the confirmed (and tix bought) lineup thus far:
Memorial Day weekend my bros and I will be heading to the Sasquatch Music Festival at its usual venue.. the Gorge Amphitheater. The Gorge is my #1 spot when it comes to live concerts.
We will only be attending on Sunday as I wasn't too impressed with Saturday's lineup. Sundays headliner is the main reason we will be attending. The Beastie Boys! We are camping at the Gorge the entire weekend. I am really looking forward to leaving the laptop at home and hangin with the guys for a weekend. This trip is long over due.
The next show will be 6/23 at the Roseland Theater in Portland. My wife and I will be going to see O.A.R. and will hopefully be able to meet and hang with the guys. As most people know, my wife won a contest sponsored by O.A.R. for her charitable work. I am hoping they will let us at least let us do a meet and greet.
My wife will be going to see Gwen Stefani at the White River Amphitheater with a bunch of her friends... but I am not fan and therefore will end the talk about this show now.
The highlight of the summer will be seeing Dave Matthews Band @ the Gorge Amphitheater on Labor Day weekend. This is my wife's and my yearly anniversary present / vacation for each other. We will be attending all 3 days and camping the entire time. It will surely be a BLAST... it always is.
