You know what hurts?

You know what hurts worse than childbirth?

A tiny pimple on your upper lip line.

OUCH!!

Happy Birthday Party

Gracie recently went to a birthday party on a boat! Her friend Kayla had a bunch of friends do a day on the lake for her birthday. Drew went a long as a helper and to keep the big brother of the birthday girl company. The report from the day was that it was really fun. HOWEVER, both Drew and the birthday girl's mom reported that the girls incessant talking and loudness made them CRAZY!

Super Dog!

This is at Cherry Lake. It is a rock that the boys were jumping off and they wanted Daisy to jump too. So they threw a stick for her. But that was just the first time. She then jumped off - on her own - just for fun!

My favorite girl

I LOVE this pic of me and Gracie. She is soooo awesome!

Random Pics

A few random pics from our Cherry Trip.

Big Feet

This is a pic of Mari's foot - far right and Gracie's foot - middle. You should note that they are the same size. Both where size 9.5 or 10!

Shoulder Therapy

I had my first physical therapy appt today for my left shoulder. We are trying the anti inflamatory meds shot in with electrical stimulation. Plus we are doing ice, stretching and REST! I had to crack up when the first thing she told me was not to carry anything heavy with that shoulder like a purse or BACKPACK! I had to break the news to her that I was going backpacking next week but that I would be sure to tell my co-backpackers that they would have to carry all my stuff...doctors orders!

She must have told me 10 times that she is worried about me over doing it! Didn't take her long to figure me out!

Stay tuned....this should be interesting!

In love after all these years...

Loved this pic of Tina and Marty from the Adam Burns Band Concert.

Backpacking Prep

We are getting ready for a backpacking trip to Kibbie Lake (http://www.everytrail.com/guide/kibbie-lake-yosemite) and are having as much fun getting ready as we will on our trip.

Yesterday, we spent half the day at REI and Any Mountain. I got a new pair of boots because my boots were causing my toes to bruise (ouch). And we got some freeze dried food.

I wanted to try putting freeze dried eggs in some ramen to make it healthier and add some protein. So yesterday, my dorky husband (picture him wearing his head lamp in the kitchen in the middle of the day!) set up our backpacking stoves in the kitchen and made a test meal for me: ramen with freeze dried scrambled eggs mixed in. YUK! EWWWW! GROSS! The eggs were like eating ground up super balls. So glad we did a test run because there is no way we could have eaten it on the trail!

I think we will stick with plain old ramen with some veggies in it!

Champs Swim Meet

Today was the Champs Swim Meet for Gracie's team. We left home at 6 am and got home at 2:30 pm. Then we were suppose to go to the end of the year pool party but Gracie was not feeling well so we skipped it. Jim and I were so tired you would have thought we swam the events ourselves!

Gracie did pretty well for not feeling very well (she took a 45 minute nap in a chair). But I was sad that she was sick for the last meet and couldn't enjoy it like normal.

A life well lived

It has been a whirlwind week. My grandpa ended up dieing last Thursday. And on Sunday I flew to Illinois for the wake and funeral. I met my brother in Las Vegas and we flew together.

It was wonderful to see all our family and celebrate a life well lived!

A time of transition

Our family is in a time a transition. Our oldest generation is passing on and leaving the next younger generation to move into the patriarch and matriarch roles.

My Grandma (my dad's mom) died last week, leaving my dad as the oldest member of his family. My Grandma was 87.

My Grandpa (my mom's step father) is in the final stages of his life now. He is in bed and doesn't barely eat. Thankfully my mom was able to visit him while there for my Grandma's funeral (they live in another state). And I have just put a bunch of pictures in the mail with hopes that he will be alert enough when they arrive to enjoy them. I did get a chuckle today when my mom said that they put some polka music on for Grandpa today and he wiggled his toes!

God bless them both! And give us all strength and peace to accept this period of transition.

A gang....

I loved this pic of the kids at Cherry on the back of the Pontoon Mama! We have a similar pic from a few years ago. The next pic they took was them making "gang signs". The closest they could come to being a gang is a gang of dorks! We told them that if they ever saw a gangster that they would wet their pants.

They are some good looking, nice kids! (if I do say so myslelf...)

legobob

This is a lego bobsled that Gracie just made. It is made with popsicle sticks and hot glue.

Jim and Marty in Love

This must be the funniest picture I have ever seen. It is Marty and Jim up at Cherry. Jim is wearing toddler size sunglasses and has a fancy hairdo from swimming. This must be what "True Love" looks like.

Adam Burns Band

We went to a small town concert last nite. The band, The Adam Burns Band, was one we had seen over the New Years Holiday at Badger Pass. I had purchased their CD back in January and was happy to get to see them again. The venue was a small garden center near the cabin. We brought our own lawn chairs and picnic dinner. We danced on the lawn and had a great time!

Crawdad Hunting

"On Alert"









Went crawdad hunting today down at Big Creek.

We ran into a family that had just seen a bear! So this is a pic of Ahi on bear alert! (not really - she was just hanging out in the grass oblivious to the danger that was lurking around her! remember...she is a dog of little brain!)

We caught one crawdad and put it in Tina's fancy water bottle! We brought him back to the cabin, made him a habitat and named him Bob.

Underwear Liason

Nothing but drama....Marty forgot his underwear and we will be on our trip for 10 days!

So, we start trying to problem solve....how do we find underwear for Marty without driving into Sonora. Here are some ideas:

1. Marty could wear Tina's underwear.

2. Jim said Marty could wear his....as soon as Jim was done with it.

3. Marty said he could just wear his bike shorts that he had with him....that lasted until our first walk when he got so hot he thought his crotch might catch on fire. Friction...you know!

4. Someone suggested going to the second hand/thrift store in town.

We finally settled on calling Grandma Kathy and having her stop at Costco on the way up to the cabin and purchasing Marty some new tightie whities! Here first response, when we asked, was....."this is above and beyond the call of duty"!

On her way to the cabin, Grandma called the cabin to check in and Marty answered the phone. Marty's question to her...."do you have your hands on my underwear yet?"....

That was only the beginning of the jokes related to Marty's underwear!

Rescue Rescue

It's our second day of vacation and we have already conducted TWO rescues!

The first one was on Friday nite.

After I got done working (I worked from the cabin that day), I met Jim, Drew, Gracie and Jeremy down on the boat. We were going out for a swim off the boat. On our way to the bouy we were going to tie up to, Jeremy saw a sail boat go over. That happens all the time on the lake so we didn't think much of it. But as we were watching, we didn't see any people surface. So we started motoring in their direction. As we approached, we saw an older woman and man (late 60's). The woman was having a hard time clinging to the hull of the overturned boat and the man was trying unsuccessfully to upright the boat.

We asked if they needed help and they said "YES"! So the woman swam to our boat and got in it while Jim dove in to help the man with the boat. The boat's sails were filled with water so there was NO way it was going to be turned over. So while Drew manuevered our boat and Jim held onto the keel, the man undid the sails. Once the sails were down, Jeremy stood inside our boat and pulled the mast up out of the water while the man and Jim pulled on the keel.

While this was all happening, the PML boat patrol was no where in sight! So I called the front gate on Jim's cell phone and asked them to call the marina and send help!

Once the sailboat was over, it kept wanting to tip because it was so filled with water! So Jim bailed it out while treading water. The boat patrol showed up and towed the sail boat in while we took the woman to the shore.

The woman was soooo grateful that she kept offering dessert, drinks, batteries....anything we needed! We said, "no need, we are just sorry that our capes are in SJ!" Then we told her we were going fishing that nite and she said she thought we would have really good luck fishing because of our good deed!




The second rescue occurred on Saturday nite.

We went out on the boat to watch the fireworks (it was an awesome show) and once the fireworks were over, boats were headed in all different directions trying to get home. We decided to just sit there for awhile to let the chaos settle down.

While waiting there, a boat close to us started drifting into us as they were trying to start their boat. Everytime they tried to start it, smoke billowed out of the engine.

Finally, as they were close to hitting us they said they had no power. So we grabbed hold of them (to keep us from crashing into them) and looked at their engine to help them. Turns out that there was a rope wrapped around their propeller! The people in their boat could not get to it as they were at the wrong angle. So we pulled up our boat to their engine and Jim untangled the rope for them!