Released

Grace had a follow up appointment with her brain rehab doctor yesterday - it was the 6 months after the accident check up.  And much to my dismay, he released her to go back to playing sports!  All her neuropsych testing came back good and her exam showed no ongoing issues.  He advised her to ramp up slowly and not hit her head!

New shoes

I got some cute new shoes from Nordstrom.  I was hoping they were bright red but they are more a red/orange color.  But they are cute so I am keeping them.  They clash a little with my mint toe nail policy.

Swordfish

Drew is in Mexico with Amanda and her family and he caught a nice looking swordfish!

Garden Statue

This is NOT a garden gnome!  This is a birthday gift from my friend Andee and it is a God of strong women.  I like to call in my Bad Ass Mama statue!  I put in in my garden where I can see it while reading my book sitting at my fire pit.  I look up, see it, think of Andee and think,"yep, Bad Ass Mama"!

Reclaimed Water

We have already used 3 loads of reclaimed water this weekend!  So with those loads, we have used a total of 9 loads so far this summer which is 2450 gallons! That means we saved that much drinking water!  That is A LOT of water!

What the????

When we came home last nite Hops was in her crate with her two pillows standing on their sides! 

SJ vs LA

Me, Jim, Grace and my Dad had a night out last nite at the SJ Earthquakes game at the Stanford Stadium.  As you know, the Earthquakes usually play at their new Avaya Stadium but this game was at Stanford as it holds more people which is needed when they play the rival team, LA Galaxy.

We started the night with dinner at The Counter in Palo Alto.  I had the MOST delish veggie burger with mixed greens, brie, dried cranberries and apricot sauce on a Hawaiian bun.  I wish we had Counter restaurant close to us because they have great veggie burgers.

The game was super fun -- after we finally got in -- it took an hour and 15 minutes to go 2 miles!  It was armed forces day so they had parachutes land on the field and a big C3 fly over.

Best part:  Earthquakes won 3 to 1!

Summer Cobbler

We needed a summer dessert and I decided to use the very delicious peaches that are out right now to make a cobbler.  I had a couple handfuls of blueberries left so I threw those on top.  Delish!  Below is the recipe I used -  from Paula Dean.  I adjusted by using a little less sugar cooked with the peaches and added more peaches (probably an extra cup and a half).  The recipe is quite bready so if you like that, the fruit is good - but I prefer more fruit.

 

 

Ingredients

4 cups peeled, sliced peaches
2 cups sugar, divided
1/2 cup water
8 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/2 cups milk
Ground cinnamon, optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the peaches, 1 cup sugar, and water in a saucepan and mix well. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Put the butter in a 3-quart baking dish and place in oven to melt.

Mix remaining 1 cup sugar, flour, and milk slowly to prevent clumping. Pour mixture over melted butter. Do not stir. Spoon fruit on top, gently pouring in syrup. Sprinkle top with ground cinnamon, if using. Batter will rise to top during baking. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes.

To serve, scoop onto a plate and serve with your choice of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Recipe courtesy of Paula Deen

Kickball 2015

Kody always wears a crazy outfit.  He did not disappoint this year!

Here are some more pics.  I didn't get any good ones this year - so I hope Renee did and can send them to me.

Kody arrived on a mini bike....which is still in my garage.

Here were the teams...white won!  I am not sure why I didn't put Kody, the professional kicker, on my team!  Doh!

White Team

·         Kyle

·         Debbie

·         Mike

·         Jeremy

·         Jenna

·         Tina

·         Mr C

·         Kody

·         Doug

·         Jim

·         Grace

·         Mari

·         Sean

Black Team

·         Zack

·         Cindy

·         Marty

·         Mikey

·         Amanda

·         Kayla

·         Drew

·         Ben

·         Chris

·         Luke

·         Renee

·         Nick

Bocce Ball Champions!

We had the Intern's Cup Bocce Ball Tourney yesterday at work and my partner and I won the whole event!  That's my partner, Scott and that's me....well, it's my face super imposed on Kevin's body because I had to run to catch my carpool!  I work with a bunch of competitive lawyers who talk a lot of trash so it was my pleasure to kick their butts!  And Scott was super happy because he came in second place the last two years.

TNDC Kickball 2015

More pics and commentary coming but this pic was too awesome not to share right away.  Words cannot express how lucky we are to have such good friends who enjoy such silliness.  And that we have kids who want to come out and do this with us.  When you hear the statement, "Life is Good", think about this pic!

Mari and Kyle's yard

After the boys finished our backyard, they started on re-doing Mari and Kyle's.  I don't have any good "before" pics but there are some in progress pics below.  They just laid the sod today.

Cool raised planters

Helper pup

Laziest Puppy in the World

Hops spends a lot of time sleeping....and most of the time it is in awkward position.  These are crazy pics from just the last few days.

One last random item

Forgot to add to the random cabin activities that we got new carpet installed in the family room.  We got a color that is a mixture of all the dogs AND the color of dirt!  We got a really high quality pad so it is like walking on a cloud!

Random Cabin Activities

Middle Fork of the Touloumne

 We had a long weekend at the cabin and did a bunch of random stuff:

• Completed fire abatement work
• Hung out on the boat with the new paddleboard
• 4-wheeled down to the river
• Made octopus sculptures out of watermelon
• Took a couple hikes

Ready for a morning hike

Fire abatement

Fell asleep and fell off her pillow into the closet

Houseguest

Here is our house guest and Hops.  This was taken after the morning of stalking, wrestling and biting....because that is exactly how you should (NOT) treat a house guest!

Murray Sitting

We have Murray for a week while his parents are on an Alaskan cruise.  This pic was taken this morning at about 6:30 am.  He is spent from his morning fun.  We had already been at the school for 40 minutes of chase with Hops and then came home to a wrestling match on the front lawn.  Then he had some breakfast topped with eggs and chicken and needed a nap!

We are having some issues with Hops.  As the summer wears on and it gets light earlier, she wants to get up as soon as the birds start chirping and she sees the sun up!  Which is now close to 5 am!  And people wonder why I am tired at 9:30 pm!  I had the dogs out for their run and was home by 6:20 am.

Test Drive

We took the new tent for a test drive today in the front yard.  It is a new 10 person tent and it claimed it went up in 60 seconds.....it's true!  It was super easy to get up - but it weighs a ton!  It is so heavy it is hard for me to carry it.   It will be awesome for Cherry Lake this summer.  We will be there for about a week and it is always nice to have a tent you can stand up in when you are in it that long.

Backyard plot

I had one tiny plot to finish up in the backyard.  I took the middle plant - the one that is reddish - out of the pot on the front porch because it was getting too big.  Then I got some other grassy type plants and filled them in.  It looks really nice and I love the red plant against the brick and the Adirondack chairs.

Paw Pad

Just installed the "paw pad" so the dogs can ride on the front of the SUP.  Ahi immediately jumped on!  Hops had to be coaxed on and then sat down on the back of her butt so she was almost falling over backwards!  Daisy just lay on the fireplace and looked at me like, "don't worry, I know what to do"!  Murray (who is with us for a week) looked and me like, "NO fricken way"!

I can't wait to get it out to Cherry!

Santa Cruz

We took our new standup paddle board to Santa Cruz yesterday.  We launched it in the Harbor and then Grace took it out the mouth Harbor and paddled around.  She saw an otter but didn't want to get too close in case it attacked her!

After some SUPing, we played with Hops in the waves.  She would chase Grace out into the waves and get so far out she had to swim.

SUP

Our new stand up paddle board (SUP) was delivered today.  We are all fired up!  I can't wait to get on it with my dogs!  Stay tuned for pics of it in use.

Working Dog

Hops is a Labrador, which classified as a working dog.  So you would think that if she went to work with Jim, Drew and Luke, she would be busy working.   NOPE!  She has a whole yard to lay in and she is laying right under the wheelbarrow they are using and sleeping!

TNDC

It was a momentous  TNDC last nite. 
The Warriors won! (we set the tv up outside). 
Willam announced he is going to be a big brother! 
Big Dan brought The Fish Market cheesy bread!
And Grace and Bug made a watermelon man!