Permit

Grace passed her permit test yesterday.  She starts behind the wheel next week.  Once she does one session with a professional instructor, she can start driving with us.  She is pretty fired up because she will get the Tahoe to drive.  We decided to keep it because it is a giant battle wagon for a new driver.

Stay tuned on our new Tahoe - it is supposed to arrive on Monday! 

Run for It!

These are a couple videos from when Drew was home for Spring Break.  He was running William back and forth in the entry way and Will was loving it!  And we were all cracking up because it looked like a cartoon character!

New Boat Ramp

PML has to put in a new boat ramp because the water is so low in the lake the other boat ramp is too shallow.  They have been trying to find an alternative for a couple months now and this is the result.  It is in the Marina but just in a different location.  We believe that this slab will be moved into the water to make the bottom of the launch ramp and that they will pour a new slab where this one sits now.

Snow Protection

Jim got a new super duper strong cover for the boat.  It is strong enough for snow!  It looks like they are building a high rise within the boat!  And who needs it for snow....it doesn't snow or rain in California anymore.

Note the sunning Labrador

Carlon Fall Technology

 

When we went on our hike to Carlon Falls we ran into the sign, above, on the trail.  So we put our camera on the bracket and took the picture to the left and will post it to twitter as the sign requests.

We have never seen something likes this on our travels.  It is cool to see technology being used in this way.

Check out the pics here.

Swimmer

Look who learned to swim!  That is Hops on the left and Daisy on the right.

Aging Hippies

After our hike, we found this in the parking lot - yes - it is a van painted to look like it is made of rocks.  The back said "Eat, drink, make love, be merry."  And on the side was a sticker that said, "God Bless the Freaks".

The couple that drove it looked like 65 year old hippies and the van had Michigan license plates.

The more I thought about these people the more I liked this idea - travel around the country in a van and do whatever you want!  Sign me up....without the rocks and crazy sayings.

Carlon Falls

We went for a hike yesterday on the edge of Yosemite on a hike to Carlon Falls.  It was a beautiful hike along the South Fork of the Tuolumne River.

Highlights included:

• Hops learned how to swim - video coming soon!
• Scrambling up a cliff, which scared the crap out of me, only to get to the top and almost place my hand on a snake - which made me scream like a girl.
• Seeing technology being used to track fire recovery - a post is coming
• Seeing old hippies - a post is coming

My sweet sweet Daisy Mae - so happy to be hiking

Hops is finally swimming

Weener selfie

Crow

I have been doing yoga regularly for years now.  I used to be a naysayer because I was such a cardio junky.  But all the running for cardio took a toll on my feet.  So now I do a much more balanced workout with cardio and yoga - which leads to less foot pain.

One of the poses in yoga that I have practiced for years and have never been able to do is the crow.  This is a pose where you squat down and then lean forward placing your hands on the ground.  You then lean over your hands and place your knees on your triceps.  You lean enough to where your feet come off the ground and your hands are holding your whole body weight in crouched position.

I never thought that I would be able to do it because I am not very strong.  But I always tried because even a little bit of weight leaning into your hands would build muscle.

So - yesterday, I tried it and I did it!  Wa La!  Just like that!  Me.  In the crow position!

Spring Break at the Cabin

The college student spring break trip to the cabin was great.  One of the kids said he was sad when leaving....and I told him he got the "cabin fever"!  I expect they will all be back.

Landscaping

Since it feels like spring, I got the itch to do some planting. 

So we re-did a corner of the yard.  I wish I had taken a before pic - but it had some tired ornamental grass plants of various sizes.  For some reason some grew big and some were smaller than when we planted them a few years ago!

I have been obsessing about two types of plants - kangaroo paws and sizzling pink fringe flower.   So I put them both in!  The pic of the fringe flower doesn't do it justice.  I will get a better pic when it is flowering again.

kangaroo paw

sizzling pink fringe flower

Personal Space?

The pup still has issues with identifying her personal space and Daisy Mae's personal space!  They seem to overlap in Hops' mind.

Fun with Scarves

Happy Easter

I Love Lucy

Incognito

Amelia Earhart

Splish Splash

William in his birthday swimming pool!

Dog Art

Swimming with the Fish

Going Fishing

Seems like we have a dog that is ok with posing!

Making Music

Another baby scene...

"Hops Making Music"

Note that her "baby" is playing the uke.  Also note the back up singers in the upper left hand corner.  They are 2 hedge hogs and a giraffe.  Originally there was a small bear, but Ahi wandered onto the scene and walked off with it!

Dinosaur Hunter

You know how some parents take pics of their babies in cute scenes while they sleep...

Here is G's attempt at such scenes using Hops as the main character!  This is titled "Dinosaur Hunter".

Note her "baby" (teddy bear) as her side kick.  And her stuffed dinosaur being shot with an arrow.

Road Trip!

Instead of a Spring Break trip to Mexico or San Diego, Drew took a bunch of his friends (8 of them), to the cabin.  Seven of them met up here last nite, loaded up in two vehicles and took off. 

Drew has been itching to get his truck up to the cabin but it is too risky to drive it that far so he set it up to tow it up with the Tahoe.  The report from the drive up is that it was a little hairy because the Jeep makes the Tahoe wander.  And some crazy lady pulled right in front of him and slammed on her brakes causing him to take drastic action to prevent from plowing into her!

Stay tuned for stories from their adventure.  Should be interesting because at one point 4 of them were sitting around the bar playing games on their phones.  I told them "good luck" at the cabin - that much wireless use will cause our router to smoke!  City boys!

Uke

Grace has been wanting a ukelele and with her extra time available since she can't do sports, the timing seemed right!  It is fun to hear a different sound around the house.  Ukes sound so happy!

William at Play

Here is the play board that the Walkers made for William!

Puppy Pickle

Drew was driving today with Hops in the back seat.  As he accelerated, she fell backwards and got herself stuck in this pickle!  Drew was not driving fast - the problem is that Hops sits way back on her haunches so that all her weight is too far back.  Amanda rescued her.

DNA test

My mom had a DNA test done to determine her ancestry and the results were interesting:  She is 100 % European with a break down as follows:

 

1)  63% Ireland

2)  17% West Europe

3)  16 % Great Britain

 

also

 

Scandinavia  1 %

Finland, NW Russia 1%

Iberian Peninsula   1%

Italy, Greece 1%

 

That means that I am mostly:

 

Irish

Russian 

English

 

Which explains my sturdy build and cankles; my love of potatoes and my glow in the dark white skin.

Puppy Shenanigans

Next up on Puppy Shenanigans...

Getting stuck in the rungs of a chair while we were eating breakfast!

Spring Archery

We went to the archery range today expecting to do the par course - but there was an event there so we just did some target shooting on the range.  We had Hops with us and she quickly learned that she got to go with us when we retrieved the arrows.  It was about 85 degrees on a mid-March day! 

Happy First Birthday William

Yesterday was William's first birthday party and it was baseball themed!

Everything was so cute - from the baseball themed appetizers (see my baseball diamond veggie platter - and Tina did a fruit baseball diamond platter!) to Mari, Kyle and William's baseball shirts with "1" on the back.

There was a good representation from TNDC, from the Gillum family, from William's little friends and even William's Grandma and Grandpa from Colorado.

It was such a fun day and we couldn't stop talking about how wonderful it was for all of us to be there to celebrate (Drew and Amanda are home from school) and what a cute little family they are.  William is certainly a lucky little guy!

He got great gifts including:

• A flashlight for camping, a Curious George book and a fishing game (from us)
• A Jr Ranger vest (from Tina and Marty)
• An activity center made by Doug and Debbie (I will have to get a pic of it)
• A truck set (from Bug, Stache and Coach)
• An easel
• A swimming pool for the backyard and a couple pair of swim trunks

That first year went fast!

Happy Birthday!

Number 1!