High Country Boondoggle

Here are some pics from our day trip up and over Tioga Pass.   There was a fire in Yosemite that had recently started and was blowing a lot of smoke towards us and made it difficult to take any decent pics.  But it was clear once we got outside the east side of the Park.

Just outside of the Park on the eastern side are a couple of lakes that are in the National Forest - which means dogs are allowed!  So we stopped for a picnic lunch and let the dogs play in the river.  There were some snow patches - which was Oakley first introduction to snow and she was DELIGHTED!

Picnic lunch

Even Daisy Mae got to play in the river!

After the our picnic, we kept exploring with a stop near Saddlebag Lake to do some drone flying.  Then we headed over the hill the rest of the way and stopped at Mono Lake (after getting coffee in Lee Vining).  Last stop was a brewery in June Lake where we got some "to go" beer.  That nite when we got home, we did some taste testing!

Summer Vacay at the Lake

The boys got home from Alaska on Wednesday nite and we headed to the cabin for 11 days on Thursday nite!  We decided to stay at the cabin and do day trips instead a big camping trip at Cherry for the week.  And - in fact,we never event made it out to Cherry.  Instead, we did a Don Pedro day trip; a drive over the Yosemite high country with stops at Saddlebag Lake. Mono Lake and June Lake and a trip to Leavitt Lake off of 108.

Day trips allowed us a lot of time at our lake.  We would typically go out at abut 7:30 am every morning for a dog swim and a little fishing.   It was a good way to get the wiggles out of the baby!

We also did many long hours in the middle of the day and a couple of night cruises to beat the heat.

Carrying a poop back from shore!

Al and Kim were in town at their new house so they spent a whole afternoon with us on the boat and did some floating and played some liars dice.

PML

Drew got a new drone with his fishing proceeds and used it to take this pic of the lake from above our cabin.

YEF Legacy Celebration

I have served on the Board of Directors of the Yahoo Employee Foundation (YEF) for the last few years (and worked as a volunteer on the grants committee for 7 years before that).  When Yahoo was recently purchased, we needed to close the fund, which contained 9 million dollars!

The Board worked diligently to choose non profits that would honor the wishes of all Yahoos who had donated money to YEF for the previous 20 years!  Once the work of choosing and notifying the non profits who were receiving grants, was done we decided to have a celebration.

These are pics from that celebration.  There were about 80 people there - both non profits and the Yahoo's who Championed them.  I was asked to speak because of my 10 year involvement with YEF.  I had the unique perspective to speak as a donor, a committee volunteer, a repeat Champion (I obtained almost half a million dollars in grants for my favorite non profits) and a board member.  The main reason I was asked to speak was due to my previously expressing my belief that my involvement with YEF was the single most important work I had done in my entire career.

The event was so momentous and inspiring.  A number of the non profits talked about how the money they received in the past had been used.....and changed lives!

My org, CCI, came with two of their dogs, Lawson, a breeder and Shioban, a puppy in training.  They were a hit with all at the event.

Part of the YEF board, me, Nancy, Jenn, Gil and Emmy - all are rockstars!

Packing her Bag

We are starting to get Oakley ready for her new life as the dog of a college student in Arizona.  Here are all the toys that Grace made her to take with her to her party life!

Adventure Seekers

I love this pic - at about the same time the boys were in Alaska on the boondoggle to the glacier, G and I were on the trails behind work doing a training hike for our Olympic Peninsula backpack trip in September.  A few things about this:

1.  We don't let the grass grow under our feet - we are always moving!
2.  We don't wait for everyone in the family to be there to do our adventures - its every man for themselves....jump on whatever adventure you are close to!
3.  Look how happy we all look!  Except for Jim who is taking this all too seriously!

Tre

We have a foster bearded dragon!  Tre has come to live with us until Grace goes to college.  My brother and his family are his "real family" but Grace has asked if she could keep him for awhile and Uncle B kindly said yes.

They always thought Tre was a boy but with the help of Youtube videos, we determined that he is a she!  But it has been exceedingly difficult for us to change the use to the correct pronouns.

Grace immediately made Tre a harness so she could be on a leash and has dreams of making her a therapy bearded dragon!

Glacier Visit

The boys went on a boondoggle on a day off to a Glacier.  It took about two hours by boat to get there and the said it was just stunning!  But cold!

Diana Falls

G, Bug, K and me went on a boondoggle today to try to find Diana Falls.  It was someplace around Greely Hill and Coulterville but we couldn't find any good directions on line.  So we headed out and started looking for a bridge with a parking spot close to it and a trail head across the street.

We went from Greely Hill to Coulterville without finding it.  So we stopped at the Info Center in Coulterville and got directions.  The directions were not great so we stopped again in Greely Hill and got better directions!  After an hour of hunting around, we finally found the trail head.  It was about a mile hike in to Little Diana Falls and then a smidge more the the larger falls.

It was a HOT day and the dogs had some trouble with their feet on the hot granite and even the hot dirt.  But we were careful carrying them in spots and keeping them in water.

The baby got very tired from all the activity!

We sat in the river and cooled off while playing with the pups.  It was a great way to spend the 4th of July!

Just around the corner was the larger falls but we like this spot better

Happy 4th!

Yahoo Employee Foundation Grant

As many of you know, Yahoo has been purchased by Verizon and the deal closed in mid-June.  As you may also know, I have been on the Board of Directors of the Yahoo Employee Foundation (YEF), which is an employee managed and employee funded non profit that provides financial grants to non profits that our employees are passionate about.  Being on this board and giving away money has truly been one of the highlights of my entire career.  I have been so fortunate to see 100's of amazing non profits that are making an incredible impact around the world.

Unfortunately, with the end of Yahoo came the logical end of YEF.  The decision that the Board made to close the fund was incredibly emotional but we knew we had to honor the intent of the donors.  Fortunately, we were able to give away over $9 million dollars to deserving non-profits around the world!  All this money will be distributed in the next few weeks. 

STOP and read that again - NINE MILLION DOLLARS!

That spreads a lot of good in this world!

I have been incredibly honored and humbled to be able to do this work.  I have always lived my personal value "to give back" but I never was able to do it with this scale of impact.  I will cherish this opportunity.

Out of this last round of giving came a grant to the non profit I personally Champion, Canine Companions.  Since they have been a long time partner of YEF, they received the largest level of grant:  $320k!  That will help change the lives of many disabled folks when they are matched with a canine companion.   I am beyond thrilled for them!

Happy 17th Birthday K

G went to the zoo this week to celebrate her buddy, Kayla's, 17th birthday.  They hatched a plan when we were all together last week to wear their animal onesies!  Apparently they made quite the hit with all the little kids at the zoo!

Long Weekend with the Girls

We just spent 4 days at the cabin with K and Bug.  The purpose was to do weed whacking and Grandma Anna and Grandpa Roy's house but we squeezed in a lot of floating too!

Waiting for the first cheese fries of the season

Grandpa helping with machinery

Oak loves to nap on the boat

There was a terrible heat wave with it being over 100 degrees each day.  It was way to hot to sleep inside so we all made beds on the deck.  

AK

It's been a busy week in Alaska.  Last week they had one really good haul of about 10k pounds in a 24 hour period but then the next opener was not as good.

After the last opener they had three days off and hit it again today.  During their time off they hiked to the top of a mountain.  During the hike they saw TWO bears!

Drew was in the lead and came over a knoll and came within 15 feet of the biggest bear Susan had ever seen!  Drew described it as the size of a Honda Civic!  Susan said it had to be 300 pounds.  Luckily it took a drink and lumbered off.  See pic below of actual bear!

The next bear they came upon was about 20 yards from them BUT it started walking towards them!  Max and Eric took out their guns and Susan took out her horn and bear spray.  Apparently there was all kinds of giggling when Susan blew her horn right behind Max who had a gun in is hand!

Honda Civic bear!

This is the mountain they hiked to the top of where they saw all the bears

View on hike day from camp

Shenanigans

Camp fire

Haul!