Day 144

Oh no! Not again! See Day 34. Speed tables are used, not to slow traffic down so much as to maintain the speed limit in a certain area. What's next? I have a suggestion, of course. A speed coffee table. Just enough of a bump to make you slow down and wonder if you ran something over. 

Day 143

Hey, I wasn't born yesterday, but Jack was. Jack is the brand spanking new brother of a Eli's classmate, Leslie. It will be easy to remember Jack's birthday, because he shares it with Eli. Welcome to the world, Jack. You are lucky to have such a sweet big sister.

Day 142

Looks who's 12! Eli showing off one of his birthday gifts. Have I told you today that I love you? Well, guess what? I love you tons and tons.

Day 141

Pride & Prejudice. One of my all-time favorite movies. (I like the book too!) There are several versions of this epic by Jane Austin, however, this one is the best, in my humble opinion. I had some spare time this weekend to watch it again, for the umpteenth time. Time is what you need. This version is 5 hours long. 

Day 140

Welcome to the Blogosphere Pam. I helped my friend Pam create her own blog today.  It's not much yet, but I expect that Pam will fancy it up a bit. It's got me thinking about remodeling my blog. Just don't let it become an obsession. These things get out of hand quickly and pretty soon you are posting at all hours of the night and day. 

Day 139

Truly a little note. A 3x3 Thank You card that I came up with for my workshop tomorrow. This one was Mike's favorite.

Day 138

Keith Urban joined us for the evening. He had this cool guitar that lit up in different colors and designs. 

A side note: Hey Keith, next time don't encourage fans to stand on the chairs. They might find themselves "down under".

Day 137

Mike was violated. Well his truck was anyway. He was at the club working out, when someone came by and smashed his truck window and took his GPS. (Yet another reason not to work out.) The joke is on the thief, however, because the GPS wasn't working properly and had a big dark blob right in the center of the screen. 

Try selling that on Craigslist you a-hole!!!

Day 136

I'm reading this book now. I really liked the Bourne movies, so when I saw this book at the bookstore, I assumed it was the fourth book in the series. When I started to read the book I kept feeling like I was missing some story line. I guess I was right, because, apparently it is the fourth book in the series written by Eric Van Lustbader. Now I have to go back and read The Bourne Legacy, The Bourne Betrayal and The Bourne Sanction in order for The Bourne Deception to make sense to me. After that, I can read the Bourne Objective to complete my Bourne experience. 

Day 135

Awards Night. The last official swim event of the season. Hannah received her retired swimmer's towel. Eli received the coach's award. Recipients of this award are kids who are, from the coaches' perspective, a joy to coach. We were surprised, and pleased, that Eli received this award. It means, that he didn't let the fact that he didn't want to swim at all this year, affect his relationship with his coaches. Way to go Eli.

Day 134

Flyin' home. Hannah's last race as a Stingray. She is hanging up her goggles as she is now too old to swim on the team. I got a little misty eyed about it (Or was that sweat? It was 104 again today). She had a great meet and continued to improve her times in most of her races. Eli had a great meet too.

Day 133

What do you do you get when you mix 5 teams (kids ranging in age from 5-18 years old), 2000+ people, 100's of volunteers and 104 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 days?  It's called swim champs! A delightful test of perseverance and survival. This is a photo of what I affectionately call "Tent City". 

Day 132

Aaron Foster Designs. This HUGE map made of license plates is displayed at my husband's clock shop. That's right. It's "The Clock Shop". Mike discovered this artist's work and decided to add Aaron's art to his shop. He commissioned this map several years ago. As you can tell by the Eli and Max standing in front of it, it's pretty big. 

Day 131

Favorite mug. It's my favorite because it is a little larger than your standard mug, I know exactly how much cream to put in it to make my coffee perfect and it's festive (during December, anyway). I'm not so enamored with it that I won't use other mugs. If it's dirty, I won't clean it just to use it. I have noticed that others in my family don't use it. Maybe they sense that it's not really available for their use.

Day 130

This is one of those, "When I was a kid" stories. When I was a kid, I used to ride my bike all over the place and my parents wouldn't bat an eye. He will be 12 in less than 2 weeks, yet I get that nervous feeling in my stomach as he rides off.  I say, "Are you sure you don't want a ride?" He says, "No, I'll just ride my bike." It's sad that it's "just" not that simple anymore.

Day 129

Clever mailer. I received this ad for house cleaning services. The problem at our house is not that the wrong people are cleaning it, it's that NO ONE is cleaning it. 

Day 128

Dancing Dan.  He's somewhat of a celebrity in our area. (He's been on my list of potential photo subjects from the start). He's even made a "Best of" list. See links below. I took this photo from my car as I was driving. Kids, don't try this at home.

http://www.sacmag.com/media/Sacramento-Magazine/Best-of-Sacramento/2006-Editors-Picks/

http://www.badmouth.net/the-groove-is-in-the-heart/

Day 127

Small town, big rooster. This rooster has to be about 6 feet tall. There is nothing around it. No chicken farm or restaurant. It's just there watching over Highway 88. There is a barbed wire fence around, so it must have some value to someone. People driving by were probably thinking, "Why is she taking a picture of that big rooster?". Of course the answer is, "Because it was there."

Day 126

Hannah, prior to a race.  She spotted me taking her picture and thought she was being subtle.

Day 125

I saw this ice cream sign on Highway 88 on my way up to Silver Lake last week and I thought it was worthy of "picture of the day" status. We came up this way again for a swim meet this weekend and I decided to stop and take a picture. 

I hope to improve on  my night photography, as well as all of my photography, soon as I have enrolled in a digital photography class that starts in late August.

Day 124

As I was leaving work at 11:15 p.m., I realized that I hadn't taken a picture yet. Oh no! These flowers were left by some fans for Beyonce. Unfortunately, she was a little too busy to come and pick them up.

Day 123

Pie throwing...We had a pie throwing for charity deal at work today. For a couple of buck, you could throw pies at your favorite VP. I had the opportunity to be the first to push a pie into my boss's face. She and the other Veeps were good sports about it. That thing on her head is a plate. The only question left is, was it a good career move?

Day 122

Birthday overshadowed. Today is Zac's birthday, and I was going to post a picture about that, but Mike got into a bicycle accident this evening and we ended up in the emergency room. As he was getting stitches, I whipped out my iphone. In case you are wondering what body part the nurse is working on, it's his hand.

Day 121

Camping casualty.  I knew that I hit a boulder while I was trying to get my car "completely off of the road" as instructed, but I never looked to see if there was any damage. I noticed it this morning. No amount of buffing is going to get that out. Stupid boulder!

Day 120

All good things come to an end. On my way home I stopped and took a picture of Silver Lake from the highway. 

Day 119

Independence Day. I took a hike by myself, while the boys kayaked and snorkeled. I didn't really get lost, so much as I had a hard time finding the trail. I finally gave up on my original goal, which was to hike to the other side of the lake. I kept in contact with Mike and the boys via walkie-talkies. It was funny and not a little bit frustrating trying to find my way to them. Eli would ask me, "Do you see a bunch of rocks? Do you see a bunch of trees?" He even asked me if I saw a big black rock shaped like a pile of poop. He asked me, "Do you see a bridge?" I said, "Yes." He says, "Go to the middle of the bridge." I do as he asks and wait. I finally say, "Eli, I think there is more than one bridge." He says, "Oh. Well do you see a chimney?" 

Day 118

Remember that bribe? There was a little shop at the entrance to the trailhead. They had these little finger puppets. I told the boys that, if they didn't complain on the hike, that I would buy them each one. They held true to their word and were rewarded with these. It was the best $12 I've spent in a long time. They hung them from their fishing rods, they shot at them, they posed them for photos. In short, they kept them entertained for hours.

Day 117

The boys and I took a hike up near Carson Pass. We hiked a total of 7 miles that day. Saw breathtaking views, beautiful mountain flowers, 3 alpine lakes and SNOW. The boys were so good about this long hike. No complaining. I did bribe them at the start, so that helped. 

Day 116

"Monster Truck Hill" is what we dubbed this giant granite hill that meets the water. On our first visit to Silver Lake, 7 year old Eli discovered that this was the perfect spot for him to race his little monster trucks. He spent hours climbing the hill and letting his little trucks fly down over and over. 

Day 115

Fishing and Kayaking. The boys and Mike fished today. No fish, but beautiful weather. I guess we'll have tacos tonight.

Day 114

Silver Lake Camping Trip. Mike, Eli and Eli's friend,  Max arrived yesterday. I drove up after work that same night. Mike returned to work on Tuesday. The boys and I stayed all week. On this day, Eli, Max and I went on a hike to a place called "Holes". The stream flows over boulders and creates these holes perfect for swimming or other things. Here Eli and Max are snorkeling, kind of.

Day 113

The Calendar. These calendars are on the wall directly behind my desk. When you work in the "event" industry, you live by these things. I update my calendars as events are booked. I also update them monthly. I got a little ahead of myself on Sunday, because, as you can see by the calendar, I am on vacation for the week. Yeah for me!