Boring Stuff and a Bridge

Hiya Folks,

I log on to the Grapevine most every day over lunch at work just to see what you all are doing and figured I'd better post something to let you know we're still here. So Deb and I were chatting and we commiserated about not always having exciting things to post. Some days are exciting, but let's face it, the day to day is pretty dull. So let's see... Larry and I bought a new mattress. Okay, actually that is exciting because the cheapo thing we bought 15 years ago (yes, it's been 15 years since the gala event you all attended in Phoenix) needed to go! We found out our dog Zach has hay fever and now has a daily medicine routine that rivals that of a sickly octogenarian. We finished stripping wallpaper in the boy's room and have started to paint (the boys felt they were getting to old for teddy bears playing sports). yawn Are you still with me?

Actually this past weekend we took a family boating trip up to Lake Clementine in Auburn, CA. [Dad, do you have your map?] Our regular haunt, Folsom Lake, is so low this year it currently has a 5mph speed limit over the ENTIRE lake. Since it's hard to catch too much air off the wake at 5mph we headed north. There was a two mile stretch of road to get down to the lake that would have been quite treacherous if we'd had to pass another vehicle towing a boat going the opposite direction. It was pretty much a fairly steep, one-lane road that twisted and turned down to the lake. I guess if you meet someone you just stare each other down until one of you decide to prove your trailering skills and back up until you get to a wider section of the roadway. I'm sure Larry appreciated my driving skills (I was in the passenger seat not the back seat so that's okay right?). So to get to Lake Clementine we crossed the Foresthill Bridge. It's a crazy-high bridge that was built with plans to flood the valley below. When the "Auburn Dam" was never completed it left a 730 foot high bridge over the river. We walked out to the center and Larry took this picture of the boys. Larry missed my safety briefing and so took this picture standing on the opposite rail (just like the one the boys are leaning against). Okay, maybe he wasn't in danger of going over the edge, but the highway was just over the rail on the other side. But we're all safe and he got a great picture. Some of you may recognize the bridge from the Vin Diesel movie XXX (Triple X). Even in the picture with the boys it's hard to get a perspective of how truly high up you are until you see the stunt man in the movie base jump from a Corvette driven over the edge. Haven't seen the movie? Watch the scene here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTUawc64NmA

We were content to look and did not try our base jumping skills on this day. So now the weekend is over and it's back to the daily drudgery. sigh Hope you all are well, and keep posting so I have something to read over lunch!

Love, Paula and Co.

Hancock

Lindsay,
Looks like you all had a great time! If anyone wants to see the rest of her pictures, they are on her blog (http://lindsaytrapnell.blogspot.com/), some real good ones of the various family members. Glad to hear Rufus had a good time as well.

Back from Wisconsin

I recently returned from a trip to Hancock, Wisconsin. It's been great to catch up on the family blog, it's exciting to see so many new entries!

As a lot of you may know (and some of you have visited), my grandparents on my mom's side have a cottage in this small town in Wisconsin, that I've been going to for my whole life. This year we had kind of a mini-reunion there with my grandparents, my family, and my two aunts and a few cousins. I had a really fun and relaxing time.

We of course had to attend the annual Hancock 4th of July parade, which seems to be expanding - they even had a high school marching band this year (there were only about 20 and they didn't have uniforms, but they still sounded good)! There was also a car show in the single gas station parking lot in the town, and so if you had an old car or a truck or some defining feature you could also drive your car (or sometimes tractor) through the parade.




That night there is also a street dance, held on the street (surprise!) and in the fire house. They had the same band since last year, but I must say that they played more of a variety of music this year. Last year they played 85% Johnny Cash covers. Kyle and I also gambled on a wooden wheel with numbers, where you can put a quarter or up to a dollar on numbers (or the cherry or star). We lost about $5 but it kept us going for awhile.

Other activities while up at the lake were: tubing, jet-skiing, lounging, playing Wii, reading, boat rides, a LONG canoe trip on the Crystal River in fiberglass boats from the 1950s, picking asparagus (see below -- one of my favorite activities -- it's like a scavenger hunt but you get to eat the prizes in soup), picking strawberries, bowling, eating, playing mini-golf (in the front yard on our homemade course), going to garage sales, going to antique stores, playing Rock Band, working on a puzzle, watching Season 1 of Lost, and talking walks.



I also picked up my dog, Rufus, in Beloit and he had a great time at the cottage. For a city dog, he really found his country/wilderness side. Here he is on his first ever boat ride.



And here is a group photo at the bowling alley with our Pinecrest reunion shirts. I drew and designed the shirts. Since it's pretty far away to actually see the design, I'll add the design below.





I hope you're all enjoying the summer!

Baseball Ups and Downs

Well, so much for Jake's season. His team lost both games and are done for the year. Jake did at least get two hits today and made a couple of nice plays at first base.
The Tigers, however, did win today, which puts them back at .500 for the season. Verlander looked excellent! Hopefully the rest of the season after the All-Star break will be a much-needed improvement over the first half.

Love to all,
Deb

Nice contributions!

Thanks to Paula & Larry, Dawn & Heather,Angela, Deb, Amanda and Diane & George for their recent posts. I'm sure we'd all agree that we miss each other and it's nice to feel like we're a little more in tune with what's going on with everyone. The pictures are great & help us feel like we're a little closer to each other. For example, Jal is now a boat driver, Dawn is now a camper and Brian & Patrick are now bocci ball players. :-)
With our new additions coming, we may not be able to hold them in our arms but seeing pictures would be great! Let's keep it up so as Diane & George told me, I can stay off your backs now. Evidently, Lindsay is the good cop & I'm the bad cop so let's all keep in touch to prevent further scoldings! :-)
Hope all the soon-to-be-mothers are doing well. Amanda looks great, but I'm not going back over there until her belly is as big as mine, so remember girl, you're eating for two. Or, as Brian said, I could just wear looser fitting shirts.
I missed my calling as a film critic, as I've been watching lots of movies lately (3 I borrowed from Amanda) & my couple a month from NetFlix...The Usual Suspects (one of my top ten) was on TV the other night. A suggestion for anyone that wants a great movie that will make you laugh, make you cry & is very touching w/ excellent acting is I Am Sam w/ Sean Penn and Dakota Fanning and an all-Beatles soundtrack. I have also read 4 books in the last two weeks, a couple of mysteries & an interesting autobiography by George Tenet, the former head of the CIA...Paula, I bet you'd like it.
Lindsay has been at the cottage in Wis so I'll let her tell us how it was but they are having a great time. She stays so busy, I know it's nice when her toughest decision of the day is whether to go jet-skiing or tubing. I was disappointed to hear that Hancock went from a one stoplight town to a stop sign. What is happening to our big cities?
Anyway, hope you all are doing well & love you all!
Patrick

Smokin' Hot Summer

Hello from Northern Cali! Thanks for all the posts family. I feel warm and fuzzy and so much closer to you all already. It is fun to read about all the goings-on and see all the pictures.

Mid-summer in Sacramento and it's hot and it's smoky. Wildfires throughout the state have had our valley hazy with smoke for weeks. Today was especially bad - much like being in a think fog only worse for your health. The result is the children have to stay inside all day. The boys field trip tomorrow to the wildlife preserve was canceled and replaced with a trip to the Sky High Trampoline Center (I don't think the boys mind this smoke stuff all that much). We decided to try to escape the city and head to Lake Tahoe last weekend - still smoky up there and the lake was choppy and cold, but we still had a great time.

Speaking of the lake, our tween Jal is now a legal boat driver. He and Larry took a class at the Sac State Aquatic Center and Jal passed the boating and waterways test. We celebrated by giving him his own key and floating keychain and taking him to the lake to drive us around.



Quillan used the opportunity at the lake to show off his wakeboarding skills. He's quite a ham and enjoyed letting go of the handle to wave at all of us. Tawny is a little fish. She loves to jump into the lake. She really surprised us this summer, since she hadn't been in a pool since last year at Nana and Papa's house, by fearlessly jumping into our friends pool as soon as we had her swim gear on. And on the subject of gear, the picture of her was taken as we were taking off her cover up. The life jacket went right back on!

Other than our fun outings and time spent with friends it's just the usual routine around here. Busy, busy. We need to catch the moments we can to just relax. Speaking of which..."So You Think You Can Dance" is on and Larry and I have to discuss who to vote for (we don't actually vote, but our opinions matter a lot to us). Talk to y'all again soon!

Love, Paula and Co.

Finals are almost over!

Well, The most exciting adventures I have had lately is working at the Behavioral Health unit, or the Mental Health unit, at the hospital here, for school. I figured out the theme of my existence there when talking to patients: don't look scared and don't look shocked (I repeated it over and over in my head). One guy talking about trying to kill two guys and he was actually excited, telling me about how they screamed. Scary! Then a lady who, on interview, admitted she hears voices and they tell her to do bad things. My next question was, when do you hear them. She tilted her head and paused and responded, I am hearing them right now. (In my head I was thinking, please don't let them be telling you to kill me, and, maybe I could run really fast) but I responded with, and what are these voices telling you? They were telling her exactly how to kill herself, so I moved from being terrified, to being sad.
Now with the classroom! I still have one final left but I'm already at an 89% so I'll be good. I have an A in my other class but my Advanced Med-surg is the most exciting news. That class is so hard. The tests, even our clinical instructor at the hospital could not answer the questions, and if you get a 75% which is the minimum to pass, you are thrilled. In fact, if you get a 60% you are pretty excited. Everybody needed to do well on the final to pass the class. And the next day, after a final from another class, we all waited in a room for our number to come up, to go to his office and see if we had passed. 5 people did not pass and have to repeat the semester, which is really sad because we have all become so close. We usually lose one or two but five is a lot. I however, passed with a B and really, for this class, I would have been elated if I passed with a 75%, so when he said, "B" I was happy enough that I forgot to even ask him what I got on the final, so I don't even know my exact grade. I'll ask next time I see him just out of curiosity.

Okay, last thing. I am so excited about having 2 sisters pregnant at the same time! I know Cheryl already posted the name, and Ashley's baby will be Sophia Giselle (not sure how they are spelling them but I think I have it right). So I will have 7 nieces and nephews. Crazy! But very cool.
Love you guys, Ang.