Reason 18 to love Sacramento

It's only a two hour drive to a Dillan Dog Beach.

Last Spring my mom came to visit during her Spring Break so we decided to drive out to the beach to check it out. It was April so the weather wasn't super warm, but it was comfortable. And of course, we are on the west coast so the ocean was way to cold to get into--except the dogs didn't seem to care.

Reason 72 to love Sacramento

Every time we visit family and friends in Washington, I come back to Sacramento a bit homesick. And then Sacramento reminds me why we love it here. Case in point, we come home after Thanksgiving and I'm majorly missing family and my favorite city, Portland.

Then I took Bounce on a walk on this Sunday morning and my homesickness subsided. Sixty degrees, blue skies, the sound of soccer fans cheering and piles and piles of dry, crisp fall leaves blanketing the ground. And let's not forget, this is in DECEMBER. Yep, Sacramento, you reminded me that I do love it here. 

Case in point:

Best $9.99 we've ever spent

Matt and I were lucky to have a full house for the Fourth of July this year. Mat and Alison made the trek down from Seattle and Scott and Hanna came across the country from DC. We spent part of the time in Sonoma, tasting wine and trying to survive the heatwave that came through.

We drove home from Sonoma in the morning of the Fourth and came up with our game plan during the drive. The boys would get fireworks while the girls got food and "entertainment." At Target we saw a slip n' slide for a mere $9.99 and splurged. We figured it wouldn't hold up long with grown men using it, but that's okay. Little did we know, it would hold up just fine and actually provided entertainment for my nephews and niece when they visited later in the month. Not bad for less than ten bucks!

That's me behind all that water

Slide and shoot

Scott's face here is priceless

Bounce got into the fun perhaps more than anyone else

Stare off!

Look at that form!

The aftermath

 

Come on over!

Well it's about time, but we finally got patio furniture so we can truly enjoy the wonderful weather we have in Sacramento. When we moved here last summer we were super excited about our backyard and the lack of humidity (remember we came from hot, humid Knoxville, TN). So the first thing we bought was a BBQ. In fact, I was so excited about the grill that I ordered it online during our cross country drive so it would arrive as soon as we got into town. We bought a Weber soley because I was obsessed with their commercials. Proof that marketing does work!




Did you watch it? We got the one that the cute old lady and the red head were dancing in front of. And yes, we have as much fun grilling as they do in the video. And now we can have even more because we now have outdoor dining furniture!

Last summer we searched and searched and couldn't find any outdoor furniture we liked for less than $1,000. We thought it was because it was late in the summer so there were slim pickings in the stores. Then this spring we started shopping around again and still didn't love anything in our price range. Turns out we are just picky. But we finally settled on a set and are thrilled with it. The table is exactly what we pictured. And while we didn't think we wanted wicker chairs, the ones we got look pretty sharp and are actually very comfortable.

Bounce is keeping an eye on the new dining set.

Ugh. Can't get this picture to turn upright. Please just tilt your head to the left to view properly.

So now we're ready for guests. This was a much needed addition to our home here because our kitchen table is crammed in a corner and can only seat three people. We foresee using this practically all year with the cool breeze we get on hot summer evenings, the long Summer nights and almost year-round sunshine we have in good old Sacto.

Beautiful day in the neighborhood

Well it seems with all the rain we had earlier this month, we earned the sun-filled days we've had lately. The change that takes place from Winter to Spring puts a smile on my face every year. This week especially as I enjoyed the perfect weather to bike the short 2 mile commute into work and came home to my favorite flowers blooming in our front yard: tulips!

I love the surprise of tulips popping up. We had no idea they were there and I was literally jumping for joy when I saw them. And still remain giddy when I walk towards the front door and see them there. I guess I'm starting to see why people enjoy gardening. But I've got to say, this was even better since it required no work on my part. (As renters, I am far to lazy to actually plant anything myself.)

Bounce meets a cow and other adventures

We had the pleasure of hosting James, Matt's brother, last weekend and lucked out with beautiful weather on Saturday. A hike was just calling our name. And hopefully this isn't the last blog you read in the coming months about hiking. Matt and I plan to get out as much as possible before the weather turns HOT.

We drove out to the Sierra Foothills for a hike, and it was such a remote location that the GPS couldn't navigate us the whole way (gasp!). We relied on the directions in our guide book, which happen to be wrong by the way. But after driving aimlessly on gravel roads for an extra 30 minutes, we made it to our destination.

The guide book said the hike was about 5 miles and would take 2-4 hours roundtrip, making a big loop to see a waterfall. So that's what we had in our minds, a hike in nature to see a waterfall. Well, the guide book failed to describe one of the most fun parts of the hike: being surrounded by cows! It was unlike any hike I've ever been on. It was like we were out in farmland with cows roaming (and cow pies to avoid stepping in).

Overall the experience was a positive one. We kept a brisk pace and completed the hike in almost exactly 2 hours. Fortunately there weren't any steep inclines to climb, just flat and gradual inclines. The biggest hazards were the cow pies, mud, slippery rocks by the water and poison ivy. We survived them all except my not-so-graceful slip and fall on a rock (good thing I've got extra cushion to soften the fall!).

And like I said, the cows were the best highlight in my opinion. At first I was a little startled and wondered if we were disturbing their zen, but they seemed fine. And actually, little Bounceman made a friend! At one point we were walking through a pretty big group of cows, keeping a safe distance of 20 feet or so. But one small cow saw Bounce and casually started walking towards us. Bounce, being a good dog for once, sat patiently and watched the cow approach.

Bounce spots the cows

The cow spots Bounce

The cow casually walks our direction

And keeps coming

And there he is, our friend the cow

After the cow encounter, our hike back to the car was fairly uneventful. But we did decide to let Bounce off leash to see how he did. I was really nervous because I don't quite trust him yet, but he had walked about 6 miles so far that day so I figured he was tired and couldn't cause too much harm. And fortunately he didn't. But I swear he thrives on doing stuff he isn't supposed to. So once he realized he was off the leash he looked around, got a look in his eyes, grabbed a hardened cow pie and raced around with it in his mouth. Mmmm, nothing like dried cow poo. (ew!) He spritzed around like a truly happy pup, happy to be free in the country and free to chew on cow poop. But I whipped out a treat and he's a sucker for doggy jerky so he dropped the cow pie and raced right on over. Phew.

We're so glad James could come visit for the weekend and motivate us to go see some of the Sierra Foothills.

A Wild Twelve Hours!!

Wow, what a wild twelve hours for us:

1) We book summer travel to Belgium and Greece - HOORAY!

2) After doing that, we realize that thirty minutes worth of helicopters circling our neighborhood is not normal. We finally switch to the news channels to figure out what's going on. Of course, the breaking news out of Japan dominates all major news outlets. (Side note: praying for peace and healing for all those affected by this horrible tragedy)

3) Find out after much online research, that the Sacramento police helicopters are assisting in a perimeter for two armed robbery suspects at a restaurant near our house. Even more wild, Cara and I left that very same restaurant 15-30 minutes before the robbery took place. After about an hour of listening to the police radio and peering out windows, things died down with one of the suspects apprehended and the other believed to have slipped through the perimeter. We can finally sleep.

4) Woke up this morning to beautiful sunshine, but still a bit down over the tragedy unfolding in Japan. But, I had my year-one retention letter waiting for me in my office and I am pretty enthused by my reviews. Definitely feeling pumped to get some quality work done today, then attending a student event tonight before celebrating the start of the weekend with my beautiful wife (and a margarita or two)!!

Down and Dirty Mud Run

Some accused us of being crazy (cough, Dad, cough) for voluntarily running and crawling through mud pits. And yes, maybe it is a little crazy. But really, so much fun! It isn't very often in our adult lives that we just let loose and jump in mud puddles, go into lakes fully clothed, etc.

The 5K Mud Run was sponsored by Merrell and held at Folsom Lake, just outside of Sacramento. The location was perfect! It's gorgeous, especially early in the morning.

How early? We had to get up at 5:45 am and let's just say that was not the highlight of the day. We were TIRED! And thankfully they had heaters out because it was also cold (at least we were still clean).

We finally hit the trail after waiting what felt like forever. It was a much harder course than Matt and I anticipated. Perhaps if we trained it wouldn't have been as bad. But the hills were just killer. One in particular had just about everyone walking (except Matt!).

The obstacles were the big unknown factor and fortunately they weren't too hard. There were six in total. I had visions of a big wall to climb, that I just couldn't get over so Matt had to shove me over. That didn't happen, but there was one obstacle that I kind of wish he could have hoisted me up a little! There were three subsequent wooden bars you had to jump up to and pull yourself over. They were no big deal for Matt with his 6'1" stature but with my 5'3" stature, it was significantly more difficult.

So after running maybe 2 miles we had our first small mud pit to cross through. Then ran roughly 3/4 mile more and we came to the biggest surprise of an obstacle. Walking through the lake! We had to walk around the perimeter of the swimming area. It was slow moving for sure, with the water getting to about my chest at it's deepest point. Then we ran another 200 yards with our shoes slooshing to a soapy incline obstacle.

Then came the fun part! The big mud pit! We crawled and crawled and made it through to cross the finish line. No records were broke, with a slow time of 45 minutes. The fastest time was 26 minutes I think so even those speedy runners were slowed down with the obstacles and lake detour!

I am glad we did it. It's a fun thing to do at least once in your life.

Probably not something you want to do on a regular basis considering we both threw out our shoes and I had to wash our clothes 4 times before the mud came out and my white sports bra will forever be a shade of light brown.

These are our shoes after washing off, I should have captured them beforehand!