Stinson Beach

September 6th, 2009 / posted by Jake

A view of Stinson Beach just before you arrive.

Again, sticking to our summer theme, we took a day-trip to Stinson Beach which is just north of San Francisco along Highway 1, close to Muir Woods.   The drive itself took about 2 hours and is absolutely beautiful, especially when you finally get to Highway 1 and start winding along the coast and through the wooded parts.  Around each corner we would see a completely spectacular view better than the one we had just saw.  The weather was warm and the beach was hardly crowded so it was near perfect (if only the water was just as warm as Lake Clementine).

Tyler and Kaitlyn thoroughly enjoyed themselves at the beach.  Tyler was really brave, almost TOO brave infact.  The water was ice-cold and it didn’t seem to phase Tyler at all.  We would both wade out into the water with him only to eventually try and convince it was time to go back in because we could no longer feel our legs.  Meanwhile he was running and splashing with the water up to his chest.  Maybe he’s just not afraid of getting cold and embraces it full on.  This is something I need to learn myself.  No further comment

Even though Kaitlyn enjoyed playing in the sand and dipping her toes in the water, she preferred being wrapped up in her blankies on the sand next to her mom.  She would make a good European tourist – she just sat and stared at everyone.  Occasionally she would unwrap herself from the blankets and dig in the sand or drink a capri sun.

Thank goodness we once again brought the SPF 70!  Unfortunatly for myself I managed to miss a 1 inch wide strip on the right side of me and so the next day I had a red stripe which started at my armpit and extended down to my waist.  It was badly burned and hurt terribly.  Don’t get me started on the itching.  I had also forgotten to put any sunblock on my legs which should have been one of the first places I applied – we were laying on our towels with my legs just as exposed as my chest and back.  4 weeks later and my legs and side are just now peeling and flaking!  Thank goodness it wasn’t my entire back, chest, or anywhere else because just the thin stripe on my side was painful enough.  I could barely sleep at night because any excessive movement would create unwanted pain.

Lake Clementine

September 6th, 2009 / posted by Jake

This summer has been full of water activities.  Late in July, we were invited to spend a few days at Lake Clementine with a close friend of Lindsey’s family.  One of the activities we especially enjoyed was being able to climb to the top of their houseboat and jump into the clear water below – some 13-15 feet!  The first day Tyler had no problems doing this by himself, however on the second day he was afraid to try it again for some reason even after I jumped reminding him of how much fun it was.

The kids also enjoyed playing in the sand as well as floating around in the surprisingly warm lake.  Tyler got a huge kick out of riding around on the ski-boat because it was fast and had all sorts of gadgets of which to play.  Luckily we had SPF 70 sunscreen on and walked away sunburn free which was a great thing for us all.  I mention this because my history with beach/pool/lake activities consists of a lot of fun in the water and sun followed by the worst 3-4 days of my life due to a severe sunburn.

keeping cool in the heat

July 22nd, 2009 / posted by Jake

We often dread summers mainly because of the heat.  To keep ourselves entertained we purchased season passes to Raging Waters (formerly Waterworld, where I worked as tube boy many moons ago).

One of the features at the park is called Hook’s Lagoon and features a lot of slides, bridges, climbing areas, water guns, etc; all the while being showered by water from above and below.  The first 5 minutes I spent holding the kids hands tightly while I tried to dodge ever drop of water as it was FREEZING cold water.  The kids of course didn’t seem to mind and were getting frustrated with me as I wasn’t letting them run in and play with everything.  I finally caved it, got wet, and we had a lot of fun.  Eventually we decided to let the kids try the “lazy river” which was always my favorite.  You just lay in an innertube and float along the “river” which really is just a large circle throughout the park itself.  The kids LOVED it more than Hook’s Lagoon which surprised me.  Nevertheless, we will be returning here often this summer and the season tickets were a great idea.

Uncle Brett with a fish as tall as jake.

When we aren’t at Raging Water’s, we can usually be found swimming in my parents pool for a few hours a day.  Last summer Tyler enjoyed swimming and we were looking forward to this summer hoping that he would finally learn how to swim.  Well he’s swimming!  We took off the life jacket and he’s a swimmer – even though all you see is his head above the water, if you look under the water you’ll see him doggy paddling like no other.  Eventually he’ll be spear fishing in the depths of the ocean with his Uncle Brett.

Trains, rain, and fire

May 2nd, 2009 / posted by Jake

PREFACE:  I want to share my thoughts regarding my current goal of becoming a firefighter.  I’m neither complaining nor bragging about the profession or myself.  I’m just sharing what I learn day by day.  After all, this profession is entirely new to me.

Today I participated in an agility test for Penryn Fire’s Volunteer firefighter position.  The agility test was very similar to the one I took about 2 months ago for River Delta Fire.  There were about 30-40 people trying out for 5 positions which increased the competition level a bit.  Some of the applicants had muscles on muscles which was a bit intimidating while others, like myself, were just faces in the crowd waiting in line to participate.

Wearing full turnouts with equipment on your back is brutal as it can weigh anywhere from 40-70 lbs, but having to then run drills at your maximum performance level for 8-9 minutes straight with it all on… eye-opening.  I understand some of you may be thinking, “duh idiot.  Having to do so IS the job description of a firefighter so what did you expect?”  Nothing actually. It’s just something I could only hope to be prepared for and it was only when I was able to wear them did I realize I have a ways to go.  This article titled, “What is Killing America’s Firefighters” is a downer but, again, a reminder to me that I need to remain focused.

Full gear

I’m still attending the spin classes but as of a month ago I’ve alternated between the spin class and plain ol’running.  6 months ago, running 1 mile straight was hard to do but now I’m able to run 3 miles straight and still feel good afterwards (I’m no PreFontaine [thanks Kevin]).  So as you can see, my confidence level this morning was very high because I knew I would do well especially with the increased preparation I’ve been doing.  Yet after 8 minutes, I was completely dead and tired and I now realize I still have a long ways to go.  I currently weigh in at 192 which is exciting because in January I was 227.  Perhaps 6 months from now when I’ve either finished a fire academy and/or lost another 30 lbs my blog post will be something to the effect of, “Took another agility test – finished in 5 minutes and still ran 3 miles after.  Yah.”

For those bored, here is a link to an agility test similar to the ones I’ve taken only we wore full gear.

Moving forward, we recently returned to the Train Museum where Tyler basically went nuts yelling, screaming, and pointing at all the trains.  Kaitlyn tried to keep up too.

It’s raining.

Oh and we’re sick.

again.

So…..

April 14th, 2009 / posted by Lindsey

Well, first of all it’s 1210 am and I am currently waiting on the fridge to get cold enough so I can go to the grocery store! Yes…you are not crazy it is a little weird!
So, you got the end of the story. Now I will share the story it’s entirety for a few reasons….as i said i have to wait, I am really bored and YES Jake’s posts are usually witty, funny and make you giggle out loud to yourself, yet this last one was just lacking flavor. So since he is dead asleep I thought I should attempt to humor you.
Well, back to the real reason I am here NOW. It all started yesterday, a great day at church, but church ended at 12 and then we drove home to see the side gate opened. My first thought…weird, I don’t remember leaving the gate open. Second thought…who is that man coming out of our back yard, we don’t have a pool, so it’s not the pool man…humm I am still thinking, who is it. Oh it did take a few seconds for me to process my thoughts, but it was the neighbor. For those of you sitting back thinking to yourself whats the big deal about the neighbor in your yard here is a little background we have lived on this small court of three homes for about six months and there just happens to be yes a crazy old man and his wife that live right outside of the court. Their backyard just happens to end in our front yard. And when I say crazy, I mean “postal” so yes crazy! Well, we have not had many or any actual encounters with this man nor his wife or that we know of…..hummm. We have heard all of the legendary stories from the kid next door. They are for lack of better words creepers, they like to spend quality time in all the neighbors backyards doing who knows what at what hours of the day…or night! Well, now that you are totally off in space wondering where I am going with all of this. I should get to the point. So now that we are in our driveway in the car and we figure out who this guy is coming out of our back yard with our pink cup. Jake gets out of the car and asks him what he is doing on our property. He calmly explained our cat is hungry he was just giving him food and water….okay that was so nice of him to notice that I have two kids and a husband that I take care of, he thought oh I guess I should go help out Lindsey today and feed her cats for her….well, being that he is a total whack job i don’t think this was the case! Jake was fuming by now because he was refusing to leave. I then decided hey, I have my cell phone in my hand I guess I could call 911. He continued to tell us that our cat was hungry so that gave him the right to hang out in our back yard while we were at church. Then he started to go off on jake that he could do what he wanted we are only renters…hahahah(for those of you that don’t know, we live in one of Jake’s parents rental homes) Jake was yelling so loud at him to leave that the neighbors brought out their lawn chairs and Easter eggs to take part in the festivities! Oh just in case you are wondering i do feed my cat he is just always so hungry….could it be all the pot the crazy couple smoke in their backyard gives him the munchies? Well, while all of this nonsense is taking place Tyler decided that he was thirsty and by the time he got the chair to the fridge he must have forgotten why he was there and started to play with the buttons that control the temperature. I noticed that he was playing with it but I wasn’t going to attempt to fix it myself. I asked Jake to take a look at it to make sure that he didn’t mess it up or anything and….what brings this story all together is that it didn’t get fixed and now we have spoiled milk that the kids drank before bed. They have upset tummy’s. So I am waiting……