Pool surprise

The temp has been on the rise over the last few days and I LOVE IT!! It reminds me of summer time at home and I could really use some home time now :) The city where I work is expected to reach 101 today, and Mountain View is holding steady at 90 in the shade, but it's expected to reach 98. Instead of sitting inside where it's getting hotter by the minute, I've been kickin' it on the deck in my swimming suit to keep cool(ish). Yesterday Justin and I spent a little portion of the afternoon poolside at the apartment pool and I swam a few laps. It was a nice way to cool down before we spent the rest of the evening trying to figure out how to cool down the apartment and wishing we hadn't thought the old box fan, though still working, was old and broken enough, to be thrown away in the move. Lesson learned.

Today, Justin is working so I went out myself to catch some rays and take a dip. It was early enough that I was the only one out there, which was nice. After 10 mins a side - yes, that's enough to fry me to a crisp - I jumped in the pool. I waded around in the shallow end for a few minutes and then talked myself into going all the way under. As I drew a deep breath and was under about up to my chin, I saw something on the bottom in the deep end that stopped me mid-submerge.

A lizard.

Oh sweet crap I hopped out of that pool faster than Superman on call. My feet were on fire from the hot cement as I ran for my flip flops and grabbed my towel. I would pay money to watch a replay of that whole sequence - I'm sure it was hilarious to watch. After a minute of staring at the lizzard to figure out if it was alive or dead, I concluded it was alive and definitely crawling closer to the shallow end. So instead of letting the little guy ruin everyone's pool time for the rest of the day, I found the skimmer and went to work on getting him out.

I was successful and dumped him in the bushes. I'm not sure if I hurt him in the process, but he was hissing at me and doing his mad lizzard pushups to show me he meant business. He's probably back in the pool now, getting bigger and telling his friends about the mean girl that skimmed him out. They're likely planning to work together to skim me out of the pool next time I'm in there. Either way, I've called quits on swimming for the rest of the day, and probably until the pool cleaner comes back later this week.

Never a dull moment around here, folks. Ugh.

Oh, which reminds me that I forgot to mention our hot water stopped working Friday night and was out most of Saturday. Seems the boiler for the entire complex went out and the fix-it guys have been busy tinkering away. The hot water in our apartment works now, but we're closer to the boiler than folks at the end of the complex. If you ever want to hear something hilarious, turn off the hot water and tell Justin to take a shower. The water was so cold it was hard to take a deep breath and he got done showering in record time Friday night. Unfortunately, I know what that's like because of a horrible experience in a rental RV during a trip to the Rose Bowl in 2003. Long story short, the rental RV's water tank had a leak which left me with no option but to shower in a communal shower at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center where the hot water was also broken. It's an awesome complex and I had a nice swim there, but the shower experience was not awesome. That was a happy day.

That's all for now!

Happy Father's Day, Dads!

This post may sound quite similar to the one we did for mother's day, but both Justin and I are incredibly blessed with wonderful families.

We'd like to wish a HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to both L.J and Lee!!

Lee, I'd like to give a special thanks to you for raising the wonderful, respectful, witty, God-fearing and loving young man that I now call my husband. You've done and continue to be a guide for him and one he looks to for support and advice. You are a fantastic role model for Justin as both a husband and father.

Dad - ohh my, where would I be without you. You've always been the rock in my life and your wisdom is cherished. Thank you for all you do and continue to do, especially as Justin and I uprooted and moved to another state. I admire your strengths (and weaknesses) and your unwavering faith. And guess what? I love you!

Mountain View Mystery

As you've read in previous posts, I'm a very deep sleeper. Not much can wake me, however, about every 3 weeks on the street right outside our bedroom window, some horrible, terrible, no good, very bad noise wakes JT and me from our slumber.

What is it? That's a good question.

It's so loud it wakes both Justin and me out of serious REM, and by the time we're alert enough to make it to the window, the noise and its maker have passed. It sounds something like an Army tank + fire engine + the garbage man + aliens + a T-Rex + breaking steel and glass, and it's LOUD! The noise is so foreign and terrifying we both sit straight up, murmur just-awoken slurred words at each other and reach for the curtains to take a peek, but alas we're always too late.

Once I thought it might have been the street cleaner, but if it was, he forgot to turn on his scrubber and sucker because the street was nowhere close to clean in the morning.

It's a mystery for now. A Mountain View mystery...

It's the middle of June??!

Whoops, we've let the blog go, haven't we. Well, here's a quick recap:

Work is nuts for both of us, and to top it off, my boss is getting ready for his August wedding. Being the newlywed I am, I know that weddings do take a lot of prep, not to mention mental strain plus all the work that must be necessary to move your fiance across the country, plan an out-of-state wedding, sell your house, find a new house, find a school for your to-be stepson, etc. etc. etc. We're trying to cram a summer's worth of articles, newsletters and other marketing mumbojumbo into 4 weeks instead of 3 months. Should be fun.

Secondly, last Saturday (June 13) was my parents' 28th wedding anniversary!Congrats you two crazy kids!

Also on the 13th, Justin and I picked up my cousin Carrie from SFO as she was in town for the day with a friend to pick up the friend's dad's motorhome and drive it back to Washington. Funny story, real quick. So Carrie's flight was set to land at 8:29 a.m. and at about 8:15 a.m. I received what I expected to be a call from Carrie saying the plane landed early. Instead, it was my Uncle Lou Rabe...make that Captain Lou Rabe from the grand state of Illinois (Lou is Maggie's dad, for all you TeamThompson enthusiasts). He just so happened to have landed in San Fran on a flight he was piloting from Calgary, Canada before take off on another flight departing for Reno! HA!

He asked for Carrie's flight deats and then planned to surprise her at the gate. Because no one is allowed to meet anyone at the gate anymore (those are some of my favorite travel memories, I'll have you know), Carrie was quite surprised - after she blinked twice, shook her head, and whispered to herself, "nah, that can't be Uncle Lou" - to discover it actually was! He walked Carrie out to meet us and we had a mini Washington-California-Illinois reunion at the departures platform!

Unfortch I was charging my camera battery at home so we weren't able to snap a picture. Next time!

We were lucky to get to spend some time with Carrie and show her what we call home. After lunch in Redwood City we met Carrie's daughter Courtney and Carrie's friend in Emeryville before we parted ways.

On Sunday, just as we were getting ready to catch some Zzs, Justin got a text picture from his brother Curtis. The picture was a tad un-nerving as we weren't sure who it belonged to.

---- Fair Warning ---- if you're easily queezed, scroll past the pic quickly ----

Turns out it was his dad's and it's a result of a mountain biking trip gone wrong. Poor Lee - one of the most fierce mountain bikers known to man - took a tumble while biking near Montesano's Lake Sylvia and busted his colarbone. Luckily Curtis was biking alongside his pop that day and was able to assist in getting Lee home.

Yes, note I wrote home and not the ER.

It took an hour or so of convincing from both Karen and Curtis for Lee to go to the ER where they discovered it wasn't just a scratch.

Get well soon, Lee!! And PLEASE promise us you'll take it easy. We'll need your buff shoulder power to help us when we move again, whenever that may be :) JT and I suggested to Curtis that he get you a back-wheel lift for your bike so you can ride it stationary-style in the basement. We also suggested that Curtis set up a fan so you'll still have the wind in your hair, and that he also wack you with tree branches and toss mud your way from time to time so you don't forget what it's like to ride outside. You can thank us for that later :)

Also, my daddy-o was mentioned in last week's issue of the Grandview Herald in the "Backwards Glance" column (actually penned by my Aunt Barbara). As the column reads, 25 years ago last week, my dad was instated as the new ag rep for Old National Bank!
Lastly, JT and I confirmed our travel plans for our trip home in July!!! Our friends Ryan and Selena are getting married July 18 and as JT is in the wedding party, we decided to make a longer trip up. We'll arrive in Aberdeen July 11 (if all goes according to plan), will head to Grandview July 12-15 and then back to Tacoma/Olympia/Aberdeen for the remainder of our stay. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. I miss home. 26 days and counting!!

Verse o' the day

As I've posted before, I get a daily bible verse texted to my phone. The one I received this morning is worth sharing and always good to keep in mind:

Cast all your anxiety on Him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7

Cupcake of the Month...RAINIER CHERRY!

Coming from the world of PR, I couldn't be more excited about what I'm about to share. In fact, when I got the news yesterday, I quickly ran to my computer to share it with the world via Twitter and Facebook.

As many of you know, my Olmstead relatives grow some of the best cherries around, and have even started an online business to ship cherries (and other cherry-related products...coming soon) nationwide. They've received a few media hits and their cherries have been main ingredients in a few Seattle bevs and bites, such as the Rainier Cocktail at the Seastar in Bellevue & Seattle, AND this one:
Cupcake Royale is the hot spot for cupcakes in Seattle and this month's cupcake of the month is the Rainier Cherry featuring rainiers straight from Olmstead Orchards (spelled wrong in the ad)! I'm so excited about this and equally bummed just as much that I'm no where near Cupcake Royale.

I will, however, settle for boxes of fresh-picked and shipped cherries later this month. Just as an FYI, you can preorder these fab cherries today or place your orders starting June 8th. Washington cherry season is starting soon, folks! Check out their site at olmsteadorchards.com.

Congrats, Olmstead Orchards! Miss you guys!

Camping. It's different in CA.

Camping. It's always an adventure, isn't it? Last Thursday I was about to make reservations for Justin's birthday dinner, but thought to myself...what about camping instead? Justin really is an outdoor enthusiast. We have enough camping gear to keep a family of 9 happy for at least a month, should they get stuck outside with our storage unit nearby. So I did some quick research on camping spots in the area, found a good one, and waited for JT to get home so I could present him with the camping vs. dinner option.

"Camping!" he exclaimed, and scurried to the computer to make our reservation (In Cali, you can make all reservations online, but must do it a few days in advance). We had missed out on camping last summer because of all the wedding to dos, so we were pretty excited about this, not to mention having an opportunity to use all the new camping supplies we received as wedding gifts.

Select site, review, pay, done. We were soon to be camping at Sanborn County Park. It all happened so fast, we neglected to realized we booked Saturday and Sunday nights instead of Friday and Saturday...we tried all day Thursday and Friday to get a hold of someone in charge of this newfangled, book-online site, but it just so happened that on Thursday, the reservation offices were moving locations and therefore closed. We should have taken this as a sign...Friday, I spoke with a woman who, when I asked about switching the dates, kind of laughed and offered to cancel our reservation instead because there is no possible way they can edit reservations days ahead of your reservation. Absolutely not (weird, I know). So, we decided to stick with Saturday/Sunday, and just leave on Sunday later in the day.

On Saturday we packed up all things necessary for camping, including food for about 5 days. What can I say...cooking things in a fire in a wad of aluminum foil is exciting! We stopped on our way out to get hamburger buns, wood, gallons of water, ice, ice and more ice, as well as a new hiking backpack for Justin (a bday gift to himself). Finally we were off. The car was so full we couldn't even see out the rear view mirror.

At the park we pulled up to the ranger station to check in and asked the ranger where exactly site 15 was, and where to find the drive-in entrance. "Haha, no no, you don't drive in to the site," he said with a wise smirk. "This is a walk-in campground."

Gulp.

"Let's see...," he continued. "Site 15 isn't too far past the bathrooms. It's not a bad walk. You should be ok to park in the top lot, but the park is full today so if you don't see one up there, you'll have to park in the lower lot."

Double gulp.

So we got up to the top lot and park in the very last spot available...it was at the end of the lot. We unload a few things and I decided to sit on the cooler while JT went to see where exactly spot 15 was. About 15 mins later, he came back, looking terribly disgruntled, and said, "This isn't happening."

"Aww, c'mon, it can't be that bad," I said. "We'll just make a few trips in, come back for what we need as we need it. Good thing we brought the small cooler AND the big cooler!" Of course I packed 2 coolers for one night. "Umm, no. I only made it to spot No. 1 and didn't even see No. 2," JT said. "If you want to so bad, why don't you walk up there to see where spot 15 is, and then tell me if you want to haul everything in."

So off I went. Noting about 70 boy scouts out on a mom's weekend camping trip. Some had red wagons (brilliant idea, I might add), some had dollies and others were hauling things in, just as we would have to. I passed spots 1-10, climbing a steady incline, and finally got to spot No. 15. I was a hot mess by that time, and I wasn't even carrying anything. It was a toasty weekend. Standing in our reserved spot, I laughed out loud, shook my head, and started back down the hill.

Roughly 20 mins after I left him, I was back with JT, laughing hysterically as I tried to convince him it'd be an adventure and that we might as well give it a shot. We thought about paying some of the scouts to help us, but they were too busy with their water balloon fights.

So, we repacked a few things, piled the packs onto our backs, and forged ahead. I think we made maybe 5 trips total back and forth. By then, we were both hot messes...it wasn't pretty, but at least we stayed positive. And at least now there was no need for us to go on the long-ish hike we had planned on doing. On our last trip back, we saw a cart at the trail entrance. A CART! #(!@#&%@(*&%@) No one was standing guard at the cart. There was no name on the cart. It just looked like a cart that was there for anyone's use. Turns out it was. So was the other one that showed up later during the trip. But the BOY SCOUTS had been using all of the carts while we moved in...HA! Boy Scouts! Shouldn't they be building muscle or coming up with other crafty ways to carry things into their campsite?!

Finally settled in at the site, about to start the fire, we noticed a lonely, small sign by the bathrooms that read, "Charcoal fires only due to dry conditions." Why hadn't these signs been posted elsewhere? We do not know. We had just finished lugging in all the wood, btw. So, being the law abiding citizens we are, we walked BACK to the car to go to the store for some coal. Good thing we checked at the station just before leaving the park, because as we asked if wood fires really were prohibited, they answered, "oh, we were just informed that we forgot one sign out there...haha...wood fires are ok this weekend. Thanks for asking, though!"

Oy.

Back at the campsite, we spent the rest of the trip reading, laughing, building fires (my fav), eating, sleeping and checking out the rest of the grounds. Oh yeah, we also listened to scout rally cheers, as well the 15+ goth kids cursing and practicing their devil-voice impersonations all night long. Seriously. These cool kids rolled into camp around 9:30 p.m. and left at 6 the next morning. That was fun. We felt really bad for all the families with little kids that had to listen to that all night long. Dear goths: If you're going to practice your demon voice, do it in your mom's basement. Because we paid for Sunday night, but didn't intend on sleeping there, we were able to spend the entirety of Sunday at the campsite. Eventually, we were the only 2 people on the grounds, except for the park ranger. After our late afternoon hamburgers, we walked down to get one of those handy carts, brought it back to our site and managed to evacuate in one trip. Lesson learned? Camping in CA is different than it is in WA. If the camp Web site says "RV or Walk-In camping (1-2 car limit), the 1-2 car limit doesn't actually mean you can drive 1-2 cars to your spot. It means, you can only walk 1-2 car loads of people to your spot. Walk-in means walk-in. No matter how many cars you have. And yes, I'm sure some of you clicked on the link about the park and quickly noted that the 3rd bullet says no cars are allowed up to the sites themselves. We thank you not to rub it in.

We had fun anyway - time spent outdoors is always a nice way to revitalize the soul. Even if you give it the workout of its life getting there.