Shadow's Best Day Ever

Today Shadow officially had his best day ever. Mom and Dad asked if we wanted to go out on the lake, so of course I said yes! Shadow has only been on the boat once or twice, so I was excited about getting him out there again. We went out pretty early (8am) so that we could avoid the heat (ha!). The weather was actually really beautiful. Shadow started with a swim at the docks:

While that was fun and all, he was anxious to get out on the boat... so he drug me down the dock:

We did a little bit of fishing and both Mom and Dad caught some pretty nice fish. Mom had a 1 pound, 6 ounce silver salmon and Dad had a 2 pound, 12 ounce large mouth bass:

After all of that, we found this great little island in the middle of the lake (there are lots of them right now as the water is higher than it's been in probably the last ten years!) and beached the boat. Those of you that know sweet Shadow know that he doesn't do well with other dogs and that his attention span is less than developed, so I have never actually let him off leash at the lake (even when swimming). I just can't risk him going after a little dog or finding something small to chase (because then, that attention span seems to really kick in!). This little island was the perfect opportunity to let him run around and swim like crazy in a controlled environment! He had the time of his life:

That last one is one of my favorites... he had started to go around the other side of the island and I called him... he came charging around and Mom got a great picture! It was such a fantastic day... this whole weekend has really felt like I've been on vacation and this was the icing on the cake! I'm 100% sure that Shadow is going to have fantastic puppy dog dreams tonight!

While we were pulling the boat out we saw a guy do something crazy... there are three straps that hold your boat to the trailer... two in the back to keep it from bouncing and a hook in the front to actually keep it on the trailer. Normally, before you back the boat down the launch ramp, you unhook the back two straps. Then you back it down and when you get close enough to the water, you unhook the hook. Then when you keep backing, your boat floats off the trailer. Well, this guy seemed to think that he should unhook them all at the top, so as he's backing down the launch, his boat pretty much slides off his trailer... onto the cement. Definitely no good... to make matters even worse, he said that he had just greased his skids (the little bars on the trailer that the boat rests on). Not sure why you would do that, but apparently the boat definitely comes off! Bummer for him!

I'll leave you with the final two pictures of the day... one of me and my boy and the other of him just plain looking badass. :)

Father's Day Part One

Today we celebrated Father's Day Part One. Mom, Dad, Mike, Kati, Nate and I went out to Folsom Lake for a day of boating. It was beautiful, if not a little chilly. Shocking for the way this "spring" has gone. For those of you not living in beautiful California, apparently we skipped spring this year and are going to yo-yo back and forth between winter and summer. Just when you think it's starting to get hot, it starts to rain and gets all windy. Trust me, it's killing those of us with crazy allergies. But, I digress. The day was beautiful and we had snacks and got some sun (translation: I sunburned through 70 sunblock).

After that, we headed back to Mom and Dad's house for a little BBQ... but not until Dad opened his gifts! Kati and Nate got him a great racing game for the Wii. Mom gave him an all expenses paid excursion to his favorite winery. Mike and I got him the Beatles Rock Band for his Xbox. We ended up spending a good portion of the afternoon singing, strumming and drumming along to the Beatles. Whoever created that game is a genius. It's totally fun for non-musical people and it's deliciously frustrating for musical people who suddenly suck at things like playing the fake drums. I love it. I might need to get one for our Wii. The cool thing about the Beatles version is that rather than coming with a white plastic guitar, it comes with a replica of one of Paul McCartney's guitars. I can't wait to go back and play some more!

Dinner was delicious! Mom and Dad made steak, ribs, potato salad, garlic bread and peach cobbler! Now that I'm stuffed and home, I'm definitely ready to curl up on the sofa... full belly + too much sun = very sleepy Anna!

Day at the Lake

Best day ever.

So far.

Today we braved Folsom Lake (it's had a 5 mile an hour speed limit for the last month or so because of all of the debris that have washed down due to heavy rains). It was definitely worth it! We spent about 4 hours just floating around, totally relaxing. It was awesome! The sun was out, there was a light breeze and there were surprisingly few people on the lake. It was so great that we're going to go back tomorrow! Here's Kelly and I out on the boat:

Oh, and here's my dog pretending he's an Indian:
That's a Canadian goose feather. They're all he has eyes for at the lake... he's never sniffed a real feather before! I didn't get to waterski because Kelly convinced me that a wheelchair at the Madonna concert probably isn't the greatest idea. And it would be just my luck to hit a bobbing log just under the surface. The things I give up for the sake of music... :)

One week from today - triathlon time! I can't believe it's almost here! HOLY CRAP!

I absolutely can't WAIT for the concert. I'm heading to Adam and Eva's tomorrow for two fun filled days of craziness! Woo hoo!

Weekend Wrapup

Holy moly, what a fun weekend! I will now take you though a small photo-documentary of my weekend experiences.

On Friday night some friends and I went to the Melting Pot for dinner. For those of you who don't know what the Melting Pot is, you're definitely missing out. You have something like this somewhere near you. Basically, it's a place where you go, pay a lot of money and eat a TON of fondue. Sounds lame, but I swear to you it was one of the coolest dining experiences. We arrived at 6:00pm and left around 10:00pm - that's four hours of fondue yumminess! We had four courses. The first was the cheese fondues:

Here's me eating cheese:

They bring you all kinds of yummy things to dip (it's unlimited, as is the fondue) and they're made right in the middle of your table. Each person has a little skewer thingy that is a different color, so you don't get mixed up.

Next came the salad, which is boring so I didn't take pictures.
Then came the meat. I was so busy eating that I forgot to take pictures. Oops. We had chicken, a couple different types of steak, fish (if you like stuff from the ocean), duck (if you're into that kinda thing) and TONS of yummy dips. You basically dipped the meat in batter and then fried it in different oils and then dipped it in sauces.

Finally, there was dessert.

We had the Yin and Yang (white and dark chocolate):


And the Flaming Turtle. He put carmel in the chocolate and then LIT IT ON FIRE. After he PUT OUT OUR DESSERT, he tossed in some pecans. Kyra, I thought of you, I know how you've always loved flaming food!


We dipped all kinds of things into the chocolates: cheesecake, brownies, strawberries, bananas, and marshmallows!
On Saturday my mom and I went shopping. Alas, no pictures, but we had a blast. I got some awesome clothes (so did mom) and we found her a totally cute purse! Yeah! I DID get my birthday watch... I absolutely love it! I'll take a picture of it tomorrow - or you can go to www.guesswatches.com, click on "for her", then "jewelry" then on the "embrace silver tone bangle watch". Mine actually has a silver face and no diamond... it looks so pretty on me!
Today Daddy and I finally went fishing. It took a couple starts, but we made it to the lake eventually. Good thing we checked, because the boat battery was dead! However, I learned how to pull the boat (I know how to drive it on the lake, but have never actually pulled it there). It was a blast! No fish because the lake was pretty muddy and it was windy, but it was a really nice trip!
El Capitan:


Gilligan:

And, of course, the Skipper...