UPDATE: Kendall's Nursery Remodel

Crystal took a few more photos of the room this weekend when we finished putting up and re-arranging the decor. I wonder if people will even see the differences, so how about this: In the comments section post things you notice are different. It's like a game of "Spot the Difference"! (Sonoma's butt doesn't count... but see if you can spot it anyway...)

Rafting Down the American

Crystal and I went whitewater rafting up in Northern California this weekend. We went with 5 other people up to Lotus, CA and rafted the middle fork. We arrived up at the outfitter (Action Whitewater Adventure) and camped the night. We woke Saturday morning to a nice steady rain, but luckily the inside of our tent was dry. We spent the day rafting in the rain, starting at around 11:00, stopped for lunch (and hot chocolate) around 2:00, and continued down the rest of the river finishing up around 5 or 6.

It was sooooo cold! The girls were almost unwilling/unable to go back out for the second half of the day, but after a hot shower in their wet suits and some lunch, they were able to muster the courage to get back in the cold water. And as a group of 7, we had two big benefits: 1) the rafts hold 7, plus one guide, so we didn't have to mix up with other groups, and 2) we were able to buy all the pictures offered by the photography vendors at a pretty minimal cost to each person. I couldn't be happier that we got the photos because they are really great! We got about 60 photos in all.

I sat in the front of the raft across from Tim. Crystal was a few seats back. She switched sides halfway through the trip, so you may have to look for her on both sides of the raft. We only had one person fall out of the raft the entire day (and it wasn't me) and Crystal did a great job following protocol, grabbing Kim by the life vest and pulled her back into the boat. Quite impressive, indeed! We did at one point get VERY close to tipping straight over the left side (or port side, for those who care) of the boat, but luckily we saved it by all quickly shifting our weight to the right side. I honestly was ready to start swimming in the cold water, but somehow we managed to right the raft and all stay on-board.

Our guide, Harvey (or as he said "Havi"), was a 24-year old Aussie. For the last 4 years he has traveled through Africa, Central and South America, the south Pacific, and the US rafting and guiding tours down some of the most dangerous rapids on the planet. He was a real cool guy - definitely an adrenaline junkie. In his previous job he worked as a construction worker repelling from heights (bridges, buildings, etc) to perform his work.

Anyway, we managed to get a little sunshine just before we packed up on Sunday afternoon, and thankfully it was enough to dry out our gear. The absolute worst thing is coming home after a wet camping trip - when all you want to do is relax - and you have to set up all your gear again in the back yard to dry it out. Luckily, the weather cooperated and we didn't have to go through that...

Now, on to the photos... If you're looking for me in the photos, I'm the one with the blue jacket and yellow life vest ;-) !!

Here's a photo of us heading hard into some rapids. Look at us, working together like a well oiled machine!

Here's a series of us heading into, through, and out of a big rapid. The front position on the raft was really wet. Actually, the whole raft was really wet.

And the last three photos, just to show how much fun we all had (even including Becca, despite her face of outright terror in every picture - can you spot her?).

Oh yeah, and did I mention it was COLD!

Hopland Passport

This weekend Sonoma stayed at Vicki's while Crystal and I headed north with our friends Tim and Becca to the Hopland Passport in Hopland, CA. For $35 per person, we enjoyed wine tasting, food pairings, live music and shuttle service to about 10 wineries in the Hopland area for the weekend. We drove up on Friday night and kicked off early Saturday morning.
The first glass of wine was sipped at 10:30 AM on Saturday morning - perfet time for a red blend paired with a sirlion steak slider with chipotle mayo. At the beginning of the day, the crowd was a nice mix of people, old and young. The crowd, however, quickly trended younger as the more "senior" wineos were outlasted by us energetic crowd, fueled off tri tip, homemade Parmesean cheese, pizza, and - oh yeah - wine. We tried roughly 50 different wines, and somehow decided Jaxon Keys was our favorite. I'm sure the setup helped - a guy in overalls pouring tastings from a barrel, a jazz trio, a white tasting room, red tasting room, and italian food pairings (meatballs, portabella mushroom ravioli and butternut squash ravioli).

We ended our wine tasting at 5:30 in downtown Hopland and took a shuttle back to our hotel. The night finished with dinner at a Mexican restaurant - margaritas of course...

On the way back towards San Francisco on Sunday morning, we stopped at Jaxon Keys and split a case of wine. A good way to end a fun weekend!

Sunday's Results

Sonoma got three more "Q's" (qualifying runs), one in each for Standard, JWW, and FAST. She placed first in FAST, and second in Standard and JWW. That was a perfect 6 for 6 in terms of Q's this weekend. Sonoma achieved her Novice level in only two trials and can now compete in the Open division. This may be the average length of time to spend in Novice (Crystal and I are unsure), but we did meet a guy who has been competing with his Sheltie in the Novice division for 2 years!

By the conclusion of the trial on Sunday, we could hear people whispering Sonoma's name as we walked by, followed by more obvious pointing and staring. She's making a name for herself as an "up-and-commer". Multiple people on Saturday and Sunday came up to me to compliment Sonoma and our team. They are excited for us, and have been very willing to show their support for us. Our friends from Jumpin' Java Agility were also so helpful, showing us the ropes at the trials and keeping us informed on when our runs will be.

We are really pleased with the progress Sonoma has shown over the past year. We are excited about this journey we are beginning with our lady - and we know it makes her happy to work as a team with us. For anyone interested in agility, I would recommend it highly. It teaches the dog to be obedient, confident, and a teammate - all important qualities of a happy, healthy dog. You may think, "My dog would never do well in agility, he is too _________!" (fill in the blank with your own adjective: crazy, stubborn, stupid, nuts-o, lazy, etc). But agility helps dogs of all sorts get the positive attention they deserve from their owners as well as exercise and discipline - which helps with all types of behavioral issues.

Unfortunately, under the big cover and with the rain we had this weekend, a lot of our pictures came out blurry. We're still learning how to take good shots with our camera, but we'll get there. Hopefully in the next couple of days I'll manage to get videos of our runs this from this weekend posted. Keep your eyes out for that.

And finally, here's a picture of Sonoma with her ribbons from the two trials - not a bad start to her collection!!