Lewis and Clark

Bret and I have gotten down to business this past month and done some serious exploring, you know, since it is year of the explorer. We've seen a lot of cities/towns we knew nothing about like Yountville, Calastoga, Oxnard, Santa Paula, El Segundo, and Claremont. Oh and we went camping at Leo Carillo State Beach, it is right above Malibu and is unbelievable, I would recommend it. Here are some pics of us exploring...

Such a good bakery. We've been exploring bakeries too.

Ride from Yountville to Calistoga, I think I look funny in this pic, but maybe that's how I look.

Ted's been exploring too, he was beat.

Leo Carillo State Beach

and we celebrated the wedding of these two and the soon to be wedding of this one.

I came home with a stomach ache from our weekend adventure and then bret reminded me that it was probably the me-n-eds, grub, walters, subway, carl's jr, wendys, and taco bell we ate in 3 days. Oh and maybe the 3 lb bag of trail mix we ate that has been recalled because of Salmonella.

Very Simple

This video above was made by one of Robin's good friends. Registering to be on the Bone Marrow registry is VERY easy. Go to marrow.org to find out how. It costs $50 and all they need is a cotton swab of your cheek. There's no reason not to. I know because someone was willing to do it for Robin, she got another year with Hailey and got to come to my wedding reception. I am grateful for that man.

Question:

Has anyone ever camped in Southern California? If so, where?

Thank You Mr. Gymnastics Instructor

For teaching Lindsay and I how to do handstands and juggle, we'll look past the fact that you became a registered sex offender.

I never understood the concept of having your own room. I remember in elementary school and junior high how everyone wanted their "own room", why? I didn't know why you would ever want to be 8 years old alone in your bedroom going to bed, boorrinngg. This is why Lindsay and I shared a room for a long, long time. We had a night time routine, it usually included a quick game of dodge the bean bag, a race up the stairs and ended by doing front rolls across the twin beds. Then Lindsay would go brush her teeth and I would find her dee dee and then hide it somewhere in the room and then laugh hysterically when she tried to go to bed and she would toss and turn and then get really mad, and when she would finally get out of bed I would start the game of "hot" and "cold". It never got old. I probably did this in payback of her beating me at every board game in the history of the world, how do you compete when you're in first grade and your sister is a gifted and talented third grader?

Lindsay also didn't like sauce on her pizza which meant I didn't like sauce on my pizza. We spent many a saturday nights eating sauceless pizza watching "The Commish". Why we enjoyed an adult tv show about a police commissioner so much, I don't know. I could type for hours and only scratch the surface of the ways Lindsay has enhanced and blessed my life. Linds, I'm glad you were born. Happy Bday (yesterday).

I could make this blog really, really long but I'll try not to. It happens to be somebody else's birthday (yesterday) too. That's right, Mr. Bret Baker was born 28 years ago weighing a solid 4 lbs. I'm glad I have someone to share my room with again. Unfortunately (or probably fortunately) Bret doesn't have a dee dee I get to hide, yet I still find a way to tease him and laugh hysterically and he too manages to beat me at board games, I attribute this to him being older than me. I never knew I could find someone that I like so much, he truly is the world to me.

When did Monterey turn into the Carribean?

We were lucky to have nice sunny weather

I went to Monterey a lot growing up but I don't remember the water being aqua. It was gorgeous.

Ted has some competition

Did I mention we got into the aquarium for free?? I love free.

not a bad view from the porch

Kind of Disgusting, Kind of Amazing

This may or may not be our apartment. Landlord Rod, if you read this, I promise we're good tenants, sometimes we're just real busy.

Bike Shorts

Me: "Hey Bret, a bug just flew into my eye, can you see it??"
Bret: "uhhh no, you must have gotten it"

2 hours later...

That black dot? The dead bug pulled out from my eye after looking in the mirror.



Bret couldn't see the bug because the circulation to his head must have been cut off by his new bike shorts...

In case you haven't seen enough pics of me with a helmet on.

Santa Cruz embodies almost everything Bret and I love in life, rolling green hills, lush landscape, the beach, and strange, strange people. I'm not so much into the carny scene down at the boardwalk or the mid day drunk people along the river, but it is breathtakingly beautiful.

Wendy Sue

Recently Bret came back from Pittsburgh and told me about a grocery store that has a dry cleaners and a kid care center inside the store. Dry cleaners, that's a great idea! But my heart broke a little when I heard about the child care. Now, I don't have kids and I'm thinking that they're stressful and you're with them all day, yada yada yada, but this means that none of those kids are enjoying the grocery store to the fullest. This must mean that their mom must not be putting them into the cart, finding an abandoned isle and pushing the cart really hard then chasing after it screaming, "MY BABY, MY BABY". Well, come to think of it, my mom might have been the only one to do this, and maybe that's why the grocery store is one of my favorite places.

I laugh now thinking about a 30 year old woman in a grocery store shoving a cart down an aisle with her child in it, but it felt so right when I was 4. There are a lot of things I look back on and realize are VERY unique to my mom. Here's a small sampling...

My mom carried a clown nose in her purse, ya know, just in case we went somewhere that smelt funny, or if one of us was misbehaving, she'd just put it on. no questions asked.

One time she and a friend had to go sell fireworks in Fresno in July (this is as close to Hell as you can get) for a fundraiser for my sports team, so she decided that she should get in a cold shower, FULLY clothed and then go to the booth. sopping wet.

I remember in Junior High and High School I'd be trying to go to bed and my mom would be vacuuming or talking on the phone at midnight, MIDNIGHT.

I love you mom, happy birthday. thanks for teaching me how to get weird.

*I stole the pic from my aunt jill.

God Bless America

While walking home on Inauguration Day I noticed that the waxing salon a couple blocks from my house had a new display in their window...



I laughed out loud, by myself.

p.s. If this post offends you, sorry. Also, If you ever feel the need to enlighten me on social, political, or geographical history and facts, please email me, there is no need to post degrading comments on my happy place on the internet. You have your own blog to do that on.