The Griffin's Have Arrived...

The Backyard Battle

Jamie and I were in the backyard one day after work trying to keep cool and enjoying the evening. We had noticed the hummingbird feeder was going down a lot faster than previously but thought with the hot weather it was just evaporating. But while we were out there we noticed a bird coming to drink about every 5 minutes. This must be a thirsty bird or there may be more than one...

Well, we sat there long enough to find out there were 3 birds all fighting over the feeder. They chased each other all over the yard and they didn't even care that we were sat outside laughing and taking pictures. They finished off the feeder in about 4 days! It was about 4 months since we had refilled it last time.

5 more days and we will be invaded by the Griffins

I'm sure they will enjoy our battling birds:)

4th of July

Okay, so a little bit late but Happy 4th of July!!! We had a busy 3 day weekend but it was a lot of fun. The weather was fantastic, a little warm for some but I loved every minute of it. We had some of my family over for the 4th. As we were getting ready and setting everything up, Jamie opened up his bbq and found this little guy enjoying the warmth. This little lizard didn't want to leave his new home either. It took two of us to finally scare him out of it. It was pretty funny!

We had traditional hot dogs and hamburgers to eat and finished off the meal with homemade ice cream sandwiches. Jamie and I made them the day before, they are really messy to make but they tasted amazing and everyone enjoyed them. We didn't have any left over which is always a good sign of success. Here are a few pictures from the day:

Here is our crazy neighbor, Mickey. He likes to visit and talk, talk, talk. His brother and him live next door and they kept giving us so much food. They sent over ribs, chicken wings, shrimp, margaritas; we had so much food but they wouldn't except no for an answer.

Later in the evening we went to the front yard to watch the neighbors' fireworks. The park was heaving and people are crazy when it comes to fire. Lucky no one was hurt but some people obviously do not read the warning labels. We could also see Angel Stadium and the Disneyland fireworks display. We were pretty much surrounded. It was a great party and we were glad it all went well.

Yosemite.....

When we were up at Shaver lake, Angela and I drove to Yosemite for the day. It was a long 2 hour drive up small roads! The drive was worth it as the views were spectacular. Below are a few pictures:

When we get a chance, we will have to go back and explore for a week. I need more holiday/vacation!!!!!!!!! See you all soon, Jamie.

Dinkey Creek

While we were up at Shaver Lake, I had to take Jamie to a place I spent a lot of time as a kid. We spent a few summer vacations at a place called Dinkey Creek. It's about 13 miles up the road from Shaver and my Grandpa has been taking my Dad there since he was a kid and my Dad took us there when we were kids.

We spent a lot of time playing in the creek. We would bring inflatable rafts to float around in and walk all over the rocks trying not to slip.

We got there early and took a small hike up the creek. It really is beautiful and at this time in the morning there wasn't too many people around.

The rocks are pretty massive!

This is one of the "little falls" we used to slide down as kids. We would wrap black trash bags around our waists and then slide down. They are horrible for your bathing suit as many kids found out when they eventually created holes in them. The water is freezing though. It's all melted snow. We walked across a shallow piece to have lunch on the other side. We had water shoes on so we wouldn't slip but the water was ice cold. It's much colder than I remember but I guess as kids you are just happy to be playing in the water.

Later in the week, my parents, took a day trip to explore the lakes further up the mountain. It was a very steep, narrow one way road. They had to maneuver around cars coming down the mountain as they drove up and again on the way down. My Mom is afraid of heights so it was a challenge for here to make the trip but she did just fine. Further up the mountain there were still snow packs along the road and my Parents packed one of the small coolers full of snow to bring down to us. My Dad created two small snowmen on our campsite. They didn't last very long but it was pretty cool.

Island Life

On Wednesday, we headed out on the lake on Aaron's boat, which his parents kindly let Aaron bring (Aaron's only 20 years old, so it was a big privilege that his parents allowed him to bring it, he did a great job taking care it). Milissa, Mike, Valerie and Aaron found these two islands just a few yards apart from each other while they were exploring on Tuesday. So when they asked us if we wanted to see their islands, we jumped at the offer.

So we loaded up the boat with coolers, towels, fishing equipment and even a bbq for the day. The above picture is the island we used for fishing. My Dad and Mike fished all day long. Remember my Dad didn't catch anything on Monday, he managed to catch 6 on his own while on the island, not too bad. Mike caught two, so it was a pretty good day for them. I think they both needed to relax and enjoy a slower pace.

How did they get to the other island you ask? Well, there was a small sand bank. My Dad is crossing at the deepest part so we all could cross pretty easily without having to swim. So we carried all of their stuff over for them and the rest of us stayed on the other island.

Here is our other island, mainly the swimming island. We set up the bbq and easy-up for shade and the rest of us played in the water and laid out in the sun all day. Lily, Valerie's dog, also came along so she was able to roam the island without a leash.

Some of us did take the occasional boat ride.

Valerie and Aaron got a bit of island fever and rented a tube for the day... Milissa and Jamie joined in on the fun as well.

Classic!

The water was a bit cold but it got pretty hot by mid-afternoon so it felt really nice to jump in. Even Lily, Valerie's lab, was in and out of the water all day. She did get a bite on the tail which swelled up a bit but she still had fun in the water and made it to the other island to be with the guys fishing.

The water wasn't too deep around the island until you ventured out further, we mostly waded around and got a much needed tan.

Valerie preferred laying out on the boat rather than the sand.

This picture was actually taken the next day. This is what vacation is all about!

Gone Fishing...

After exploring the lake on Sunday, we decided to rent a pontoon boat for a 1/2 day on Monday to do some fishing. We set out early so we could be out on the water before all the boats and jet ski's. While my Dad and Jamie prepared the fishing poles I was assigned the task of finding a nice place to fish.

It was pretty cool in the morning, especially while the boat was moving but it gradually got warmer as the day went on.

My Mom, Jamie, and I had a pretty good day catching fish. Our best catch came near the damn (Shaver is a man made lake and the damn is pretty impressive. As kids we took a tour of it with my Dad, he loved it of course, I mostly remember walking around with a hard hat and flashlight). We caught about 4 fish in 20 minutes!

Here is our catch from the boat, we later continued to fish near the damn and my Mom caught one more.

Unfortunately, my Dad wasn't very lucky but he made up for it on Wednesday.

Here is a good picture of the damn with Jamie and my Mom trying to get a couple more fish for dinner. When we got back, my Mom and Jamie cleaned the fish. Apparently Jamie got in a small water fight with another guy there, but that's a story for him to tell. We cooked the fish, 6 rainbow trout and 1 brown trought (I'm proud to have caught the brown, it's native and rare to catch, the rainbow are stocked every year so they are plentiful) in tin foil on the bbq and had fish tacos. They came out amazing, so fresh and tasty.