May 2006 - It's been great weather this June. Cliff and I are currently recovering from a 12 hour listening fest at Live 105 BFD. Check out our notes and photographs. Not a lot to report, we head off to Mexico in July for some fun in the sun. Our nephew Jordan had his last soccer game of the season and did wonderfully. Our "adopted-niece" Emily is also a soccer pro. The website for her team can be found here!
August 2006
IN MEMORIUM
As many of you know, we lost Baby Kitty to cancer last month. I adopted Baby when I moved here in 1992. She was fifteen years old and was very spoiled. We were very sad to let her go.
Other News
This summer has been passing very quickly. I've been fortunate to be able to take a road trip to Southern California with Snuffles to visit some friends and relax. We were lucky enough to hit Palm Springs during their hottest weekend of the season at a low 120 degrees! I have also been able to have fun with the nieces and nephews - hitting Great America, and more recently taking them to the SCUBA experience at Monterey Bay Aquarium.
I quit my job in June and am starting my own business. I'm currently in the process of incorporating (due September 1st). I'm working part-time and also exploring some business partnerships. It's terrifying and exciting all at the same time!
January 2007 - Happy New Year to everyone! We are starting 2007 off with a bang. Cliff and I have purchased a 2nd home in Rancho Mirage. It's only 1/2 a block from the rental my parents have which makes it very convenient. We made the offer on New Year's Eve and it was accepted on New Year's Day. We are now going through the fun of finalizing the mortgage but we are very excited. I'll post photos and we'll add it to the ranchorental.com site when it's ready to rent!
We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with Cliff's family and Christmas Day with mine. We also attended a New Year's Eve party and had fun eating and dancing. There is more info and photos here!
March 2007 - 2007 has definitely kicked off in many unexpected ways! We finally closed on our 2nd home in Rancho Mirage and Sam totaled the 4Runner the next day. To make a long story short it was kind of a freak accident and she ended up hydroplaning sideways on a freeway on-ramp at about 50 mph into a lightpole. The lightpole hit the drivers side, right where her head was. It ended up flipping the car tail over head. When you see the car it is hard to believe anyone survived. She just had a bruised shoulder and Snuffles had no injuries at all. It was one of those things that makes you really appreciate life. Suffice it to say, we went out and purchased a 2007 Toyota 4Runner V8 LTD. We had toyed with the idea of a hybrid, but after the accident Sam was set on a car with a truck frame!
BTW, thank god for insurance -- did you know that if you hit a light pole you have to pay for it? Well thanks to insurance we will have a light pole dedicated to Cliff's 4Runner at the De La Cruz and 101 South exit on-ramp!
Despite all of that excitement, we packed up a 16' truck with furniture and things we'd bought for the new house and drove down to Rancho three days later. Cliff didn't think it could be done, but we managed to get the house 90% setup. We have bedroom sets on order, but all in all it is very functional! Here are some pictures. Sam will eventually get it up on the ranchorental website.
November 2007 - Well we certainly made sure to get all bad things and accidents out of the way in the first quarter of 2007! Knock on wood - the rest of 2007 has been wonderful! We finished furnishing and setting up the house down in Rancho Mirage and have actually had a few trips down just to enjoy it! Snuffles LOVES the water hole! Check out Snuffles YouTube video below!
Both Samantha and Cliff's jobs are going well. Samantha is training to become a dog socializer at the Silicon Valley Humane Society. Right now she is doing her time as a kennel attendent but should be able to help train the dogs, take them out on adventures to the dog park or hiking by the end of September. She is looking for people that want dogs as she has already fallen for several of them including a pit bull named Goldie and a Rhodesian Ridgeback/Lab mix named Wilbur!
I hope that everyone else is enjoying the summer. We're off to Mexico for a couple of weeks and then before we know it the summer will be over! Be sure to check out some of the videos from the San Jose Grand Prix weekend!
March 2008 - We've just returned from a cruise to the Panama Canal. It was a lot of fun and I've put together some notes and photos for you all to peruse. 2008 has been a great year so far and we're hoping to keep it that way!
Pura Vida - as they say in Costa Rica!