Bullards Bar Res.

The lake from the top of the boat ramp, sooo low!

The canal we went up

My nephew A.J. taking a break from skippin' rocks.

The whole gain, minus me, ready to head back to the dock.

I went out on Bullards Bar with my parents and my nephew today. It was a great day, the sky was clear of smoke and there was a nice breeze that would cool you down just as you were getting a little hot.. I can't believe how low the lake is. I have never seen it this low which makes it hard to find a good beach. We went way up a canal and found some sand to hang out on. It was right where water was coming into the lake from a stream or river. The water was a lot colder but crystal clear. Thanks for a nice day on the lake Mom and Dad and thanks for joining us A.J. And I finally got some pictures of my parents to post, YEAH!

Camping at Collins Lake

All Packed up and ready to go.... in the Jeep!
Matt is such a fire Bug, he can't leave the fire alone.
I just like to roast marshmellows!


Matt was had been planning a "guys" only camping trip for about a month now and was really looking forward to the getaway. Well things fell through and he was the only on able to go, the camp site had been reserved and payed for with no refunds so guess who went camping AGAIN at the last minute...... ME! Well I couldn't very well let Matt go camping by himself, which he said he was going to do, so I began packing for camping again. This time around we went to Collins Lake. Neither one of us had ever been there and both were looking forward to seeing what it had to offer. Well this was a little bit more of Matt's kind of camping then mine :) Although he did say that we do need to look into bringing our air mattress next time! Again this was so last minute that I didn't have the chance to check our mattress for holes. It was a good time but VERY dirty and the bathrooms weren't the best. Defiantly just a one night camp site. My parents came down for a while on Saturday after we had set up and we just hung out by the water. They went home to their comfy beds while we stayed to rough it out. I think I am going to take a break from camping for at least a month, Matt wants to go to Tahoe in Sept when he is on vacation. We have gone camping twice in July, pretty good for someone who didn't prefer camping to begin with. Matt has been thrilled with my new adventurous side.

Swim Park

Jen and I took her girls to the water park today and had such a good time. I went with Crystal yesterday and had a great time as well and invited Jen up today. The girls loved the play area. Little Raina is such a dare devil she is not afraid of the water what so ever. Thanks for coming Jen we will have to it again soon and maybe Crystal can come with us as well. Cute cute kids!

Time for a new tent?

Matt and I attempted to put up a tent that we had bought about 9 years ago to go to sand mountain. We have not used it since then because it was such a bear to put up. Well now that we are wanting to go camping again, Matt wants to use the tent we already have rather then buying a new one. I am all for that IF we can put this one up. If I remember right this tent is really nice with a lot of room, and we spent alot of $ on it back then. side note..... we attempted putting up the canopy part on monday night minus the instructions, no such luck. this is day TWO with instructions! Matt putting the poles throught the slots of the canopy. I was in the house laughing at the scene taking place outside and started to take pictures.
Almost togther, looks like a kite doesn't it?
Wow we got it together! now for the tent... the canopy must be up before the tent could be put up. What a process ! :(
This is the tent.

Looking for the final product....... yeah well the canopy was put together inside out so the tent could not be put up and we have to take the canopy down and reverse it! Eye yeh yeh! Well maybe another night, day THREE pictures to come, maybe. My feeling is we got ripped off and we need to buy a new tent. Putting a tent up should take less then 2 hours, and three DAYS! But a great tent it was for it's time. New tent here I come.

Finally.........

Our contraption to cook the beans.

Our campsite at Pomo Campground

Sadie and I walking on the beach

Matt walking w/ sadie on the beach

Sadie LOVES the beach!

Matt fishing at Lake Cleone. he caught one but it fell of the hook right at the shore line so we couldn't get a pic too bad!

matt got to go camping! He has been asking me to go camping with him for a while now. It has been at least 4 years since we have camped. Just a little story behind his urging... Matt likes to camp in what I call really"roughing it". For me I like to bring a few comforts of home, like a blow up mattress/bed, camp in a place where there is running water, showers and good bathrooms. Just a few of my needs. Anyhow he always gripes and whines about these specifics so we just never seem to go. Well on Friday Matt called me from work at about 9:00 am and said he wanted to take me somewhere. I was excited and nervous at the same time, he can be kind of "adventurous" at times. When he said camping in Fort Bragg I hesitated for a second and then said sure lets go! He was stunned to say the least. I was just thinking I would give it another try and see how he accepted the way I like to camp. And I thought it would be a great way to get out of the smoke and heat. We had a great time! We were just going to eat out instead of packing all the food ( Matt's idea) but then we just picked up some stuff to roast over the fire at the store when we got there. Not the most nutritious food but fun to cook, and what is camping with out roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire. The baked beans were the best and we just rigged up the pot to cook them in, Matt thrives on figuring stuff like this out. Even though we did not have a mattress we slept pretty well actually. I think we need to buy a bigger tent for future camping though HAHAHA! Matt and I and Sadie in a 8x6 tent was very cozy and the mattress would not have fit anyway. I didn't realize how small the tent was until we set it up. I have never camped in that tent before it was Matt's before we met. Lesson learned :)

While there we just walked on the beach and fished and played lots of card games/board games. Sadie had a good time as well. she loves the beach but her leg was paying the price later that night. Nothing a little aspirin won't take care of ( she has arthritis in her back left leg).

We are already making plans to return and camp at MacKeacker(sp) state park. That is a great campground. Thanks Matt for a great idea and an even better weekend. Now to unpacking and washing all the camp gear, UGH!

Day trip to Downieville

This past sunday Matt and I took a day trip to Downieville. If you don't know where Downieville is, it is about 1 hour north of Nevada City. This is a VERY small town in the sierras. I used to go there a lot when i was a kid with my parents and grandparents. There are some great camp sites and swim spots all olong the river. We are planning to go camping there in the near future. We had a great time just walking around the town, we had lunch at the same pizza place that I have eaten at many years ago on numerous occasions, yum yum! Jen, do you remember this place with Mikey when we went sledding? Of course we had to have some ice cream as well. It was such a good day. We plan on going again to go all the way to Sierra City to climb up to the Sierra Buttes look out, we need the jeep for this adventure which Matt is really thrilled about! I want to take lots of pictures too. The last time I went there I was really little and I was not aloud to climb to the top of the look out because I was " too skinny" and it was too windy at the top.... I'm not kidding either, so I want to give it another try. This area is such a great place to explore and enjoy the outdoors. We stopped at different spots to let Sadie out and cool off in the river. It is so beautiful up there.






Matt & Sadie touring Downieville.

This is a real gallow used once in 1888 at a nearby site then restored in 1988. Matt getting a feel for what it was like! The onw time it was used was on a 20 year old for murder.

Taking a dip to cool off. Sadie loved the water.

The water felt really good. this was a great swim hole. Too bad we didn't have our suits :(

What a cutie!

Mom visits from Minnesota

Matt's mom made a trip to California to visit on june 21. We had a great time visiting with her. She stayed in Chico and watched miss Josie for a week while Jerry and Barb were in Mexico. The smoke in the sky made for a long week, she was stuck in side most of the time. She came out expecting nice California sun and got grey smokey skies :( But she did have her first sushi experience, we are loving sushi these days, mom....not so much! She got tempura after trying one bite :) We had a nice time visiting and cathing up so it ended up being a great time. Thanks for visiting mom, we loved seeing you!