Fishin' -- Deep Sea Style!

"The New Golden Eye." That's right. It's official. I have accomplished one of my lifetime goals -- deep sea fishing! We rolled around on this little boat here two hours outside of San Francisco Bay to get to the perfect fishing hole. Fortunately, with a little help from Dremamine and fish finder equipment, I had a blast. This was a company trip for all the construction guys.

What a great shot, eh? Nothing like fishing and great scenery!

These were some of smaller variety. I swear, most of the fish I caught were bigger, but this gives you an idea of the funky looking catches we pulled in. We caught Rock Cod, Lake Cod, and Rock Soul fish.

Our Visit to Alcatraz

This is the #1 tourist attraction in San Fransisco. This island was the government's solution to outrageous inmates like Al Capone and "The Birdman." We took an audio tour, and learned where they were caged up, as well as the ingenious attempts at breaking out. It was interesting (probably not worth the money, but hey!), and we're happy to say that we've been there. Now it's time to watch "Escape from Alcatraz" and other such pleasures.

It's a pretty place, but definitely not somewhere I'd want to hang out everyday. The video we watched talked a bit about the civilians that lived here. My favorite part was this lady who talked about her "Show and Tell" bragging rights. Everyone paid attention (probably more than when I brought a lady bug to school), and was fascinated. Based on the tourism here, things haven't changed much.

Our real reason for paying $16 per person to see this island...

Here's a crazy image for ya! In 1962, three men escaped from Alcatraz, using spoons and a homemade drill. To fool the prison officers at the nightly inspections, they made dummy heads--using soap, toilet paper, and REAL HAIR (from the barbershop). They carved out a hole (seen in the back of this picture) with their tools, and climbed out through the ventilation duct. Apparently they made little rafts to get to the Bay, but they were never heard of again. So there's a real-life, but sadly unsuccessful, Monte Cristo story.

Here is the other side of the wall, where they climbed out of their cell. Look for the hole on the right in front of the big pipe.

Brady and I got locked up during our tour. We took this picture.of ourselves...(BET YOU CAN'T TELL!)

Running makes you have to go in the oddest places.

In 1963, Alcatraz was closed as a federal prison. It was simply too expensive to run, and the structure was not exactly state-of-the-art anymore. Native Americans inhabited the island from 1969-1971. It was part of their movement for recognition from the government. Many Native Americans claim that they "found themselves" here. At first, it was widely supported by the people of the Bay Area, but it lost popularity pretty quickly, and then died out.

A view of the city on the way to Alcatraz. This is perhaps our last trip to the city, so we had to get in a few more pictures.

Just for the view.

Paid to Play--Giant's vs. Braves

Nothing like getting paid to watch a Giant's Baseball Game. What's with the Giant's anyway? They're HORRIBLE this year. This game, they lost 4-1 to the Atlanta Braves. The most recent game they lost 15-4. Oh well. It was a fun ball park to visit. This year I'm battin with the A's instead. They've won 24 of the last 32 games.

A view from the top of Candlestick Park.

Pit Bull Mania

Recently there has been a lot of talk in the news about pit bulls. Several attacks have occurred, and there has been a lot of hype about possibly banning the dog, etc. It won't happen (at least right now), but we now have our own stories to add to the mess.

I was running home yesterday and I passed a man who quickly said to me, "Stop running." This was obviously a bit startling to me, but I did. He said that there were some dogs running loose all over the street, and I should just walk for a bit. I quickly saw the dogs he was talking about--3 pit bulls. Yikes. 2 of them were small (and, if I might add, pretty cute) and couldn't have been more than a year old. The other was a good size, and a gray color. Given all the news press lately, I was a little nervous...especially when they started hopping all over me. The small ones kept nipping at my shoes.

I tried to (pretend to) be calm, but I started panicking. I kept envisioning these dogs with a locked jaw on my leg. I saw a truck coming towards me, and a man offered me a ride. At first I turned it down since my house was only 7 houses away, but my pride vanished when the gray pit bull really started getting aggressive. When the man realized which house I was going to, he said, "Oh! Your husband was the one who helped Sara!" I had no idea what he meant. I just wanted to get to the front door before the dogs did!

I called Brady and found out the second edition to the story. Before he left for work, he heard a blockbuster scream. He bolted out the door (picture this now!) and jumped over the bushes in the yard to see a woman with her dog. Her dog was being attacked by a gray pit bull. Brady did everything he could to get the pit bull off her dog, but it wouldn't give at all. It took the help of several neighbors before they could distract the dog and get it away. They tied the pit bull up, and called animal control.

Apparently the pit bull was either let go or got loose, but animal control finally did come to get the three dogs that tailed me home.

Crazy, huh? We're both happy to have our legs.

A Day in Monterey Bay

We love the ocean! These pictures were taken on the shores of Monterey Bay. We drove "17-mile road" around the coastline and completed the journey at Pebble Beach. Apparently rich people love the scenery as well because housing prices range from 4-15 million in this area.

The water does look inviting, but don't let the "Carribean color" fool you. It was freezing, so we didn't suit up for a swim.

Beautiful!!

Cory and Kristen took us on a tour of Monterey which included the famous Monterey Aquarium. We had a great time.

We felt like we were in "Finding Nemo."

What's up dude!

Karen and the Jellies. Sounds like the name of a band...

My little ocean pearl. Man, I'm funny!!

Doesn't this picture remind you of the screen saver that you always see?

The Big 26

Make a wish! Sorry there were no candles, Brady. But hopefully your wish still comes true.

John bought quite the cake for Brady! We had Cory and Kristen over, and all of us couldn't even put a dent in it! The cute thing is that John doesn't even like cake... He just remembered from weeks ago when Brady mentioned how much he LOVES chocolate cake with icing. We thought that was pretty thoughtful.

Here is the watch I bought for Brady. It was tricky buying it, since I don't have a car. But I (finally) surprised him successfully. (He almost blew it, though, when he suggested a watch as a present...AFTER I purchased it.)

Happy 4th of July

My aunt, uncle, and cousins invited us up to Vacaville for the 4th. We went to a ward breakfast, and then hung out in their resort-of-a-backyard. It was a good time!

We played Nerts for about 2 hours. It was pretty intense, and Brady and I got whopped.

Cory and Kristen saved us a spot at the Concord 4th of July event. A church put on a production with fun music and narration, and we watched fireworks with the kids. They weren't nearly as scared as at the As game. Maybe we should make it a habit to go to 2 fireworks shows in one weekend!

Baseball and Fireworks

The Oakland A's vs. the Chicago White Sox at the McAfee Coliseum. This is a picture of a home run hit by Joe Crede on the White Sox who, as a side note is making $400K per year. If you look closely, you can see the home run ball right over the pitcher's head(Click on the picture to see the larger image). This is the best our camera can do from the nose-bleed section.

Rachel and I, keepin' it cool as the A's tragically lose at home.

Karen and I watching the game three rows from the top.

But we did have an excellent view of the Pyrospectacular Fireworks show after the game.

Karen and Corn Dogs

This week I tried my very first corn dog at the Pleasanton County Fair. It was $4, and I honestly thought I might enjoy it. Nope. So here is an image of my first and last corn dog.