Tahoe or Bust...

Heidi writes:

Sorry for the delay in not updating sooner. It has been one of those weeks. Jeff and I went to Tahoe City (North Tahoe) with some of my co-workers/classmates last weekend. We had a really good time. One of the girls has an uncle with a condo up there and he let us stay there for free - it was a nice place and it wasn't too far from the water. It was also great weather - high 60s/low 70s all weekend. We got there on Friday afternoon, hung out, went to dinner and walked around for a while. That night, we went to the casinos in Nevada (about 15 minutes away). Saturday, we went on a boat tour of Lake Tahoe and more specifically of Emerald Bay. The water and views were absolutely amazing!! We got some really good pictures. We conked out for a couple of hours in the afternoon, but had a great time that night. We went back to the casinos and had the $2.99 steak and eggs breakfast :-) It was so much fun! Here are a few pictures from the trip:

These two pictures were taken from the boat. We have a ton of pictures from the trip!

The tree above may look young and small, but it is actually over 150 years old!! It just can't grow any bigger because there is no place for the roots to grow in the rocks!

Below is the group we went with (right to left): Jeremy, Kelly, Shiraz, Junior, Sylvia, Kari, Amy, Jason, Heidi, Jeff. Below is the boat that we road on. It was a good time!



Not a lot of plans for this weekend. We are going to hang out with people on Friday and not sure what else for the rest of the weekend.

This week has been good. We had a big program tonight - Safe Trick or Treat on campus. We had over 400 kids attend!! It is also Alcohol Awareness Week and there a lot of programs for that. We are also getting ready for International Education Week in a couple of weeks, so that will be fun :-) Next weekend I get to go to an RA conference (I am presenting a program at it) and the weekend after that I will be going to Regional NASPA in San Francisco, so that will be fun.

Time is just flying by and I am excited for the semester to be over. I don't have too many things left - about 3 presentations, 4 major papers, 5 smaller papers, and an oral exam. It seems like a lot, but with the work I have done so far, it is not that much.

Jeff is doing well. He handed in his application to participate in Leadership Lodi and hopefully that will work out for him. He will be on a committee with other business-people from Lodi and will be doing a community-improvement project.

One other thing going on - we are hoping to bring Bait and Tackle back with us when we are home in Dec. A few of us have done research on pet policies at other universities across the US. Jason, one of the GRDs here, has put together an excellent proposal. He has convinced everyone he has presented to thus far and has one more committee left - with all of the "important" people. I am hoping it goes well!! We have really good relationships with the higher-ups, so hopefully they will be on our side and say "yes"!! Of course, we will have to sedate them both (especially Bait) because they hate being in cars or any other form of a vehicle - he would start hyper-ventilating again and probably wouldn't make it out here.

OK, this is long and it is getting late. I hope all is well with everyone! I will try to upload pictures tomorrow - and hopefully they will load!

Have a great wedding Nick and Karin - we will be thinking about you!!!

A Fun Weekend

Heidi writes:

Jeff and I had a fun weekend. We went to Monteray Bay and Carmel on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. We took the scenic route down CA-Hwy 1. It was the first time that we really saw the ocean (besides the SF bay) since we have been out here. We started out at the Aquarium in Monteray Bay. It was pretty cool. I really liked watching the penguins - they were cute. We saw a ton of other sea life. The camera really wouldn't work in some of the exhibits (no flash allowed - it would scare the fish, sharks, octopus, eel...), but if you really like sea life, I would recommend it. Here are a couple of pictures:

After the Aquarium, we went and tasted some wine on Cannery Row. (Cannery Row became known as Cannery Row because of the amount of sardines that it once canned.) That part of CA is known more for its' white wine where here, in the valley, we are known more for the reds, especially Old Vine Zins. So, we tasted a few different varietals and I was pretty impressed. After we tasted, we walked down by the water and I waded a little bit and got splashed - my jeans were pretty wet, but they dried out!

I just like this picture...the starfish is adorable! We took the picture from one of the winery windows! We had some great views!

After Monteray, we drove down to Carmel. It was a gorgeous drive and we had a wonderful walk on the beach. However, our camera didn't want to work at that time, so we didn't get any pictures :-( Of course, that just means that we will have to go there again and take more pictures :-) One of the big sights to see is Pebble Beach golf course. We didn't do the drive arround it because of the camera, but will definitely do it next time we are there. We drove back up to Monteray for dinner and ate at the Old Fisherman's Wharf. The restaurant we ate was at the end of the pier and we ate dinner while watching sea-lions and sea-otters play in the ocean! After dinner we walked around wharf area and started to hear the sea-lions. We walked over to the side and saw a few of the sea-lions below the pier on the rafters - they were getting ready to sleep. A couple of them fell asleep (one was snoring!) and others just kept barking back and forth. There was a lot of wierd sounds coming from them and I laughed pretty hard! On the next trip, I want to go on a whale-watching cruise, so hopefully we will do that soon!

Here are a couple of pictures of Jeff and I taken on Cannery Row.

















We had a fun Saturday, which made for a lazy Sunday, but it was nice. I am looking forward to going back soon and also looking forward to going back when it is "swimming" weather!

As far as the rest of the week goes, my Thursday class is canceled - it is now a "research" day and Jeff has his departmental retreat for work (they are going to Ironstone Winery). On Friday, we will be going to North Lake Tahoe with a few of my co-workers. I am really looking forward to it! Have a great week everyone!

Kickball and Stuff

Heidi writes:

Last Saturday, I played in a kickball tourney with a few people from General Mills and a couple people of UoP. It was a great time. We played a total of 5 games, beginning at 9am!! We ended up getting 2nd place - so we got some snazzy t-shirts and a scare crow! The kickball tourney was part of Elk Grove's Harvest Festival. There were a lot of festivities going on throughout the day, including a giant pumpkin contest...they were huge! Here are a couple of pictures:

Me at my first kick of the day. I did OK, the first game, but then learned how to kick and I was very happy with my performance! I did a good job on the field as well, catching a few balls and making a couple of plays!

Here is a picture of the team with the scarecrow. Our team name..."Meet the Crockers!" I had to let everyone know that I was an orginal member of the "Meet the Crockers" team :-)
Here is a picture of a few of the giant pumpkins. They had other giant fruits and veggies, but none as big as the pumpkins. The winning pumpkin weighed in at over 1200 lbs!!

In other news, Jeff got a promotion at work!! YEAH :-) He had a great time when he was in MN. I have heard many great stories and have seen some wonderful pictures. I would post some of the pictures, but most of them turned out blurry - we need to teach everyone how to use our camera. I didn't even get to see any pictures of my kitties :-( However, Jeff told me that they are huge - Tackle weighs about 12 lbs. and Bait weighs in at about 16 lbs! I miss them lots and am very excited to see them in December. Speaking of that, we booked our plane tickets home!! We will be in flying out on Dec. 15 and returning on Jan. 2. Can't wait to see everyone!! Not sure what we are going to do this weekend...we'll bring the camera though!

Random Post

Heidi writes:

Not a whole lot to report on my end. Jeff is in Iowa and Minnesota for the week, so I am here. I saw the movie Open Season this weekend. I really liked it - it reminded me of home!! My plans for this week include homework, homework, and homework - maybe some shopping or other fun things in there! The big news from California - it rained yesterday!!! It made me smile! It has not rained since we got here, so it was awesome! Here is the weather forecast for the next week for Stockton:
5 DAY FORECAST
Monday73°F (23°C) 49°F (9°C)
Tuesday78°F (26°C) 52°F (11°C)
Wednesday68°F (20°C) 49°F (9°C)
Thursday74°F (23°C) 48°F (9°C)
Friday74°F (23°C) 48°F (9°C)

I think it is actually warmer in MN today than it is here!! How crazy!

Other News: GO TWINS!! There are a few people here who are thinking about going to the games in Oakland on Saturday and I would love to. We tried to get tickets, but standing room only was all that was left :-( I would still go though!!!

I hope everyone has a great week. And for anyone in MN who reads this, take care of Jeff when you see him! It is so different not having him here!! He also has the camera, so be sure to take lots of pictures for me!!