Don't chuck your muck in my backyard...

...because my backyard has berries!


I couldn't believe it when I heard some people were picking
wild blackberries ,
but sure enough, they have already started to turn!
Fortunate for me, we have a blackberry bush on our property.
(They are like a weed in Seattle... just try to stop them from growing.)
This was all I grabbed tonight, but I will get more tomorrow.

Oh, and apparently we have a wild strawberry bush as well.
This was the only one ripe and ready to be eaten.
I shared it with my sister in law, and
we both agree it was De-licious!

Close call

This is a photo taken from the front steps of our rented house. The SUV is my sister in law, Monica's, and the red truck is my neighbors.

Our little white car is usually parked between these two vehicles but today we parked it farther down our driveway near the garage.

My neighbor has a lot of cars. Usually at least 4 at any given time. Typically there is a car or truck parked in front of the red pickup truck, just off the street.



These are the police that showed up in front our our house last night.



...because this white car was driving too fast and couldn't maneuver fast enough and PLOWED into my neighbors car (the Ford Focus now on its side).
Yeah. This car WAS parked in front of the red pickup truck.



This is how far the car had to be hit over to not only move 20 or so feet from where it was parked, but to also get pushed up and over our neighbors' wall/fence.

If you are interested in more details about this story:
Monico was in our backyard prepping the BBQ grill. I was in the house prepping stuff in the kitchen and Monica was in the living room watching TV.
Monica saw the white car through the window speeding. Monico heard the screech and looked up the driveway just in time to see the white car plow into the Ford Focus. (We ALL heard the boom of the cars hitting.) I looked out the front window but couldn't see the accident.
Monico came running in "did you see that?"
With his help to know what happened, I then looked over into my neighbors' yard and saw the car on it's side and smoke coming up.
Then my neighbor (the wife) came running passed our front window, through our yard, shooting a gun and chasing down the driver of the white car.
So. We all dropped to the floor to avoid gun fire.
Yep. On the floor of my house. With my dog's collar in my hand. Because there was a gun being fired in my front yard.
And all I could think of was "crap. are the hamburgers burning on the bbq?"
Monica called 911.
The police arrived.
We came out to see what the damage was.

The good news was our cars and/or property was not damaged.
No one was injured. (My neighbor had been unloading groceries from her bronco parked next to the truck. Had she been out there, she would have been standing in the path of the cars. Also, they have golden retriever which was not in the way or in the front yard.)
They caught the guy.
Our dinner was ok. :)

Back from Vacation

After dealing with school, work, and life (in general),
we needed a REAL vacation.
We hadn't been on vacation in nearly 3 years.

This vacation started at 2:00 AM, when we woke
to be to the airport by 3:00 AM to catch a 5:15 AM flight.

After a VERY brief layover in Phoenix, AZ, we arrived here.

Specifically we arrived here...

We stayed here.

(It was so humid
this is what happened to my camera
when I tried to take an outside photo from our room's balcony!)

These are the bracelets we had to wear
the 6 days/5 nights we were at the hotel...

...so we could have unlimited access to things like this

...and this

...and this

...so we could do this

We didn't just stay at the hotel the whole time.

We did a couple of timeshare presentations and got free cab fare,
as well as free tickets to Rhythm of the Night.
(Think BYU's Living Legends if they only did pre-hispanic Mexico.)

This is where we went to see the show

This is how we got there.

This is the outdoor stage where the show takes place.
(Sorry, no photos of show are allowed.)

We also did this...

...in the rain
(it IS rainy season there right now).
BTW - this is what you look like after you ride in the rain.
Not to mention a little barter-style shopping downtown.
(We passed on this particular item.)

It was EXACTLY what we hoped for and
what we needed.

We are feeling much better now.