Old Sac RR & Family Progressive Dinner

It was a fun weekend of family time in Sacramento and Roseville. First my family (brother's family - aka parent's of my nephew, our parents and our grandma) met at my parent’s house for a beautiful dinner in their backyard under the pergola. Then on Saturday I met everyone in Old Sacramento, where I was a “home town tourist” and we climbed aboard the Sacramento Southern Railroad for a ride down the Sacramento River, with views of the State Capitol, Tower Bridge, the river, the Delta King, Miller Park and of course, I-5. As a parent on the train told their child, we were riding on “Thomas the Tank Engine’s” cousin, I might say it is more distant than that, but it seemed to work for almost every kid, including my nephew, Luke, who loves the Thomas DVDs and playing with his Thomas’ train set.

After a ride down the river and some time walking around Old Sacramento we all headed to my house in Roseville for lunch and to hang out before starting the family progressive dinner at my cousin’s house a few miles away from my house. She and her husband prepared a great taco bar and got the party started for our 14 person gathering. After dinner we headed to my house for brownies and ice cream. We were able to use almost every main room in my house too, I served everything from the kitchen island, people ate in the kitchen and family room, then we moved out onto the front porch for a little while before heading to the backyard and sitting under the recently constructed pergola, which now has decorative fabric (to increase the amount of shade it provides) and lighting.

Sunday my brother’s family and I went to Bayside for some amazing worship and a great message on Esther, while Luke enjoyed a ride on one of the Bayside Shuttle Busses, playing with toy cars and going on the slide at the Boardwalk (Bayside’s “Nursery”). For lunch we went to Islands and then looked at some properties in Granite Bay, just incase they decide to move from the Bay Area at some point in future. After a busy day, we made one more stop at my parent’s house so Luke could jump in the pool before heading back to his house in the Bay Area.

Next week, I’m off to Bakersfield, Hanford, Visalia, Fresno, Modesto, San Jose and the Bradley Lodge. Then Monday I’m back in Sacramento for a few days before heading out to Ukiah, Willits, Laytonville, Eureka and Crescent City. It will be a lot of driving for my Hertz rental car, but should be fun and I get to stay at my favorite hotel chain, Best Western (free wi-fi and Southwest Rapid Rewards credits, it’s a good deal).

A Busy Weekend

Well, after being "featured" in the Sacramento Bee on Friday for purchasing "Fort Bradley" it was time to "finish" the backyard. My parent's and I spent Saturday and Sunday putting up the pergola that has been mentioned so many times on my blog as one of the last projects to be done and now it is done!! After the pergola went up (and we took pictures) we added drawer pulls and knobs to the kitchen and laundry room cabinets and drawers, so now I can say, not only is the inside done, but so is the backyard (done meaning, there is still more to do, but no more "major" projects are left).

As if putting up a pergola and finishing things up around my house were not enough to make it a great weekend, my parent's and I also went to a family friend's wedding. It is kind of a cool story, the mom of the girl who got married was my mom's college neighbor and was in my parent's wedding, so now, my family has been to two of her three daughter's weddings and both families are still good friends. The wedding was very nice and was my first "bilingual wedding" (Carly was in the Peace Corp in Nicaragua, where she met Rigo. They both currently live in Boston, where Carly will be starting her second year of med school).

My house now awaits its first official family gathering, a progressive dinner, next weekend. Dinner at my cousin's house and dessert at mine ... Luke your toys and gift await your arrival.

In the Bee!

Well, if you follow me on Twitter or are my friend on Facebook you remember all of the "painting party" and "working on my new house" updates over the last month and a half, well it just so happens that a reporter from the Sacramento Bee, Jim Wasserman, was also paying attention. He called me on Wednesday to see if he could use me and my new home purchase in a story that came out today, showing how the Roseville, in particular WestPark/West Roseville, housing market is doing better than the rest of the Sacramento region when it comes to home sales. Although I have always heard of "social media" (in fact it is a part of my job) and how it could help in situations like this one (a reporter needing a lead for a story), but I never thought I would actually be that lead, it was really cool and Jim was great to work with.

Relaxing at the Lodge

My family and I actually did some relaxing this weekend, there was no moving, no yard work and no painting, it was just a time to relax at the Bradley Lodge. It was a great opportunity to hang out with my parent's neighbors, Steve and Sandy, and my grandma, while going to Bear Valley Village, eating lunch at the Lake Alpine Lodge and of course go shopping around Arnold and Murphy's. While shopping at the Outhouse Collection and ACE Hardware in Arnold, Steve even decided that he wanted to look like his cooking idol, Guy Fieri (take a look at the pictures and I personally like the kid's train bench for my nephew, but I didn't get that, he will get another gift soon). We also got a little bit of rain (well okay a sprinkle) that made for a beautiful rainbow.

Backyard "Finished"

Well with the help of my parents and a three day weekend, the backyard at "Fort Bradley" is nearly finished, all we are waiting on is the concrete for cure enough for us to put up the pergola, which should happen in about two weeks (we are headed to the Bradley Lodge next weekend). Since my last post, we have worked non-stop to plant about 50 plants (not an easy task when digging in Roseville's rock/dirt), installed a drip irrigation system, put bark, rock and decomposed granite all around, laid stepping stones, built garden beds (and planted a basil and a tomato plant). Below are pictures, the last few are a "time lapse" from beginning to now.

Backyard Day 1

After one very long, hot day, my backyard is slowing looking more and more like my design plans. We started off the morning at The Home Depot, then went to Hastie's Capitol Sand and Gravel to get a few yards of rock and bark, then worked throughout the day to install a retaining wall, get the sprinklers controls ready for a drip system, spread out the bark and rock and my design consultants, Steve and Sandy, stopped by for a consultation too. It is looking pretty good, tomorrow we hope to start planting things and getting it looking even better.