MrAndrewBradley

Calaveras County was the place to be this weekend. It started out on Friday night with Jay Leno doing a segment on last weekend's Calaveras County Frog Jump . Then we had an inch of snow, giving me the opportunity to send in my weather picture to Fox40 (KTXL-TV, Sacramento) and have the deck of the Bradley Lodge shown on air during their 10 pm newscast Saturday night. Beyond showbiz, we did do some work. We finished cleaning up the property and dug out the fire pits and although we should pass the inspection, we will still need to do some more work. On Sunday we also went to Murphys to wine taste (I watched my nephews, while the others drank), enjoyed a picnic lunch and my sister-in-law allowed my nephews to indulge in some frozen yogurt .

I had the opportunity to attend an amazing conference this week with one of my clients, The Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa . Each year the US Travel Association puts on a little conference that draws well over 5,000 to learn about the sites, hotels and everything else the United States has to offer travelers from around the world. Sunday I started my day with a six mile run and then headed off to Vacaville for some shopping .  A hundred dollars later and a few full bags of clothing from the Gap Outlet and Aeropostale Outlet , I headed to my hotel in San Francisco , located just blocks away from the largest convention center I've ever been to, The Mascone Center . When I arrived at the hotel, where I had stayed a few times before , I got unpacked, changed and started my walk to the hotel where my client was staying, the Sir Francis Drake . On my way I couldn't resist stopping in the Gap flagship store and taking a few pictures of the famous San Francisco Cable Cars . ...

Hillside on Sunday Hillside on Saturday In what I believe was a first for the Bradley Lodge , we went from raking pine needles and burning them to having snow on the ground within a 12 hour period. We were incredibly productive on Saturday getting most of our property cleaned up and fire safe (raking all of the pine needles and picking up all the branches that dropped on the ground) and even burned almost all of the needles and branches that we raked. Thinking it wouldn't snow too much, we also drained all the gas from the snow blower (oops). Our picnic table also got a little too much snow on it during one of the last storms, the picture is pretty amazing. Sunday, we woke up to about 10 inches of snow on the ground and by the time we left around 10:30 in the morning there was a foot of snow and it was still coming down. Once in Lodi we stopped at Rancho San Miguel Market to pick up a carnitas meal for lunch and headed back to my grandma's house. The plan was to w...

I just wanted to say a big "Thank You" to my mom and to all of the other moms and grandmas out there. Being a mom is an often thankless job. Few kids will ever say "thank you" for not letting me do that or "thank you" for disciplining me or "thank you" for making so many things possible in my life. There are not enough "thank yous" for our moms. My mom and dad have sacrificed much to help make me who I am. They have sacrificed luxuries to put me through high school and college, they have sacrificed time to help me in my many moves, they have sacrificed themselves, their dreams, their ambitions to help me and my brother succeed. Thank you. Below are some pictures from yesterday's Mother's Day celebration at my grandma's house in Lodi.

Packing was just my first adventure. The goal ... fit 13 days worth of clothes into one big bag and keep it under 50 pounds . After succeeding with that, it was off to Florida for a cruise adventure with my parent's and their neighbors. Below is a quick text recap of each day and pictures. I hope you enjoy the memories. Day 0: After packing, it was off to the airport. We had layovers in Los Angeles and Dallas before finally making it to Fort Lauderdale . On the trip I saw Arco Arena (Power Balance Pavilion) and got another Coca-Cola can to add to a collection of international cans that is at my parent's house. Day 1: We boarded Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas after sitting in the "Emerald Lounge." Once on board we saw (and used) our first automatic Purell dispenser ... the best way to make sure everyone on the cruise doesn't get sick, use lots of Purell. We unpacked all of our bags and shockingly everything fit in our closet and drawers. My b...