Dirty Laundry

With all the new house guests, we have to up the chores around the house. Ewww, I know. But there are so many in the house now and they all have been in the attic for so long. You can't believe how dirty these toys got just laying around. So Erin's mom showed up to help us out.

We had piles and piles of laundry, and the washer and dryer were just not going to get to it all. Erin's mom showed us how we could speed up the process. And I think Erin figured out how to use the record button on her camera just so she could have proof that we sheep do know how to clean.

Remember this moment people, because it is not going to happen again for a very, very, VERY long time.

Henry Ford would be proud.

Well, we got all the clothes cleaned and dried. And more important, we found a use for Erin's salad spinner. Poor thing never gets used; like Erin would ever make a salad.

Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

Erin came home from work last week and started running around the house. She was tossing clothes everywhere. A suitcase whizzed by my head. D.J. and I started to suspect that Erin was a little stressed and was planning to leave soon. I know we normally don't talk about work on this blog, but it seemed that Erin's work trip meant that we needed to step up and work, too. So D.J. and I crawled into Erin's suitcase when she wasn't looking. Man, she packed a lot of sweaters.

So D.J. and I had no idea where we were going but we knew that Erin needed to have her little plush therapy buddies. And all day we got tossed and thrown. We were seriously glad that Erin packed all those sweaters. But finally, Erin plopped her suitcase down on a hotel bed and went for her P.J.s. And out we came. She was shocked.

She scolded us for being stowaways. And lectured us on what could have happened if she had to check her bag and the airport lost us. But we could see that she wasn't really mad at us, just frustrated by work and deep down I know she was happy to see us. After about an hour of listening to her tell us about the last minute trip, the last minute ordeal with booking the flight, the lost hotel and car rental reservations, how she sat in water waiting for the bus and about 25 other ways of saying "life happens" we all cuddled up for a good night sleep.

In the morning, Erin went off to work and D.J. and I planned out how we were going to rescue Erin. First we check to see where the heck we were even at. We were in San Jose, California! How exciting, we have never been to California for a visit.

What is this thing called a "Sun" and how does it work?

Then checked the weather to see why Erin had packed so many darn sweaters. But the weather was gorgeous! It was 50 - 60s and sunny. It was a no brainier. As soon as Erin got out of her meeting we were going outside for a little fun. No excuse. Of course Erin had an excuse. She said she had to get some work done and write this paper. But we insisted that she take a break, enjoy the day, and take us...I mean see the Golden Gate Bridge.

Cheese!

Of course, we won. We knew that the engineer in Erin couldn't pass up the chance to see one of the most world renowned suspension bridges. And then we convinced her to take a stroll on the bridge.

This bridge is monolithic.

We wanted to reenact a movie which had a scene with the bridge. So we thought we might do... "Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus" or maybe a dramatic scene like in "You Kill Me." Or something heroic like in "X-Men 3: The Last Stand." Or something fun like in "Monsters vs Aliens." Oooo maybe, something like "Star Trek IV: Voyage Home." O wait. No defiantly not "Star Trek IV: Voyage Home." That's enough to make someone want to jump off the bridge and add to the bridge suicide rate. You know like in "The Bridge." O...we didn't think of that. Maybe we shouldn't have brought a sad Erin to the bridge that she could jump from...um...ok, moving on...

Look how pretty the view is...behind the guardrail.

After a few snap shots we decided to go back to solid ground. Erin was shaking her head and patting us on the heads. And then she pointed to a little island out in the bay and said, "if I had the time I would take you 2 there to be booked." We didn't know what she was talking about. Obviously the stress of work had gotten to her.

Have us "booked"? Is it a library? Funny place for a library.

But we though we better humor Erin and take a closer look.

"I don't see any books. Do you think they have Curious George?"

Erin told us that it was Alcatraz. I didn't care what they called it, that place looked like they were serious about their late fees.

Not a very accessible library.

Erin just laughed at our lack of interest in going to a library in the middle of the bay. And she said "guess you guys will have to stay on the lamb." Then she laughed. At that point we decided we better take her back to the hotel. She must have gotten sunstroke.

We got Erin in the car and she started driving. But then she took a wrong turn.

Back on the bridge again.

And we ended up having to go over the bridge. Erin said she didn't want to drive over the bridge but we reminded her that there was no U-Turns on the bridge. Please note the sign.

I think they spelled that wrong. It should be "No Ewe Turns."
I hate it when those ewes get to turning.

Soon enough we were on the other side of the bridge. Erin pulled off to the side to see where she could turn around. And D.J. spotted that this side of the bridge had free parking! So we made Erin stop and take more pictures.

O yes this is clearly my better side.

No sooner had the flash gone off did Erin have us back in the car. She said she HAD to get back to the hotel to do some work. I think she was a little embarrassed. There was a few people pointing and looking at us weird. I TOLD Erin that she should have spent more time looking for her camera case. But NOOO she had to just grab a fuzz sock and use that for her camera case. I was so embarrassed. I mean some times I just don't want to be seen with Erin. She just draws too much attention. But what can you do? You just have to love those humans no matter how weird they are.

But it didn't matter really, because soon enough we were back on the bridge. And Erin said she was going to drive really slow to enjoy the bridge ride because it was going to cost so much money.

Come on Erin! The speed limit is 45 miles per hour not 45 inches per decade!

And then we got to the tollbooths. Do you know how much it cost to go over the bridge!? SIX dollars! Those bridge suspensions better be made out of diamonds for that rate!

$6.00! Quick, check for coins in the seat!

But all ended well. I think Erin had a good time. She seemed a little less stressed and a lot tanner. And we got back to the hotel and Erin sat down to write her paper. And I sat down to get caught up on some of my reading.

"The Art of Deduction."

And all was great...until D.J. decided to get caught up on being annoying.

OUCH! D.J.!

The rest of the trip went great. (After I got some duct tape and put an end to D.J.'s pouncing.) Erin got a good part of her paper written and did a great job on her business trip. And we all hurried home to Seattle to meet up with Franklin and John.

Lamb Cam

So this morning Taylor was watching CNN (talk about a boring morning ritual). Although this morning it paid off, Jeanne Moos did this interesting report about an artist that puts cameras on animals and makes videos of it.

He even did one of lambs. Now I wonder what we'd see if he put one on D.J.

Anyhow, here is a short clip of it, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQwC-ZzpiLE, the exciting part of it is about 1:00 into the video.

Day Outing

I'm so so so tired. It took me 2 weeks just to muster up enough energy to sit at the keyboard and type. I thought Angela was really nice because she drove me to the Day of Caring but now I realize that she is physical activity crazy. I tried to talk with Erin about the company she keeps, but she ignored me, like always.

Here's how the other weekend went down:

We were all talking about going and hanging out on the weekend and Erin wanted to go canoeing and Chris wanted to go hiking. So Angela suggested we compromise and climb a mountain and THEN go canoeing all in ONE afternoon. So we first planned to go climb Rattlesnake Mountain. Ummm...does anyone one else see what could go wrong. I mean sheep and rattlesnakes don't get along very well. And well...while we are on the subject, sheep and mountains don't really get along well either. Do I look like a goat!? But Erin tossed Chris and me in the car and we were off despite my major objections. We picked up Angela and VJ and drove to the mountain.

At the base of the mountain was a map to show you how poorly they planned the trail. Don't they know that the fastest way to get from one point to another is a straight line?

Do you see where the elevator is?

Ok, I must admit climbing the mountain wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We even found some walking sticks and were having a great time.

Bring on Mount Everest!

It was all great until Erin told us that we only walked 2 minutes and it was going to take about 2 hours to get up the mountain and back. She also pointed out that she had carried Chris and I for about a minute and a half of that time. 2 HOURS! forget that. Chris and I made a run for it and made it back to the car. So Angela, VJ, and Erin had to turn back. (Erin scolded us in front of Angela and VJ but then whispered that we would all get an extra scoop of ice cream later.)

So we were off to the go canoeing. Which sounded like a lot of fun. But it soon turned to scary watching those uncoordinated humans try to board the canoe. I didn't even get a life jacket. I just knew we were going to all drown with the lack of balance they all had. It was clear that us sheep would have to take charge. So we sat on the bow and yelled at the humans to tell them when to row.

Row! Row! Row!

I think we could have been on the Olympic rowing team. Well, at least Chris and I could. Those other people should just stick to watching the experts on TV. Of course, Erin soon told us to shut up and just enjoy the view. So we turned around and screamed whenever they got close to rowing into anything.

Watch out for that tree on the left.

Erin said we reminded her of Hyacinth Bucket. And well VJ said he couldn't handle it anymore. And he threatened to throw us overboard. YES HE DID! He is a big meanie. We even got proof this time as Erin was messing with the camera and accidentally put it on video record without realizing it. (Although there isn't much Erin does that she realizes.) Here is the footage of the crime, see for yourselves how mean VJ is.



When we threatened to call the police, VJ got scared. And all of a sudden we found ourselves stranded on a log in the middle of the raging white rapids. The canoe was rowing away really fast and I was got really scared...I mean...Chris was really scared and started to cry. So I yelled at the humans to come back and we would behave.

Come back! We'll be good sheep! PROMISE!

After a little negotiation between us sheep and VJ, we got to come back on board. But we made sure either Erin or Angela was between us and VJ from then on.

We rowed a little furthered and then we made some new friends. Nice friends. The ducks seemed very nice and lazy. They were just floating in the water. Our kind for friends.

Rubber Ducky, your the one...

But by that time we were really really hungry. So we decided to stop canoeing and go eat. We got yummy pizza.

Nummy

After supper Chris and I ran off to talk while Angela, VJ, and Erin sorted out the bill. We had a long conversation. I mean really long, like a whole minute. We talked about about how Angela was making us do impossible physical activist and how VJ tried to abandoned us on a log. But then we though of how Justin makes us go to the gym. And we remembered that one time when Mikey put me in a ziplock bag and took me to the boob factory. So in reality, these new friends were just as unstable as Erin's other friends. Really it seems that these acts are what human friends do to each other. So I guess Angela and VJ are really good friends. At least good by human standards. But I am still going to hide next time they all talk about us going to play in the wilderness. Humans are crazy.