Cody's Friends are My Friends Too

A few weeks after our Yosemite trip, we hung out with some of Cody's friends. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures, but it was nice getting to know more about Cody through his friends.

River Rafting:
Cody and I joined Adrienne, Mike, Chase, & Carrie on the American River for a day of rafting.  I had never gone river rafting, which is a bit hard to believe since I've lived next to the river almost all my life.  The experience was nice, except for there were TONS of other people rafting too. And they were all rowdy! Plus, all the trash!  This activity illustrates perfectly how horrible humans treat nature.  Loud, rowdy, polluting people disturbing the peace of the river. I suppose it wouldn't have been so bad if the river wasn't so crowded; I would like to take my family river rafting someday. But even the cost of this activity, I feel, discourages certain people from participating.
 Ignoring all the noise and trash left behind by rafters, you could really enjoy the riparian ecosystems. We saw tons of ducks. Cody pointed out all the different types, as well as some plants.  We saw some pretty cool rock and riverbank formations.  And when the sun got too hot to be under, we slipped into the water :)  The water, of course, was super cold! Afterward, we all hung out at Adrienne & Chase's house for grilled eggplants and tofu. Earlier that day, Adrienne gave Cody and me a pair of string bracelets from Brazil to make a wish. I wished for ****** ;p  Supposedly, your wish is suppose to come true when your bracelet falls off on its own. So I tied Cody's bracelet on him and he tied mine. Mine fell off within the hour; I guess Cody didn't tie it strongly enough, but that meant that my wish is going to come true really fast, right?

Dinner with Stacey & Derek:
Derek is an old friend of Cody & Mike, so they've known one another for years.  Derek got engaged over the summer, to a very special lady, Stacey.  So we had all been meaning to meet some time, but just never gotten around to it, until last weekend in August.  I kept hearing amazing things about Stacey from Cody, who heard it from Derek, and guess what, she really is wonderful.  We decided to have a potluck together, but ended up eating as if we had gone to a 5 star restaurant! She made some amazing, mouth-watering, spicy bbq cauliflowers (in lieu of bbq chicken wings). She also made really good tomato and portobello sandwiches with cheese.  AND delicious, delicious (no, that's not  a typo) humus. Plus, they provided the wine.  Cody and I made spring rolls for them- not as fancy, but still fun.  While the food was cooking, I got a tour of their home and WOW!  It's so artsy!  and yet, nicely decorated.  Not at all like my place would be if I had all that space to throw my brushes and projects on the floor.  All those projects that I pin on pinterest, I bet Stacey would be able to do them and actually follow thru with it. After dinner, we played  Cards Against Humanity, which is like Apples to Apples, but more perverse. We all had fun and I had a great time being more open with Cody and his friends. I'm glad Cody isn't afraid of showing me to his friends. They're all pretty cool.