On Fire!

ripOn Fire District that is! Josh and I had the opportunity to have the Chief of the Ripon, CA fire district give us a tour of the station. The woman we live with, Brenda, is a volunteer at the station so we had a foot in the door! The fact that the Chief is a huge baseball fan helped a little too I'm sure ;)
(For those of you who are also baseball fans, there's a Josh update for you at the end of this post.)

We learned a lot about the RFD. It was created in 1921, before the city was even created and in 1974 it added an emergency Ambulance Service which was the first ambulance service or fire department in San Joaquin County to provide Advanced Life Support. Ripon Fire welcomes firefighters from all over the WORLD to see their training facilities, procedures and equipment. They have a 4 story fire training tower to aid in training classes. The structure has 2 lined burn rooms: one with propane-fueled props and a second story attic designed for normal combustible materials. Ripon is a very small city, so the RFD is kind of a "big deal."

Here are some photos from our tour!


This is one of the old fire trucks





This is one of the new ones!





It's every man's dream...a toolbox on wheels.





Yep, every man's dream ;)



Aand of course we had to have a view from the top!




Yes, fire stations really do have the pole...







We had a great time touring the station, and learned SO much! Thank You RFD!!




Now, here's what else is "On Fire!" (Josh is going to KILL me for that one.....)

For our family and friends who like to keep up with Josh and baseball you know it's been a long road to get back to "healthy!"
I'm not bragging, trust me when I say he's had challenges since coming back from (three) surgeries. Which is why I like to celebrate the good days!

Here is an article that Brian VanderBeek from the Modesto Bee wrote about Josh

Sullivan almost perfect as Nuts sweep Bakersfield - Modesto Nuts - Modbee.com


Here are some photos from that game!!












This is (left to right) Will Harris, Casey Weathers, and Josh




And here is me and Josh




and Me, Josh, and Brenda





Last night, Josh had another great start and the writer of the Modesto Bee, Brian VanderBeek, figured out my dad Will's connection to Ripon (the small town next to Modesto where we live) and thought is was just too cool of a connection to not write about! So here is the article from today's paper:

Nuts' Sullivan sharp in win over Stockton - Modesto Nuts - Modbee.com

It's been an exciting 10 days for the Sullivan family. With only 2 weeks left in the season, we are looking forward to the off season, but must say it's been a wonderful 4 weeks in Modesto so far ;)

Another "Home Sweet Home!"

For most, moving seems like a daunting task. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely not easy moving all the time, but you quickly learn how to make the most of your move and how to turn just "another home" into "home sweet home!" (Especially when moving in the baseball world is usually a positive thing....moving UP!!) Moving often allows us to meet some amazing people and provides us with opportunities we may never have had, so we are really loving all of our new homes!

As you may think, it's pretty difficult just finding living arrangements. We spent 5 weeks in Washington, then moved to Modesto and have only 5 weeks until the season ends. Renting an apartment was an option but finding furniture and setting up utilities just seemed like a lot of work for a 5 week stay. So, we got really really lucky when our living arrangements worked out PERFECTLY! We are renting a room from a family friend for a very good deal in a house in Ripon, CA. It is a 50's style ranch house and we pretty much get the entire left side of the house to ourselves. The house is so cute and homey. It reminds me of my grandparent's house, minus the made-from-scratch biscuits!

Here is the front yard





And here is the cute little kitchen stocked with everything we need!




But, the BEST part is the back yard!!









We grill out all the time! Here is Josh hard at work ;)






While the food is on the grill, we have cannon ball contests! Josh's form is decent....





My form is decently BAD.....







We play basketball too and I KILL Josh at HORSE. :)





Ripon is such a cute little farm town with a population of around 13,000. The downtown area is all brick roads and they have cute little shops and a couple of restaurants. Every Thursday afternoon they have a small farmer's market. It is really small, with only about 10 booths, but it is so fun to walk around and look at all the fresh Ripon grown fruits and veggies!



The Ripon farmer's market is "quaint" but in a good way. It's so refreshing to know that when you purchase something you could literally helping out your neighbor!




And the Kettle Corn is AMAZING!!!




The farmer's market is only a few blocks away and I really enjoy getting to go there every week. Ripon is definitely a close knit community where it seems everyone knows everybody! The wonderful woman, Bren, that we rent the house from volunteers at the Ripon fire department and is involved in other parts of the community as well so, we hear first hand at what's going on in the little town we live in. I'm thinking a visit to the fire department is in our near future!! Bren tells me that the firemen at the station are HUGE baseball fans and would love to meet Josh ;)

Speaking of Josh, here's what HE has been up to...





Bet you never could have guessed ;) Here are a few more of him in action, I love taking pics when he is pitching! Nights at the ballpark are beautiful here. The weather is gorgeous every day and it cools off to the perfect temperature every night.





Look at the sunset!! It's like this every night here! Aren't we lucky?!






We miss all of you but we are sure enjoying our new "Home Sweet Home!"