Wake up!

The only good thing about not having summer vacation, is not having a date that summer ends. Going back to school was always the end of summer, even if the weather was still hot. For the time being in my life, summer ends when it will. And although we haven’t done much traveling this summer, or this year for that matter, we have had a welcome stream of visitors filling our tiny apartment with good company and breaking us free from the normal routines. And to me, going out of the norm is the most important part of summer.

My mom was our most recent visitor. She was here for 10 days and we spent our afternoons together doing projects, walking the dog, and baking, just like we would if we weren’t separated by 2,800 miles. On this afternoon, we went to Half Moon Bay and did the afternoon stroll and shopping essential to every mother daughter visit.

When we got to the beach, there was no one around to take our picture, so this is what we got.

The fixin’s for a fabulous birthday cake for my very old brother.

But first comes the birthday dinner.

And then the cake. He at least seems amused by the glow of so many birthday candles. I wouldn’t be.

And just like that, 10 days were over, and everything is back to being normal, if not a little lonely.

Everyone, meet Brian. I know it’s easy to get distracted by his good looks and that almost visible sparkle beaming from his smile, but spend just one minute in Brian’s company and you will quickly learn that his best quality is his charming personality. The short time we spent together was long enough to discover that Brian is an intelligent, funny, and talented guy. He is a real estate agent and definitely the person I’d like to have on my side while blundering through the potentially intimidating feat of buying a home (especially in the Bay area). It was a pleasure to meet Brian and get him a few photos to use for his advertising.

If you do happen to be house hunting in this neck of the woods, check out his website here or his Facebook page here.

I missed the 4th of July last year because we were visiting family in Chile, so this was the first 4th we spent in the Bay Area. I was happy to have received an invitation from a work buddy to spend the 3rd of July celebrating with his friends and family. It was really nice to spend the day with someone’s family, considering ours are both so far away. When you get to spend some time with other families, you start to realize how similar they all are when they get together- lots of talking, lots of kids, lots of laughter, and always too much food!

The kiddies were anxious to light up the “sprinklers”.

They got a mini show before the sun went down. Look at that second fellow in from the left. This was clearly the start of a life-long flirtation with explosives.

I love bubbles. Rigo doesn’t really, but he loves me, which is why he will blow bubbles at the camera if I ask him to.

Beanie Babie anyone? Still not sure why my Beanie Babie was born on January 23 when all the others were born on July 4.

As with most fun things in life, the real excitement began after sundown.

Happy 4th of July. Hope you all had a good one!