ps

I haven't proofread ANY of the past 4 posts...please excuse any typos :)

MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

No, not me.  Marleen Eilene (oh, wait, Elizabeth).

Friday I went through security again and this time I got on a plane!  I was heading to San Diego to see Marleen.  It had been close to a year since I had seen her.  We both left Boulder...smarty pants went to get her PhD in Illinois and here I am in San Francisco.  Hearing that she was going to be a quick flight away I decided to crash her conference and spend a little girl time by the pool!

We had SO much fun and I am pretty sure my cheeks are still sore and abs a bit tighter from all of the laughing.  

Dinner in downtown San Diego.  We managed to see this restaurant and that was about all outside of the two towers of the Sheraton!

You see, Marleen and I are on the same page...dinner, and back to the room to enjoy a little in room movie action and candy action!  I am pretty sure we didn't see 11 either night.  A very relaxing a perfect weekend!

mmmmmmmm...mango/banana daiquiris!  We pretty much had this pool to ourselves which was probably good because I am sure people would wonder what was so funny all day!  Oh, that's just us...we are HILARIOUS!

As I mentioned Marleen was in town on business.  Here you can see that she was on the agenda for a little speaking engagement.  I hear it went great!!

Thanks to Marleen for a GREAT weekend.  Let's do it again SOONER rather than later!

Gab comes to visit

On Monday we got a house guest.  Gabrielle traveled from Dallas all by herself (apparently she is a pro at this) to visit the family in San Francisco.  She stayed with Kyle and Chrissie on Saturday and Sunday and moved into our house on Monday.  

Gab was a huge help during the morning with Kayla and Tanner at the zoo and then in the afternoon we took off for an adventure in Chinatown.  

Gab showing her feathers at the zoo

Gab at the entrance to Chinatown!

Tuesday Libby was nice enough to invite us down for a day of swimming and a fajita dinner!

Chrissie, Natalie, and Gab enjoying the warm weather and wonderful pool!

Based on his glasses I am thinking his judgement might be VERY impaired.  :)

Gab, Chrissie, and Natalie tanning their arms.

Thanks to our hosts; Libby, (Kayla), Mia and Steve (next time we will get him on camera!).  It was a terrific day!!

On Wednesday it was time to say goodbye to Gab :-(.  We traveled to the airport and I got to take a trip through security without getting on the plane (my kind of trip to the airport!).  After a slight delay Gab was on her way home.  It was a great visit and hopefully Gab felt the same way!!

Next...

Father's Day.  

Of course we were both missing spending the day with our dads but we made it a great day anyway!  

This being Scott's first Father's Day (yes, being a dad to Lola counts) we decided to head out to dinner.  

Home after a delicious sushi dinner.

It might have been Father's Day but I needed a picture with the princess too!

Happy Father's Day (ok, slightly belated) to:

Dado!

Bernie.  We all miss you!

Get ready...

Lots of overdue recaps are getting ready to be thrown your way...

It all started with Father's Day weekend and a trip to Twain Harte.  Lola didn't make the trip with us this time so we were able to get out and explore all the summer activities the town had to offer.  

Scott relaxing on the deck (not too bad, eh?)

We made a little journey to Ed's Bar.  Interesting place.  Definitely a small town feel!  But a REALLY fun time.

Kim the bartender (apparently this seemed like a good idea at the time)

After a night at Ed's we decided we would enjoy the next day relaxing by the Lake.

The Lake!

I would like you to recall the last time you had a snow cone.  My blueberry/banana one was WONDERFUL!

Putt Putt!  (no, Scott didn't start smoking, that is a lollipop!) Scott won (does it count if I won the front 9?)

Of course Barbara put Scott to work...

Getting ready to hammer the nails down in the deck.

And then into the attic to fix the fan.

All the hard work was well worth it!  We had a great weekend of relaxing and enjoying summer (which is apparently taking a hiatus from San Francisco for a few months).  

Vacation

As I mentioned last week, I was on vacation.  This is because my "employers" were on vacation. Lucky for Scott and me, they invited us along for a few days of their Calistoga get away.  We intended to spend two nights up there but the sun, fun and company sucked us in for a third night.  It was a GREAT long weekend with lots of suntans to show for it :)! 

The weekend in pictures...

Libby teaching Mia how to chop an onion (she did a fabulous job!)

Dinner on night #1

Scott and Kyle waiting for the ladies to sit down so we could eat!!

Kayla Sue showing off her new floaty in the pool

Too cute!

Tanner working it out in his entertainment gym

I was catching up on some VERY important reading
Kyle catching any extra minute of sleep he can
There really just can't be enough pictures of this one!

Of course Lola enjoyed her vacation too!

Saturday the Hyland family came up to join the fun!  Of course it was great to see them and I got to enjoy some pool time with Hanna and Paisley.  Note my fancy goggles...Chrissie was nice enough to let me borrow hers!

Scott and Tommy getting in a little bocce ball

*I swear Chrissie and Cortney were there but somehow I lack photographic evidence. I do have a nice video of Chrissie's flip turn in the pool...won't share it though as I would like to keep my job!

I cannot express how happy I was to find some summer out here in Northern California. Everyone tried to tell me how bad the summers were here but I was definitely not expecting this! It is seriously foggy and cloudy almost every day.  Luckily the pool in Calistoga was heated up to 88 and the air temp was around 75 everyday.  While it made for nice laying out weather, it was also perfect for a run.  Scott and I ticked off 6 miles on the Silverado Trail.  As Scott put it, "Boulder doesn't have this", as he pointed out the rows and rows of growing grapes.  It really was gorgeous and to be able to hit the pool when we got back was even better!

One other note...did you know when you are stargazing you actually see satellites flying by? They look like really quickly moving stars as the cruise across the horizon.  Take a look on the next really clear night!  

I will leave you with a little video for your entertainment (Scott might have had one too many glasses of vino!)

A few reviews...

Since I am on "vacation" this week I have had a little spare time to catch up on some reading and movie viewing.  I wanted to share a few favorites with you...

I should probably preface this with my taste in books.  The first books I can really recall enjoying are my "death books" as my dad termed them.  They were all by Lurlene McDaniel and not one of them was happy.  In fact, 99% of them dealt with childhood cancer.  Well, this bizarre theme has continued throughout my life as far as my enjoyment of books.  I mostly stick to non fiction but I can handle a fiction book as long as I am learning something from it (i.e.-The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime-while fiction, it did teach me a lot about autism).  Sybil was another recent favorite (getting the picture here).  I even found myself in the "parents with troubled child" section of a bookstore recently picking out a new read.  I guess I just like to learn something when I read (and apparently about terrible things).  

So, the point of that last paragraph wasn't to freak anyone out, but to explain that I prefer non fiction reads.  The next two books are true stories...

This book was recommended to me by Cortney and it is a GREAT (and fast) read.  While it does deal with cancer it truly is uplifting and Kelly has some great insight and advice to give to her readers.

Again, a fast and fun read.  Not only is Kristin hilarious but the book is actually really good (not a hopeless attempt of a celebrity to get a little extra cash).  It gets a little all over the place at times but I think that is how my brain works so I am getting through it just fine.

Both of these would be great beach reads if you are planning a vacation.  Also, neither are about odd illnesses or anything that doesn't come out with a silver lining!

Movies...let's see...

Revolutionary Road-left both Scott and I going, "hum...".  Never really felt like you knew the characters so you weren't really invested in what happens to them. Great acting though so worth a watch.

Seven Pounds-Scott found it a bit slow up front but thought it recovered at the end.  I really enjoyed the whole movie.

Doubt-different than expected but definitely better than expected.  Rent it.

Ok, enough from me...time to run (ugh)!