Summer

. . . and I'm back. But first, a few catch-up posts before I get to house stuff. This one has approximately 500 photos in it. And they may not be in the most logical order. 99% of these photos are from the San Francisco trip we took last June. Jon (my brother-in-law) was graduating from dental school, so it was likely our last trip there for a while--and we had so much fun!

Angel Island

I love the white buildings of SF.

Zoe had a lot of fun taking pictures in the car on this trip. It was fun to see the trip from her point of view.

This is at a museum that was a couple minutes away from Jon and Diana's house--great view!

Diana took us to a really pretty beach (Moss Beach, outside of Half Moon Bay) to see tidepools. I have great memories of doing that as a kid and I loved showing my kids how to touch the sea anemones. 

I love these cool flowers that grow everywhere around there. This picture was taken from the car.

As was this, obviously. The fact that jasmine (the white flowers pictured here) grow like weeds--even on the freeways!--makes me a little sick, considering that I can barely keep my little jasmine plant alive.

Cute Opal sleeping.

A sad sight--out favorite Berkeley restaurant, Cafe Intermezzo, burned down a while ago (can't remember when exactly). I hope it gets resurrected at some point.

Josh driving across the Bay Bridge.

I don't have that many pictures of me and Nico, so excuse me as I post four of basically the same one. These were taken while visiting my former coworker (and our good friends) in the beautiful city of Petaluma.

 

Speaking of people I don't have a lot of pictures with, I think this is one of the only ones of me and Diana. 

And here's one that looks like we're about to kiss.

At the Tilden Park farm.

Cousins!

We took a trip to the Muir Woods this time. I hadn't been there since I was a kid, and it was AMAZING! I wish we sould have gone every trip. The smell alone was worth it.

                     

                                   I love this picture. I want to get a HUGE print . . .  someday.

On the ferry to Angel Island.

View from the ferry.

Angel Island

Angel Island was fun in its way (I like the wildness and history there), but it would have been more fun probably with fewer kids and more bikes.

Angel Island

Angel Island

We went to a little amusement park with Diana and some of her friends. This ferris wheel was actually kind of frightening--way higher and faster than it has seemed from the ground and I didn't trust the bar holding Nico in. But we had some moments of fun too, and Josh got some nice pictures.

I ran my first half marathon while we were out there. A week before I had hurt my foot on a long run  and it wasn't fully healed, but I was determined to finish anyway. So my time wasn't great, but I finished! And the race was amazingly GORGEOUS. Past the Golden Gate Bridge, along the beach for a bit (that was tough), along coastal trails with amazing views. I would definitely love to do this race again--stairs and all!

Diana was supposed to run it too, but her knee was really hurting her, so she sat out (the smart thing to do, though she REALLY didn't want to!). It was fun to have her there with the kids as a cheering team.

At the finish line.

These are our attempts at a family photo (the race was right by here).

And a couple thrown in from Bear Lake.