Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a month since I've blogged. And I used to do it every day! Sorry, I miss it as much as you do. And I have a lot to say!
This week, Russell's parents (Grandma and Duke) are in town. Well, they're actually in Carmel for the weekend, but they're in California. And we've been spending some good quality time together. Shopping, eating... what more could you want? Riley got some beautiful clothes at Lucky on Thursday, but wouldn't leave the store without trying to take the display with her. There were a bunch of sweatshirts piled on a wagon, which she proceeded to attempt dragging out of the store. Not without a tantrum thrown in there. Duke said, buy that girl a wagon! So, today we did. On Duke. Riley helped me put it together, handing me tools and hardware. What a great helper! She LOVES it so much. She even had a tea party in it (just as grammy taught her a couple of weeks ago when she was here). And, we bought her some new sneakers today. Bright red Nike's. Russell and I both had similar pairs in high school. She's so cool, and doesn't even know it (yes, she does)!
Daddy also got a little gift. And Riley loves it, too. They'll have fun with this one, for sure.
So far during their visit, we've had a fancy lunch, and a fancy dinner so far. Riley accompanied us to both, and she probably ate more than any one of the adults at each sitting. This girl can EAT!! And we highly recommend both of these restaurants. Wonderful food, great wine lists, and good for kids who like to eat fancy foods....
And, a quick summary of the past month:
My mom came to town last month to hang with Riley while daddy and I went to a wedding in Big Sur. It was great to have some adult time, and the wedding was beautiful (and a lot of fun), but the fires made it a weekend Apocalypse. Seriously. Due to road closings because of wildfires, every guest (and bride and groom) were stranded at the outdoor wedding site with NO shelter until 5 in the morning. And boy, it gets cold on the cliffs of Big Sur, overlooking the ocean! People were scrambling to get the last of the tablecloths to wrap up in near the fire pit where someone was brave enough to build one. But, if it were to happen to anyone's wedding, it seemed appropriate to happen at Dave and Tania's. In fact, when the shuttles did finally come with sheriff escorts through the closed roads, the bride and groom wanted to stay, but were, unfortunately, asked to leave.
We took loads of photos, but unfortunately lost our camera (but got it back today - thanks dave and tania! - although, with no memory card inside, so still, no photos). We received this one photo from a friend who was there.
And here are some beautiful shots from the wedding photographer's website. Just scroll down (way to the bottom photo collection) to "June 21st Wedding in Big Sur". Will share more as we get them (hopefully we will get them, cause my dress was fab!!).
From left: Pat Duffy and wife, Chris Neiratko, some guy, Russ and me, and Dimitry Elyashkevich. Yes, it was a semi-questionable crowd, which is why Riley stayed home with grammy. But all were mostly well-behaved. Thank God Riley was home with grammy with all those road closures. The other kids at the wedding were lucky enough to sit on a shuttle bus for 7 hours on closed roads before being dropped off at Denny's, just to wait for another shuttle that got them to their hotel at 7:30am.
BTW, here we are with a lot of questionable people on Tania's blog. It's an old one, but still a load of fun to look at.
Jen and Coral are back from Germany! Yay! Riley and I had lunch with them this week, and I've never seen quite a serious display of affection (aside from when I met Russell). They screamed and hugged and kissed and laughed for an hour. Gawd, I love those gals! And then they came over yesterday for a little fourth of July action. And so did Tracy, Todd, and Oliver, and their latest addition, Calvin, who I didn't even know about (haven't talked to them in a while)! No photos due to lost camera, but took some fun video of the day! I'll try to edit that and post this week. I'm sure I can steal some photos from Jen soon.... hehehe
Lisa had her baby! Finally! Actually, she was right on time, but it seemed forever. All are healthy and beautiful. Riley and I went over last Friday to occupy Juliet a little, and take a lasagne for the family. Riley and Juliet had a load of fun, and we'll be hanging out again soon (and now that we have our camera back, we'll take some photos!) Adeline looks exactly like Juliet, I think! Check them out.
And honestly, with few photos, that's about all I have to report! Will try to be better about keeping up. Promise!
