What I Did On My Summer Vacation

For my summer vacation this year, I ...

Do you remember those essays? We thought they were dreadful, and boring, and dull, etc. Not that the vacation time was, but I guess it was the fact that we had lived the experience, and that, in and of itself, was infinitely better than a writing assignment. I remember it being loads of fun to fish in a stock pond, or swim with all our buddies, or play in the baseball game that had no time limits or number of required innings. We figured that if they could play cricket for days in India, then we could play for days too!

But what I remember most about those bygone days are family and friends. So with this in mind we had planned a trip to visit family and friends in California, Texas, New Mexico, and Utah. We had a great time, shared some great memories, and made some great new ones too.

We got to meet Ethan, Amy's friend. He is a great guy, a good story teller, and a pretty good urban farmer too. Some people in this family wonder if he will be a good son-in-law, but that is a question for another day, and another blog entry.

We saw Karen again, and she is still happy for all the work the Scouts of Troop 168 did to make the gardens at DVC handicapped accessible. The Adaptive Horticulture Program is still strong and it is gratifying to see the difference a few scouts made in the world for folks that need a little help.

We had dinner with Donny again too. It is always good to catch up on what is going on, and Donny is good at doing new things. He does not let his disabilities overwhelm his abilities.

The boys got to meet up with friends to ride bikes, rock climb, go to movies, picnic, swim, and hang out.

Kyle, Robert, Joseph and Samuel at mutual one night.

Landon, Joseph and Samuel being still long enough to snap a quick pic, then they were off again for a new adventure.

We went to the City for a tourist day, but missed lunch service at the finest restaurant in the city. We consoled ourselves with ice cream sundaes from Ghiradelli's.

We started at Union Square, and took a sight seeing tour of the City, including Chinatown, North Beach, the Wharf, Ghiradelli Square, the Presidio, City Hall, the concert halls, and a few other attractions. We bought jewelry, tee-shirts, post cards, and other memorabilia.

Part of the tour was from the top of a double decker bus.

"Here we are, walking down the street, blah blah blah, to everyone we meet. Hey Hey we're the Monkey's, ..." (I just wanted to call them monkeys)

to be continued...