Encore to the Birthday Party

We had an outdoor dinner tonight in honor of Carlean's Birthday on the actual day, today! It was potluck style, and everybody that came contributed something. It was a delicious and enjoyable early summer evening.

Beethoven & Beatles

 

The CalPhil (California Philharmonic) puts on a summer concert series at the Arboretum in Arcadia. It's such a posh venue - Aunt Pat and Uncle Bear reserve a table on the front section of the lawn before the reflecting pool. 

Last summer we saw a concert based on John Williams music, but this summer we're seeing one called 'Men who changed Music - Beethoven & the Beatles.' The occasion? Carlean's Birthday! Our merry party included the birhtday girl, Aunt Pat and Uncle Bear, Mia, Shaun, myself and the kids, and Marge.

We had a tasty salad of asperagus & peas with vinaigrette on arugula, rotisserie chicken, curried potatoes, and mixed green salad with a sweet vinaigrette. Then at intermission, we had cake :)

Immediately after dinner, Eli rolled up in his blanket on the lawn and wasn't heard from again until it was time to go home. Abi on the other hand, was a ball of engergy. She was clapping and singing along as the cover band 'Fab Four' did their performance.

Over too soon!

Mom departed this morning for Boise. It has been such a fun week - hopefully we will be able to convince her to join us in a month for Yosemite...

An Evening Feast

Carlean cooked a beautiful and delicious send-off feast for my mom last night: Braised pork loin, sweet potatoes, apricots in curry, broccoli and fresh salad. Then for dessert, Joan brought chocolate mousse pie and we had mixed berries to top it. Along with our favorite moscato from Trader Joe's, who could ask for anything more? :)

Downtown Bead Shopping

It was a hazy day across the valley. Aunt Pat took us bead shopping downtown on 8th at the edge of the Fabric District. No fabric this time, but look at the gorgeous beads! We even found some for Luke - fun shapes in shell, wood, stone, even a couple of ankhs.

Best Sushi in the Boonies

Uncle Bear and Aunt Pat treated us to dinner at ToriYen tonight. It was soooo good. Even Eli liked it.

Abi ordered a mountain of tempura shrimp, and the rest of us had Teriyaki or Yakitori. Yum!

Shopping!

Mom needed new sandals and perhaps some cool pants, so you know what that means...... Shopping! Hurray for Cold Water Creek! Abi got very into it, too. She was our fitting room attendant, running things back to the rack to get different colors and sizes for us.

A hard day's work!

Road Trip!

Mom drove back down with us on Sunday so we could make it back in time for Eli's first day of summer school. The chilly weather pattern of Idaho continued all the way down through Utah, with monsoon rain in Salt Lake City and the hills south of Lehi.

As soon as we got over the pass and down into St. George at the very southern end of Utah, the temperature spiked from about 50F to 80F! And as we drove into Nevada around sunset, it actually got up to 90F.

Ah well, the respite from the heat was nice while it lasted.

Eli did so much better on this trip than he had last year. It's so good to see progress! He asked for bathroom stops regularly, and was very agreeable about getting back in the car each time, amazingly. He's also able to eat chicken pieces (if they are cooked to order with NOTHING on them) which makes finding food along the way much easier.

Abi took most of the pictures along the way. I think there may have only been about 170...

Summer Solstice Dinner

I made it to Uprising in Shelly, Idaho at Duke Alan Youngforest's ranch, but just for part of the week. It was a great mini-vacation despite the wind and freezing cold - 38F at night! But my tents survived, and I got to have my Solstice dinner with a few of my old friends.

Braden and Morgan

Syiera and Emily (Dragonbait) who is now tall enough and strong enough to pick me up! Sir-not-appearing-in-this-picture is Fernando, who is still stationed in Qatar for the time being :(

Esebell brought along Tuaca and red wine, which is not actually as horrible as it sounds as a mixed drink!