Just unearthed by Mark’s mom last week…
I give you, Laurel Hill Dome!
Or should I say Domes, plural?! What do we have here? What’s going on on lower deck?
(you click the photo to see it a little larger.)
In my head I hear the KFOG recording from 10 @ 10… “NINETEEN SEVENTY FIVE”…
We’ve been very low key this summer.
No Camp July, even.
Kristi has had an illness, since last November, that I don’t think I’ve mentioned here, but until she is back to her fabulous self, we are all keeping low profile. That means no big plans or pressure-ful travel getaways. It’s actually been nice to be low key, speaking for myself. I’m just glad she’s here! Kristi is slowly but surely improving, so that’s the best part. Of course we are missing our Pace Family, and Camp July – I still need to post photos from last year! Soon, I hope.
But for now, our day-to-day SF summer has the added bonus of Mollard boys in it. Which is dreamy! I pretend they are my 10 and 14 year old nephews. In the spirit of low energy days, I have been low photo-count too. There will be no slideshow, and I’m feeling like, tradition aside, it’s no big deal. So here are my lackadaisical photos, so far (They’re in town until the 10th):
Bad focus, cute kids.
I took this while driving him to school this morning.
I know there’s a rule about no phones while driving – what about taking photos?
Anyways, sayonara second grade – hello summer vacation!
P.s. Prudence Hull was my dream teacher. I hope we get to have her again with Lucy!
Love her!
{I just spent an hour I don’t have searching for 2 year old Oscar with Anna.
I need to move on. Maybe I’ll find it later…}
from L to R: Renee, Tiffany, Shelly, Me, Anya, Jennifer, Katie
Renee Rocks! She hosted a beautiful playdate at her amazing home in Marin. We celebrated seven years of friendship! Thank you so much Renee, it means a lot to all of us. I didn’t want to leave! (I want to move in!)
Ironically, I didn’t remember to take photos. Was having too much fun catching up with everyone.
I don’t have one shot of the main kids!
I do have:
Lucy on the massive trampoline out back
Lucy and Eva in the hot tub
A last minute snap out by the cars when I realized I had taken no pics.
That’s all folks, until next time..
Sunday Opi celebrated his 80th birthday. Happy Birthday!
It was wonderful to spend time with family and friends.
Having cousins Ciara and Fiona in town was especially AWESOME.
We enjoyed a beautiful lunch at L’Olivier restaurant, which was open just for us!
I made a couple of small efforts with the birthday gathering in mind. Bob doesn’t like a big fuss, and he specifically asked for no gifts, books, slideshows, prints or albums!
No fair!
Still, I had to try.
Candied Meyer Lemons (from Bob’s Tree!)
Bob has always grown beautiful meyer lemons in the backyard. I think it must be the combination of the gardener and the bartender in him!
I picked a bag full of lemons one night last week, and when I saw them on my counter then next morning, I knew what I wanted to do. You can “candy” any citrus fruit. Now that I’ve done it, I realize it’s not difficult, and I’m sure I’ll try some other fruit soon.
Lucy helped me with the sugar part. I ended up cutting these guys in half lengthwise again, in order to have more to package up. Also they were pretty strong, so smaller bites was better.
Here’s what I did:
Quarter the lemons and remove the fruit. Put the peels in a pot, cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Strain and repeat two more times! This removes the bitterness. I had two pots going due to so many peels. Make simple syrup (1 part each water and sugar) and simmer the peels for an hour and a half. Strain and dry on a rack for 24 hours. Toss the now very sticky peels in sugar. (This is when I cut them in skinnier strips, and tossed them again.) Dry on a new rack for one more day. Package and tag.
I wish I had counted how many lemons I started with. Meyers are smaller, and I think it was around 12 or 14? I know I ended up with 17 little bags containing about an ounce each. And I barely remembered to get a photo of the finished product! The bag shown is missing a couple of pieces! (shh!) We put them out as ‘favors’ at a big family dinner the night before the birthday. I was happy when I saw folks eating them, smiling, and trying to accidentally take home each others’ bag.
The View Master
I got this idea from Pinterest! The link to the company is here.
This was So Fun! I can’t wait to do more reels. It was nice to pass the viewers around the table, and with only 7 photos each, the viewing was short and sweet.
Reel One:
Reel Two:
Here are a couple more cute phone pics from the lunch. Omi, what a great weekend you hosted! Happy Birthday Bob! XOXO
