"You're like coming home..."

I guess I expected to feel a giant sense of relief at being back here in California. Strangely, it's more like we never left. Spending the day at my aunt and uncle's and sitting around talking with The Joads and my Grandma, it was as if we'd just had a busy summer and were finally making it back to their house to sit and eat cheese and crackers, drink beer and swim in their pool. We discussed RKZ's new job and our plans for the rest of the year (psycho). I had figured that we'd spend the day getting ready for the beach house -- who was I kidding? (Besides myself? probably no one). Instead, it was a calm & happy time of family bonding. Quiet, random...and I even got a chance to talk to one of the strongest women I know, my cousin.

Oh...on a "name" note -- I'm not using any...not the real ones. It seems that if I'm going to publish all my personal info for the world to see, I'm certainly not going to include names. My family & friends have enough of their lives divulged by me as it is. Of course, this doesn't include Erin :)

So after careful planning and zero execution, we arrived at our temporary home in Sunset. It's beautiful. Much bigger than the pictures made it seem. Early American hodgepodge 80's -- the perfect house for us to invite just about everyone we know to traipse through and eat and drink. The only drawback is the tropical weather So. Cal seems to be experiencing. We spent the first 10 minutes just opening windows to let the breeze in. Still, we were sweaty and tired by the time we lugged our bags up to the third floor. We had the help of Sammy Davis Junior (SDJ), who spent her time watching Buck while RKZ and I did our impression of expensive Sherpas. Is the plural of Sherpa, "Sherpas"? Hmmmm. Vaguely interesting, but not enough to research. Feel free to comment about it.

After a reunion with the local Sam's Club, we finally settled into the place just as our inland friends & their children arrived (Richie Cunningham & Oprah). RKZ and Richie (after yet another trip to the store) proceeded to crack out the Captain Morgan rum while Oprah and I tended to the kids. We all had pizza (I'm quite the chef on vacation) and spent the evening talking. Another set of friends showed up (Wayne -the great one- and his wife, Erin -- ha!ha!)
and joined the fracas (you know you like that word). It was a busy evening, but the perfect start to our two weeks here.

This morning I spent some time praying on the deck off of our bedroom. RKZ took Buck to the beach so that he could feel the sand. For all of our friends who have fond memories of the area, you'll really enjoy the view off of our deck. I'm including a picture above.

If you're reading this and you're near here, we hope to see you soon! If you are in Portland, Ireland or Hungary, we miss you and we've already been re-telling fond memories! Speaking of which, Coach K 1 and Hoonka, don't even think of driving 20 hours with that baby!! CRAZY!

More soon!