Apparently It Is Now September

Apparently it is now September. I'm not quite sure how we got here. Wasn't it just July? This "summer" certainly flew by. And by in large it was filled with good things. For one, we no longer had to manage details of a renovation or move. (Is that the absence of a not-good thing?) Another, we had a couple delightful trips: first to Oregon for the wedding of friends, later to North Carolina for vacation with family. In between these trips we had some nice, quiet family time in our new home and in our fair (albeit often foggy) city, and a lovely visit from some dear family. On to some photo highlights!

First, our fair foggy city:

In the summer San Francisco closes a major street each weekend in a different neighborhood for the City Streets program. On July 7 we met our friends Steve, Leslie, Ella, and Olive to enjoy the Great Highway by Ocean Beach. Maisy and Ella took turns on each other's Skuut and scooter, and we enjoyed the company of good friends.

July 7, 2013
City Streets at the Great Highway

Since moving from our apartment on Belvedere Street to our house on Shrader Street, we miss spontaneously running into our good friends Hillier, Katie and Finn, who lived around the corner from our apartment. Happily, we still see them often (if not quite as often!) and tonight - September 4, 2013 - even spontaneously ran into them at our new neighborhood restaurant, Padrecito.

Next, our July trip to Oregon for Matt & Julia's wedding:

Matt and Julia were married on July 27, 2013 at a beautiful organic farm in Hood River, Oregon. It was all so perfect, yet so very relaxed and natural. Definitely one of my favorite weddings. Here, Maisy and I play a lawn game at the reception.

Did I mention the whole wedding was perfect? Check out Mount Hood! We had a major crush on Oregon after our weekend in Hood River and Portland.

When Maisy met Matt, the groom, a while back, she was in love. I wasn't quite sure how she would react to the wedding (her first) or Julia, the bride. I need not have wondered. As soon as she saw Julia, that was it. Like so many little girls before her, and with her that evening, she was completely enamored of the bride. Julia is a beautiful person and was a beautiful bride. 

We returned to San Francisco for some mellow family time. Maisy participated in two camps this summer. The first was at Little School, and the second was at Cow Hollow School, where Maisy will be a regular student starting next week. Maisy loved both, but especially CHS. Just as CHS camp came to a close, my cousin Michael and his younger daughter Kailyn arrived for a visit. 

Our sadness following Michael and Kailyn's departure was diminished by our trip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina a few days later. As we did in 2012, we joined: Judy, Jeff, Jeffrey, Catie, and Jake (the dog); Amy, Jeff, James, Julianne, and Bella (the dog); plus Mike and Linda (official grandparents to James and Julianne, de facto grandparents to all, full of Southern charm and warmth). 

I'm not sure whether Maisy was more excited about the water -- ocean, pool, hot tub -- or the big kids! Each day we cycled through our various swimming destinations, and Maisy's comfort with the water once again increased. In the ocean, she enjoyed being out on a sandbar at low tide and splashing and playing in the waves. In the pool, she submerged to retrieve pelican pool toys. She was in heaven. And she was a faithful sidekick to Cousin Catie and Julianne (both 9), who again were so kind to and tolerant of their young shadow. She also attached herself to James (12), who indulged her desire to wrestle (i.e., jump on him while he was resting on the couch after surfing), and to be silly (e.g., to call him nonsensical names instead of James). One of my favorite memories of this trip is of James playing hide-and-seek with Maisy one evening after dinner. She was so happy the entire time, and we spectator adults laughed so hard as she failed to discover James hiding in plain sight and then hid herself in the precise spot where he had finally been discovered. Over and over again.

We're lucky to have such wonderful family as Judy, Jeff, Jeffrey, and Catie. Luckier still that they and their terrific friends have allowed us to tag along on their vacation! We are missing everyone tremendously, but counting the days until Judy and Catie visit us in San Francisco for Catie's 10th birthday in November!

Dear readers, are you there? I must apologize: I am having some major technical difficulties with Blogger tonight. When I try to caption photos, they move or disappear, and... I'll spare you the details. So I'm just going to publish this. I can't worry about perfection.