Living the Swell Life: a happy little belated independence day!

Happy 4th! I must admit, yesterday was quite a bittersweet day. A teeny tiny part of me longed to be sitting in a white wicker chair on my flag bunting-adorned porch in Fairmont, MN...drinking lemonade, watching the world go by on Woodland Avenue with the whole fam; our mouths watering in anticipation of cheeseburgers, watermelon, and my Grandma Sumey's moistest-ever chocolate chip cookies. After dinner, playing catch in the front yard, and running around with our sparklers, it would seem like no time had passed at all. At dusk, we'd put on jeans (a very foreign feeling after half of summer had passed--beating the heat with shorts and capris), line up to be thoroughly dosed with OFF bug spray (I don't miss that!!), and haul our lawn chairs just across the street and down the hill to the lake for the best-ever fireworks. I was completely missing Fairmont fireworks, one of those clear-shining pictures in my brain, of fishing boats and pontoons glimmering on the water as the gorgeous fire show reflected from above. (Sigh).

Yet, despite missing out on the festivities of the safe & familiar this year, it was a blast of a day! After being SF residents for 8 days, we had our first guests--Jeff's parents. It was an awesome excuse to get out and thoroughly enjoy being a tourist.:) We headed to Golden Gate park to check out the Victorian Conservatory of Flowers. Apparently, it's the oldest wood & glass structure of its kind in all of North America. Such beautiful things to see! (Plus--the dreadful humidity in the place made me feel like I was home in the Midwest again!) Highlight: Snappy shots of Jeff & his dad with their fingers in the carnivorous plant display. I had never seen a real Venus Fly Trap, or at least one that wasn't in a cartoon!

Later in the afternoon, we headed down South to Sunnyvale for the usual amazing meal at the Horrillos. Jeff's uncle Mike loves to tease me about my Minnesota Lutheran culture...As a culinary whiz, he'd never make it through a potluck dinner at my church. Most likely, he'd check out after seeing the tater-tot hot dish and would never make it as far as the jello and cookie salads at the end of the line. So when he told us to bring a green salad for dinner, I knew it was an opportunity that I simply could not pass up...