June 28 2013--San Jose and Ty's Birthday

June 28 2013-Friday--168003 Odometer reading

         SO here we are cuddling into the Teardrop after another great day in paradise.  There are great guitar riffs and bass sounds coming from the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, and tonight Gene Rawlins from the original Santana band is playing. Friday nights all summer is the Summer at the Boardwalk concert series with fabulous music and big name musicians, and people come from San Jose, and North and South of Santa Cruz by the hundreds. Numbers of people in attendance easily hit 1000 and fill the boardwalk. I wish I was there, but my body is telling me here is a good place too. If there was a way to sell our place in Prescott and move here, there would be no argument between us about doing it...we love it here. But alas, we know why it's so bloody expensive here...because it is truly paradise.
          Went to San Jose today (it is NOT paradise...I hate the traffic) to see Mike and Itoko Long. Mike and

Roy have been friends since Air Force days, and that's a damn long time!! It's been much too long a time since we've seen them, nearly 11 years. They have a different place then when we left the area--a nice condo with 2 bedroom 

(one used as an office) and 2 bath, a cute patio with lovely flowers, and within walking distance to markets and establishments they need to frequent. We reminisced, caught up on things going on now with kids and grandkids, laughed, and talked, cherishing every minute of our too short visit. 
          After our visit, we made our way over Highway 17. Still the same and glad we left early as traffic going to the Boardwalk was, as usual, packed.  But no accidents, so no back ups and that's a good thing!
          Today is Ty's 19th Birthday!! We got home a bit after 3pm and it was still in the high 80's, but within 30 minutes the breeze came in and the temps started dropping. Thirty minutes later is was a cool and respectful 73 degrees. These temps may not seem hot to you guys in Phoenix and/or Prescott with your 100+ daily temperatures, but believe me with the humidity, it's not pleasant. Iris, Dave, Roy and I sat on their  shady back porch and relaxed and

talked. Dave was up at 3:00 a.m. to go fishing, and Iris left at 9:0am to go to the farm to work; Ty and Jenna went on a huge hike/swim at Big Sur to celebrate his birthday, and Nick went to SJSU for orientation--freshman this year. Kimara, Malia, Elena, Iris' sister and children visiting from Switzerland were at the Boardwalk after a long day of Jr Life Guard competition for Malia. Soon everyone started arriving back to the house. 
          About 4:30 we received a call back from our friend and former chiropractor Robert Jaramillo and

we set up a 5:30 meeting time at Marianne's Ice Cream on Ocean Avenue. It was so good to see him again...as fun, inquisitive and  charming as ever, and still gives great hugs!  He was especially interested in Uruguay, and we 

discussed the pros and cons. He had in years past trekked in Chile, Argentina, and other South American countries, and wanted our take on why we had wanted to (and still do) move there. Who knows...if he decides to head out that way, we may go down too, but that's a big if. He still has his parents here who are aging and need his help, so I truly don't see it happening in the near future. 
          We came back to the Wallace residence in time for a sushi do-it-yourself bar, with Iris and Dave having made, sliced, and diced ingredients from their freezer, back yard and pantry--smoked tofu, salmon, cucumber, nuts, avocado, etc., along with sheets of nori for wrapping and Tamari and Wasabi for spicing them up. Delicious!!!  I had purchased a gluten free chocolate loaf cake, but we decided to not eat it as Ty and Jenna and friends had gone out to dinner to celebrate and he was not present at the time, but came back in time to partake in some celebrating with Stuart's ice cream, sparkling lemonade and pomegate juices, the delicious cake and the traditional blowing out of candles and singing, etc. Then a game of Mexican Train began with all the laughter and cajoling that goes with it. 

Jenna and Ty

  

Malia Kim and Elena 

                                                

The birthday guy blowing out his candles

This is such a great family and so are their friends. We are so grateful and blessed to have been welcomed into their home and included in their lives and to have stayed here in our Teardrop this week. 
         I'm hoping to get up early tomorrow and work on this blog. I'm SOOOOO far behind and some days are getting mixed up with others at this point, plus I have tons of photos to edit! But being with friends is so much more enticing than typing and editing!!!