My Mom, the Green Thumb!

After months of watching Tim struggle to grow tomatoes here in San Luis, he finally picked his first and only one this week. You would never know that our tomato plant wasn't thriving in the backyard by its size. It has climbed over the 5ft fence and is about 4ft wide. I have never seen a plant so large with no tomatoes on it. As many nurturing things that Tim has tried to get it to fruit, I just don't think it is warm enough here to grow. I headed home to Fresno this week to see my parents where the tomatoes are definitely ripe on the vines. They get some serious sun. My parents have oranges, plums, apricots, nectarines, avacados, strawberries, squash, tomatoes, and probably more things than I am remembering in their backyard. And to me, there is nothing like valley fruit in the summertime. I got so spoiled growing up, I will not buy an orange in the grocery store here. So Tim made sure to remind me numerous times to bring back tomatoes from my parents. There is nothing like a good bacon and tomato sandwich in the summertime!

Winetasting

The day after the 4th we all decided to go wine tasting in the Paso Robles area. We visited Castoro, Clautiere, Meridian, and Eberle wineries. My favorite was the distinct style of Clautiere. We walked in and they had tons of wigs and hats to try on while you tasted. (This place gave me a lot to do as I was the designated driver) The scenic pictures are from Castoro with all the vines. It was very hot in Paso, so it felt great hopping from one air conditioned winery to the next.

4th of July

This year everyone decided to come to SLO to celebrate the 4th, so we got to hang around town and play host for the festivities. The 4th all started with a little lunch at Firestones, then some walking around downtown where the boys (Tim and Joe) felt the need to get patriotic. The local craft store actually has a section called "husband waiting area." In this section they have medieval costumes, hats, swords, etc. The sign on the window says, "don't forget to pick up your husband before you go." Pretty funny. After we got the boys out of there, we headed to the mission to watch the Sugar Daddy Swing Kings perform. Then it was off to the Barker's house where we played some croquet and ate some great food. To end the evening, we walked down to watch the firework show on the dunes with millions of other people.

Charity Graduates/Father's Day!

We had the privilege of watching Charity (Tim's sister) graduate from Cal Poly with her Master's Degree in Counseling and Guidance this weekend. She has worked very hard for the last three years to accomplish this task. She was one beaming grad. We all celebrated back in Shell Beach with a BBQ. It was nice having both sets of parents in town this weekend to celebrate Father's Day as well. Happy Father's Day Frank and Scott!

On the Road Again!

You might be wondering just where our weekend travels landed us this time. We headed South to Cherry Valley (appropriately named) to pick some cherries with Tim's grandparents. Tim's grandpa owns some land there, and from what I hear, used to have quite the cherry orchard. When we arrived, it was every man for himself as we headed out with our buckets to about the last 10 remaining trees on his orchard.





















We were able to pick about a bucketful each. I think Tim only contributed about half a bucket. He ate them as fast as he picked them! It was great to see a lot of family members that came out, and meet a few new ones as well. I guess I didn't quite meet them all at the wedding. We celebrated Tim's grandparents 61 wedding anniversary! Wow, that's a lot of years! They were thrilled to have everyone at their place.

Big Sur

Well, we needed a little break from house projects for the weekend so we headed out to Plaskett Creek to do some camping. This is the first time Tim and I have been back to Big Sur since "the big proposal" so it was a lot of fun. It was pretty cold but we managed well with plenty of smores, hiking, and, down jackets. I don't think I took my beanie off all weekend. Ryan and Camille surprised us by showing up Saturday evening, so we got to hang out with them and battle over a rousing game of "adventure croquet" filled with gofer holes, downhill slopes, and tall weeds in the campsite. The Romanos did win, however.

A Warm So Cal Weekend

This past weekend, we had the chance to head down south for an Angels/Dodgers game. We saw a couple home runs, shared a giant ice cream sandwich, and managed not to melt under the scorching sun. To my disappointment the Dodgers got beat pretty bad. Tim was pleased with the outcome of the game as he claimed himself an Angels fan for the day. Other highlights of the weekend included hanging out with the Romano family, and spending wedding gift certificates at IKEA and Crate and Barrel. (Two of my favorite places)