Cumpleaños Feliz Jimmy

Our good friend Jim turned 40!! He of course celebrated in style with 20 of his close friends and family in a beautiful villa in Puerto Vallarta Mexico. It was a fabulous celebration with lots of sun, good food, big margaritas and great friends. The pictures here capture the essence of the birthday celebration using this new slideshow feature of Picasa. You can click on the picture to see a full screen view.

Family A Foot

During our stay in San Francisco we were blessed to have several members of our family come to visit while we were in town. The visits started with my Grandma coming up from Southern California for two nights. We had a fun time together including a trip to Sonoma Wine Country and also Pier 39 where we got a chance to see the famous San Francisco seals. Poor Carl had to work for most of the visit but it gave me a chance to spend some quality time with my favorite grandparent. You can see some pictures in our slideshow, or click on the pictures for a full screen view.

Our next visitors came the same day. Carl's dad Claes and my brother, sister-in-law and our nephew Caleb all arrived on Thursday night. That night we got Chinese take-away from Erics, our second favorite restaurant in Noe Valley and watched and laughed as Caleb attempted to eat General Tao chicken. The next day was sunny and beautiful so we decided to all head to the beach for the rare San Francisco day you can actually see anything at Ocean beach. Lots of pictures are here from this part of the family visit. My family left to go back home and we were so lucky to have Claes stay for four more days.

With Claes we took a trip up to Bodega Bay for a seafood lunch and then stopped in Point Reyes for some cheese from the Cowgirl Creamery. On Sunday, we took a trip down the coast to Half Moon Bay for a fabulous brunch at the Ritz Carlton. Yes, we did pretty much eat the entire weekend! If you ever have a chance to go to brunch at the Ritz in Half Moon Bay, you must go. I normally don't like the all you can eat brunch set up but this is so spectacular with amazing food and of course the views are fantastic from this very special hotel on the cliffs of the Pacific Ocean. I went down to LA to see Jessica's new house and hang out with her and the boys in their new home. Carl and Claes made a trip to Alcatraz to see what it was like for Al Capone in the big house.

Going To The Chapel

Our two week trip back to the U.S. (and Mexico) kicked off with Julie and Eric's wedding in San Francisco. We arrived on Thursday from Sydney and after a disco nap we had a fantastic dinner with Jessica and John at Firefly, our favourite Noe Valley restaurant. The next morning I headed off to nails with Julie and all her girlfriends. There are some pictures of the manicure and pedicure shin dig in the attached pictures. Friday night we joined in the rehearsal dinner fun and then Saturday was the wedding celebration -- Julie looked so beautiful and we are just so happy for her and Eric. After six months in Australia, it was fantastic to catch up with so many friends in one setting. To see a full screen view of any of these pictures, just click on the slideshow.