Back from Europe

Wow!! It has been a full week since I returned home from my trip (July 8 to 25) to Europe--enough time to recover from the jet lag, but nowhere near enough to come down from an exhilarating and rewarding experience, both personally and professionally. I was very excited to return home to Audrey and the boys, but at the same time it was very difficult to leave Italy, Austria, and Germany behind. It was something of a whirlwind: three days on my own exploring beer gardens and more in Munich, a week with colleagues at the Salzburg Global Seminar, and a final four days in Liguria with cousins. But I don't think I could have packed any more variety or depth into my experience. Just a great, great trip, full of places and people both new and familiar.

Maybe I'll make the time and find the energy to write a more detailed summary account of my trip. Or maybe not. (We're traveling up north next week, and then the Fall semester starts shortly after that.) But I at least have added a rather large selection of photos--from a total pool of more that a thousand--to my Flickr site. The four below provide just a taste.

Birthdays (and silly songs)

As we celebrate our nation's birthday--an impressive 232 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence--with the usual mix of summer parade and picnic fun (see photos above), we also will be celebrating tonight the one-week birthday anniversary of our new nephew/cousin: Nate. Congratulations again to my sister, Kari, and brother-in-law, Eric, and buon viaggio to them both as they embark on the amazing adventure of parenthood. How long before Nate and his cousins start singing this unforgettable diddy?

Thanks, Wikipedia! You can learn even more here and here. Funny this song is indeed, especially to the Captain Underpants crowd. But I have to confess I'm still partial to the only slightly more subtle stylings of Benny Bell:

Sorry for the digression; this started out as a sincerely joyful post. So let me at least end on a relatively high note: Happy Fourth of July everyone! And welcome to the world, Nate!!

The Perfect "Gita"

With the school year now complete for all of us, summer has officially begun. An annual rite of summer for us is the short trip (the Italian gita might be the best word) down to northern San Diego County. It's a short drive away--only 90 minutes to Carlsbad without traffic--yet very much feels like an escape to a distinctive and appealing section of the California coast. Most importantly, Carlsbad is home to two of our family's favorite attractions: Legoland and Pizza Port. We never have a bad time at either place, but everything just seemed to click. The weather was spectacular, the mid-week traffic was amazingly non-existent, the day at Legoland was perhaps the best one we've had there yet, the pizza and beer at Pizza Port was likewise as good as they've ever been, and the Comfort Inn even worked out perfectly, as we all got the surprisingly warm pool to ourselves. It was a pretty simple itinerary: drive down Tuesday morning, Legoland until closing, Pizza Port afterwards, morning swim on Wednesday, search for some letterboxes at local lagoons, and then drive home in time for the boys' afternoon Tae Kwon Do. Even the letterboxing worked out great, as the boys and I recorded our first three finds, ever, after going 0 for 2 last weekend in El Segundo. If only every family trip and activity could go so smoothly. (As always, the photos below are just a sample of many more that have been posted to my Flickr site.)

The Year in Pictures: December 2007

December! While we didn't do anything out of the ordinary, it's always a memorable time of year with decorations, presents, and festivals. As the end-of-semester rush slowed down, we found time for day trips to Naples (again) and to Pasadena. The Naples trip was more of a night trip to see all the holiday lights, and for both better and worse, we inadvertently chose the night of the annual boat parade. It was crowded and festive, but it was also CROWDED. The trip to Pasadena was much mellower, with our first visit--and a fun one at that--to the Kidspace Children's Museum on the grounds of the Rose Bowl. (And as only Cal fans could say: "So, THAT's what the Rose Bowl looks like in person.")



The lights in Naples weren't the only ones we toured, and I got a few decent pictures on one of our evening walks around the neighborhood. On another night, I also managed to snap a quick shot of Santa, who was scouting the neighborhood via a City of Los Angeles Fire Truck.



The roster of December festivals also includes the Winter Spiral at the boys' school. This was Everett's first such live performance with lighted candle, and he did well--although he repeated his birthday performance of his endearing "wet" technique for blowing out the flame. Tony's class did its own spiral, and then entertained us with one of their great musical programs.



Of course, the real highlight of the Christmas season are the visits with family, many of whom don't see but maybe one other time each year. Thus, we had a wonderful Christmas Eve in Diamond Bar, and an equally enjoyable week to end the year up in San Jose. And, yes, there were presents.

The Year in Pictures: November 2007

Another month, another birthday. This time it was Everett showing off his candle-blowing prowess...twice. First came a modest true-birthday cake, then came a big weekend party, during which his candle-blowing technique became more, ummm, saliva-ey.



November also brought the culmination of the soccer season, and I finally got around to catching some photos of both boys in action.



And November, of course, concluded with Thanksgiving. It was a smaller-than-usual celebration for our family this year, but the SoCal branches of the extended Hoereth family did manage to get together for a good time, both in Diamond Bar and Long Beach.