It was fun to be
back in the land of celebrating the 4th of July— it’s a rather mild
celebration in the South (it’s considered a “Yankee holiday”). The kids marched
in the adorable small town Montecito parade with their preschool buddies. In a
box somewhere is a snapshot of Mark and Leah at the same parade from their
newlywed days. We spent the afternoon at Casa Rice with dear friends and ended with
a BBQ and firework watching with David and Judy on “the deck.” Our little
sparklers loved it all— Ben’s favorite was watching the fireworks that looked
like Star Wars and to Clara the best part was all the snacks that accompanied
firework viewing. Ours was sitting with cuddled up kids on our lap, watching
the lights over the ocean and feeling blessed to call this corner of this great
country home.
The Santa Barbara
Museum of Art and other galleries host a First Thursday event in town that is
fantastic. The galleries stay open; all kinds of musicians play on the street
and the museum offers a hands-on workshop for the kids. It was all feeling very
cultural and sophisticated until the part where we had dinner at McDonald’s—
none of those apple slices in the kid’s meal for us, we take double fries. It all balances out, right?
During college,
Leah spent a summer working at a Christian camp in Colorado. It was there she
became friends with Amy, a sweet Southern belle from Alabama. They stayed
friends beyond that summer with Leah traveling to Alabama and Amy coming out to
Santa Barbara. (It was on one of those trips that Amy checked out the brand new
Associate Pastor at El Montecito Presbyterian and told Leah, “What do you know
about him? He’s seems real nice.”)
Well, somehow a
dozen years and five kids happened. Amy’s kids were vacationing
through Santa Barbara with their dad and Leah and the kids got to meet up with
them. It was a wild, wonderful reminder that there are friendships and bonds
that defy explanation. Now, we just need to get Amy out here for a visit!
We celebrated
Juju’s birthday before they headed to Santa Fe for a few months. She’s sort of
one of our most favorite people in the world. And she’s a great excuse to eat
chocolate, chocolate cake.
Bath time meditation. Peace out.
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