Year in Review - July 2009

Ralph Waldo Emerson said:
"Our fear of death is like our fear that summer will be short, but when we have had our swing of pleasure, our fill of fruit, and our swelter of heat, we say we have had our day."

Ok, so I know that parents sometimes get tired of the Summer months because it means their kids are around all the time always needing to be entertained. And as I've gotten older, I've found myself loving the weeks where Summer's heat fades away into Fall's cool weather and rain. My point is that Summer is a carefree time for pure and simple fun. It's the Summer months that we should take advantage of because once they are gone, we can say hello to new responsiblities at school and a busier time at work.

In true Emerson fashion, July 2009 was packed with Summer fun.

First, Camille and I hit up the Del Mar Fair.

We traveled back in time and saw some really cool exhibits based on different eras...

Punchbuggy - Tie dye?

...Enjoyed the Southern California views while listening to a random band perform...

...And visited some smelly friends.

I'll be lucky if Camille ever goes back to the fair with me because I absolutely despise the rides! Not only do I tend to get sick on most of them to the point where I cannot thoroughly enjoy the fair food, but I am also scared of the high, fast, crazy ones. This is what most of the rides looked like for us...

My favorite part about the day was the Zucchini Weenies! If you haven't had one, you're missing out. It's a hot dog stuffed inside a zucchini, then deep fried like a corn dog. They are deeeelicious! I tried to find them at this year's LA County Fair and was so sad to find that most people hadn't heard of them before. Instead, I had a yummy crepe, chocolate covered bacon, tri-tip sandwich, and ranch fries, so I think I made up for it.

Next on the calendar was a 4th of July trip to Newport with John and his friends. The 4th gets pretty crazy in Newport. A good number of streets are shut down so that pedestrians can mingle, people are decked out in their best red, white and blue, and the law enforcement is kept busy. We chose to take the quieter route. Vance's parents live in the harbor and have a great house that they open up to everyone. This house exudes Cape Cod and Pottery Barn, but that's for another blog. We spent the weekend playing football on the beach, kayaking, taking the Duffy boat into the ocean, BBQing, and watching fireworks from the rooftop deck. I didn't do a very good job of documenting the weekend but the views are nice.

What do Anjelica Huston, Courtney Love, Donald Rumsfeld, Fred Savage, OJ Simpson, Tom Hanks, and John Kolbeck all have in common??

They were all born on July 9th! 2009 marked John's 25th birthday so we celebrated in style in Las Vegas. On Night 1, I took the birthday boy to Fix at the Bellagio for dinner. The entire meal was great but my favorite was the Kobe Chili Cheese Fries that we got as an appetizer. Does this surprise anyone?! After dinner we walked the strip, enjoyed the sights, and met up with some of John's friends.

Some more people made it into town for Night #2, including John's sister and friends, and Tara & Rob. We all went to a club called Jet.



Devin, Ambe
r, Britt, John



The next day was HOT so we spent some time by the pool before taking a limo to dinner at Mandalay Bay's Rum Jungle. We ended the evening walking the strip and enjoying the lights of such a fun city. All in all, I think the birthday weekend was a great success.



The following weekend we saw Camille off to Camp Sugar Pine. It sounds like she had a great time. Here are a few "before" pics.

Even though LMU doesn't have a football team for alumni to be avid followers of, they do a pretty good job of throwing some fun alumni events. In June it was the Dodger game and in July it was a Beer Tasting event in Hermosa Beach. I've been to several of these events now and it's a great way to learn about different types of beers while socializing with friends and eating some good food. My friend Danny is usually responsible for throwing these events and we all do our best to attend and support the cause!

That same weekend, Rob threw a BBQ at his boss' house which is up in the Hollywood Hills. It was a perfect Summer day for a BBQ.

You probably remember that last summer I spent most of my time working from home. John and I still like to joke about the "good ole days" where we went to Angel games on my lunch break. I hope to someday get back to that sort of flexible work arrangement. For now it is just a fond memory of how we said goodbye to July 2009...