Back to Before

Whoops! I forgot I was going to post a bit about how I spent my time before leaving.

The day I put CF on a plane to Zürich I went out with some friends in San Francisco. The DP's planned a fantastic outing for KZ and me to enjoy while our husbands were in different countries (PZ was in India). CF and I had actually met up earlier that week with the DP's for sushi in Half Moon Bay and PDP had the idea to go to Slanted Door for dinner on Saturday. Now, I knew KZ had been dying to go there so of course we had to make it happen. The best reservation we could get was quite late but we decided to go for it. We didn't tell KZ where we were going but we guessed it and guessed right. So of course we had to throw her off. We were having cocktails before dinner at one bar and then switched to a restaurant (Can I just say that I will miss the current cocktail trends in SF, basil and lillet blanc seem to be in every other drink!) and told KZ that was where we would be dining. Then when it was time to actually go to the Slanted Door P told her our table was ready and then we ran up the stairs and out the door. She was so confused so we finally spilled the beans. She was sooo excited. It was great fun. Then we proceeded to eat and drink away our cares. You can always tell that I've had far too much to drink when I stop being subtle with my camera. I was snapping away with the flash on. Shameful! It caught up with the me the next day though. I didn't get to enjoy my breakfast until about 3pm when I could finally bring myself to eat more than a few bites. Thanks for a fab time DP's!

Then I headed down to San Diego to visit the Niece and her parents. She is beyond adorable and we had a great time playing with my computer. My sister was a bit terrified with how much I let her touch the keys, I'm sure I'm not making her efforts any easier, sorry L! We ended up on Skype with CF a couple of times and the Niece and he would launch into a hilarious routine of exchanging kisses. This involves him kissing at his webcam so his lips would fill the screen and then she would kiss towards him on the screen, which mean that my webcam could only catch the top of her head. All CF could see was crazy blonde curls fluttering back and forth. Soooo cute! She knows an amazing number of words: names, numbers, colors, etc... and she can read some of them too. And I'm not just being a biased aunt when I say that she is absolutely gorgeous. I think she attracts a lot of attention and people on street like to say "Hi!" in a drawn out, high pitched baby voice. So she's now taken to waving to people and saying "Hiiiiiiii!" with a little voice that sounds something like a southern belle. I'm so glad I got to go spend some time with her before leaving the country. Apparently after I left she was pointing towards their computer and asking for CF, and when she was trying to talk on the phone with my brother she was a bit thrown off by not being able to see him as well. We've already video chatted with her once from here in Switzerland and she did a repeat performance of the kissy exchange and also "beeped" our noses for us a few times. I had noticed in August that she didn't seem phased at all to see CF in the computer, but I wondered if she was a little confused as to how I was there now too. Oh, the things kids' brains have to learn these days!

My last week at home was packed full of socializing and lots of meals out. I got to see a lot of friends and really wrapped up a successful summer of connecting with the people I care about. The Saturday before I went to see UC Davis play San Jose State. The football game didn't turn out the way we would have liked, but it was perfect to get to see people one last time before I left. I just hated the moment it was over and suddenly people turned to me to say goodbye, the thing I had been putting off all summer. Riding back home with the DP's I asked if we could grab some dinner, I had very little food at home. We stopped for a burger, which totally hit the spot and seemed quite appropriate for one of my last meals in the States for a while. PDP said, "That's a big smile, M." "Well, I'm a happy girl."

The day after that my parents and brother came to visit and we went out to my favorite Mexican restaurant, Hola, to celebrate T's birthday. The food was all incredible (we all picked out great dishes), we had lots of good margaritas, we had a great time. The family helped me go through the house and look for any loose ends to tie up. Thank goodness my sister and her family were coming just a few days after I left so they could fix up anything I failed to get done! I had to say goodbye to my parents but T spent the night, graciously sleeping on the couch. We went for a nice walk on the Bay Trail the next day and watched plenty of No Reservations (which by the way, we have been watching via the iTunes Store in the week I've been here, makes me feel right at home!). Then I had to put him on a train back to Davis.

Once I was alone is when all hell broke lose... which takes us back to where the first post I wrote today started. All my readers back at home are going to wake up to a whole lot of babbling to catch up with on their Tuesday morning!