Birthday
This past weekend I flew back to California for a few days in Buellton to celebrate my dad’s seventieth birthday.
The whole extended family was there for the weekend, and it was really great to get to spend time with everyone, having just done a bit of it a few weeks ago in San Francisco. Unlike San Francisco, though, this time we had plenty of time to spend time with each other without the pressures of touristy things, crowds or other hassles.
Aside from a quick trip to the store on Saturday, we spent three days entirely at Norm’s (still new-ish) beautiful house enjoying assorted events (archery, shooting, tennis, swimming, … drinking), eating delicious food, and celebrating the birthday.
On Saturday, assorted friends arrived for the big birthday dinner, and we enjoyed a feast while the accordionist played into the night (Zydeco!), getting all the kids to join him on various percussion instruments.
Getting to spend time with the whole family has become something I look forward to ever since we started doing it regularly a few years ago. The all-day and red-eye flights back and forth from the west coast are killing me (trying to fit these trips into a normal schedule of work and classes), but I really do wish we could do it more often.
A few more photos from the weekend are in the Flickr set Dad’s Birthday.