Denver, San Diego, the Bay Area, Stockton,

It was a busy summer indeed. Looming in the background was making a decision to sell our house in San Diego. We made a deal with our current tenant and he will be the new happy owner. It took us 7 years of living abroad to realize that we might not be coming back to live in the USA in the foreseeable future. All of our belongings were packed in the garage and every summer we'd get rid of more stuff. What was left of our stuff we put into Ana's old bedroom at her parents house. Whew.

Our big wait and see plan is to buy something-hopefully in Spain. But that depends on if we leave Egypt anytime soon. The idea is to never have a mortgage again. At the time of writing this, the house is sitting in escrow. We hope to close soon and be done with that chapter in our life. 

As I stated, it was indeed a busy summer...and most of the time it was a time of disconnect from the internet, minimal posting of stuff on FB/Instagram, no writing... It was a time to connect with friends and there wasn't much documentation to prove this, sort of like the old days.   

A former co-worker in Ethiopia met us at the Botanical Gardens in Denver. Two years in a row now, might become an annual event.

Longtime friend Ben invited us to his son's b-day party at Casa Bonita. Yes, it was worth spending an hour in line to watch a sad magic show, cliff divers...and the sopapillas.

Somehow Ana though it was appropriate to "borrow" the neighbor's scooter and bring it inside for a photo shoot with Ximena. I think the neighbors got hip and stopped leaving the scooter around. 

Stockton was in the mix too... time to visit with Chris, Lori, and Sam. That is always a lot of fun that usually results in having your stomach pumped from items scored at Big Lots.

Nelson, Teff, and Rita in Alameda is always a night to remember...it usually involves good food (being they are foodies) and local beers.

Ana and I celebrated our 9th anniversary over fish tacos.

Patrick is always a blast to see, who else would drive down from LA to see us and go back the same day. We played kickball at Balboa Park in a sculpture garden over a glass of beer followed by watching a Mexican Beatles cover band.

Rich and Patty stated putting out books. They came down to San Diego for an event.

Compadre Rudy trying to make X go blind.

A family event in Denver was in the mix too. I'm a great uncle to these hooligans.

The Keleher's were also great to see a couple of times.

Chris only ate blue that day.

When X crawls away from us, we expect this sort of stuff.

Sam and X 4 eva.

Yes that is Chris wearing a shirt of himself at Lucas Studios in Frisco.

Patty is working on the new Star Wars film so she invited us to check out the joint. You don't say no to an invitation like that.

Many of the props form Lucas films are scattered throughout the building. This is from the movie Cocoon.

Two items that for sure go in the same room together.

Phone home.

We saw a lot of pilgrims lurking around the compound looking for Yoda.

Oi Oi Oi Chad, haven't seen this guy in 20 plus years. Miss the bloke.

When cousins Lou and Lynda put the ribs on the grill,  you tend to drop what you're doing and head to Whittier.

Party hard with the Lugos in the park.

Symptoms of eating snacks from Big Lots. 

Sonny and I Interviewed Jason Heller for Denvoid part 2, Jason's crib has the best view. Speaking of Denvoid, I made a last minute flight to Denver to met with Megan of History Colorado and we agreed to have our book release there in 2018.  

Nelson captured this moment of X discovering herself in the mirror.