Is it really July already!?

Wow, how time flies. Like Scot, I've been remiss in blogging lately because I haven't had much to write about. Well, I guess I HAVE, I just haven't found the time or motivation lately.

Todd's spending the summer in LA. After a couple straight months of not seeing my parents at all, his Chinese was VERY rusty. For the first time in my life I heard him speaking English to my Dad (the person with whom he solely converses in Chinese)! Meanwhile, the break has been nice-- no more early mornings, no more worrying about Todd not eating/drinking well enough. And I can now head off to the bedroom to read while Allan watches TV in the living room.

Timely enough, we are also moving at the end of this month. With Allan finishing up school this summer, we have to vacate student housing by Aug 30. We put in applications for the apartment complex behind work, and lo and behold, vacancies started popping up. Summer is a popular time to move! We landed one with a lease starting Aug 1. It is still only 1 bedroom, but nearly twice as large as our current apartment, much newer and only a 10-minute walk from work! Good way to get exercise in during the day :-) Unfortunately, the mover we hired for our last 2 moves no longer does moves in Santa Barbara, as the cost of gas makes driving up here prohibitive :-(

Week before last marked the beginning of summer. Our company heralded the season with its annual summer party at a local park. Lots of good food, drinks, great weather and amazing performers from Cirque du Soleil. It was like the Amgen Summerfest in some respects-- the food, the performances, the children's play area... but at a fraction of the size. This meant that I knew a whole lot more of the people we ran into throughout the evening. It was amusing to run into the CTO, one of the founding fathers of the company-- he expressed amazement at how huge the company has gotten, with all these unfamiliar faces. Yet from my perspective it was very small, much more cozy, and ample opportunity to see plenty of familiar faces. I've got some pictures, I'll be sure to post them as soon as I can.

With the advent of July comes my favorite holiday of the year-- America's Independence Day. We've done so many different things each time, from enjoying fireworks and festivities at a local park to visiting family in Salem, OR. This year? A campout with our church. I know what you're thinking: "But Helly doesn't do camping!" Well, it's only for 1 night, it's jam-packed with activities, we're opting for cabins instead of tents, and most of all, I'm looking forward to getting to know some of our fellow parishioners better. We usually join many of the younger couples in getting together after services for lunch every week. And while I enjoy the camaraderie, it would also be nice to meet other couples with kids, and let Todd make some new friends, too.

Hmm... I suppose one advantage of not blogging so frequently is that I tend to have more to talk about, as there's always stuff to catch up on.

Hope everyone else's July and summer are shaping out nicely. Any interesting plans?

(originally posted at:  http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/410900487)