How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Bette Midler in Vegas


Carlos & Vanessa at Mission Beach


Steve, Pollard, Lucien in Boulder

Oh hell, rather than pretending that I was keeping up with this blog all summer but forgettting to hit the publish button, I will just do one entry that encompasses the whole summer. But fear not-- I shall try to be concise. We went to Vegas in June (112 degrees) to celebrate Bob Brady's 50th birthday with a bunch of guys. Kent and Bob rented a big house with a pool and we all just partied and hung out there, even though Hector and I stayed at Bellagio. We went to a local art gallery gala of what looked like high school art AND we went to see Bette Midler's show at Caesar's and it was lots of fun, possibly even $225 worth of fun. Tons and tons of foreigners all over the place, they're the only ones who can afford it now. I did very little gambling this trip. We're poor Americans.

In July, Hector's niece and nephew came from Kentucky for their annual visit with the bachelor uncles. Carlos is 10 and Vanessa is 13, they were exhausting but lots of fun. We learned last year to limit their soda intake. It makes for a much more enjoyable stay. We had a few Ramirez reunions at our house while they were here so we got to see everybody we hadn't seen for a while. Oh, they all grow up so fast.

Then, Hector and I flew to Boulder, Colorado to celebrate my brother, Lucien's, 70th birthday. The whole family met there: siblings, his kids, new grandbaby, and us. We had a great, quick weekend. Boulder is really pretty, the weather was gorgeous. It reminds me of Santa Barbara. We took over a couple of restaurants for dinner, we kids (ha) took a hike one day, sat around visiting, very enjoyable.

Finally, I finished summer classes and I have to say I really enjoyed them, especially my freshman english class. We read a bunch of interesting literature and had to do a lot of writing, but it was fun. Probably not so much for the 19 year olds that were in class with me. I'll get an A in that class and a B in my Intercultural Communications class. So, now I'm done with school for a couple of months... just enough time for a trip to Panama at Labor Day, 3 weeks in Europe in September and a trip to Athens in November. Heaven!