Ethan's 19th birthday... (E, how did you get so old?)

Sorry I'm totally behind on my posts! They're going to be a little out of order and I'm taking SO many pictures I can't edit them fast enough to keep up with myself! haha This past Friday my little bro-in-law turned 19, and we went to dinner at none other than Paradise Cove, of course. E loves his clam chowder...

I rented a Canon 10-22mm lens to take on our trip (leaving this Thursday--yay!), which arrived early, so I was able to take some awesome pictures at the beach with it. I have edited any of these photos--they're SOOC (straight out of the camera), and they turned out awesome! I'm lovin' this lens! If only I could afford to spend $700 to have one of my very own...

testing out my wide angle in the car ;)

















surf's up!





ok, so the wide angle up close makes heads look funny... oh well!











my FAVORITE! how gorgeous is this??





the group-- we'll just pretend that lobster is Justin ;)




Ethan, the proud father of a double peanut

strawberry margarita.... yum!





now that's a birthday cake!


happy birthday, little brother!!

San Fran + a Nor Cal family visit

The wedding was the morning of Wednesday, July 1st, so that night we went into San Francisco to see my best friend Liz and her bf Jordan. We went to a little Ethiopian restaurant for dinner-- it was delish!

Liz & Jordan

me& Liz

The next day we decided to spend all day in San Francisco, and to visit a couple places we've never been before. We decided to go to SF City Hall after hearing how beautiful it was (and it was!), and walked through Chinatown, which I loved because it was so colorful and I had lots of things to take pictures of! We planned on parking near Liz's place in the Sunset district, and taking public transportation the rest of the day, but we couldn't find parking and ended up leaving the car at City Hall all day while we walked everywhere (almost 4 miles!). After Chinatown, we walked to Lombard Street (whew, what a hill!) and then to Ghirardelli Square/Fisherman's Wharf where we ended up having lunch (Brian had to have clam chowder in a bread bowl!) and then taking the bus all the way back to our car. What a day!

San Francisco City Hall - gorgeous!












little marketplace



walking the streets




Chinatown







apparently the Jews eat here, too ;)













cool building



Lombard Street... a serious hike up!






necklace anyone?



Brian finally got his clam chowder in a bread bowl!

Ghirardelli Square

gotta stop for chocolate... even though you can buy the same ones at Ralph's ;)

figuring out how we make it back to the car...

We originally planned on staying at Brian's aunt Karen's house (which is in Marin County and just a few minutes away from the Golden Gate Bridge and about an hour South of Napa), but last minute she had another guest and booked us a hotel room for all 3 nights, which was SOOO sweet of her! (Thanks Karen!) Thursday night, after we spent the day in San Fran, we headed out to Karen's to have dinner with her and with Brian's other aunt, Brenda, and her daughter Paige. We had a great dinner and really enjoyed spending some time with them! Here are some pictures from that night:

Karen's cute house

her dog Gracie

Plummer, Karen's friend's dog

Brian and Brenda

Paige and Karen

Paige playing with Gracie

Bri, Brenda & Paige

doggies

all of us


Last post on our trip home to follow!