Little House on The Cape: I can't believe summer's over!

This year, like many families in the country, we had a staycation. With Jay gearing up to for school, my endless PE study session and only one income in the house, we figured this was the most reasonable thing to do. So we enjoyed our home, our town and little things here and there.

Our summer opened with the celebration of Independence Day. Now that Jay is a US citizen we had a really good reason to celebrate (any foreigner will understand what a great accomplishment this is). We invited some of my coworkers over for burgers and ceviche at the house. Mr. and Mrs. Hart had to cancel last minute. Bob came over armed with pictures and dessert in tow. Bob brought over the Southern version of an "angel food cake" dessert, which involves a nice and warm biscuit, a big scoop of vanilla ice cream, topped with some fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Yep, we weren't dieting that day!

While Jay cooked some burgers, Bob got to show us pictures of the making of his log house. You see, Bob built his own log house with his own hands! How cool is that?!

Once our bellies were stuffed, we decided to bring the party over to The Harts. If they don't come to the party, we bring the party to them! We got a cooler, put some ceviche and beer in it and headed over to their place. We ate, drank and stole mangoes from the neighb or's tree. Shh! Don't tell anybody! At the end of the night, we sat on a dark street and watched fire works go off. It was a perfect 4th of July!

About a month later, we headed out to Orlando to take the AFS students from our local chapter to their Departure Orientation. That brought back a ton of memories! And I was not envious of what they were going through. It reminded me of how I felt 15 years ago when I had to say goodbye to my family, friends and Jay. It was so sad. After a wonderful year, full of new experiences and friendships, I had to go back to Venezuela. My year was up!

We also started (but didn't finish) to build a pergola in our backyard. I will keep you posted on the (slow) progress. As most of you know, we also brought home a new member to the family (Izzy the Boxer!). She fits in really well with our family and definitely keeps us entertained. And last but not least, we also celebrated Gabriela's 7th birthday party! We fired up the grill at a local park, filled up the piñata with some candy and brought some play dough and the kids had a blast.

Here are some pictures from our summer adventures: