Makin' Waves and Catchin' Rays

As a fitting celebration for the 4th this year, I got four whole days off.  A double weekend!   Kristen and Daniel were in town for the week, and I was joining them for a couple days with their family friends in Berryessa.  Daniel's journey that morning started in a cab to the airport, a flight across the country, and another cab to my house in SF.  Next, we BARTed to the Ferry Building and had lunch and #angrymargs with Ari, before taking the ferry to Vallejo.  After a couple rousing games of 20 questions for us and a cat nap for Daniel, my dad picked us up and carted us to Vacaville, where Kristen's mom and her husband Brenn picked us up and drove us the rest of the way to Berryessa.  It was quite a journey!

 Photo with parents in Vacaville

It was lovely staying at their family friend's house in Berryessa, which has really been outfitted to accommodate large groups!  Plus, there's a long deck with a gorgeous view over the water and the sunset.  They've been doing a 4th of July Berryessa weekend for decades, and have it down to a science, with spreadsheets and shopping lists and each couple responsible for one dinner.  There was a wonderful rhythm to the whole thing that I could really get on board with.  They were so nice to include me!

 Calabria boat!

Spent much of the weekend drinking Bud and riding in trucks, and the most fun was on the boats!  They have a pontoon as a well as a speedboat out on the water (severely different vibes depending on which boat you choose!).  We spent the first day primarily on the speedboat, alternating between gangster rap and country and pretending to be adventurous. 

We all took a turn knee boarding.  I was happy just to get up on the board (Kristen's a great coach), Daniel was eager to try out some tricks, and Kristen was actually capable of doing some pretty badass ones.

That night at the house we had an amazing dance party on the balcony that really felt like we were at a family wedding; in fact we joked that someone should get hitched right there and then just so we didn't waste the perfectness of the moment!   The evening culminated in snippets of Spotify's one hit wonders playlist and us seeing who could guess the most correctly.

The next day we dedicated ourselves to the pontoon boat and cruised the waters peacefully.  My favorite moment was when our fearless captain put on Little Big Town's fantastic lake anthem "Pontoon".  I just ate it up.

On the pontoon
Makin' waves and catchin' rays up on the roof
Jumpin' out the back, don't act like you don't want to
Party in slow motion
Out here in the open
Mm, motorboatin'

After my two days with the group in Berryessa, I headed back to Vacaville to spend part two of the weekend with my family. 

On our full day together, after seeing Baby Driver, we spent the perfect summer night as a family: a walk with Emma and treats from the ice cream man, dinner and cards on the patio, and finally air/shovel guitar solos to DJ Daniel's playlist.  It was one of those perfect, surreal nights when you know you're making a memory and don't want it to end.

And summer ain't over yet!