they say it's your birthday / we're gonna have a good time

my daddy turned fifty at the beginning of this month. to celebrate, his side of the family met in the mountains near morgan hill (where his parents live) to camp and celebrate.





it was a good time: good to see family (whom i don't get to see enough), and good celebrations complete with cake, bocce ball, pin the motorcycle on the race track (because my dad races motorcycles), and a pinata.





plus, as an aside, brad, parentals, and i got to go to the monterey bay aquarium and see their new white shark!!!! words cannot describe my level of giddiness/excitement about this. she is the fourth white shark they've had there (incredible) and beautiful. and at only 50 pounds, most of the tuna in the exhibit outsized her.



[courtesy of dad]


since then, life has actually been fairly quiet here in oregon. for once, i've actually been in corvallis on the weekends and not out in the field (field season is winding down). it's been great going to the farmers market every saturday and soaking in the last sun of summer before the rain comes.