Stephenie's Blog: July 2008

Dave and Aaron came up to visit me this last Thursday night and stayed through the weekend. We ended up driving to San Francisco to celebrate the 4th of July. On Sunday we drove to Newman for Joe and Kristin's engagement party. Kristin's dad and stepmom hosted the party, and I got to see the rest of my family, too! This was my last visit before I get to move home. I'm down to the final stretch! Three more weeks of classes...then a week of finals...then HOME! My last final is at 9am on August 1st and I'm moving home THAT DAY! Rotations start on August 18th, so I'm planning on living up the short time I have off by backpacking, relaxing, visiting friends and family to catch up on the 2 years I've missed, and hopefully talking my mom into taking me to The Oaks at Ojai!

My mom first took me to The Oaks before my wedding. Neither of us had ever been to a health spa before, but she'd heard about it from a friend. As spas go, it's relatively inexpensive for everything that's included (I looked up spas when we got home from that trip because I was so impressed). Some people stay for 30 days at a time! We do the 3 days/2 nights package, and I absolutely love it!! Ojai is beautiful and the weather is GREAT! I don't want to babble on too long about the spa because it's easier to just follow the link to find out more about it, but I want to say that if you are looking for some "time off" and have a little money saved up...GO! There's no "women only" rule, but I've only ever seen 1 or 2 men there. They have specials from time to time (mother/daughter, etc.), so check out the calendar on the website, and treat yourself and someone you love to some healthy pampering! (Katie and Gretchen--if you make some extra money fund-raising, take yourselves to the spa after the JDRF walk!!! It will cleanse your souls!)

Anyway, here are some pictures from the busy weekend:

San Francisco

Coit Tower with the fog rolling in

Pier 39 was PACKED!

View over the bay...can you see the Ghirardelli sign?

Aaron, Dave, and Me

The carousel

Hard Rock Cafe at Pier 39...we decided against putting our name in since there was a 2 hour wait

Fireworks in the fog

Last shot of the flags on our way back to the car

Joe and Kristin's Engagement Party
Elijah and his daddy (my brother, David, in case you haven't kept up with my blog :)

Elijah, Daddy, and Grandma Noni (my mom) with the BIG slide behind David and my mom's mom (Great Grandma Noni) relaxing in the shade

Elijah can swim! With floaties, anyway...he jumped in the spa section (at the top right of this picture) without them and I had to jump over the wall from the main pool to pull him out. Then I asked if he wanted his floaties back on (ya know, because I thought drowning was probably scary) and he said "No." The kid's got guts!

My biggest brother Joe (left of center) with friends and family

He climbed all the way up the ladder, realized how high he was, and decided NOT to go down the slide. We started him halfway down and he loved it!

Friends and family

Elijah with Great Grandma "GG" (my dad's mom)

This is me thinking about going down the slide...and that's the new bathing suit I got at Old Navy in San Francisco for half off! I'm talking $16.50 for BOTH pieces, people! I love a good deal :)