July 4th Weekend: 2007 and 2008

A year ago, we were...

. . . celebrating a whole different kind of Independence by drinking German beer and eating strange-parts-of-the-body food (Hax'n!). If you need proof of the giddiness we were experiencing, check out the video of Jacquie enjoying her German beer on one of our original blog entries here.

Looking forward to escaping to many new and unfamiliar places, we started our journey in comfortable places, surrounded by both sides of our family. Leaving London and making a quick hop over to Germany, these first two stops were almost side-trips of nostalgia to places we had spent considerable time in our pasts, and yet to which we can always return easily.

Germany was a great place to set off from, with the many relatives, and an excuse to make it to my Mom's "Golden Re-Confirmation" - the 50-year celebration of her confirmation into the Lutheran church. It was special in a number of ways, especially as it was the same church in which I was baptized in 1971.

Mom (on the left) with the Pastor and my Godmother, Renate

We visited all the special places of my youth: Nuernberg, city of my birth; Geroldsgruen, a literal retreat for the my mother and her family; Munich, my old home-town.

Dad laughing at one of Jacquie's best jokes to date

On top of Peter-Paul Church overlooking Marienplatz downtown Munich

On the left: making a wish by spinning the brass ring in Nuernberg; On the right: reflections of Munich

You never know what you'll find when travelling; they happened to have the biggest all-brass orchestra playing a concert downtown Nuernberg the day we were visiting!

Meanwhile Back in the Real World (2008):

So how did we spend the July 4th weekend this year? Well, we first and foremost decided to finally catch up on the Thanksgiving Dinner we missed last year by enjoying it in lieu of our weekly Sunday Roast Dinner. Finding a whole turkey in July isn't as easy as it sounds, and I think staff in Safeway thought we were setting up some kind of Candid Camera hoax judging by the shock when we asked for one. But we finally found one at a smaller, independent grocer and we're fixing to have turkey and all the trimmings later on today.

A new tradition? Turkey-day in July!

But first, we did what we've been doing most weekends recently which is to search for our new home! We're pretty much ready to make an offer as soon as we find 'the one', but - despite the significantly larger inventories out there - it's not as easy as it sounds as we're trying to be as true to our 'wish list' as we possibly can. That includes: Lloyd's dream kitchen (or space to build it), Jacquie's dream bathroom (or space to build it), three bedrooms plus office (or four bedroom), at least two of the bedrooms en suite, and a spectacular view (either overlooking Silicon Valley or trees and/or ocean). 'It' needs to have a two car attached garage and preferably space for a piano.

Only $800 thousand . . .

Now, we know we'll end up comprimising on some of these things, but it doesn't hurt to know what you're looking for, right? Actually, we almost put an offer in on a place last week, a beautiful home just outside of Los Gatos with a great view overlooking the valley. Kitchen and Bathrooms needed upgrading, but the living area and family rooms were fabulous. We were all but ready to submit the mortgage application when we realized that bedrooms two and three were just tiny - we made that mistake once before with our Navajo Trail home and weren't about to do that again! Anyway, I'm sure that house-hunting will be a regular theme over the next several months, so watch this space!