Monday, September 23, 2013

I'm back and August recap!


If you follow my instagram, then you're probably aware that we recently returned from a 12 day driving vacation - mostly Croatia and Slovenia, with a little Bosnia and Montenegro thrown in, and even some Italy and Austria for good measure. It was amazing, I took a couple thousand pictures (I could have exaggerated and said something like "a zillion" but the real number is ridiculous enough), and will be sharing some posts about the whole trip soon. 

Before moving on though, I really wanted to talk about the end of my summer. August was just what I needed after an incredibly rough time (see:  my June and July) and made it clear to me that after 2 years, El Puerto de Santa MarĂ­a is my home. It's the familiar place that I look forward to being after a long or stressful trip, I like the routine and the pace of daily life here, and it has become full of friends and experiences. Of course, it won't last forever, such is Navy life. But for now, I'm enjoying living la buena vida.

So this is just a happy little recap of my August, some events and good times that really bolstered my battered spirits. Sounds dramatic, but seriously, if I could never have so many negative things happen in such a short time ever again, that would be wonderful. Gracias.

Each one of these events could have had its own post, but at the time, I was just happily soaking everything in and loving living in the moment, which was so refreshing. 

Anyway, let's get to the pictures!


This was our third year attending the beach races in SanlĂșcar and it's one of our favorite events, so we made a point of going 2 nights, once during each weekend. Both times, we went to the finish line tent.



Horses, sunsets, a little betting (but no winning), drinks, food, and friends. What's not to love? Well, except for the not winning. That would have been a nice bonus. 



Since we had recently traveled to the States twice and to Bordeaux, we didn't travel over Labor Day weekend (Graham gets American holidays, even though the base is Spanish). But we did try our best to get out and see some different sites in our area.