Britta and family visit

My college friend Britta and her family - husband Sam, children Alden and Ilan - came through town for a day on their driving vacation from SF to Seattle. We hadn't seen them for 7 years, since we left the east coast, and the children had obviously grown a lot in that time. But it was wonderful to see Britta and Sam and to catch up on experiences and work and family and personal lives. It felt like very little time had passed in our friendship, which was very sweet, and we had a lovely day together.

They arrived on Saturday night in time for dinner at our home - farmer's market salmon and veggies and bread - and then we walked around the school and up the hill together. On Sunday we had a clean-out-the-fridge breakfast at our house and then drove to the Rose Garden to enjoy the flowers, views, and sunshine. The kids (their boys are 13 and 10) and our kids hit it off immediately, bonding over soccer and laser tag and football and Uno. That was an unexpected bonus. We took them to Salt and Straw for tasting and cones, to Wallace Park (Jasper got to play in the dog run), to Life of Pie for pizza, and around Washington Park.

I hope it isn't another 7 years until our next chance to catch up - but I feel confident that we four adults will be just as happy to see one another, and that conversation will flow just as freely, as it did this time.