thank you summer gods

tomorrow is my LAST 'first day of school'

but before all that, i would like to give a big shout-out to the best summer i could ever ask for

i hope to carry every piece of this summer with me for as long as i live

<3

wishing you peace & love & all those other good things :) :D

hey.

sorry, i come bearing no real photos.  sure, i've taken thousands of pictures this week, but, my guess is that Kindergarten-6th grade picture days, pee-wee football team portraits, archival reproductions of Wayne Thiebaud's entire collection & "action photos" from University Writing Across the Curriculum seminars are of no interest to you and yours.  but, i figure, since you're already here at shannon's blog, shannon might actually be of interest to you.  so,  here she is starring in a darling collection of iMac photo-booth photos gathered up from this week:

k byeeee

frisco! fresh & frisky!

went to the city yesterday to be merry with family & friends.

didn't photograph much around town but took some out the car window on our way in and out :)

in:

out:

stomping grounds...

some of our favorite places in town.

and by favorite i mean at least once a day.

but we're fatties so probably way more.

and by the way, this is the last you'll see of italy for a while!

i'm finally out of pics to show you! (i know, thank god!)

but you can expect more in 2011 :) :)

here's Paigey standing outside whatcha call an alimentari. our alimentari. kind of like a mini-market. the nicest lady in the world, Cinsina, owns it. all of the food she has was created within the town. the best blackberries i've ever tasted. little baby pears. a huge variety of honey. hand made pastas. the most flavorful whole grain bread one could imagine. and only just down the street :)

so here's the deal. i do not like ice cream. i despise it actually. but this, this is no ice-cream. this is gelato. handcrafted by the most smiliest man in the world. he just beams with bliss and, consequently, so does his gelato. nothing but joyfulness in every bite... even if you have three servings right in a row.

the very first day we were in town we stopped by for a slice of pizza. the pizza man started chatting with us in crazy-fast italian. we just smiled and nodded and told him the pizza was wonderful and for that we'd see him again the next day, or, everyday for that matter. we stuck to our word.

bar leonardi. i don't know that i can actually explain how much this place means to me... or why. all i know is that when i am sitting on this patio i am at peace, like there is no other place i would rather be.

after day comes night

one of my favorite things about Amelia in the summer is the way it comes alive at night.  the daytime is suffocatingly hot.  but eventually the sun sinks down down down and the Amerini start to crawl out of the woodwork.  young and old alike, out and about until midnight, 1:00, 2:00...  laughing and loving and drinking and playing foosball and talking way too enthusiastically and eating gelato like there was no tomorrow.  here's two youngsters enjoying the night right outside our window, well after all of our bedtimes...

sisters' blogs

both of my sistahs have blogs now :)

lots of pictures and videos and music and funny stuffff

Kelly - kellyschureman.blogspot.com

Kayla - kaylaschureman.blogspot.com

a vacation within a vacation

here are a few more shots from Bolsena.  A town incredibly fantastic in every way.

lakeside

just outside the hotel

trattoria... the food is to die for, so are the waiters :)

out near the docks

the road into town

hotel window

family gun day!!

yaaaaaa

went shooting at sunset...

'top of the world'

something crazy like an altitude of 12,000 feet

known as 'top of the world'

i was kind of thinking an entirely new world ;)

[dad]

[no-one]

[kayla]

Stellar Brew

Stellar Brew - Mammoth Lakes, California

hands down one of the best places to start your day

trust me on this one

sunny sun deck

a good place to hang out on a Monday afternoon. or any afternoon for that matter :)

just me and booky

oh and charlie toooo

time warp

since as long as i can remember we've been coming here. it's one of those things that's been a constant in our lives... just keep on comin' back, season after season. maybe because it's a free place to stay. and maybe because of the location. it's absolutely pristine; breathtaking mountains everywhere! and the house, it's a freaking relic. an antique that has survived the test of our time. it has never changed... not one bit...

it doesn't work, unless you're into static

the old ski routes

this one takes some getting used to ;) but, he's not really dead, he's just .... taking a nap?

1 of about 28 wooden duck statues

cool.

they're taking naps too

one example of the many awesome wallpaper patterns

view from the 4th floor

super cute

some like it hot

classy :)