Family, food, and fun.

My family came down Saturday to celebrate my dad's birthday. We began the festivities at Taco Surf, home to myriad surfboards, oceany artwork, and the best ceviche in Mission Beach.



We opened presents and had cake there. The twins had baked a blood orange sponge cake that is sitting behind the salsa in the picture.

We then drove down to Pacific Beach to break in the football that the twins had got him (not the one in the picture). A surprisingly exciting game of touch football ensued--I think we even had some spectators up on the cliffs. Grandma Barr, at least, enjoyed it. For some reason, even though we play soccer incessantly, we've never played a game of football together. It was actually really fun. Angelica, Rachel, and I held our own against Mom, Dad, and Shannon. We were down at the beginning, because we didn't know all the rules (you can't pass forward on a return kick?), but we quickly made up the difference, and ended with a tie.

Then we drove up to La Jolla Shores. The clouds moving in were magnificent.







If you look closely in the center of this picture, you can see a dolphin's fin poking up. A pod swam around the point as we stood watching, but as they glide so quickly in and out of the water, it was all I could to catch a shot of one.



Next we drove into Pacific Beach to dine at Filippi's, home of amazing pizza. To cap off the night, we went a couple blocks up the street for ice cream at Mr. Frosty's. All our favorite places in one day. Happy birthday, Dad!