A whole year?

It's okay for me, but . . .

I told Chloe that her friend is thinking about looking at a few colleges on the east coast. Chloe, who is spending her junior year of high school most of a continent and an ocean away from all of her friends, said, "No! I don't want her to go that far away!" I'm happy, though, that it takes only a few seconds for her to realize the hypocrisy in such a statement, probably because she wants to beat me to pointing it out to her.

What shall I do?

Any ideas of what to do at night during San Fermin, the running of the bulls? By myself? Chloe's a little worried. Not so much about me, but about whether I'll insist that she babysit me. Those will be the last few days she has in Pamplona because we won't be going back there before we go home, so I'll be leaving her alone with her friends for part of that time. I don't know how to go to bars, especially by myself, but it's not Chloe's job to entertain me (I hope she doesn't read that).

I don't speak their language. I'm guessing that most of the Americans there will be too drunk to comprehensibly speak any language because they are there expressly for San Fermin and all that entails, while I'm there sort of by coincidence (I don't want to be one of these guys or him). Our gracious hosts for that week don't speak my language any more than I speak theirs, so going back to their home alone would be a bit awkward and I don't want to inconvenience them any more than I have to. And I don't like to go to bed early (and I'd have no business being at San Fermin if I did). Maybe I'll pretend to be a photojournalist and pretend that I have purpose there, but I'd still rather not wander around by myself in a crowd of over one million drunken revelers when I don't speak the language.

Chris's birthday 7

Jake's a bad influence.

Chris's birthday 6

Kenny, Chris, and Jake. Your uncle hasn't touched a beer since an unfortunate underage incident in his past. By the way, you'll be required to wear the John Deere shirt while driving the truck. Busch beer - I don't know where we went wrong. Daddy said a person could, well, you know, in a cup and leave it on the deck for a couple of months and get the same final product.

Chris's birthday 5

Austin playing with the dogs. Later, he and Brenna discovered magic - kicking a soccer ball for Scout. Can't believe that had never occurred to me. It's soccer balls from here on out, as soon as I find your soccer ball.

Chris's birthday 4

That's the truck you'll be driving in the background. Do you know your cowboy-hat size? Would you prefer a black powder-coated gun rack, or chrome?

Chris's birthday 3

Jake either has great faith in Christopher's mechanical abilities, or he's an idiot.

Chris's birthday 2

Think this is enough for the Vehicle Research Engineering admissions committee?

Chris's birthday 1

More birthday pics, Chloe. We don't have actual guests over, just their cars.

This is where Jake parked when he came over for dinner.

Still big

After again. Just try to wipe that grin off his face.