RAMADAN KAREEM!!
Or in other words, Happy Ramadan! September 12th is the beginning of Ramadan, when people try to be considerate of eachother, give to charity, fast from sun-up to sun-down, and then spend a large portion of the night eating and drinking and partying generally. The businesses and schools cut back on their hours, but stores, movies and the health club stay open extra late, because people are out and about til late. The restaurants also close during the day, and open up after sundown. This is difficult if you're a business person that is not fasting, because there are no places to go to eat, other than the hotels, which as a general rule don't close and will also serve pork and alcohol. As it's also known as the most holy month in the Muslim calendar, it is a time of introspection, noticing the state of others, and moving to alleviate suffering. The atmosphere is different, I will say that. Everyone knows not to get in the way at sundown, because people drive recklessly when they're hurrying home for "iftar" or the breaking of the fast with their families.
Things are back to normal after our Wonderful vacation, where we saw almost all our children and grandchildren, plus Waldo's family and Cay's Aunt Marge. The biggest disappointment was that we were not able to see Cachi, Jen and Gigi, as Cachi wasn't able to get off work at the last moment.
We camped at a little park in Simi Valley, where Waldo's mom got to experience the motorhome. She was impressed! We also ate cuban sandwiches at Waldo's brother Armando's favorite Cuban restaurant. Here are our son-in-law Ryan, nieces Vanessa and Rebecca, and Nilda, Waldo's mother, really enjoying themselves.
Our granddaughter Jordan, with her "Papo"
After our stay in San Diego we spent a really pleasant time with Aunt Marge, in Joshua Tree, California. The grandkids said it was one of their favorite parts of the whole trip . They really liked Aunt Marge's dog Maggie!
After saying farewell to our family in California, we headed back north to Washington, crossing the San Francisco Bay Bridge and camping at Lake Shasta. It was funnnn!!
We had several days free when we got back to Puyallup, and took advantage of the chance to go with the Emmetts to Wild Waves, a water park near them. Everyone enjoyed themselves despite the fact that there 
were blue lips everywhere due to the cold!
Colton, recovering from a great time in the wave pool, and Alaina and Caycay on the carousel.
Saying good-bye was hard, but we console ourselves in the knowledge that we're coming back for Alaina's baptism in March!
We have posted all the pictures on http://picasaweb.google.com/caygalan/OurSummerVacation2007
were blue lips everywhere due to the cold!
