warm as toast

my dad's sister, my aunt kathy, has lived in her house for years and years - longer than i've been alive. she has a great backyard with a pool that's perfect for entertaining. there are plenty of places to lounge while visiting, relaxing and eating.

there used to be two change rooms in the back yard: a his and hers. i clearly remember the smell of the hers room; it smelled of chlorine.

i have so many memories dating back years and years that took place this backyard.

i don't know why i remember this, but the first time i ever ate two cheeseburgers in one sitting (from burger king i'll have you know) was in this back yard: kathy had me over to take me shopping for my ninth birthday and her son, my cousin kevin, who's four years older then me, got two cheeseburgers so i did the same. and duh, i ate them both.

i remember when i was eleven (or maybe even twelve) my mom took me to nordstrom and bought me a lavender and white flowered bikini. i wore it for the first time in his backyard.

there used to be a diving board and a slide. i remember jumping and sliding and diving.

i remember my nonna would never walk under the slide, because she was worried she'd be cursed with bad luck, since it was kind of like walking under a ladder.

and my nonno who was a larger man would do cannon balls off the diving board and splash everyone on the patio to the delight of all of us grandkids.

and my nonna who never learned to swim would wade in the shallow end and always look somewhat nervous while she was in the water.

twenty years ago we basked in the sun all day. i want to tell you there was more drinking and i definitely know there was more smoking. these days, it seems there's less drinking and no one smokes and we hide out in the shade.

this past 4th of july kathy hosted us at her house.

my uncle steve came with two bottles of gin and tonic and limes. people who normally don't drink a whole lot were sucking down the g & ts well into the night. we took off early, at about 7:30.

after we left, it was decided that there would be a colla family rafting trip. thanks to my sweet cousin katie, this happened this past weekend.

twenty of us met in sacramento saturday morning loaded down with beers, waters, snacks, sunscreen, and other goodies. we rented 3 rafts and split up into groups and floated down the sacramento river for 3 hours.

my folks came up and watched ollie while we floated.

it was so lovely to relax, float, drink beer and eat chips and visit. and laugh.

at the end of the rafting trip we ended up at a park. katie arranged to have a company cater our arrival, with bbq. it all tasted so good, after three hours of floating in the hot sun.

my folks came with ollie.

afterwards we all headed to the hyatt in downtown sacramento, where we hung out, rested, visited and finally slept.

we've decided to make it an annual thing. and that there will be t-shirts next year. something like, the collas: we float.