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We woke up the next day after my sister-in-law’s left and we both felt a little down. After two weeks of go-go-go, we were bummed that we didn’t have plans for the next day. So instead, we caught up on lost e-mails, internet news, and went back to our regular routine.

In the 9 years that The Guy and I have been together, I haven’t been around his two siblings and him at once. It sure was an interesting, and incredibly fun time while they were here. My Mom kept leaving me facebook comments on pictures, asking how much trouble us girls were getting into, and “poor ol’ Guy”.

I suppose it describes us pretty well to a tee.

For the first bit of Shauna’s solo visit (younger one, who was at our wedding) we were together for a few days as The Guy was working, and Krista hadn’t arrived yet. We ended up doing quite the amount of stuff together. I took her shopping to the Gilroy outlets, and helped her pick out some clothes and shoes as per her request. She didn’t do too bad, I must say. I scored some cute Italian ballet flats that are made of suede (my favourite kind of shoe) for $19 at J.Crew outlet — it was in the clearance section. The first pair I spotted and tried on, I didn’t think much of them until Shauna gasped and told me I needed them in my life. So of course I picked those up too, for about $40. Pretty amazing deal considering they retail for $130+ in their regular priced stores.

I passed on these beauties, even though I thought they would’ve been perfect for our first American Fourth of July.

Shauna and I were invited by an old colleague who still lives in Waterloo, Ontario (Canada) but was down in my neck of the woods for an event.

She invited us both to the Canadian Ex-Pat Event at the Stanford Faculty Club! It was fantastic seeing a familiar face, as I always think of my old co-workers back in Ontario, missing them terribly. I still send them weekly e-mails about my previous week to keep them updated. They all seem to still enjoy it. So it was great seeing someone I knew all too well, and catch up on the last few months.

One night, Shauna and I had planned on eating at this new-to-me donut/sandwich shop, except when we got there it was closed. We decided to walk next door into a Mexican restaurant which was pure boredom when it came to food. It wasn’t very nice.

Over the weekend, The Guy, his sister and I drove down to Santa Cruz for the day. Unfortunately we didn’t realize pets weren’t allowed in the amusement park area nor the beach, and we brought Alfie. So we only saw the outside area of it all. Did manage to spot some amazing surfers! I took an Instagram video of one of them.

I loved the bonding experience I had with Shauna, because I never really had that before. When I was home in Newfoundland last summer, I hung out with Krista quite a bit. But never with his younger sister. I taught her how to apply makeup, and we went around to a number of different stores to get some makeup and skin care samples for her, run home and try it all on. I also taught her a bit about self-tanner as we were applying it together (for her first time).

Once Krista arrived, we only had one girls-day together with all three of us. We all wanted to get our hair done, so I booked an appointment for the three of us. The salon experience was much left to be desired as we had booked the appointment as soon as the salon opened. Only for the owner to be the only person there, and running behind, as she worked on another clients hair. My stylist didn’t arrive until 25 minutes after the appointment, and the other one was a complete no-show. It put a bad taste in our mouths. Krista cut a bunch of inches off her hair, which looked great on her. I had my hair dyed all over with a semi-permanent hair dye a little darker than I had it originally, I like it. Shauna got hers dyed too – which she didn’t like – she was trying to achieve a more bolder, fun colour. Ah well, lesson learned. I won’t go back to that salon! Ha.

After our hair was done, we drove out to another outlet called Livermore Premium Outlets, where we scored some more deals. The nude heels were $21, and the black one’s were $10! I passed, they would’ve killed my feet, since they were poorly made.

The next few days, The Guy had time off work, so those days were spent going to the California’s Great America amusement park in Santa Clara. SO FUN. I forgot how much I enjoyed roller coasters, and drop towers – scares the crap out of me.

While the sisters were here, we of course celebrated our first Fourth of July here in the USA. We drove to San Francisco mid-afternoon and spent the entire day there being tourists. What I didn’t expect, was it to be bitterly cold with that bone-chilling wind.

A few of us were under dressed me being the worst because I was GOING to wear my red, white and blue (and 2/3 of that outfit was my blue+white shorts!). I was not going to back out of that and wear plain ol’ jeans. I’m being patriotic! Here’s Shauna and I warming up in a little hole in the wall by the street clothing vendor we later purchased hoodies from.

Needless to say, by sundown, Shauna and I had to buy some warmer clothes. Thankfully there were some street vendors selling hoodies and blankets for $10, which I snagged and kept me warmer than what I was, while we watched the fireworks.

Backing a little up in the day, while in San Francisco, one must get sundae’s from Ghirardelli Square.

So that’s exactly what we did. Each time we entered their retail store, they handed us a chocolate. Fine by me!

Once the sun set, we waited for the fireworks, and enjoyed our time together. Especially posing with Boudin’s breadbowl garbage pile up.

Their trip seemed like it flew by quickly, and before we knew it, it was their last day with us. We kept their last day mainly low-key with a walk down to Santana Row, as Krista hadn’t seen the area yet. Sooo many photos were taken on their trip – mainly because we’re all camera-crazy, and half because they never get to hang out all together at once.

You know you have visitors when your front hallway is filled with shoes. Love that picture. Our last meal was a decision made by The Guy and I — a place we’ve only been to, together once before. But knew we had to share it with Krista and Shauna. So off we went…

We were back at BJ’s Restaurant (since The Guy and I enjoyed ourselves the week prior) for the girls last supper.

Shauna had an early morning flight to which we said our goodbyes before we all went to bed, and The Guy like the best brother he is — drove her to the airport. But, Krista’s flight was mid-afternoon, so the three of us grabbed some coffee then sipped and chatted before hanging out in the pool and hot tub a little bit before her flight. So sad to see them all go! It’s an empty nest now… until next time.