I apologize for not posting sooner. For the first time in quite a while, jet lag kicked my butt. I am feeling a bit better today but yesterday I walked through my day in a strange, hazy tired fog. That being said, here are a few observations from San Francisco:

Nothing too profound, obviously, I think I will look back on BlogHer ’08 as an important weekend.

Jet lag is sinking in but just a brief note to say I am back from BlogHer and will have much more to share in the morning. One small glimpse of the wonderful city of San Francisco: as I was walking to BART yesterday after the conference, I saw a man holding a sign “Need a Hooker”. I was torn as I tried to determine if it was the most honest plea for money ever or the most ironic.

More tomorrow…

0 moose spotted
1 hail storm
2 grizzly bears
3 black bears
4 old friends
5 great days in the park

Upper and Lower Falls

Originally uploaded by houseof4clays

The House of Clay relocates to Montana for the week starting tomorrow. Enjoy this waterfall from Yellowstone National Park (in Wyoming but who’s counting) and I will try to post midweek about our adventures. So far we are moose hunting on Sunday (photos are the only things being shot), fishing on Monday, a day at the ranch on Tuesday, hiking on Wednesday, ranger talk on Thursday with old friends and more of the same on Friday.

Happy Fourth of July and happy summer!

Like millions of other American families, we are paying close attention to our grocery budget. I have always been a frugal shopper but with this year’s price increases, I am trying to be extra careful at the grocery store. Imagine my surprise when my beloved Publix store brand pasta was the same price as fancier name brand pasta. I knew this could not be right, so upon investigation I realized that the box of name brand pasta contained 25% less pasta than the store brand. Coincidentally, I read an article in Time Magazine about this very trend the next day. The gist of the article is that companies are hesitant to raise prices again right now, so instead package size is being reduced.

Do food makers think we are idiots? I am insulted that someone has decided I will pay the same price for less food and not notice. Ice cream cartons have been shrinking for years. (If you don’t believe me, go to the freezer right now and see if your ice cream contains an actual half gallon.) The moral of the story is read the label to see if you are buying the same amount of food as you did last year.

The House of Clay had a low key weekend between trips. On Saturday, everyone except me went for a walk in the forest and Ranger seemed pleased to have the girls back by his side. After a quick lunch, we treated CancerMan to his Father’s Day present—a trip to see “Get Smart”. The girls and I did not catch the numerous references to the original show but enjoyed it anyway. CancerMan chortled throughout as he finally sees why we all love Steve Carell so much.

The girls played basketball and tennis on Sunday while I tested the ankle on a walk with Ranger. (For new readers, I severely sprained my ankle at the end of April and while much better, I am not 100% yet. If Tom Brady can say his ankle still hurts from his pre-Super Bowl injury, I have a few more months to complain, too.) We ran a couple of errands including spending our life’s savings at the grocery store and then had rest time including a nap for the adults. There you have it….

With Montana looming, we have some packing and shopping to do. The girls and I are headed to school today to organize the school store that the PTO will run. The girls love visiting school in the summer, so they are VERY excited. I try to enjoy this as I am sure they will outgrow it. I might have some freelance work this week, too, so it should be a busy week.

We are home from Florida for a week before we leave for Montana. The weather in FL was great and the girls enjoyed the beach, Saint Augustine and Jacksonville Beach. The Castillo de San Marcos was just as great as I remembered it from years ago. We had great shrimp at various places and the oldest young princess discovered that she like raw oysters on the half shell with zesty homemade cocktail sauce. Goes to show you that if you keep throwing different things at picky eaters, eventually something will stick.

We were all excited about seeing the interior of Memorial Presbyterian Church on the edge of the Flagler College campus but they had a lightening strike a few minutes before we arrived and no one was allowed in while the fire department confirmed there was not a fire in the structure. It was pretty exciting nonetheless.

Now home to regroup before we head to Big Sky Country. If you are so inclined, you can see a few photos of the trip at flickr.