Life in a Small Town

Big, crowded cities have never appealed to me. I've always wanted to live in a small town. The kind that's walkable, with a strong sense of community, and where you frequently bump into people you know as you go about your business (but not so small that everyone knows your business!) We've been really lucky with our little town. Once named THE worst place to live in the SF Bay Area, the city leaders have really worked at turning things around. We have a nice waterfront
within walking distance with solid mom and pop restaurants (though not much shopping- I'm still hopeful). There are many community events both here (we have Friday concerts, Saturday evening family movies outdoors, and Sunday concerts, AND you just can't miss those 4th of July fireworks!) and in our neighboring city (and I can easily walk to their downtown by just going opposite ours).
Tonight we got together at our favorite Mexican restaurant with several neighbors from our alley- yes! an old-fashioned alley- no looming garage on the front of our house, and with our low picket fences, it's easy to see what's going on in everyone's backyards up and down the street. AudioDad knows countless neighbors from his daily jogs. He used to frequently come home from a run with a 6-pack of beer from a neighbor who made home-brews. They piled up since he doesn't drink often- thank goodness for that beer batter bread recipe! That neighbor has since moved- but AudioDad recently came home from a run with his hands full of seedlings instead!
Altogether, there were 6 households at dinner and it was great fun, especially now that we've got younger families beginning to move in- more kids for Munch to play with even though she has a couple of years on them. We're hoping we can start to do these neighborly get-togethers more often.
Here's a few pics from this weekend's local Tomato Festival-
Munch and AudioDad after a yummy breakfast-she's taken to always adding an accessory to the day's outfit. Usually it's the foam tiara or a pair of butterfly wings
We were thrilled to find pony rides!

The local Girl Scout troop had a booth with fun crafts-
and they had the tallest inflatable slide I've EVER seen- the Titanic!