Jelly Man Kelly

Meet Kelly.

Kelly is Pat’s brother, younger only by 17 months.

Kelly is good at everything: art, computer programming, web design, writing, teaching English, ukelele, singing, accordion, bike polo, fire-breathing, beard-growing.

Kelly is hilarious. He can really make me laugh. 

Me: I was so sad to miss the Bob Dylan concert because I had to have my appendix out.

Kelly: I guess your appendix wasn’t a Dylan fan.

Kelly is a world-traveler. He just spent more than a year living in China. Next year, he plans to move to Taiwan. And then I hear he’s tackling Europe. Hopefully Clark Griswold style.

We had the honor of hosting Kelly on his first visit back to the United States, and he had the honor of being our first house guest. He stayed with us for 10 days and I think we’re both going through some serious Kelly withdrawals.

I’d say we made good use of his time with us. We tried to give him a sampler of southern California, even though we’re still discovering the flavor of it ourselves.

Some of the many adventures:

• We walked the pier and drank milkshakes at Huntington Beach.

• Pat and Kelly took a train to Silver Lake, a small artsy area north of L.A.

• We hiked Griffith Park at sunset, with a view of the big city.

• We got a taste of Venice Beach, both by day and night. ... Interesting place. A crowded boardwalk with a lot of people touching you. Like the guy who wanted to give me his CD demo and he grabbed my hand and kissed it while chewing a toothpick and the toothpick stabbed me and I AM TOTALLY GETTING HEPATITIS. But really, a neat place.

• Pat and Kelly hiked at Crystal Cove.

• We biked 26 miles along the coast from Hermosa to Venice and back. This was by far one of the coolest things we've done in California. Although I still don't know how I was able to walk the next day.

[Now would be a good time to mention that most of the photos you see on this blog are taken by Pat, not me. I only wish I could take credit. He is phenomenal behind the camera and most of the time he doesn't even try.]

• We re-introduced Kelly to the joys of American breakfasts, Mexican food, smoothies and craft beer.

• We took in a concert at Santa Ana’s Constellation Room – Keller Williams and opening act The Melodic both rocked our socks off.

• We found The Pie Society, a secret speakeasy-style joint hidden behind a pizza restaurant in Costa Mesa.

Between the hikes, the bikes and the walks, we hit a lot of beaches. This is proof that visiting us will be the best vacation you'll ever take. "Visit the Jacobs and you'll see ALL the beaches." What travel agent can claim that?

Sad to see Kelly go, and his visit reminded us how good family time can feel. Homesickness is setting in a little and unfortunately not even sun and sand can cure it. Airfare around the holidays is looking to be WAY out of our budget, so we're trying to plan a trip home in the spring. In the meantime, we would love to hear from you all. If you're sending holiday cards, will you add us lonely souls to your list? Email/text/comment/Facebook me if you would like our address, and thanks for keeping us in your lives!

Title lyrics – Jelly Man Kelly, James Taylor