It rained in California this week! Just after our unprecedented heat wave, this week started cool and rainy and Davis somehow got close to 4-inches of rain (that’s 20% of our usual yearly total) in 24 hours. Now we’re getting back into the ’90s this weekend. But yesterday evening, as the clouds rolled out, was a nice taste of autumn to come.
It was a good reminder to do some seasonal housekeeping: I just got my flu shot and my Covid booster—the kids will get theirs this afternoon. And I double checked my voter registration. Double check that you’re ready, here: Vote.Org
It’s been a minute. I’ve been saving up some links for a while, but lately I get so distracted when I start scrolling that I run out of time to actually share! Let’s see… catching up… summer was very full of travel and family. I posted photos on Instagram, if you’d like to see. The kids had a few camps, but not as many as in past years. Hudson started sixth grade and Skyler, third—which means it will be their last year in elementary together and one of their last years at the same school together for a long while. It’s hard to believe!
My birthday was last week and I’ve been extending the celebration as long as possible. Aron and I spent a day in Marin County to celebrate—shopping and lunch at the Marin Country Mart and then a hike from the redwoods down to the beach and back! Tomorrow starts with a soccer game, and we had planned a boat ride with friends for Sunday, but it looks like it might rain—which is good news for the fire being battled nearby, so I won’t complain. We need any rain we can get! Still, it’s a bit funny because this boat outing was cancelled the past two years due to smoke and fires. It’s just not in the cards.
Recently, we started construction on our carport—it is being turned into a garage. And I’m currently in the midst of debating the merits of several shades of white paint samples that I keep moving from shade to sun and back again. It’s remarkably difficult to commit! So that’s likely going to continue through the weekend as well.
We finished Better Call Saul and finished re-watching Breaking Bad (which got very confusing as we did so at the same time as they were releasing the last season of Saul). And we’ve just started the new show Bad Sisters on Apple. I’m loving it so far. Everything Sharon Horgan touches is amazing.
We’ve officially begun our summer break—with all the hours in the pool and slices of watermelon that a 106-degree-high first day off requires. Hudson played pickleball, and went to see Top Gun Maverick for a third time; Skyler came up with swim routines and listened to the soundtrack from Zombies 2 on repeat. In between serving up many (many) snacks and inflating a plastic, floating unicorn, Aron and I packed for Spain. Correction, I over-packed for Spain when I’ll probably wear the same track pant I’ve been wearing for years most days. The kids will go to a birthday party in the morning and I can try to pull some stuff back out at that time. Then, hopefully we’ll all sleep well on a red-eye to Barcelona tomorrow night. (Any and all last-minute tips for Catalonia are welcome!)
The past few weeks, national heartaches, baseball playoffs, school field trips and end-of-year such-and-such (oh, and some COVID) have us looking forward to summer’s change of pace. Somehow, however, even with the longer nights, I don’t expect it will feel much slower. The kids have lots of fun camps on the horizon and we have a few other family trips to look forward to.
I’d like to try writing up a travelogue again at some point soon, but in the case that I do as I should and keep the computer mostly away, I’d like to wish everyone a wonderful summer!
