Catching Up

Okay. So despite having extra time this summer, I managed to not post a single time after the ever-so-brief Star Trek review. Don't know how that happened, but let me try to catch up.

Summer was really pretty great. For one thing, as an educator, I get summers off too. Even with teaching summer school, I still had three day weekends and was done by 1pm. Not too shabby I'd say.

This was a great summer to be Lorelei's daddy. She's made so much progress, it's amazing. She's a little mimic; show her something once, then she learns it and does it. For example, last week, we went raspberry picking up in Oak Glen, also known to us as "the apple ranch." I showed her how to pick a bright red raspberry once; after that, she followed her mommy down the rows and when a bright red on caught her eye, she picked it and popped it into her mouth. Or right now, she's attempting to put sunscreen on herself after I showed it to her last week when were getting ready to go to the beach. She's still not really talking yet, but she understands a lot, nods yes or no and can say some single words. We also took her to swim lessons where she was the, of course, star of the class. Both instructors we had were impressed with how adept and natural she was in the water.

We somehow managed to see lots of movies this summer also. Star Trek, Harry Potter 6, Funny People, District 9, (500) Days of Summer, Julie & Julia, Public Enemies, Up and I think that's it. That's pretty darn good for us, especially with a toddler. But both sets of grandparents were pretty eager to spend time with Daddy's Little Coppertop, they missed the daily babysitting while we were working. None of those movies were clunkers, but only a few were really great. I'd say Star Trek, District 9 and (500) Days of Summer were the best of the bunch and were all pretty radically different from each other.

We managed two vacations this summer also. Three days a piece. The first one was with Lorelei down to San Diego to take her to Sea World and the San Diego Zoo. Wow did she love Sea World. She loved bouncing on the hotel bed too, but she really enjoyed the shows and the displays of all the fishies and whatnot. Utterly fascinated her. Not so much the Zoo; she was still tired from Sea World the day before, but she still enjoyed seeing the different critters.

The second vacation was for Amanda and I's anniversary. We went up to Monterey Bay for another three days. Hit the Wine Makers' Celebration and had *way* too much to drink. Did the Ghost Trolley tour that night and it was okay. It was interesting to get a taste for just how much history is there. The next day was mellow; we did the 17 Mile Drive and had lunch in Carmel. Out anniverary dinner was that night at the Sardine Factory and wow. Incredible dinner. The next day we took our time getting home.

We had some great food on those trips. The Sardine Factory in Monterrey was fine dining at it's best. Hodad's in San Diego had the best hamburgers I've ever had in my life. And the seafood at the Blue Water Cafe in San Diego was incredible too. In some ways, that's kinda the joy of vacations for us anymore; we love hitting these little joints that make great food. Read about Hodad's on CNN and saw the Blue Water Cafe on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network.

That's kind of the Cliff's Notes version of the summer for me. There's more details to be shared in person, of course, but suffice it to say, it was a great summer. I think it was kind of special for the three of us.