July Highlights:
- Celebrate Nicholas’ and Lilah’s birthdays
- Uncle Mario comes to visit
- Lilah leaves for Summer quarter at UC Santa Cruz
- Do some serious eating at HG Data annual BBQ in Goleta
- Luke spends Summer days solo at beach learning to surf
Lilah Goes Away to Summer School
Not one to have a big party for herself, we convinced Lilah to let us throw her a small family get together at our local Toppers’ pizza. The reunion was a late birthday party as well as a family send off for Summer school at Santa Cruz, which lasts 5 weeks. When we got together she seemed to genuinely be in a good mood — maybe because she knew she would be leaving in a few days ;). My uncle Mario also joined us for the occasion giving it just an added special touch.
Cathy took Lilah to Santa Cruz this time around, but before that could happen, I helped pack the car. As I was packing, I wondered how Lilah was going to have room for all the items she was taking, but thought, “hmm, maybe it will be okay.” But right when I thought I was done, Lilah said there were more bags in the living room — quite a few more, in fact. Well, long story short, she definitely over-packed, but so did her two other roommates. This meant all the parents had to transport their fair share of boxes back home.
The roommate situation worked out perfectly. A few months ago, I found out a work colleague (Damon), roughly my same age, also had a daughter (Kelsey) who had been accepted to Santa Cruz and was planning to go there. Damon gave me Kelsey’s phone number to pass along to Lilah before school started just in the hopes they could connect at some point. Well, they exchanged texts, and then went on with their lives for the next month or so.
But while walking to the dorms, Cat said this guy started talking to her, asking her where she was driving out from. When Cat told him, he looked pleasantly surprised and asked, “Wait, you’re not Lilah’s mom are you?” Yes, the guy was Damon and his daughter ended up being Lilah’s roommate without either of them having planned it. That good omen set me at ease. It’s nice to know that Lilah will have Kelsey as a roommate because her family is only like an hour away so if an emergency should come up, she at least knows people close by who can help.
So far, Lilah seems to like both of her roommates, and all girls now know how to get around town using public transportation thanks to a very thorough 3-day freshman orientation. School seems to be going well too, the only big surprise for all three girls (and maybe the parents too) are that the bathrooms are co-ed — showers, stalls and sinks are all in one big room. Apparently, the school did this because they learned that when boys have to share the bathroom with girls, the bathrooms stay much more tidy. While that may be the case, I’m sure there will be quite an adjustment period for all of them ;). Lilah, you got your wish — you are definitely not in conservative Camarillo anymore.
Luke Turns His Sights on Becoming a Surfer
When I mentioned what looked to be a pretty cool volleyball camp at East Beach in Santa Barbara, Luke didn’t seem all that interested. He said that maybe a surf camp would be better, but then suggested that he’d like to try learning to surf on his own first and only if that failed would he then think of joining a camp or getting lessons from a pro. When I let him know that he would have to stay at the beach all day while I was at work, he didn’t seem too phased by it so that began a July of dropping Luke off at the beach a couple times a week so that he could get the hang of this new sport.
Of course, surfing progress can be slow. You need a steady swell to learn, but you need it to be a small swell so it’s not intimidating — needless to say, those perfect conditions don’t come around that often, which means progress has been slower than Luke would have liked. The good news however, is that he has made progress. I’ve seen him stand up a few times as well when I’ve joined him in his paddle outs, which is especially cool since he’s doing it on a “real” fiberglass short board as opposed to those long, soft top wave riders kids learn to surf on at most camps. It will take him time to get to the same level as his dad, but I believe he will get there if he sticks with it. Then he’ll have two sports he can claim mastery over me in – snowboarding and surfing. I don’t mind though as it gives us another sport we can do together. It also gives us a chance to hang outside in nature and watch the dolphins swim by like they did for us the other day — that just never gets old.
Well, that’s the quick blog post for this month. Next month, I’m on a solo trip to Portugal and then to Spain where I will reunite with an old high school buddy I haven’t seen in nine years. I am so looking forward to that.
That’s all for now…more next month!