September Highlights:
- Luke and I surf/boogie board at Moñtana De Oro state park with Ryan for the first time
- Kids start school – together again for one year as Luke starts high school while Lilah works to finish
- Lilah and I visit Mrs. T for her birthday
- Got the AC fixed right before the heatwave, much to the kids’ delight
- A quick visit from my Australian friend Sophia and her daughter Maddie
- We celebrate my sister’s birthday
- I compete in Carpinteria Triathon
- Participate in company sponsored Channel Keeper Aquathon 1K swim
Birthday Surf Trip with Ryan
For the third year in a row, I drove up to the central coast to surf with Ryan. This time, however, I brought a special guest, Luke, who decided to join us with his boogie board. We drove up the night before and had s’mores with Ryan and his family before getting some sleep for the next morning’s paddle out at Montaña De Oro.
I had never surfed at this location and it did not disappoint. The destination is nestled amongst beautiful hills adjacent to the town of Los Osos. To get to the water, you have to walk about a half mile (maybe a little less) along a nice path that leads you between some giant sand dunes and eventually to the deep blue Pacific’s edge. We had an absolutely perfect morning, with glassy conditions and enough surf to keep us out here “hootin and hollerin” for two and a half hours or so (the longest Luke and I had ever been out continuously). It’s really a magical place because you’re just surrounded by nature. As you angle your board toward the shore, you see woodsy hillsides and to the north you can get a glimpse of Morro Bay rock off in the distance. The air temp must have reached high 80s or low 90s during our session, but the water was an icy 56 degrees or so. Normally, Luke would not have lasted long in those water temps, but the nice warm, balmy day provided us all with enough warmth to enjoy our session until we could paddle no more.
We finished off the morning with a giant breakfast at a cafe close to Ryan’s house. I asked Luke what he thought of Ryan and he though he was a cool, energetic dude. I then said, “see, I may not be cool, but I know cool people.” Without missing a beat, Luke responded, “Why don’t you just work on being cool.” We had a good laugh over that one.
Kids Start School
After a three year separation, the kids are in school together for one more year. Luke started his freshman year and Lilah is looking to wrap up her K-12 as she’s now a senior. One of the coolest parts of this school year is that I get to see Lilah leave the house each morning with Luke in her car. Hopefully, it’s a chance for them to do a little more bonding, especially having just come off their DC trip.
This will be a busy year as Lilah looks to apply to colleges and we look to find financial aid and scholarships that will help fund her education. The obvious favorite is Cal Tech, which is a long shot, so she’s also applied to a few UCs Cal Lutheran university. She refused to apply to any Ivies even though I thought she had more than a legitimate shot to get an offer give her grades, volunteer work, participation in swimming, test scores, etc.. In any case, I’m sure she’ll find a school that’s right for her.
Luke is working to get a snowboard/ski club started at his school with a couple of his friends. There appeared to be interest in the club as the boys secured the commitment of a teacher to sponsor their cause, along with 42 student signatures on their club petition. Still, there’s a lot more work that needs to be done and just because students sign their petition doesn’t mean their parents will be on board with the idea so we’ll see how it goes. I just liked the fact Luke took the initiative to get something like this started all on his own. Didn’t even ask mom or dad for any advice.
A Visit to Grandma’s House
Hadn’t seen Mrs. T in a while, but she was in great spirits when Lilah and I stopped by to wish her a happy birthday. Lilah and grandma spent a lot of time together in Tia Christine’s old room looking through junior high and high school photos and memorabilia. Some of the stuff was Christine’s but a lot of artifacts were from Cathy, including a healthy collection of Beatles albums and paraphernalia. Lilah kept making comments like, “Why was mama so obsessed with the Beatles?” I tried to make her see the parallels between her and Cathy by pointing out Lilah’s own obsession with the rock band Queen. She acknowledged she had a lot of Queen stuff, but nowhere near the amount of Beatles stuff Cathy had. “Not yet,” I told her. Here was one of my favorite finds, “Canned Sunshine to Brighten up Your Worst Days.”
Lilah definitely had fun going through the old stuff though because by the end of the visit she gathered up a few photo albums, Beatles records and other knick knacks to take home with her. This “ransacking” also helped Lilah add to her own growing collection of vinyl records as well.
Cap Off Race Season with Carpinteria Triathlon and Channel Keeper Aquathon
Ended the season with the Carpinteria sprint triathlon. It wasn’t my best result there, but it was my best effort on that day and even though I didn’t place, knowing I gave it all I had provided a satisfying end to the season. The top 8 finishers in the group were separated by less than 5 minutes — I was number 8 — so it was a pretty competitive group. I didn’t do many races this year — 3 to be exact — but one of them was like 3-4 of my average sprint races put together. That 70.3 race took a lot out of me this season, but I’m glad I did it and now I know what I would do differently the second time around.
The Channel Keeper Aquathon wasn’t so much a race as a chance to support a company sponsored event. The Channel Keeper is an organization dedicated to keeping the Santa Barbara channel and local watersheds safe. My company, HG Data, was a sponsor of the event and so John and I decided to participate in the 1K swim. We had fun swimming the course and finishing off September much in the same way it began — with a splash ;).
That’s all for now…More next month!