Summer camps, swim lessons, and sunshine (sorta).

Monterey summers are something else. And not all of Monterey County, just this little pocket in which we happen to live. We don't really get summer weather, or if we do, it hasn't happened yet. Normal weather here is in the 60's during the day, and most days are cloudy, if not outright foggy. It isn't the entire bay, so we sometimes get a whole view of the fog bank as it circles us. But... drive ten to thirty minutes north, east, or south, and you break out of that odd weather pattern and temps soar back up to the 90's and 100's. Sometimes, though, we get a day of beautiful blue skies, views of the water from the back of the house, and views of the mountains.

Connor spent the week of the 4th participating in a daytime summer camp, hosted by Camp SeaLab. He had an absolute blast boogie boarding, surfing, whale watching, and playing on the beach for the week. He's hoping to go back next summer and do another version of the camp with them.

Taylor has started swim lessons, and she has three more weeks of lessons, three times a week. That will take her through the end of the month, and then we go camping in the redwoods. She's loving the lessons, and has a pure absence of fear in the water, the lack of which leaves room for her abundance of confidence. I also let her do some light painting the other day, and she really enjoyed that, too.

A couple of days ago, we made a token visit to Laguna Seca. We didn't stay long, because Taylor was miserable and shared the mood with the rest of us. But we stayed long enough to see some of the motorcycle races that were going on and to let her play on the bounce houses. Zach and I also went up to Moss Landing for a really delicious local seafood dinner. If you are in the area, or ever will be, I definitely recommend Phil's Fish Market. If you decide to give it a try, know before you get there that the portions are insanely large, so the idea would be to get something to share with someone, because I promise you won't finish the food you order.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer, especially my former students. We are, so far, and we are really excited to head north and see the redwoods in a couple of weeks!