My Running Progress...If you can call it that.

I've been trying to get out a few mornings each week and running along the coast. I say "trying" because sometimes it's just too tempting to curl up under a blanket (or lots of them) and watch the fog roll in with a warm mug of coffee.
I have a few favorite routes so far, one 3 miler that takes me along the coast from Carmel to Toby's school and back, and the other along the Monterey Coastal Trail.
This week has been sunny and warm-ish, so I've used the time while Norah and Toby are in school to go out and explore.
On Monday I saw these guys sunning themselves:



I think they like to take advantage of the sun shining as much as the next guy.

And today while I was out jogging I saw one of the moms I've met from Toby's school. She was pushing a jog stroller and offered to run with me back to my car. I told her I was in "training" for the half marathon in November, and any motivation would be a big help. She said there is a group of moms that run together on Sunday mornings and that they all did the half marathon last year. How cool is that? Hopefully I'll get to run a few times with them before the race comes -- all too soon -- in a few months.

My Sunday at the Beach

I took the kids to the beach on a sunny afternoon a few weeks back.
You might think that summer in central-coast California is a sunny-go-to-the-beach-every-day kind of place, but you'd be wrong. But that's a post for another day. :o)
When we realized the sun was going to be out for longer than an hour we changed into suits and headed to the local beach.

The kids played in a little lagoon, just over the hill from the real beach (which is behind me, in the picture above). The water was warm (although it was also really sketchy and murky) and shallow. I don't think I'm quite ready to tackle the issue of waves and undertow with Toby, let alone Norah. So this was a place we could sit and play and collect random items. The kids had a great time.

(By the way, if you were standing where I am taking the picture you would be able to climb over the hill behind Toby and see marshy grasslands and his school. On clear days from his playground they can see the beach. He's a mighty lucky kid.)

My Son Beats Me in Chess...Again

Toby has become a quick-strike chess player. Sometimes it's hard to keep up with his crazy moves. I think he counts on getting me distracted and then he swipes in with a move I haven't seen coming and takes my queen. Or something like that. At least that's what I tell myself.

 He did something funny the other day: he built himself a chess set out of Lego pieces. Probably not the first time this has been done, but I liked the effort he put forth.

It didn't end up being too practical.
With chess on the brain we signed Toby up for an afterschool enrichment activity. Chess, of course. I'm guessing by the end of the session he'll no longer want to play with a novice like me. But perhaps he'll be ready to take on Daddy? Or Opa?

My Crazy Car Week

Apparently, to those who have lived in Carmel for any number of years (or anything longer than 2 months) the second week in August is the best/worst time of the year. It's called Car Week, and the entire Monterey Peninsula is taken over with car enthusiasts. They bring their fancy cars and their classic cars and they show them off at different venues over the course of a week. If you like cars it's a glorious time. If you dislike cars, traffic slowing down to look at said fancy cars, or pedestrians stopping in the street to oogle at cars, you've got to get the heck out of town.

There were so many Ferraris and Lamborghinis and Porshes on the roads that after about a day of dodging dumb-struck tourists we decided to join the crowd and see what all the fuss was about. We headed down the road into town where they had blocked off streets to show off the fancy cars.

We didn't get that far, however, as my Blog-Photographer-in-Training (Toby) started taking pictures of the cars parked on the side streets. 

How would you like to try parallel parking this car? Or worse, trying to fit into a space in front of or behind this guy?

We were interested in finding out about some of these cars, but not to the point of doing anything more strenuous than Googling. I did learn that there was a car coming in for the week that was going to be auctioned off on Sunday that the owners were hoping would fetch $10 million. (It's some old Mercedes. I actually saw it while I was out on a run. It just looked like an old car, to my untrained eyes, but I know now that it was worth more than.... well, it was worth a heck of a lot.) Here are some pictures of the cars in the show. And another site that shows more fancy-pants cars, most of which we saw on one street or another, sometimes just while we were out running Toby to/from school or going to get the mail. 

All in all, we saw more fancy cars than we could count, and we tried to stay off the roads as much as possible. We did have fun imagining how a conversation with our insurance would go if we ever bumped into one of the Ferraris, or worse....

My Sweet 13th Anniversary

We celebrated our 13th anniversary in style by enjoying locally-caught tuna steaks and homemade salsa. Holy cow was it delicious! I fed the kids early (lucky kids got spaghetti and meatballs) and our meal looked so appetizing that Toby asked if he could have some of the "sushi fish and rice" too. So we made him a little plate and he got a 2nd dinner of tuna and rice and corn on the cob. (Anyone want to guess how much that kid eats on a daily basis? These growth-spurts he goes through are crazy; they make me really fear what he's going to cost us in food bills once he hits his teens.)

We joined a food co-op within the first week we arrived in Carmel. Once a week we pick up locally-sourced fish and fresh fruit and veggies from the area. So far we've enjoyed halibut, smoked salmon, this tuna, and squid. (Yes, we prepped and ate calamari--and both kids helped out with that one! They ate more than we did, and I wish I had taken a video of Norah peeling the skin off a raw squid. She's going to make an awesome sous-chef in a few years.)

My River Otter Strikes Back

Toby started 2nd grade this week. His school's mascot is the otter. We saw this shirt in the window of one of the gazillion gift shops downtown and he couldn't believe his eyes. Of course we had to get it for him. (Unfortunately we listened to the salesperson at the store who said that he should get the child's large--which we discovered after he ripped the tags off and put it on that it's about 6 sizes too big.)
His review from his first day of school? "It was awesome! I got 4 recesses!" You can't beat that I guess.

My Preschooler Seems Excited About Something

 

Norah went back to school this week. She is going to a little preschool here that meets 3 mornings a week in a ballet studio. She is super excited--both about the school and her new backpack and lunch box. She's making a K in the second picture to show she's "Pre-K."
By the way, have we mentioned before how much she likes pink? Even though we bought her some new clothes for back-to-school time she chose to wear this outfit: head-to-toe pink.