A Few Days of Summer

Call me weird, but I like Portland weather. Oftentimes you will hear people whine for months on end that the winter wasn't snowy enough, it was too snowy, too wet, too cold, too cloudy, summer came for a week, summer isn't a billion degrees, summer didn't let me build that awesome tan, etc. And although I just sounded like I never complain, even I (yes, me!) can get bored and wish things were different.
And while my pale, non-tan self enjoyed our mild, comfortable summer, I was looking forward to our Oceanside trip with Jon's family. I wanted to sit in the sun, get even slightly uncomfortably hot, and read a magazine by the pool. I am only human. Plus my hair needed some natural lightening.

Turns out, Theo loves the ocean and the waves. He got dirty, but never too dirty. Which is perfect I think. The water was at its warmest and I even got in long enough for a remedial boogie boarding 101 lesson from Jon. We sat in the sun, drenched in SPF 110 so we got all the warmth, and none of the skin damage (best of both worlds! FYI we use half a bottle of sunblock as a family in ONE application. I'm not exaggerating). I also beat Jon in ping pong, an epic feat in which I invented a new victory dance. I think I called it "the rewind." You may see me perform it sometime in the future when I achieve athletic greatness.

Things were going so well. Then the blackout hit. (I thought it was national news--it wasn't. It was a blackout from San Diego into Mexico and Arizona. Huge.) I've never been in a blackout before, but I can assume when you are vacationing it is that much worse. The power was out Thursday afternoon, and word on the street was that maybe we would have power again by Friday night, but that was tentative. Being in a city with no power was strange. Luckily there was a street festival thing that basically fed the whole city dinner that night on generators and propane, but people kept talking about "wait until tonight, there will be crazy crime," and people were buying ice like they had a cryogenics lab in their garage or something. After dinner I was anxious to get home before dark, as if zombies were going to come out. I saw one house in the neighborhood with a generator running, fence padlocked in front to prevent an attack from the under prepared. (Or more zombies? My fears get really irrational at times.) Add in a little general paranoia and my father in law talking about the end of times, I was working full time trying to keep a full fledged panic attack at bay. Then, the power came back on. I was so relieved. Vacation saved! So in summary, an exciting trip.