Summer Arrives

Is it really Summer? Hard to tell from the weather we have been having in San Diego - you almost need a jacket in the evenings. All the other signs of Summer have arrived on schedule, though. Kids are out of school and almost everybody seems to be heading off on vacation. Our Summer has not followed its normal pattern - indeed, you could say that about the entire year so far. January was all about preparing and getting through the Carlsbad Marathon. Then Feb and March was focussed on preparing for the visit of my sister and family. Tax returns had to be filed and a minivan purchased. My sister and family were here for 4 weeks, starting early April. We did a road trip (the minivan has been quite a success) to two of our favorite places: Grand Canyon and Death Valley. My BIL, Ravi, was rather overwhelmed by the Canyon and wants badly to do the hike down to the river. Before leaving San Diego, he even bought himself some hiking shoes from REI and insisted that my sister do the same. The plan is to practice in Bangalore and come back here to do the hike. The logistics are a bit challenging, so I am not even thinking about it.

After a small lull, we had more visitors in early June - this time in the form of Malini's parents and nephew (Nishanth) and niece (Nandita, aka Neetu) from St Louis. That was a raucous 4 weeks and it surely took all of Malini's patience to get through it without having to use physical restraints on any of the kids. In mid-June, my friend Rao and family came to San Diego for a short visit and for a brief time, we had 5 kids at home. At the end of June, Manoj and Veena showed up and after spending a few days returned to St Louis with the kids. The unseasonably cold and overcast days meant that we made only one beach visit, the highlight of which was trying our hand (or should I say, hips) at hula-hooping. Arjun picked it up rather quickly while the rest of us were less successful(Hula Video). I did manage to figure out a way to keep the hoop going - using a rather ungainly, rapid fire spinning motion. The folks who had brought the hoops remarked that they had never seen anything quite like that. We also managed to squeeze in a Pani Puri session and broke out the barbecue for some grilling. Our grill has two extreme zones - a cold zone on the right and a hot zone on the left. Too much risk with undercooked chicken, so I used the left side and Chicken Carbonara was enjoyed by all.

But really, the way we mark seasons in our house is with what sports are playing on TV. Through the winter months, the boys really got into football (the American version) and Abhi nominated Drew Brees as his personal hero (largely because he decided that the Saints were the best team given their near-perfect season). After the Super Bowl, he was upset to learn that there would be no football for a while. Almost every day he asks when football season will start. January also marks the start of the PGA season, but with Tiger's off-course scandals, watching golf coverage has been muted, although we watched the finish of all the majors with great interest. I don't really follow NBA and so neither do the boys, but we had a brief flutter of interest during the finals given that the Lakers were in it and it went to seven games. Then there was the unexpected bonus of the World Cup in South Africa, which overlapped the visit of Neetu and Nishanth. This resulted in many a soccer game in the backyard in which the teams belonged to the nation of the day. For some reason, Abhi was most fascinated by the goal keepers and as is his wont, would show us slow motion replays of dramatic botched and successful saves.

July brings the last of the 'special' days (anniversary, BDs, etc) for us, but also signals the start of the Tour de France. In the past I have only paid cursory attention to it, but last year Armstrong's return from retirement caused me to watch the coverage almost every morning. The boys and Malini also got into it and Abhi (who decided he was Contador during that time) was inspired to take the training wheels off his bike. I was looking forward to this years race given that Armstrong and Contador would be going head to head. Things started well, but after several crashes in the early stages it became clear that Armstrong was not going to be a GC contender and it was going to be a 2-man race between Contador and Andy Schleck (they finished 1-2 last year). We are still watching it, but not with as much enthusiasm as last year, although with the race reaching the Pyrenees in its last week, the race has become full of drama. One final mountain stage awaits - with a finish atop legendary Col du Tourmalet.

The highlight though has been the Padres baseball season. They were expected to do nothing this year, but have played exceptionally well and sit atop their division. This essentially means that the boys and I are watching or listening any time they are playing. We play a lot of baseball at home in which every aspect of the real thing is fully enacted. We run the bases, call fair and foul balls, hit singles, doubles, and home runs, keep pitch counts, and even try different types of pitches (so far limited to fast balls, sliders and curve balls).

And so the summer rolls on. After the hot spell of last week, we are back to being the Seattle of the South. The Summer has been quiet, but still feels a bit hectic. In just over a month, Arjun's school will reopen and a new rhythm will take over. Of course the only cadence we will really care about is "1-Mississipi, 2-Mississipi, Ted, Hut!"