Fire

One of the disadvantage of our vagabond lifestyle is the saying good bye which we have done so many times over the years. Fortunately for us, we have been given four long wonderful years here in Monterey, whereas most of our friends move in and out in less than two. This means we are getting very good at saying good bye, doing final play date and last suppers.

Noah and his really good friend spent a fun afternoon exploring fire on our front patio - not exactly my idea of a last time together but it certainly suited both of them and the house is still standing so all in all a success.  Fair winds and calm seas, dear friend until we see you again.

Book friends

Noah quickly made friends with our guests, and the two boys could be found heads together studying the pages of a nature book, reading, discussing and observing the many wonders from God's creation.

Birds in the Aquarium?

No visit to Monterey is complete without a trip to the Aquarium so we braved the weekend crowds with our guests and headed downtown. We do not realize who spoiled we are that can come at a moments notice on a Tuesday mid day when there is virtually nobody at the Aquarium, until we visit on a weekend. We wandered around and Lukas choose to capture the many different birds that one can see on display while the rest of us marveled at jellies, otters, corals and attempted to touch the bat rays. A fun afternoon. Despite the chill in the air, nobody was willing to forgo the traditional MYO so we huddled together while enjoying this cold treat; summers in Monterey are like no others.

Fun visit

One of the many advantage of the nomad lifestyle we have lived so far  is the great friends we make in various places around the country. Modern technology has made  it infinitely easier to keep in touch and stay connected although miles and miles separate us physically. This past weekend, we had the great pleasure of opening the Severinghaus B&B for long time friends who just made the move to the West Coast.
Although the weather did not cooperate, so we did not have the glorious and wonderful sunsets we are getting so used to, and we were a bit chillier than we had hoped, we had a fabulous time. We spent an afternoon checking out tide pools along the coast line, squealing with delight when finding crabs and anemones, and watching for otters and sea lions bopping their heads up and down in the water.

One of the signs of a true friendship is how quickly we get back in to the groove of friendship despite years and years apart - and Mammas had wonderful late night discussions over inexpensive bottles of wine as the children slept - what a special weekend. 

Computer techie

For some time now,  Lukas has exercised his patience muscle in waiting for his computer to load a page, or execute a command. This was something that could be overlooked when waiting for a simple programs to run, however he is now spending a fair amount of time building his library of apps as he is now an official Google App developer.  The snail pace speed of his laptop stretched his patience muscle to the max. It was time to upgrade the computer.
Lukas was so excited when we told him there was a new computer on its way and he tracked its progress through the UPS system daily - maybe even memorizing the route it took from factory to Monterey.  He was told he could not open the new computer until his work area was cleared away and this incentive spoke his language and the desk was pristine in no time, and not a minute too soon as the door bell rang and a large box was left outside the door.

After unpacking the computer, Lukas set out to hook up and refine his computer, as I his Mamma looked on in sheer terror, having absolutely no clue to what he was doing and if what he was doing was appropriate. A few YouTube sessions and a call to the Help Desk Superb - Bob - and he is up and running on his new system.  Now he is ready to develop apps and more apps.

Sweet learning

Right here in Monterey, tucked away in a non descriptive industrial park, is a gourmet confectionery factory named Lula's. The company is named after the owner's grandmother who made candies in her home kitchen, and when too old to read the thermometer and lift the pots reigned in her grandson to help and assist.
We had an opportunity to visit this factory one Thursday morning and we all learned lots about how to make good candy. All Lula's confectionery is hand made, hand dipped and hand packaged. The ribbon room was a symphony of colors are spool after spool dangled from shelves with ribbons in shades of every color imaginable. The scent of chocolate swept through the entire factory and we even got to sample a piece of caramel, just made.
Needless to say, we 'had' to make a purchase and overlook the Saturday candy rule to munch and enjoy the sweet treats.

Lukas declared a stop to all chocolate chips in baking in our household now that he 'knows' all about cacao and what makes it gritty and what makes it tasty. Learning is really sweet.

Back 'home' again

After fun filled, hectic, wonderful and interesting days all over the East Coast it was time to make the trek back to Detroit and Bob. At the completion of yet another 500+ miles day, Bob greeted us with dinner, hugs, pool and wrestling - it is great to see friends, but family is BEST.