gooberfest

As Beth mentioned, many San Diego school kids had unexpected half days this week, so those of us without the luxury of air conditioned homes who were lucky enough to ditch work made quick plans to beat the heat.

If you're me, that can mean only one thing:

Gather up some goobers and head to O.B.

It was a happy day for many reasons so Bill and I had ourselves a celebratory bucket of love

None for the goobers, of course

I love O.B. look at that gorgeous cloudless sky!

After lunch, the girls entertained themselves with some sort of choreographed photography assignments. I smell an instacollage

They frolicked, they surfed, the boogie boarded, they swam.

I took a lovely, cooling swim, then rested my eyes for a quick second. An hour later, I was awakened by the ringing of my phone. It was my boy, who had opted to stay home for some much deserved solitude, asking if it was raining at the beach. "What da huh?" I exclaimed. "You crazy?"  Who had ever heard or a more ridiculous notion. Rain. As IF. Hasn't he heard that we're in the midst of a species destroying drought? Silly Wabbit. 

The girls asked if they could go out on the pier before we left, I said yes. 

Not more than 2 minutes later, I felt raindrops and jumped up to run after the girls. Thankfully, they had made a pitstop at the bathroom before heading out to their death on their pier, so they ran back over to help us pack up the gear. 

It got a little windy

They were possibly exaggerating the drama here by the tiniest bit

Not pictured: thundering downpour! lightning! lifeguards clearing the water! chaos! panic! RAIN!

It was so crazy, it felt like the east coast meets Hawaii or the carribean, the rain was warm and nourishing. The long parched ground didn't have a chance against this deluge, and every concave surface was instantly filled to overflowing with water. We halfheartedly hightailed it to the car, we were soaked, as was all of our stuff, and it was so COOL outside. But it was getting late, and I didn't want to miss any of the fun on the freeway when all the commuters would start to bash into each other at top speeds. We bundled into the car and I started 'her up.

No so fast, Kowalski (remind me to tell you that joke sometime).

My car wouldn't start. Remember that time when mom was at baggage claim and I was in the cell phone lot and my car wouldn't start? remember how that story did not involve me buying a new battery. Sigh.

One hour and $117 later, I was the proud owner of a sporty new battery, and this was going on:

It was hard to leave.

And then:

Meanwhile, back at the ranch

Our new swing and cacti held up famously! The hideous fence? Not so much

Here's my husband chopping down the neighbors' dumb tree without their permission or their help

We got off pretty easy, lots of folks lost power and lots of trees lost their purchase in this earth. The storm was powerful, and went a long way toward breaking the insufferable heat wave we've been experiencing here where we expect perfection.

Driving to school the next day, we checked out many fallen trees and branches, dodged trash cans askew and murky mini-rivers running down the side of the roads.

Oh, and this

It was still in this exact spot as of Thursday morning, but there was a tractor nearby so we'll see what tomorrow reveals. 

It was a different kind of day. We never get any kind of weather here, and I'm glad I had the chance to be out there with the goobers to experience this madness.

Now bring on the sunshine, baby.