I am two days away from going to San Diego Airport to pick up my daughter Carolyn, her husband, John, and our two granddaughters, Charlotte and Evelyn. They will be with us out here on the hilltop for the month of July, as they have for the two prior summers. The trauma of my separation from my property on the edge of the Cornell campus (a tale of woe I have long since explained and gotten past) had the wonderful silver lining that my daughter and her family went from spending July in Ithaca to spending July on our hilltop out here in sunny San Diego. No amount of cajoling by me with Carolyn in 2022 could assuage her pain of the process of losing Homeward Bound in Ithaca, but I suspect that in 2025 she might be more prepared to accept the benefits of being able to summer on the west coast with her girls. So, that makes their arrival on Saturday the start of “KidCo V3” by my declaration.
The timing of their coming for July is perfect in many ways. It certainly tends to define our summer on this hilltop and always starts with a party to celebrate a combination of Kim’s birthday on July 2nd and, of course, our national Independence Day on July 4th. This year we will have about 40 people over for Omaha Wagyu burgers, cheddar bratwursts and Gouda-chicken sausages, with all the trimmings and side dishes. There will be eight children (ages 1-12) and 29 adults, of which 12 are family and 10 are neighbors with the remaining 7 being family of the neighbors. We will have seating for 15 on the patio (where the barbecue action takes place), seating for 18 on the front parking area (under a pop-up and the shade sail) where the beverage and deserts will be positioned and then seating for up to 10 on the deck and indoor seating for up to 14 between the kitchen and dining room. That should cover things we hope, and given that the kids tend to run wild up here between those party venues and the play area in front, the playhouse and climbing wall down back and below and the gardens in general, it should prove to be your basic holiday shit show for several hours. The neighbors have it easy, because they can come and dip in for a drink and some food and pay their respects and slip off unnoticed with great ease. Kim and I will be here for the full Monty and will find ourselves breaking down all the temporary furnishings and decorations (yes, we have lots of July 4th banners, bunting, spinners and flags) for at least two full days.
The other thing that makes the timing so good is that June Gloom is near its end and the weather is likely to be quite nice for the duration of July, mostly being in the 60s in the early and late day and between 72 and 84 during the day. There will be an occasional sizzler that touches 90 and there may even be a day with drizzle or outright rain, but those will be outliers. Southern California is predictably pleasant in the summer. We have organized the month around three main events after the opening party. There is the always-popular trip to Disneyland for three days, which happens without Kim and me (by our choice). My daughter and her family are Disney professionals (seriously) and we would just slow them down in their pursuit of theme park perfection. They will take one of our cars and make the trek themselves. Then in the middle of the month we have a roadtrip planned to show the girls some other parts of our vast western country. We are taking them up through the L.A. Basin for a trip to Universal Studios and then up through the San Fernando Valley to Ojai, Solvang and eventually Paso Robles to see the famous outdoor light show, Sensorio. Along the way we will stop to have lunch at King’s Hawaiian Bakery in Torrance, dinner with Kim’s sister Sharon and hubby Woo at a beachfront restaurant on the PCH in Ventura, the Blue Iguana in Ojai, the Vinland and related Nordic and Viking attractions in Solvang, the quaintness of Los Olivos (from whence I bought my huge garden sombrero), what’s left of Anderson’s Pea Soup, the Madonna Inn (at least a wave as we pass the iconic and weird hotel), and eventually the vineyards of Paso Robles and finally, the site on Rt. 46 where James Dean met his fate when he crashed his car in 1955 (the year that Disneyland was opened). I feel this trip will have something for everyone from the theme park aficionados to the history buffs and Christmas market shoppers.
At the end of the month we will finish by all flying to Denver to join the rest of the family (Roger & Valene coming in from Delaware and Thomas & Jenna who are organizing this from Denver). For that trip we are spending a week in the Rockies going to Summit County, Golden, Boulder and around town in Denver, all planned and orchestrated by Tom and intended to prove once and for all that the torch is passing from my generation to his in terms of family leadership. I will try not to have succession be the primary topic of conversation on that trip, but with Roger, Carolyn, Tom and me all in one place for several days, all bets are off.
The rest of the month, in between these bracketing events, there are numerous other activities planned including days with horseback riding lessons for the girls, visits with cousins, trips to the various zoos in the area and specially requested trips like Evelyn’s request to go to the ghost tour in Old Town San Diego. We will do a couple of requested summer movies (Jurassic World: Rebirth at the top of that list), spend some time at the beach (Coronado summer concert series and Hotel Del beach campfire and S’mores roast). Otherwise, we will spend time wandering the hilltop and doing what families do when they decide to spend extended time together. The biggest benefactor of all this may end up being Buddy, who dearly loves the attention from Carolyn, Charlotte and Evelyn. His youthful vigor is more appreciated by them as their faithful pup, Abe, sleeps his way into his old age. Buddy got to know them all last summer and is anxious about their arrival on Saturday. It will be an interesting test of extended dog memory to see how well he remembers them all.
Kim and I greatly appreciate the opportunity to spend a month of our summer with the grandkids and feel like this third edition of this visit will keep the experience fresh and allow it to keep getting better and better. Bring it on!