Labor day was unusually late this year, which meant we had an extra week of summer, which was great, but now we suddenly find ourselves in the second week of September.
We ended the summer with a long weekend at the beach in Ocean City, Maryland. This is the third year in a row and it’s becoming an annual family tradition, something we all look forward to. Swimming in the ocean, chilling and hanging out, going out to dinner, taking the kids to the boardwalk, the amusement pier and the water park, this may have been the best one yet. We did a few new things this time around.
On the day we arrived, it was too cold and windy to go swimming, so we decided to fly kites instead. We have a couple kites that have been hanging around for years, and it was the kid’s idea to bring them. It was great fun. The wind was strong and steady, and you can see why the Wright Brothers did their testing on a beach. One of our kites was cool pirate ship, the other is a maneuverable stunt kite with two strings that can be used for steering. I finally crashed this one into the sand in a big gust. One of the struts cracked but we were able to get it replaced at the very awesome kite shop on the boardwalk.
We went on an Assateague Adventure boat cruise. They take you on a tour of the harbor and then land on Assateague Island, home of the wild ponies, where you can spot wildlife on the island and in the water. On the ride home, the guide showed local marine critters such as crabs and starfish, some of which we caught that very cruise. The next day we went back to Assateague (by car) and did some of the nature hikes. We spotted crabs in the open spaces between the weeds in the saltmarshes, as well as all kinds of fish and birds. At the very end of the hike we spotted a fawn right up close; the kids were delighted.
Now we’re back and the nights are getting cool, and the kids are going back to school. Fist day is tomorrow and they’re all excited like it’s Christmas Eve. The time from now until January always passes in a blur.
Time to start lining up projects. Diagramming for my origami book has risen to the top of the rotation. I’m going to the Pacific Coast Origami Convention in November and hope to have a few new diagrams for that, as well as corrections on the batch I completed in June. Also maybe complete development on a few models I had in development in the spring.
Another thing I’m going to do this fall is finish my record album. I’m almost done tracking the last song, and then it’ll be time for mixing and mastering. I’m really looking forward to completing it. Beyond that I’ll probably spend some time writing before I dive into the next recording. Third is to continue work on the Foldinator, which is starting to get somewhere, and fourth is the ongoing development of my web site. Then there’s the usual slate of home improvements projects, mainly the painting we didn’t get around to last year. On top of that there’s kids activities, birthdays and holidays, not to mention my day job.
