Seattle Weather

66 degrees.  That is what my thermometer says every day.  I am having a really hard time with the weather here.  Everyone here said, the 10 months of rain and gloom will be all worth it for our 2 glorious sunny months of July and August.  Not true.  I thought that meant that July and August would be hot.  In my mind, summer = swimming.  spending all day cooling off at the pool.  Hot.  Last summer was freezing cold and people kept saying, "this is an off summer.  It's usually nicer"  so I waited a year.  and guess what?  so far...it's exactly the same.  66 degrees.

June:  rained the entire month
July: no rain (mostly) and cloudy, 66 degrees.

although to be fair, occasionally, the sun breaks through around 4-5 pm.  and it warms up a bit.  like maybe 70 degrees.  and there have been a few sunny days, but that doesn't necessarily mean hot.  "Grab a jacket!"  is the most common phrase around here.

days we have gone swimming this summer:  3
tan lines:  none, although there are tons of tan women around here.  Want to know their secret?  Walk by a tanning salon.  any tanning salon, and it will be packed!!

I am training my mind to accept a new kind of summer.  kind of like in Japan, when each new school year started in April.  Even though I was buying and labeling new school supplies for Jake in Japanese preschool, (okay, Ryan did all the labeling.  in my 5 years I only managed to memorize half the hiragana chart and never learned to write) and meeting new teachers, it never felt like a new school year, because to me, a new school year is congruent with fall time.  pumpkins, falling temperatures, autumn leaves etc.

If we didn't have children in school, I would be telling Ryan that a transfer to Houston is sounding really good  right about now.  Remember last year when we were choosing between Seattle, Houston and Chicago?  But we have kids in school.  Middle school.  I realize I sound awfully whiny.  Tokyo was too hot.  Seattle is too cold.   So I will redefine what summer means to me.  I will not feel jealous or sad when I read the billion blog posts about summer days at the beach and pool.   Here are the positives of a cold summer.

1.  Never having to turn on your A/C
2.  It's never too hot outside to go for a run.  I can exercise any time of day.
3.  Kids can play outside all day (in jackets!)  and never have to come in to cool off.

that's all I've got so far.  we are off to Utah and Idaho to visit family and soak up the sunshine and go swimming!   and please, please, let it be HOT!!