Our last day...

We thought our last day was going to be a repeat of yesterday but it started to rain in the morning before we dropped off Uncle Mait at work.

We had to run a couple errands while he was at work, we ate lunch at the house and then picked up Uncle Mait to go to the beach.

It was a partly cloudy and cooler day but we still had a great time.

Skylar was mad at me because we wouldn't go back to the house to get the buckets.  The traffic was so horrible we didn't want to waste time going back to the house.  It took us 30 minutes to get to Uncle Mait's school when it usually only takes about 12 to 15 minutes.

 Andrew and Uncle Mait played ball.

 Then started another guy game - I don't know what to call it.

 Skylar finally got it turned around when I showed her the benefit of using a cup to help.

 All smiles again.

 Uncle Mait and Andrew started helping out too.

 They built a trench to the ocean.

 Andrew decided to try some engineering and roll the tennis ball down the trench.

 Our completed design.

 

Finally, it was time to head back to the house.  I got kicked out so Jenny could work on a project with the kids.  It ended up being a good thing I had to leave.  We realized Andrew had forgotten his shoes at the beach so I made a run back to the beach.  I made it back with only minutes to spare before it was too dark.  I found the shoes, spent a few minutes soaking up the ocean while I was all alone.

Then I headed to Verizon to get my phone fixed again.  It ended up being a bad battery.  Since they don't sell the batteries anymore for my phone they found one for me and didn't charge me anything.  A very nice Christmas present.

I made it back to the house to help wrap presents and watch our final movie - Polar Express.  My kids love the movie but Uncle Mait and Jenny had never seen it so we had to show it as our special Christmas Eve Eve movie.

Tomorrow we leave for home and to see Daddy.  We will miss Uncle Mait, Jenny and the dogs but we are definitely ready to get home again.

The beach, Indochine and Turbo

Today the weather was absolutely perfect.  The sun was shining, the temperatures were in the 70's and we were in heaven.  

Uncle Mait dropped us off while he went Christmas shopping and said he would be back in a couple hours.  

 They were missing the snow so they made sand angels.

 Skylar found this rock in the waves.  She was very proud of her find and wanted a picture.

 All of a sudden I noticed the sky darkening.  I looked around and the people around us were packing up to leave.  Then I heard the couple sitting next to us arguing whether it was fog rolling in or a thunderstorm.  Within 5 minutes, it was raining.  Uncle Mait texted and asked if we wanted to be picked up.  I asked the kids and they said yes.  So he headed our way.

By the time, he arrived the rain was over and we saw this...

I can't remember the last time we saw a complete rainbow.

We decided to head home anyway.  The kids took showers and got cleaned up and then headed outside to play.  Cairn was reading and found this guy hanging out...another of Uncle Mait's pets.

It was pretty hot so Cairn asked me to put her up and I did this little floppy bun as she called it.

Uncle Mait and Jenny took us out to dinner at Indochine.  It was very good Asian food.  We shared the Buddha vegetables in a birds nest, tofu toasts and samosas.

The kids ate all their dinner so we ordered a special dessert that Uncle Mait loves - chocolate mousse.

Skylar was so full that she could barely put another bite in her mouth.

Thank you Uncle Mait and Jenny for dinner!!

This is how Andrew looked throughout the entire dinner.  He was sound asleep on my lap.  I tried to wake him but he was zonked out so I let him sleep.

When we returned home, we watched Turbo and then headed to bed.

Tomorrow is our last full day.

Arboretum, the beach, and a tick

Today was gorgeous!!  It started out a little rainy but it quickly cleared up and warmed up.  While we were out we had to take our jackets off it was so warm.

First, we went out to lunch at Pita Delights, then went to the library before we headed out to the Arboretum.

The Arboretum is a special 7 acres in the county where people can see native plants that grow well on the coast.  I bet this place is wonderful in the spring but it was still a lot of fun today.  

This cool pond was in the middle of the park.  It had a cute turtle and a big dragon.

 Skylar had started "smiling" like this but today I finally got her to see that this wasn't a smile.

 First, we took this picture and then...

 this picture.  I showed it to her and all of a sudden I had real smiles from her again.

 I loved this little tea house.  We might have to do some research about tea houses when we get back.

 See the pretty smiles from Skylar.  She would pose and even ask for pictures to be taken of her.

 This was a pretty Christmas cactus in one of the greenhouses.

 Cairn liked this statue titled, 5 kids in a tree.

 This adorable little house was in the Children's garden.

 This tree is the one behind Cairn in the picture above.  We really like it because the bark is smooth.  We love to pet it.

 Here is the dragon in the pond from the other side.  Everyone wanted a picture with the dragon.

 After we finished up at the arboretum, we went to the Shuga Shak and picked up these cute little desserts for after dinner.  They had a lot of peppermint treats but Skylar doesn't care for peppermint much so we got one peppermint treat and then a sugar cookie.  Aren't they pretty?  All handmade and made daily.

After we picked up our dessert we headed to the beach.  It was so warm!

 Within a few minutes of us being there, these helicopters flew by.  They were so close I could feel them through my body.  It was amazing.

 After 2 1/2 hours at the beach, we headed to Trader Joe's to pick up a couple supplies for dinner and then back home for showers.  I helped Andrew wash his hair.  While I was washing his hair I felt this guy.

 I thought it was a scab from an owie he got a week ago.  So when I got him out I checked it.  It looked like a loose scab but when I went to pull it off it wouldn't come and that's when I looked more closely.  I reacted coolly but I wanted to freak out.

We got it out, cleaned out and put on some neosporin but I will be keeping a close eye on his head.  I also have the tick in a little baggie just in case we end up at the doctor's office.  I want to be able to show it to the doctor if needed.

During one of our drives today, I heard Skylar reading to herself.  She was reading the actual words not just retelling the story from memory.  I didn't want to say anything because I was worried she would be self conscious.  On another drive, Andrew heard her reading and she told him, "I learned how to read, so I am reading this book to myself now."  I smiled to myself...we have been working on reading for a few months, it finally clicked and now she can read to herself.  I love that I was the one that taught her how to read and I was able to watch her go from struggling with sounding out words to reading fluently.