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My birthday happened on a Saturday, which means, of course, more time to celebrate! Jokes aside, with Matt not feeling too well, we did not have an extravagant bash, but Matt’s sister Sue flew in to visit for the long weekend, so we had some relaxing days. I received  pre-birthday flowers when she arrived on Friday and a nice card. In the morning, while I was catching up on my beauty sleep, she took Keegan to Target and they got a full celebration ready for me. Sue and the boys wrapped my presents and got everything ready.

It was great. Matt this year bought both my Christmas and birthday presents at once, pretty early too, so he was ready. I got a nice cheese slicer, books, CDS, and my long wished for necklace, hand created with sand from Pacific Beach. It was quite an endeavor: we collected the sand, we cleaned it and shipped it, and the necklace did not even arrived till mid February…but it is the thought that counts.

Sue and Keegan got me a super soft blanket and a fun game to play together, and the best pop up card. How sweet.

It was a warm, beautiful day. Surprisingly enough, most of the times, it is sunny on my birthday. We decided to go to the beach…again. We have never been at the beach so often like in the past couple of months. (-: Sue and I took a nice, long walk, and then Matt and I did the same. We played on the sand and climbed on the cliffs with Keegan, and simply relaxed and watched the waves.

Back home, I enjoyed the sun on the deck and kicked back. Matt cooked a wonderful dinner for me (poor  Matt, he could not even taste it) and we had a great cheesecake, one of my favorites. I blew the candles and made a wish. Happy Birthday to Me!

Listening to and reading all the birthday wishes from family and friends completed a very nice day. Thank you all!

The next day, we went to the Natural History Museum. They have a new exhibit about the Southern California environment, which was very interesting. In a follow up visit, Matt realized that you can see our house from the large map they have as part of the new California exhibit.

A program Keegan really likes at the Museum is the live Ms. Frizzle show, based on the character from the magic school bus series. She is an eccentric science teacher and she explains real scientific facts in a fun, entertaining way. And she always asks for volunteers, which Keegan LOVES. They were learning about volcanoes, and he got called to play the part of “gravity”.

That night Keegan had a sleepover at Daniele’s house, and we had a quiet evening at home. Monday was a holiday, so we were all home. After picking up Keegan from Daniele, we went home for some lunch, and then I took Keegan to the Science Museum: wow, two museums in two days! We had a good time, and watched a cool movie about the South Pacific. We both want to go there!

Back home, Keegan and Sue played and read, and then we went to Keegan’s favorite restaurant, Chili’s. More bedtime cuddles when we got back: they look so cute together.

Comes Tuesday, we were back to the routine. Sue flew back home in the afternoon. It was great to have an extended celebration and to spend it together in beautiful San Diego. It almost makes me  forget I am one year older.

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Happy 2015! We, obviously, were not able to make a holiday card, with everything that happened, so this image from the beach must do.

We went back to the beach on the first of the year, and there is no better way to kick off 2015. The weather was nice, but not as warm as we hoped. Still, Matt and I took a nice, long walk on the beach, and then, my sister and I did the same. Keegan, of course, stayed where he was. We all know that too much walking can really hurt, right? He managed to build a cool sand castle, though, with some help from the adults, well myself excluded.

Back at home, we relaxed a bit, and I prepared the cinnamon coffee crumb cake we prepared for Matt’s birthday. Cinzia cooked some delicious dinner and we celebrated the new year with a very festive table, and even more festive Mimosas. Yum.

Keegan is trying to photo-bomb…but he is not fast enough

new year hug

On January 2nd, Cinzia volunteered to take Keegan to Seaworld. While he would have prefered Legoland for all its rides, Seaworld it was. I had to take Matt to his doctor’s appointment, so I dropped them off, bright and early when the park opened. Keegan wanted me to stay, and honestly, with such a pretty day I would have liked it too, but I could not. I walked them in, just to check out the cleaner fish.

The appointment went well, and Matt was feeling pretty good, if a little tired, so I figured I could reach Cinzia and Keegan at Seaworld. I did not want to miss the Christmas Dolphin Show, after all. So, after making sure Matt was settled in the sun, I left. Keegan was so excited when he saw me, and said his wish had come true. So sweet. I made it in time for the Dolphin Show. It was not quite as good as the regular show, but it was OK.

Cinzia made sure we did everything: the sea lion show, the sharks, the aquarium, the turtles…and they did much more in the morning, including keegan’s favorite: a simulator helicopter ride in the Artic. Keegan even squeeze a ride in: we tried the turtle ride, which was quite fun, but probably not worth thew 30 minutes wait. By lunch time, the park really filled up.

We were there till closing time, finishing off with the Holiday Shamu Show, that, as always, was pretty lame. The night, however, was magic. The moon was almost full, and the lights of the park made it look even more spectacular.

big hugs at the Shamu Show

We had fun and even managed to tire him out. Amazing! He got a quick dinner and went straight to bed.

We had two more days with Cinzia, and we made the most of it. First off, we took advantage of her babysitting and Matt and I went for a walk in the nearby canyon. It was so nice…we used to come here a lot, BK (before keegan), but he does not enjoy it as much as we do. The fresh air, and the sunny sky made wonders for our mood. Keegan, on the other hand, was a little bit of a handful and getting him out of the house was a real challenge. We finally convinced him to walk to Jamba Juice: magic of Cinzia and her stories and games. She got him to walk to the square about 4 times…he never wanted to come with us.

For Cinzia’s last day, once again we headed to Pacific Beach. We saw that beach more in the past 10 days than in the previous six months. Matt brought the backpack this time with his food pump, so we could stay longer.

Another beautiful day, but very windy. Good thing I brought my warm hat. This time, Cinzia and I walked first, and we must have gone quite far, since Keegan was not happy with how long we were gone. Then, Matt and I walked to the tide pools near Tourmaline beach. It was low tide, and it was breathtaking.

We could not see too much marine life, but we did spotted the tentacles of a small octopus pushing sand away. It was beautiful, and our spirits were high.

The afternoon was busy, with lots of errands and packing. Our sitter Jennifer and her fiancee Jeremy stopped by to visit and to bring us the “prayer quilt” the church group made for us. She did ask us if we wanted one, and, even though we are not religious in the more traditional sense, we accepted. Positive energy, in any form is always accepted. A prayer quilt, we found out, is a quilt made by a church group for a specific person. Information about the condition are provided and as the quilt is made prayers are said for the recipient. Threads are added: each knot represents a prayer. His name is added to the back of the quilt as well. They even asked us for our favorite colors. What a nice thought, and the quilt is quite nice.

I have to say that, throughout the whole ordeal, Jennifer has been very present, and, besides offering to help, she also touched base with me a few time to ask how we were doing. She is very nice.

Just before nighttime, Cinzia got her wish: to see Keegan without BOTH front teeth.

Little Dracula

For our last night together we went to eat at Chili’s, one of Keegan’s favorite. We were all tired, but it was nice to spend another dinner with each other.

Keegan shot this picture. Not bad…and notice the giant Sunrise Margarita. I think I more than deserve it.

Back at home, we tucked Keegan in and zia Cinzia had the chance to say her goodbyes. This is always a little sad.

I dropped her off by 6am at the airport. Of course, Keegan woke up in time to see her off, but fortunately went back to bed right away.

It was very sad to think that Cinzia was leaving, and no one of us felt ready to face “reality”: going back to school and work, and daily life, by ourselves for the first time in almost a month. We are so very grateful to her for dropping everything off, and giving up her holiday time with her family and facing the long trip to be with us. Her presence here allowed us to really have a happier holiday time and to enjoy many moments in an otherwise difficult period. I also enjoyed having so much undivided time to spend together, and last, but not least, I really enjoyed feeling spoiled and pampered by her.

Thank you again, zia Cinzia, we love you, we miss you already and and we hope to see you soon!!!!

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