tizimatt.info

We came back to San Diego n the middle of July: right in the middle of Summer, even if you would never tell from looking at all the stores, full of Back To school stuff and even Halloween items! Of course, it is easy to ignore these signs when San Diego offers you perfect summer weather or a wonderful summertime rainbow.

We definitely got the chance to fill the dog days of summer with lots of great summer activities. Just a few days after we got back, my work had a Summer Celebration with sweets and ice cream. Both Keegan and I were still home, so I brought him along. He always enjoys seeing my workplace, and all the attention he receives from my colleagues.

pretending to be the teacher, in term 5 web class

On the first weekend back, we arranged to go with our neighbor Kelton and his mom Melissa downtown, to the special Inflatable World event. We went last year, and Keegan was terrified of the huge waterslide. This year, though, it was one of his favorite rides, even if the sky was overcast. I did not feel like getting wet, or paying for the privilege, but he went up and down many, many times all by himself.

He of course loved all the bouncies and rides, but he especially enjoyed the floating balls: a huge inflatable ball that completely encloses him and that is rolled over a small pool full of water. Imagine an over-sized hamster wheel.

He also enjoyed racing on ATVs with Kelton.

The first few days after our trip, were very busy and stressful for me. I had to teach a new class slightly over a week after our return, and I was really behind. With Keegan at home for most of this time, I tried to maximize my work time. I only had three full days to work when keegan was at school, but of course, we had to have a power outage in one of these days…which sent me in panic mode and made me lose almost three hours of work time! And the reason? A tarp tent flew on power lines. Come on, what are the odds???

On the days before Keegan’s school started, we tried to entertain him the best we could. The Platt College Celebration was one way, Comic Con was another, but on Friday, I caved in and went to Seaworld. He had a lot of fun: we got to see some shows, animals, and he played on the kids area. We were also able to watch Madagascar Live Show, which was basically a mini “rock” concert for kids. They had a band on stage, with real instruments, and even had a guitar solo. I can’t say I rally enjoyed it, but Keegan did.

Matt’s work, URS, also had its annual picnic in Balboa park. There was food, and entertainment for the kids (and adults alike). Keegan tried the tightrope first.

They had face painting, and temporary tattoos (even I got one) and, most importantly, Keegan meet his buddy Pavlo, which “persuaded” him to get his face painted, something he never wanted to do before. He chose Iron Man. The kids played very well together, even if Keegan is a year older: probably this is because they act as if they were separated at birth. Same behaviors, same “songs’ and even same movement. Impressive.

They tried group games, with varying success. The three legged race, while very entertaining to see, was not the most successful.

We also organized playdates with old friends, to help him miss his old school a little less. We had a fun afternoon/dinner with Julia at their house; we met Van and Camren and Alyce at Clairemont Family Day: a fun filled event with rides and vendors; and finally we had full pladate with Van in Balboa Park followed by dinner. We took advantage of a caricaturist to get a portrait of the kids.

the finished work

August also brought us Mila’s (or Milena as she now wants to be called) birthday party at Playtown. Pavlo was there again, so the two of them “terrorized” the place. Only pizza and cake would calm them down. This time, Keegan had Batman painted on his face.

Of course, you don’t need any fancy place to have fun in San Diego. We had a few beach outings, crowds permitting, and parks outings (practicing baseball or frisbee or his bike) and we visited the Egyptian Exhibit at the Museum Of Man.

We did not even need to leave the house, between bike riding and playing with neighbor friends, or even just climbing on trees in our front yard.

So, it has been a fun summer. Keegan is growing up so fast and never lets us forget he is a very active, little BOY. He often talks about girls, and he seems quite fascinated by girls, especially scantly clad ones. Boy, are we in trouble…We documented his first perusing of the Victoria’s Secret catalog (lingerie store).

We are now looking forward to a fun, and challenging fall, when Keegan will start Kindergarten at the beginning of September. Wish us luck.

After we came back from Italy, we both had to go back to work, so we had to find a place for Keegan to go. Of course we could have sent him to his preschool, which has a great summer program. However, the Montessori School where we are sending him for the fall recommend for him to attend summer school, to get adjusted to the new system. To make the transition easier, we thought that he trip to Italy created the perfect break, so, we enrolled him in the summer program  starting the week after we got back.

On July 22, Keegan attended his first day at Mission Bay Montessori Academy.

We both dropped him off and headed to the Children’s house, to room K6. After being evaluated in February, he was assigned to the “small kids” side, with mixed age classes for children between 3-5. He was very nervous in the previous days but he seemed fine at drop off. The first day went well, and by the next day he already knew a lot of the kids. On the morning of the second day, a couple of girls were already saying HI to him. My little heart-breaker…By the end of the 4 weeks, he made a couple of friends he played with all the time, but he also learned some of the Montessori rules. He improved his reading skills, and did some writing. His favorite activity, however, was grinding coffee!?

On the last week we found out that he would start kindergarten not in the children’s house, but in the Elementary side, the “big kids” side. The teachers felt he was ready, even if he could not write and read. It was great news because kids gets “enrichment” classes, like computer, Spanish, science, etc. But it also meant one more change and adjustment.

On the last day, he was pretty sad about leaving, and so we took lots of pictures to remember the Children’s House.

The last two weeks of August the Montessori school was closed, so we enrolled him in two separate summer camps. The first week, he attended a summer camp at an elementary school close to my work. Hannah was attending too and the theme of the week was Superheroes. How perfect! I would drop him off in the morning at Jennifer’s house and then I would pick both the kids at 4 most of the week. Keegan had so much fun: they played games, run around and watched movies in the afternoon. And no naps: but we were not necessarily very happy about it. He got to see Hannah every day, and Keegan felt he had a week-long play date. We also did have real play dates with Hannah, both at our house and hers. The kids got along so well, that they were asked if they were brother and sister. The same color hair helped too.

having fun at dinnertime with Hannah

The final summer week, we sent Keegan at the YMCA summer camp. It was quite different, as there are so many kids, but they were divided in age groups. He had swimming every morning, and they had different activities every day, such as Carnival games and BBQ. He made friends soon and really enjoyed his time, despite our fears.

So, it has been an interesting summer. We felt bad about putting him through so many changes and new starts, but he did great. He is really a very social person, and makes friends easily. He is more adjustable than he used to be, and really enjoyed all of his camps. Now…let’s get ready for the real school year!

Comic Con was happening just as we got back from our trip: great timing! Obviously I got the ticket a very long time ago. As you may know, getting tickets is VERY DIFFICULT, and you often have to do several online attempts. I lucked out this year, so I would not have missed it.

In case you don’t know, Comic Con is the biggest event of its kind. It started out as a small gathering of comic books artists and fans, but has morphed over the years as the premier venue to display anything related to, of course, the comics world, but also pop culture in general. In fact in the past few years, movies and TV shows have premiered and have been presented here, which means that the small gathering became a monster convention, that regularly sells out in less than 1 hour. Lines to listen to talks are insane, as thousands of fans are trying to catch a glimpse of the hottest stars. I still remember going in the 90s’ and buying tickets the day of the show. Ah, the good old days. This is how Comic Cons looks like now.

I love going because I enjoy watching the art and books, but of course watching the super elaborate costumes that fans wear is another huge draw. Some of these costumes are quite elaborates, and often hand-made.

Hollywood and large TV studios have plenty of money for creating elaborate displays, like this one for Black Sails, a new TV show

I usually visit the Emotes table too, to get some character or book for Keegan. He loves them, and we get the chance to discuss feeling and behaviors.

This year’s timing was perfect: I was still on vacation, and Matt was still somewhat on vacation as well, so she could watch Keegan, who was not starting school till the following week. So, for the first time I did not have to worry about parking, as they chauffeured me around. Also, I have found out that children under 12 are free, so I called the boys to see if Keegan was interested on checking it out.

He was so excited! He has been asking for a while to go. He did great with the crowd, and even got a small prize at one of our exhibits. First stop was of course the Lego Booth.

We wandered around for more than an hour, and then we had to leave, since it was getting really late. It was a fun and exciting morning for both of us.

Our trip in general was great, but maybe the highlight was the week we spent in Sestri Levante, in Liguria (Italian Riviera). This is the place where I spent most of my summers growing up, so it still has a very special place in my heart. What made the trip even more special was that we got to spend lots of time as a family: nonni, Keegan, the cousins, Matt and I and on the weekends my sister and Sandro. To sat this was a rare event is the understatement of the century. (-:

We also got to stay at a beautiful hotel, Vis A Vis, perched on top of Sestri’s main promontory, giving us incredible views of both coves, Baia Del Silenzio and Baia Delle Favole. My parents are returning customers, as they spent many summers with my sister’s kids there.

this was the actual view from our room

We drove in nonno’s car, and made it in a couple of hours. The cousins arrived a little later: what a great surprise for Keegan, when he got up from his nap. Of course the first thing they all did was jumping in the pool, which was beautiful, nestled among olive trees and heated.

Keegan was fearless and spent most of the time jumping from the diving board…while we spent most of the following week trying to get him to lower the volume of his voice. It was fun watching him, though.

After we all got changed, we headed down for dinner, to have a belated birthday celebration for my dad. The hotel restaurant was great too, with an incredible view and great food. Keegan was really struggling through dinner, though: we had a very late start and between the excitement, the tiredness, and the restaurant environment it was hard to keep him in his seat. We did have a delicious dinner and even got a cake to celebrate the big day.

We finally made it through dinner, and went to bed. We were all pretty tired, so we crashed early. Keegan slept with us the first night, so we all needed as much sleep as possible.

The following days we started our routine: morning at the beach, afternoon at the pool. The beach is the same beach establishment I went as a child…it is always weird going back as an adult, and even weirder seeing some of the same people still there. One of these people was my first “boyfriend” when I was a toddler, Leo, now married with two kids. I did see a couple of other old friend, which was very nice.

Keegan adjusted immediately, even if the beach in Sestri is definitely different, and more crowded than here in San Diego.

We even convinced him to get in the water, and we all swam to the sunbathing platform, that Keegan (as all other kids) used as a diving board.

Keegan’s biggest love, though,was the hotel’s pool. Playing with his cousins Naraiana and Samuele was absolutely the best thing he could ever ask for. On some occasion, large floaties were in the pool to play.

Mom and dad loved the longing chairs!

After the weekend, my sister and her husband had to leave to go back to work, so Keegan moved in his cousin’s room, and OUR real vacation started. While we spent lots of time together, we also had much time alone. Yeah! Often time we stayed at the beach past lunch, swimming or just relaxing. It was also nice to sleep alone. After dinner, Matt and I often went for a walk up and down the boardwalk, “facevamo  le vasche”: it literally means: we were doing “bathtubs”, but it refers to going up and down the boardwalk, with no destination. This was just what I used to do as a teenager, walking up and down…before sitting on railings and checking out the other people walking. Of course our walk was not complete without some delicious gelato, which was incredible, no matter where we bought it from.

One morning, we rented a pedal boat, and pushed it away from shore and had fun jumping and diving. The slide was fun…too bad it was built for kids and I barely fit, but this not stopped me from trying.

Guess who is having the most fun?

One other morning, we went swimming in the calm, transparent water of the Baia Del Silenzio (Bay of Silence). Keegan was very brave and climbed on rocks, even if initially he was scared and there were sea urchins around.

I even had the chance to see an high school friend, who was coincidentally there over the weekend. We had a nice walk down memory lane, especially when her husband, also an high school friend, joined us one evening.

My parents also had some visitors: a couple they frequent often in Milano was vacationing in the next town, and came to visit. We all had a delicious lunch together.

It was great spending a week at the beach, like the old days: we could sleep in most days, swim in the sea, sunbathe, play in the pool, have relaxing dinners and romantic walks. In fact this was on the few real vacations I took with Matt. And what to say about the food? Beside the daily dose of focaccia bread, we started the day with a breakfast buffet on the outside patio of the hotel, which provided a beautiful and delicious spread. A daily, at least, gelato was helping us to cool off. Keegan loved the flower-shaped cones. And at night, we dined in the hotel restaurant, with huge windows overlooking the sea and sunset, and outstanding food.

Unfortunately, the week came to an end too quickly. My sister and her husband arrived to spend the last weekend together, and despite a quick storm on Saturday morning, we were able to enjoy the last few hours.

On the last afternoon, we engaged in a furious touch football water game, boys vs girls.

Even if we were clearly outnumbered, we held our own. We all felt like kids again…except the price we paid the following day:lots of aches and pains. Despite the pain, however, the boys kept their exercise routine.

As we were leaving the pool for the last time we took one last look (and some photos) at the wonderful view.

The last dinner was outside, on the covered patio, and the food buffet style; the theme: Mediterranean Cruise. It was fun: they had live music and we all enjoyed some weird dancing.

It was time to say goodbye, not only to Sestri, but also to Keegan’s cousins, who were headed to another vacation town. The kids scribbled their goodbyes on the wall of the hotel tunnel, moist with condensation, and among many tears, we left for Milano.

it reads: ciao Sestri, Keegan

The week flew by, but it left with us beautiful memories, that will keep us company in San Diego. Keegan fell in love with Sestri, even if I suspect he mainly fell in love with spending time with his cousins. It is wonderful to see them getting along so well, despite the large age difference. Spending so much time together also made Keegan more likely to be speaking in Italian, and his
language skills definitely improved.

So, arrivederci e a presto Sestri.

This year’s trip has been really special. For the first time we went back with Keegan at the beginning of Summer, since he will be starting kindergarten soon and we did not want him to miss any days. It was also special because Matt could join us, even if a week later.

We left the weekend immediately following Keegan’s graduation from preschool. The trip created a nice break and diversion for him, who was very sad about leaving his school and his friends. We flew British Airlines again, so we got to do most of our trip a night, which helped. Of course, it was very difficult for Keegan to sleep, and he was definitely the last kid to fall asleep on the plane, shortly after midnight. He was really tired, but he could not fall asleep. No surprises here: he always had lots of trouble sleeping.

We arrived on time and…surprise! Not only nonni were waiting for us, but also Keegan’s cousins, zia Cinzia and zio Sandro. Keegan was ecstatic! They did not drive home with us, since it was really late, but they came the next day to spend the whole days with us. The kids got along great, and played a lot together. Keegan’s favorite game was Nara’s Airlines: Nara would lift him up with her feet and toss him around, as if experiencing turbulence.

They even convinced him to help in the kitchen: maybe the fact they were preparing cupcake, a novelty in Italy, helped.

They definitely share a very strong bond, despite the distance and the age difference. It is nice to see. I love this picture we took at the beach.

The first week is always a little difficult as both Keegan and I suffer badly from the jet lag, but having Keegan sleep with my mom definitely helped. Grazie nonna. I also took advantage of my free time to see my own friends, before Matt’s arrival. Loredana is definitely the friend I get to see the most. On our first outing she took me to the brand new Magnum Pleasure Store right behind Duomo.

I did not care we single handed raised the age average of a good 10 years…I had to have my custom Magnum ice cream. Magnum is probably one of my favorite ice creams, and I am so happy is finally appearing here in the States too. But the store is another story. You pick the ice cream flavor, you pick the chocolate covering, and select from a choice of unusual toppings, and they crate the ice cream bar specifically for you. So delicious. I chose white chocolate, vanilla ice cream, pistachios and almonds crumbs.

YUMM!!!

Loredana has also became a sort of aunt for Keegan: the two get along great, and he absolutely adores her massages. And who wouldn’t? Loredana is a certified Naturopath. On his first massage he almost fell asleep.

He is also learning the right techniques, so he can give me a massage too.

Lori’s daughter, Francesca, is also another one of Keegan’s buddies. Again, the age difference does not seem to change their deep bond, and she is very patient with him, and indulges him in all the games he wants to play, let this be building huge block towers, going on piggy rides, or just cuddling.

We also went to visit her and Lori at their house in Vimodrone, a small town just outside Milano. Keegan got to see how they make bread.

For some reason,  Keegan wanted to take a picture with Cupid peeking from a store window.

We even got to catch up with my preschool friend Simona and her kids, just before they went on vacation. We spent a fun evening at their place, playing watching tv and eating delicious pizza.

Nonni took us to see Milano from the top of the Duomo and it was great: even if I had been there before, it is always beautiful to see the city from above. It was very easy too, as we used the escalator and did little walking…perfect for a very hot day.

I love the contrast between the centuries old Duomo and the ultra modern —and still under construction—new skyscrapers raising in Milano, which you could see in the distance.

We had lots of fun that first week, but of course we missed dad, so we tried to call him with Skype as much as we could. It was also a great excuse for Keegan to show him all the toys and presents he got.

Exactly a week after us, Matt arrived. His trip was somewhat adventurous, to use an euphemism. The trip started with British Airlines site being down, not allowing him to check in. During the San Diego-London trip he was not able to sleep, due to noisy neighbors. He was able to email me from the airport, though, so I know about his progress.

His flight was scheduled to land at 9.30pm, at Linate Airport, chosen on purpose because it is only a few minutes away from our place. I drove to the airport with my dad, and as we walked in we noticed all flights were diverted to Malpensa, another airport, about an hour away. Apparently a small Cessna plane crashed and lost landing gear in the middle of the landing strip! Panic set in: I just realized I had no way to get in touch with Matt and that he had no idea of how to get in touch with us. He did not even know nor my parents’ address.We drove to Malpensa, while I was trying to have my mom email him, in case there was Wi-Fi at the airport (there was not, as I found out later). We arrived just as the first passenger from his flight were de-boarding. They told us there was some waits for bags, and in Italy you can’t get out to meet your family and friends till you have your bags. So we waited, and waited, and waited some more. No news. Fortunately, finally, I spoke to an Italian family who was in touch with their daughter, stuck inside waiting for bags. We finally were able to leave a message for Matt, and more than an hour later (two hours after his scheduled arrival) he finally emerged, exhausted, but happy to be, finally, in Milano.

I am so happy Matt is here with us this year.

Nonno’s birthday was the following day, July 2, so we had a nice celebration for him at home. My sister and the kids were already on vacation, so we will celebrate with them at the beach.

This year, we took Keegan to learn a little about Milano and its art and historuy. We read a couple of books on famous Italian artists, like Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo, so Keegan was curious to see some of their work. A temporary exhibit on Leonardo and his inventions was open just when we were there: what a great timing. It was a small exhibit, but it showed many of the drawings from the Codice Atlantico, and had a large multimedia component, that showed how the inventions actually worked. Some of the models were built in reduced scale. Keegan’s favorite was the Mechanical Lion: while it did not have a real life model at the exhibit, the multimedia screen allowed him to build it digitally by placing all the pieces — and there were a lot — in the right order. he built it and rebuilt over and over.

this is how it would look like in real life (from a different exhibit)

After the visit, we took a quick peak at Piazza Scala, which was right in front of the exhibit, and pose with, who else?, Leonardo’s statue.

On July 3, we toured the Castello Sforzesco, a renaissance castle nestled in the middle of the city. It has a beautiful fountain, right in front.

We visited its museum halls, and stopped at the armor room. We though Keegan would go crazy looking at all these sword and shields, and even a full  body armor on a horse.

We were wrong: he politely posed in front of some of the armors, but overall did not seem too impressed. I sure was.

What really interested him, surprisingly, was Michelangelo’s Pieta’ Rondanini, the last sculpture he was working on before he died, which he never got to finish. We read a book on Michelangelo before the trip, but I really was not expecting this much interest.

After visiting the inside of the Castle, we met up with Lori and Francesca, and played in the beautiful public park, that used to be the private castle’s gardens. They were preparing a big, private party to celebrate 4th of July, alas we were not invited. We tried!

The kids played around, did some exercises, and made wishes, blowing on dandelions.

After the park, we all had lunch, and an Italian lunch is not complete without some gelato, right?

Later that day, Keegan also got the chance to “try” Carmelo’s (Lori’s husband) car: a Land Rover Defender. He really liked it, especially after seeing it a photo as it was wading water in a creek.

This year we spent Independence day in Milano: we did not do much but we wore our patriotic shirt, at least Keegan and I. Matt conveniently forgot it in San Diego. Matt and I went to lunch with friends and then walked around. We went to my old high school, which was open because high school exit exams were still in progress. So we got to wonder around: it was strange to go back to the same classrooms, which looked exactly the same. I did not remember what floor I was, but they all looked pretty much identical. Same colors, same old paint…

Like any school, there were graffiti on the walls, but this being a Liceo Classico (humanistic high school), even the graffiti had literary inspiration. Of course, I could not cite the author or the poem off the top my head…but that is why we have Google, right?

quote from the poem Alla Sera di Ugo Foscolo

At night, nonni prepared a special dinner to celebrate the fourth of July, and we all enjoyed it. I helped with the decoration. We missed the fireworks, but the trip made up for it.

Our last cultural visit with Keegan took us to visit the new Garibaldi’s Station area. This area had been neglected for years, and is finally being developed in an exciting center, linking the station with one of trendiest areas in Milano. The construction is almost finished, so you can already see how the finished results would look like. These are the same skyscrapers I could see in the distance when we climbed up the Duomo.

They are breathtaking. I really love this new project. Not only they are building beautiful skyscrapers, they also incorporated art, fountains and sculptures.

We definitely squeezed in a lot in two weeks, and we were very lucky the weather has been pretty mild. No unbearable heat with 90% humidity! It was warm, but pleasant. We spent the rest of our time at the beach (see next post), and as always, the days went by way too fast. We had a wonderful time and as always we are very grateful to nonni, not only for their wonderful, and generous, hospitality, but also for giving us a much need break.

Grazie mille e a presto!

We actually did not have to wait too long: I planned to leave on the Sunday following graduation. I felt it was the best way to get Keegan not to think about leaving his friends. We did, however, find the way to squeeze in some extra fun before the trip.

On Saturday morning, bright and early, we met with Sara, Alyce and Betty to watch Monsters University, the sequel of Monsters Inc. Keegan was very excited, even if he had to give up his normal Saturday morning TV time. The movie theater had a fun display, and kids could climb on a stool and made their own ID card.

Keegan wanted to sit on the top row, which was great, so the kids could freely move around. Sara brought some snacks and water (oh-oh) and we thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was actually pleasant, even for adults.

The rest of the weekend was mellow. I obviously had a lot of packing to do, so Matt tried to entertain Keegan as much as he could. The new, two lanes slip and slide definitely helped.

By Sunday I had pretty much packing under control, so were were ready to head over the airport around 6pm. We flew British Airlines again, which I love, in part because it leaves at night (=more time to pack and more sleep on route).

Keegan had his second passport issued: quite a difference 5 years makes! It is funny because the Italian passport will not expire till he is 10, so he has 5 more years of using his baby picture. Ready? Italy, here we come!

The very anticipated, waited and dreaded moment arrived: Keegan reached the end of his preschool year. I am not sure who feared the moment the most; Keegan has been talking about it for a couple of months, expressing his sadness at leaving. I did not feel much better: after all, I have been dropping him off or picking him up there for the last 5 years…Despite our initial doubts, I have to say, it turned out to be a really good school, especially this last year. His teacher, ms. Jill was incredible and he really flourished in her class.

Graduation preparation started at the end of May, when the kids received their Reading Medals. We have been keeping track of all the books we have been reading, and any kid who reached the goal of 200 books received a medal. Keegan blew them out of the water, with 277 books read (mainly because I am a very fastidious record-keeper). He was very proud.

After the ceremony, the kids posed outside for a class picture. They all wore the “friendship t-shirt”: they placed their hand-prints on each other’s shirt. Very cute.

Then it was off to Chuck E Cheese…and of course Matt was the designated chaperone. It was a fun, and well deserved trip. Now, if only I could get Keegan to actually try to do some of the reading on his own…I guess the medal rewards parent’s reading skills.

May was also the time for graduation pictures. I have always said that having graduation in preschool is dumb. I still stand by it, even after having my own child: by the time the kids are in college, graduation will have lost some of its impact. Plus, does anyone ever fail to graduate preschool??? Anyway, I can’t deny they are very cute, wearing their caps, and who knows if we are going to see a college graduation anyway.

The last few days were fun: diorama making and just playing with friends.

Camren, Elliott, Rozelin, Van and Keegan

Then the day finally came. We all received an animated digital invitation.

The ceremony was held on the last day of the regular school year. For us, it was even more bittersweet because it was also our final day at Bay Park Early Learning Center.

We started by taking pictures everywhere, upon Keegan’s request. He really wanted a memory of his school.

the outdoor area entrance and slide and shed

the dress-up house

the ball area

the bike area and the garden

the tables and his detached, multi-rooms Golden Lions classroom

We also took a picture of the last project they worked on: the volcano.

We brought a nice orchid plant to Ms. Jill. We worked together to make the “thumbprint-hearts” bookmark. I can’t take creative credit, but I was impressed I was actually able to find the time to do it.

That afternoon, under a beautiful sun, we gathered for the ceremony itself.The director, Ms. Gail, came out first and made a few remarks, and then Ms. Jill, who commented on how interesting ( and challenging) that year had been: 10 rowdy boys and only 3 girls. The exact words she used were:

” It was a fun, energetic year… I have learned a lot…and I’v became a better teacher because all that I have learned…”

So, basically what she said was that it has been exhausting! And who can blame her?

Then, as the music, the classic he Pomp and Circumstance, started, the kids walked in and lined up.

Adorable! They immediately performed the song by Luis Amstrong, What a Wonderful Life, using sign language. Of course, Keegan (and Van to some extent) started goofing around, while the other kids were trying to sign the song. Ms. Jill had to come out and remind Keegan to behave. Why is it always my child? It was even more obvious since Cathy, the girl right in front of him, was doing such a great job.

Then it was time for diplomas. Each kid went up to Ms. Jill, who shared some of their hopes and dreams. I guess Keegan wants to take care of seals when he grows up! I never heard that one before. Matt was a few minutes late, but he made it in time for watching him receive his diploma.

Then it was time for another song and this time all the kids sang it.

Then it was off to refreshments, and goodbyes.

Goodbye ms. Deborah

Then we all got inside, led by  collages for each child, hanging on the walls. It was fun to see and read what the kids have created.

Ms. Jill played a long slideshow, that showcased some of the best moment from this year, and also some really early moments for some on the old-timers, like Keegan and Julia. It was so strange to see two or three year old Keegan.

I have to say I was able to keep it together up to that point, but after seeing other moms crying, I broke down too. It was sad to have to say goodbye to so many people I shared so much for the past 5 years.

goodbye ms. Jill

After saying goodbye to all the parents, and promising to see each other for play-dates during the summer, we took one last photo outside before leaving.

Fortunately, that night Keegan had a Parents’ Night Out at the pool, so the fun atmosphere helped him to focus on something else, and the mini-date helped me too. We had many great memories, and that is what will stay with all of us. We will try to keep in touch with his best buddies (and our favorite parents), and hopefully, the transition to kindergarten and the new Montessori school will not be as hard.

Father’s Day weekend is here. As someone else recently asked, I wonder why Mothers only get a Sunday, while Fathers get a whole weekend, but regardless, I am more than happy to celebrate our super guy.

We started off, as always, with the party at Keegan’s school. Keegan was excited to have Matt there, and there were hot dogs, chips, fruit and drinks…honestly, mostly for the kids. Not too many adults feel like eating at 3.30pm. Ice cream, however, was a different story. They had the infamous water balloon toss, and for once Matt get out of it unscathed.

Matt had a stressful week, so he started off the weekend with some well deserved rest.

This year Father’s Day fell on the same weekends as our anniversary, so we had a double celebration. On Saturday we went to the San Diego Fair. It was a beautiful day, and we enjoyed spending some time outside, for once free of the marine layer that has been present most of the month.

Keegan got totally exhausted and slept almost 2.5 hours, something we have not seen in a very long time! Whataver was left of the afternoon was spent playing around and reading.

When Keegan finally went to bed, it was time for our Anniversary Celebration. We had a wonderful dinner, and reminisced about our past 11 years together. It was amazing to see how much we still think alike.

Happy 11th Anniversary to us!

On Sunday morning, Keegan got up bright and early, very excited about the day. Of course we let dad sleep, and I got up with him. We watched a movie, then we “baked” some banana chocolate chip bread/muffins. Once again, I get confirmation on how I suck at cooking. Even with a pre-made box I can create something that does not look good at all…at least it tasted OK.

When dad woke up, Keegan could barely contain himself…he was so excited. He really wanted Matt to open the gift I got from him: a funny book called Darth Vader and Son.

And of course, he also really wanted to try the muffins!

After breakfast, I called my own wonderful dad to wish him Happy Father’s Day. Well, in Italy Fathers day is in March, but it is harder for me to remember in advance, so June it is.

After some playing, we had a nice pic-nic in Mission Bay. The weather was nice, if a little windy but what else is new? We ate, then Keegan and Matt played froggy catch on the grass.

Then we all lay down in the sun, making up outrageous stories…well, since I am not the most creative story teller I did borrow  from a movie or two, but Keegan could not tell anyway. (-:

At home, Keegan went to take a nap, and I tried to catch up…He woke up pretty early, still looking tired, but he did not want to sleep anymore. So, while I finished up what I was doing, he went in the living room to drink his milk…and the house went quiet, too quiet for quite a long time. Of course I am not one to disturb the quiet, but after more than 20 minutes, I went to investigate…so I first went outside, where Matt was reading…and he had fell asleep in the lounger. Then I went in the living room, and here he was, Keegan, all wrapped up in his soft blanket, sleeping peacefully!

like father…

…like son

They were too cute!!!!

Once they both woke up we played and read books. We offered Matt to go out for dinner, but he wanted to BBQ instead, and whipped out a great dinner for all of us. What a great guy.

So happy Father’s Day to a really exceptional dad. We are lucky to have you Matt. We love you!!!!

We came to realize that Keegan is definitely 100% boy: from the toys that he plays with, to the rough way he plays, you can definitely feel the male energy. I won’t even dwell on his comments about how much he likes girls, and how he want to see girls naked when he grows up (oh boy, we are in trouble), but it is fun to watch, especially for me, since I have never had the chance to be around lots of boys growing up.

Case in point: we took him to a special fundraising event, Touch A Truck, and he absolutely LOVED it.  This is the official event description, and they could not say it better:

This family-friendly car show is a sure hit with kids and parents alike, as all the vehicles are open for you to climb in and honk the horn! From military vehicles to monster trucks, Harley’s to HumVees, classic cars to emergency vehicles, big rigs to construction rigs – we’ll have it all and more. Touch A Truck will include two live music stages, roving entertainment, Star Wars Characters, Shamu and even Ronald McDonald. The funds raised at this event go to childhood cancer research.

We arrived in the morning, just before the first of the two Robosaurus’ shows. What is Robosaurus you ask? It is half machine half dinosaurs, a huge chunk of metal that spits fire and crush cars in two, before throwing them to the ground. You can watch a video of Robosaurus in action to get a feel for the action.

It was awesome, seriously. Keegan get a little bit scared at first, but then enjoyed it so much we watched its encore presentation. So we started and ended the show with it.

Besides mutant dinosaurs, Keegan got the chance to climb over tons of vehicles: from police cares, to military armored machines…

…to huge, loud, honking trucks

…to mom’s favorite, cool sports cars.

It was LOUD, but it was a blast.

Keegan also shows a great interest in number and mechanical things. Hopefully this will last. Once I moved my ancient Mac G4 to the garage, ready for recycling, he could not wait to take a peek inside. Fortunately Matt was handy, so he could explain him what is inside.

He also loves fun rides, and once again we took him at the San Diego Fair. Once again we bought the wristband that allows unlimited rides, a great investment that paid off within the first 20 minutes. Just like last year, we arrived at opening, to score a convenient parking spot. So we started checking out the animals, and watching the pig race: the highlight of it it the final swim of Swifty, the  cute piglet.

getting excited for the pig race

go Swifty, go!

Finally it was ride time! We spent 2.5 hours in the area!!! Keegan remembered all the rides and was finally tall enough to go alone on pretty much all of them. yeah! This year’s favorites were the rides he could not go on last year, at least for the most part.

ready to go…

I am flying…

The slides are always a big hit, especially the long, twisty one.

Another new favorite: the frog hop

Despite all his ‘boyness”, though, he is still a very sweet, sensitive little boy. He often runs over and tell us how much he loves us; he give us huge hugs and kisses for no reason; he is sympathetic if we are tired or have to work late.

He stops to marvel at everything and makes us look at the world with different eyes. He actually stops and smell the roses (or in this case the weird Ficus’ flower)…

During a recent visit at the zoo, despite the amazing new Koala’s exhibit or the majestic elephants and leopard, the animals that captivated him the most was a duck walking around the zoo with her ducklings in tow. He followed it forever…

I really hope that, as he grows older, he will keep both sides of his personality: maybe he can toughen up a little, but I really wish he will never lose his sweetness and empathy.

We are coming to the end of Keegan’s preschool year. While we are all sad to say goodbye to his friends and his school, I have to say that Keegan had a really good time this year. I have said this before, but his teacher, Ms. Jill, was great: warm, but firm, smiling but strict, and especially very warm and encouraging. He learned so much from her. The day was structured, and he had the chance to do art, projects, learning, computer and many activities. He even had his first taste of homework.

One of the things Keegan really enjoyed was bringing home “pets” from school. He would take them places, and sleep with them, and watch tv with them on the weekend.

First was his hibernating animal, a squirrel he name Squirly. Yes, once again, broken pants we can’t throw away…

Next, it was the turn of the class’s pets. Each came with a couple of books, and  a special blanket. First off was Drake the dragon, who got to come to Target with us…and not too many other places, since it was so HUGE.

Keegan did manage to find some space for him in his bed, together with his other three animal friends.

Where is Keegan going to fit?

Then it was Horton’s turn (from Horton’s Hears a Who). Surprisingly enough, Horton was pretty small, so he went to a hike in Penasquitos with us and at the skate park, and of course he played with us at home too.

Then we brought home Huggly, a small green monster, that appears to be a character in a computer game he plays at school, and a series of books. I liked Huggly, since he was small and easy to bring along. Huggly accompanied Keegan at his haircut place and he followed us at the restaurants afterwards.

For each of this animal, Keegan had to write a small journal entry, explaining what fun activities he did with them. Even though, Keegan only had to write his name and come up with the content, every time was a struggle. I am not looking forward to the real homework, even though we started explaining him that homework and going to school is his job.

They are also planting and tending to a small garden just outside their room. They planted: Sunflowers, tomatoes, strawberries, beans, oranges, and cilantro. We already tasted the green beans…delicious!

Every week, they have a different theme at school. One week the theme was bugs. The did lots of activities, including handling real worms for their small compost bin to use in their garden. The also made ladybugs wings and had a big bug dance.

They built their own Magical Creature from the same components, and it was amazing to see how the same elements could be combined in so many different combinations.

working hard on his bug creation

his finished bug

the class gallery

One other week they learned all about the rain forest, and built their own version inside their classroom. My favorite is the sloth.

Huggly was there too…

Even free play is a lot of fun. I never know what I am going to find when I pick him up and in what state he will be. Some days they do mud rivers…

…some day are in full sugar rush after a sweet snack.

One other great project was the wild animals’ dioramas. The kids painted a a shoe box and chose a wild animal. Then they recreated the environment the animal lives in and placed the animal in a box. It was fun. Keegan chose a snake and created a desert scene. Ms. Jill brought in a succulent to stand in for the cactus.

During the whole school year, Ms. Jill strongly encouraged pre-writing and pre-reading skills. She asked us to read a book everyday and to record the title on a sheet to turn in at the end of each month. If you turned in your sheet, every month the kids got to choose a small prize. The goal was to read 200 books, at least, by May. If you did read at least 200 books, the kids would get a medal and then the whole class would go celebrate  at Chuck E. Cheese. Of course, Keegan loves to read, (or at least to be read to) so we easily reached that number. In fact, we recorded 277 books and he was the kid who read the most. He was so proud…beaming, at least from what I could see from the video Matt shot. I had to go to work, unfortunately, so I could not be there…but I am not sorry I missed Chuck E. Cheese. We tried to capitalize on that moment, hoping he will enjoying excelling, even when it will be up to him.

Of course the medal should go to the parents who read all these books and recorded their title, right?

After the awards ceremony, all the kids all posed for a group photo with the friendship t-shirt they painted themselves: all the kids put their hand-print on each others shirt: what a nice memory!

Then, they were off to play. They had a blast.

Keegan and Brady, zoning out during the game

It is easy to understand why Keegan is so sad to leave: they definitely have a great time at school, and they learn lots too. The school we chose in desperation when he was 4 months old, turned out to be the best choice we could have ever made. I hope that, once he is over the sadness, he will keep the memories of his preschool dear to his heart. I know I will.

Once again, this year we decided to grow our butterflies. Keegan really would like a pet, so that was my concession. (-: We only got 5 this time, but it was still very fun. One of the caterpillars was much smaller than the others, so we ended up having and watching butterflies for quite a while, almost two full weeks.

Once again, they arrived in a cup, filled with food. And once again they did not do anything but wiggle and eat (and poop, as Keegan promptly added). They changed skins multiple times and finally hung upside down as chrysalis. This is when we moved them in their mesh habitat and waited.

Finally, within a week, the first 4 emerged as beautiful Painted Ladies butterflies. We enjoyed watching them flutter around, and we fed them sugar water and fresh flowers.

We waited day after day, hoping the last, little one, would emerge, but to no avail. They were in their pavilion for so long (almost a full week) they started to mate. It was interesting explaining Keegan what they were doing. We settled on” they are kissing and getting married”. Keegan noticed that, together, they formed a heart shape.

Finally, worried they would try to lay eggs inside, we released them in the front yard. This time they were ready, and flew right out. One one needed a little help, and Keegan was happy to lend a hand.

It was a pretty sunny day, and we had many plants in full bloom: it was as if we brought them to a Las Vegas All You Can Eat Buffet, and they lingered a while, flying from flower to flower.

Keegan smiling next to “his” butterfly, enjoying the jasmine in the garden

Keegan was a little sad, but we still had one left. And sure enough, just as we let the others go, the last one came out of her chrysalis, and we got to enjoy it for many more days.

This Spring has been particularly chilly in San Diego. April had many gray days, and the temperature rarely made it to the 70s. I know , I know, it is still amazing weather compared to many other parts of the country or world, but still it’s a little of a bummer for San Diego.

However, we still found plenty of fun activities to do. In fact the “bad” weather has its advantages. For example we were able to find a prime parking spot in downtown La Jolla. We took a nice stroll, under a light drizzle, and went to Children’s Pool, now firmly in the hands of lots and lots of sea lion and seals. I will not get in the controversy about this, but it has been an ongoing battle between environmentalists who want the seal to stay, and others who want them to go. So far the seals are winning, in part helped by the fact that would cost a huge amount of money to clean up the beach for human use. Bottom line it is really cool to see them relaxing on the beach or rocks, with cormorants keeping them company.

By the way, do you know how to recognize a sea lion from a seal?

1. Sea lions make very loud, barking noises.
2. Sea lions have actual external ears
3. Sea Lions have large, developed front fins they can use to “walk”

Keegan love to watch seals and sea lions rest with their pups. You get an awesome view from the curved walkaway overlooking the beach. Very cute, if a little smelly.

end of the walkaway. Watch out for the big waves
 

Under gray skies we talk a walk by the coast and had a picnic inside Matt’s truck, overlooking the ocean. Keegan was well equipped for the weather with his monster hood and jacket.

We also found the time for another birthday party. This time was Brady’s turn, a good friend of Keegan’s from school. He had a super heroes party, with a bouncy, games and extra costumes to try on. Keegan wore the captain America’s costume. The best part of the party was when some of the Avengers (Hulk, Captain America and Thor) came in. They were actually friends of the family, but it did not matter. The kids wrestled them on the bouncie and chase them around. Captain America even presented the cake to the birthday boy.

There was also a pinata, which is always fun.

May brought a little better weather: not as much marine layer as usual, probably because the temperatures remained pretty low. We will cheer to that: it is a good trade off.We did have a couple of beautiful, warm, cloudless weekends though. In one of them we went to visit Cabrillo Natural Park. We timed it pretty well, for once, and got there shortly after low tide. That is the perfect time to go, because Cabrillo is famous for its tide pools. We carefully threaded though water and slippery rocks, and got to admire the amazing sea life. We saw fish, crabs, hermit crabs, anemones, and all kind of other creatures.

We played  on the beach, and admired the weird looking rocks.

We even spotted a lobster tail (or claw, I am not an expert).

Isn’t this place amazing? It does remind me a little of the italian Riviera (Liguria).

After the pools, we took a short hike, made much longer by Keegan’s whining, and we headed to the lighthouse. It has been only used for a few decades, since they soon realized tit was getting engulfed in fog more often than not, but it has been preserved, so you have the chance to see how a family from that time lived. Amazing how they managed to live in such cramped quarters, in such isolation…Quite interesting.

Keegan really enjoyed the spiral staircase and looking inside the lamp. All this excitement made Keegan so tired he asked if he could sleep in the car…which meant he did not sleep at all at home. Well, naps are getting a lot more hit and miss, so we are transitioning to “quiet time”, with limited success, so far, but we are still learning…

Besides exciting weekends, Keegan keeps on doing his usual activities. So far, swimming is the only constant. I can’t say he is thrilled about it, but, living in San Diego, we feel is essential for him to become a strong swimmer, especially if he wants to surf or body-board one day. It has been already three years, and he has improved a lot, but he needs to be a much stronger swimmer to face the ocean. So we keep on going, despite his complaints. There are two things he really likes about swimming lessons though: Parents Night Outs, when he gets to watch a movie, swim and eat pizza with other kids at night time and…Isabella. She is a 12 yo Portuguese-American girl that used to swim in his class. She is now at a higher level, but swims at the same time as him. She is always so nice to him, and always likes to hug him and he has quite a crush on her.

Well, there is one thing I can say about Keegan. At least at this time, he seems to be VERY  interested in girls. One day he told me he can’t wait to be a grown up so he can see girls naked! Not sure how much he says this stuff just for effect, but seeing his reaction to, and fascination for a half naked Beyonce during superbowl half time show I think we are in trouble…

It is hard to believe this is already my 6th Mother’s Day. I do enjoy this day because I can really stop and think how lucky I am to have such a wonderful little boy as a son…now, this does not mean he does not drive me crazy at times, but he is still healthy, happy and fun, so I have to be grateful.

I started the weekend early with a nice massage on Friday: it was last year’s gift from my guys…better late than never. Then, Keegan’s preschool had a special party for all mothers. It was nice to see all the other moms and eat some delicious sweets. I also got to bring home the present and card Keegan worked so hard to make for me: a nice pot he painted, planted with daisies.

It was inside a decorated paper bag and accompanied by a sweet card. I could not believe Keegan actually drew us in it. I assume I am the one with the long hair. Not quite sure why I don’t get to have a body while he does, but it is all right.

The weekend was nice. I started it by calling my own mom to wish her Happy Mother’s day. Then it was my turn. Unfortunately Matt was not feeling well, and he rested most of the weekend, but he still managed to prepare a nice Mother Day celebration for me.What a trooper!

This is what I saw as I woke up from my morning nap! (-:

He got me some pretty, and deliciously smelling flowers, and bought me a beautiful blown glass vase from Guatemala, which Keegan picked.

I even got a wonderful Jade necklace from Brazil, also chosen by Keegan. And, as he noticed, when it is closed, it is shaped like a heart.

As is now tradition, we took our mom-son picture together. I should string them all together to see how he has changed. Of course, I always look the same. (-:

once again, with more cuddles

The rest of the day was quiet and relaxing. Keegan behaved the whole day, which was the best gift. It was a good Mother’s Day weekend. Matt celebrated me even more the following weekend, when he pampered me with an awesome French Toast breakfast and delicious dinner. Who am I to say NO to an extended celebration?

I am definitely lucky to such wonderful guys in my life! Thank you for making me feel so loved.

We are very behind in our blog, but Spring has been very busy work-wise, so we will try to catch up as we can.

First up: Easter Time! Easter fell at the end of March this time, which is maybe why we did not have too much time to do anything exceptional: no special eggs hunts, no special activities. Keegan is not a big “crafter”, so he did not care much about painting eggs or doing other season related activities.

As always, on Thursday, they had a nice Easter party at school, which included an egg hunt, games and the magician Easter bunny, who surprised them all by making a real bunny appear. Well, it was the same trick he used last year, so Keegan was expecting him to do it again, and he was not disappointed.

The kids had fun and got to bring home their eggs, including the ones they colored and painted at school, in a rabbit-shaped bag.

On Friday, I had my mini-spring break (basically a 4 day weekend). Easter here is not a holiday, so it was a real Spring break for me:Keegan went to school and Matt wen to work, so I got a lot of work done and even managed to get my car in for its 10,000 check up. In the afternoon, our neighbor Kelton came by, and the kids rode bikes and played at our house. We all ate pizza and ice cream together, and by then the kids were exhausted.

Easter weekend was fun: we went to the Safari Park in the morning and painted some eggs in the afternoon.

Again, not too much effort was put into it, but we can’t have Easter without painting eggs. Keegan could not wait for the egg hunt morning so he was a little out of control at bedtime…he was so excited! At nighttime we prepared everything: filled the eggs, made the basket, etc. and stuffed everything in a closet.

Keegan woke up early the next morning, but we convinced, barely, to wait till after my nap to go look…I needed the time to go and hide the eggs. Matt told him that if he saw the Easter bunny he would scare him away and he would not leave him anything. That worked, even though I don’t know if he really believes in the Easter bunny. Once he told me he knew it was just a guy in a suit…

When I got up, a couple of hours later, Keegan was ready to go and ran to the front yard. Please note his pants: yes, they have holes on the knees, and no, we are not neglectful parents! Keegan LOVES these pants, and so, even if they have huge holes he wears them at home.

Even though we only fill enough eggs to fit in the small basket, we also have some oversize ones to put in a bag. We also got him a toy he has been asking for months, the McQueen Falcon Hawk, basically an oversized car with retractable wings. Honestly, I really did not want to buy it because it is an overprice chunk of plastic, and I totally expected to get bored of it within a few weeks (which is exactly what happened). However, I have found it at more than 50% off, so I guess I had to buy it. Of course I made sure Keegan knew that that was the only reason why we got it, since we had been telling him it was way too expensive.

counting the jelly beans…fortunately he does not over do in the candy department

Matt made us a delicious brunch with eggs, potatoes, veggies, and a cool eggs-shaped corn bread. Delicious!

So, it was a great, mellow Easter, and watching keegan search for eggs and open to see his surprises makes it always worthwhile.

Once you move to Southern California, you often hear this cliche’:

“It is great to live here because you can surf in the morning, drive through the desert at lunch and ski in the afternoon.”

This saying, quite overused, is technically correct. While I have never done all this in one day (I did drive through Joshua Tree to go skiing before though, so it is 2 out of three), we experienced something similar over two consecutive weekends. As a corollary, I would add, the weather is quite interesting here too: going from winter to summer in a matter of days or sometimes hours.

During the last week of February, we woke up to hail, such a rare occurrence we had to take a photo. It is a little hard to see, but you can notice the small ice balls on the chair.

The next day was rainy, and on Friday it was sunny and warm. This was a good thing, because we left at lunch time to go to Mt. Baldy, driving though classic, dry, southern California terrain. We stopped in Ontario for the night, like we did last year, at our favorite Hotel, Embassy Suites.The Ontario location is particularly cool, as we mentioned, as it is decorated with modern and contemporary furnishing instead of the typical, cheesy decor. It still has all the amenities of a standard Embassy Suites, such as free happy hour and breakfast. So we get a suite, with a separate sleeping area for Keegan, and we can pretend we are in a boutique hotel, like the ones we used to go to before Keegan was born. Win win.

We arrive early enough that Keegan and Matt got to jump in the heated pool.

The next morning, after a nice free breakfast, we leave for Mt. Baldy. We drive through winding roads with spectacular views, and finally make it about an hour later. It is quite windy, but the chair lift is open, so we head up the mountain for our inner tube sliding session. The same storm that brought hail to San Diego, brought lots of fresh snow, so no need for cannons this time. It was a beautiful sunny day, and was a lot warmer than the forecasts predicted, which was a nice surprise. As soon as we made it on top of the mountain, my boot fell apart…but we did not let it stop us or ruin our trip. With a little piece of duck tape we were all ready to go.

We had a great time: Keegan even ventured down the slope by himself, in his own inner tube…until the time he fell out the tube we were riding together while it was spinning. I could not hold on to him, and he flew right out. He did not really get hurt, but it was done with riding alone for him.

When we were too tired or dizzy from sliding, we took breaks and played with the snow.

After a couple of hours, at the end of our sessions, we took the chair-lift down and got back to San Diego. We were home by mid-afternoon, so Keegan had plenty of time to play with his cars.

What else can we do on a weekend in San Diego? The following day we went to visit the  Aircraft Carrier Midway Museum. It was cool to see all these planes, and explore the living quarters and command rooms. Keegan loved trying out the real planes.

What makes this visit more surreal is that the museum is right across the bay from another, still in service, aircraft carrier, stationed in Coronado.

The weekend was now over, and we could not squeeze the surfing/beach in. We had to wait till the following weekend. It was another beautiful sunny day, and the perfect weather for a beach morning. Granted, the water was a chilly 55F but Keegan tried to brave the cold with his spiffy wetsuit.

He did not last more than a few minutes, but it did not matter: there is always plenty to do at the beach, like building sandcastles or climbing on dad.

Snow? Check. Museums? Check. Beach? Check. What is left to do on the weekends? Amusement and recreational parks of course!

You would think that, living here, Keegan would be so excited when the weekend comes to go to all these fun places. I mean, so many other kids get to spend the winter indoors and don’t have all the amazing range of activities he has available to him. You would think he would be grateful and happy about going places. You would think…but not Keegan! Most of the time we have to literally peel him off the floor where he is playing with his cars. He whines and protests and even cries at times when we say: “we are going to Seaworld!” Granted, he usually has a blast when he is out, and he is grateful we went, but the “getting him out of the door” is a huge job.

We don’t give up, though. We try to go out every day, at least in the mornings. I definitely don’t want to spend the whole weekend cooped up at home. And we do have an amazing array of choices. Seaworld is often a favorite: just like us, many of our friends have memberships, and it is so close to us, it is easy to go, even if for a few hours. The shows, especially the dolphin shows are always a hit, but every time we go, we manage to do slightly different things. If we go with friends, the Sesame Street Play Area is a mandatory stop.

playing with Alyce and Betty

Of course there are always lots of animals to see. Some are costumed actors…

…other are real.

Keegan’s favorite, the two-toed sloth

One time we got there early enough to see the flamingo being walked to their bay location. It is quite an experience to see them so close, just walking by.

Another park we really like, and we usually visit in the cooler months is the Safari Park. The end of March it is probably getting close to the end of the season for us, as temperatures easily soar into the 90s and 100s in the warmer months.

The first stop is always the petting zoo, where Keegan can pet the goats.

Keegan also like to watch the aquatic animals and ducks and to play in the different small structures scattered around the park. This was the large replica of a bird’s nest.

We also try to make it to the African Tram, that allows you to see many African animals in a semi-open enclosure. We see giraffes, rhinos, different kinds of antelopes, birds, buffalo, zebras, and so on. On the way to the tram, we always pass by the lion’s enclosure. This time a lion and a lioness were sleeping right up to the glass. Pretty cool.

End of March is also the best time to go to the Park to see the famous butterfly exhibit. The park receives hundreds of chrysalis and it let’s the beautiful butterflies flutter around in an enclosed, tropical environment, filled with the most amazing flowers and plants (and lots of people). This year they had a great system of assigned timed tickets, so there was no line. It was beautiful. We spent more than 20 minutes admiring these amazing creatures.

Talied Jay Butterfly

Also, all of us had a butterfly land on us, and linger for a long time. Matt was first one to have a guest: a beautiful Blue Morpho landed on his shoulder. I love these butterflies, because from the outside they have interesting patterned brown wings, but when they open them, a beautiful bright blue color is revealed.

Next up, Keegan had one landing on him. The little guy stuck around for a long time. We could not see the inside of his wings, but I think it was also a Blue Morpho. Keegan was so excited.

Finally, one more Blue Morpho landed on me, and hung to my shirt.

And as we were leaving the exhibit, just before being “frisked” to make sure the little critters would not hitch a ride outside, one more butterfly landed on my shoulder. This time, it was a Postman. We took a quick photo and made sure she flew away. What a great experience. We will definitely come back next year.

So, cliche’ or not, we love living in Southern California! And one day, I will surf in the morning, drive through the desert at lunch and ski in the afternoon.