Saturday, December 27, 2003

We are back!!
It was a long driving trip, but we got in our day at the beach. It was raining the day before, and the day after, but that day was wonderful! The kids and I did most of the perimeter hike around Point Lobos, hanging out for a couple hours at our very favorite beach, China Cove - a pristine white sand cove in the park. Toby was hit in the nose while we were trying to do double-dutch jump rope with a piece of bull kelp, but we had a blast!
Meanwhile, Randall got in a dive with his friend Dave, and then headed out to the airport to see Cousin Wayne (a jet pilot for the Army, who called us at 6:30 to tell us he was flying from Texas to Boise to give Randall his Christmas present, and, upon finding out we were at the beach, decided to fly to Monterey instead..(he has to fly a certain number of practice hours every month, so this was not a terrible abuse of taxpayer money, LOL))

Then, after cramming in all the visits with friends we could in 8 hours (we need about 3 days more to see everyone we wanted to see....), we headed up to Randall's dad's for Christmas.

We did our gift exchange before leaving, and what sticks out to me was my kids - they liked their presents, but what got them most excited was seeing other people open the gifts that they bought/made. My daughter was jumping up and down with excitement with the present for her brother in her hand - "Open this next! Open this next", and couldn't wait to see him open the gift she had found that she thought was absolutely perfect for him. We always open presents one at a time. See, for me that is the most fun - seeing people open the present I got them, seeing the joy in their eyes at something that is not generic, but picked or made just for them. It seems my kids have caught on to that same joy.

posted by Birgit
0 comments at 11:02 AM