California Day 2

The children woke for the day at 4:30 a.m., so that could have been worse. I kept them sequestered in our bedroom watching DVDs on the laptop so we wouldn't disturb the family until a more decent 6:30.

After much fun playing in the back yard and eating lunch, I took the kids in for naps around 10:30, which was 1:30 by their body clocks and much later than their normal nap time. John maintained that he was not tired and was chattering at me nonstop about all his plans for What We Could Do while Mary took her nap. Not three minutes after I laid down with them, they were sound asleep and I snapped this photo.

More of the afternoon and time after dinner was spent in the back yard. The kids were stocked with various "diggers" and bouncing balls. Meanwhile, I spent much of the day pruning the shrubs, which was my idea and really is quite enjoyable for me.

Also, Grampa Neil gave John one of his old magnifying glasses to replace the magnifying glass broken in the Great Crash of 2010. Then he lent John an inexpensive Real Man's Wristwatch With Buttons to wear while he is visiting. John feels like quite the man, let me tell you!

The kids went to bed around 7:30 (so I am hopeful they might sleep closer to a normal time tomorrow). Again John continued his nonstop chatter as we were laying down. He was telling me all about everything, including a long explanation of why he couldn't go to bed now because he was running late to fly on an airplane to visit his friends (who live by a lake). And perhaps it was in the midst of telling me the differences in turtles that live in the ocean versus those that live in lakes and creeks that John went from talking a mile a minute to being silent, and the little guy was sound asleep.

And that means that it is my turn to go to sleep now because who knows when the children will wake me up tomorrow morning!