The end of the Holiday

The last few days with Byron and Kristal and the boys were pretty special. I enjoyed a shopping afternoon with Kristal on Boxing Day and an evening of card making. Kristal was so thrilled with the Cricut that she left part of her finger on the blade. The cards we made were really nice; even the blood splotched one (okay, the cut wasn't that bad!) . Joel and Kezia and Sam enjoyed playing together and reconnecting and it put a smile on everyone's face to see Jack and Asha cooing and grabbing at each other. On the 27th in the evening, we took Byron and Kristal to Ray and Kelly's place to play Settlers. We had a great time playing and I was one hand away from winning. Next time Ray, next time...

On the 28th, we packed up and headed to Monterey. Though we had driven down the coast on the way back from San Fransisco, we wanted to spend time at the beach before Byron and Kristal went home. We spent the morning at the beach and the kids were pretty intrigued with the seaweed and kelp. Kezia enjoyed herself until she fell into the water. All the kids had a fun time climbing in the rocks and watching the hermit crabs in the tide pools. We drove around Monterey a bit and then drove the 17 Mile Drive down Pebble Beach. The view was beautiful, the Cypress Trees were amazing, and the 31 million dollar houses were overwhelming.

After supper, we headed to Santa Cruz to stay in a hotel. Joel and Kezia and Sam ran around, screamed, tackled each other, and laughed uncontrollably. It was bittersweet (and very loud!) to see the kids having such a good time together, knowing that in 24 hours, they'd be apart for another 6 months.

The next morning, we drove to San Fransisco and had lunch before heading off to the airport. Kristal and I whimpered in the back as we passed Ikea and were hoping we could console ourselves at a TGI Friday's...but there was no TGI Friday's that we could find. We spent some time at the airport with them before they had to head to security. I got a nice hug and kiss from Sam, rubbed Jack's head, and tried not to cry when we hugged Byron and Kristal. It had been such a great visit with them. I was touched that they decided to come and spend Christmas with us. We did lots of great things and made many memories. We're going to miss them.

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And then for the icing on the cake, as we were leaving the airport, I saw that there was a TGI Friday's in the terminal...oh brother.