Daycare holiday party

The Toddler Flip

Miscellaneous California Pictures

Kyle's favorite person in California was Mike S., who taught him how to do an exploding fist bump. Unfortunately, we have no pictures of Kyle with Mike and Meghan, but here he is in Mike's bike helmet.

Some quiet time in the hotel

Michelle

We had a great dinner at Michelle and Mehdi's awesome Victorian house in the West Adams region of LA. Their cats were less than impressed by Kyle.

Phoebe

After a few days of being limited to the toys in our suitcase, Kyle was thrilled to visit Phoebe and get into her stuff. Phoebe was a very decent sharer until Kyle picked up her precious flamingo ("P is for flamingo," Phoebe had said).

Palisades Park, Santa Monica

Kyle had a great time playing in this park that overlooks the ocean until he ran head first into the great palm trees he was playing in...

Mike and Rosie

Mike, Rosie and Elisa were gracious hosts for our last two nights in LA.

Hammond's Beach, Montecito

Hammond's Beach is Eric's favorite in the Santa Barbara area. No trip there is complete without a visit.

Goleta Beach

We headed out to Goleta Beach (right by UCSB) right around Kyle's nap time. Eric put him to sleep under a tree, where unfortunately instead of looking sweet, he looked homeless.




Not one to miss naptime, I went to sleep in the car. Kyle woke up before me, so he and Eric played for a long while. Kyle had a great time as always on the beach.



Eric talked up the irresistible UCSB campus.



Kyle played in the sand with a stick that he was sure was a primitive leaf blower.

Alice Keck Memorial Gardens - II

After some time in the playground, we explored the other great things the gardens had to offer:

A grassy field,




A terrific climbing tree,






And a duck- and turtle-filled pond

Alice Keck Memorial Gardens

After spending Thanksgiving day visiting friends around LA and Caltech, we drove up to Santa Barbara. We chose a hotel near downtown, and also near Alice Keck Memorial Gardens, a lovely park that has the most outstanding playground. Kyle was thrilled.

Caltech