Father's Day Visit

Father's Day had special meaning this year when Andria's family rolled into Carlsbad for a four day visit.  Both of us Dads had much to be thankful for, especially with the recent birth of Susanna.  The fun was non-stop, as you will soon see!

Andria started the fun off by modeling a wig from our costume treasure chest.  Everyone soon got into the action.

Little Chief Running "Bearfoot" streaking by.

Digging into the chest.

Viper Princess ribbon dances through the backyard village.

Dave and his two little engineers marveled at the Star Wars pop-up book Gail had found.  There were pop-ups within the pop-ups!

The next morning, Monday, started off with a splash - literally! Then followed by...

Legoland!  Here, Nora, Soren, and I use our imagination to build cars for the downhill racetrack.

Soren is a master car builder and went right to work, no problem!

New York City built with hundreds of thousands of Legos is impressive!

The kids were crazy about the Star Wars constructions!

One of several Star Wars battlefield recreations, in Legos, of course.

After Legoland, it was a fun tropical BBQ dinner with Paco and ...

the luau master!

Water World was the theme for Tuesday.  We went boogy boarding at the beach (regretfully, I was too absorbed building sand castles to take pictures) and then came home for some pool party action.

Susanna went along with all the activities without complaint - what a champ!

Wednesday morning, Nora and I examined some of our pesky aphids with the microscope.

Next, it was back to Legoland where Soren went to driving school and earned his license.

Nora went to school with the six through thirteen year olds.  Here she cuts a corner in Carlsbad style.

What a great smile!

Watch out for Darth Vader!!!

Nora was familiar with the Star Wars characters and episodes.

In the evening, it was art night.  Andria read about Georgia O'Keefe while Gail organized materials, including bones for Nora and Soren to draw.

Teacher and students.

Soren capturing the essence of O'Keefe's beloved Southwest.

Artists at work!

Nora's vision of a jawbone.

Finally, on Thursday morning, we were startled by a visitor to our pool - a gator!

Gail and I did our best to give the kids a good workout before the long drive home.  Fun with cat tunnels, here!  The visit was sooooo much fun, and went waaaaaay too fast!