This looks like George Washington's old regiment. Man, how do they stay so young? Maybe they are vampires.
Evie was very impressed with the clydesdale horses.
It's the Shriners in their little race cars. Evie wished she had a race car like those.
The best part of the parade? The free lollipops! Yummy!
Evie was excited to get a lucky apple from Ba and Opa that she took some bites right away!
Evie opens Ba and Opa's gifts in delight. "Ohhhh, money" she says when she opens up her lucky money envelopes, "I have to go buy some toys!"
Evie prepares for the cold and rain with her new winter coat, umbrella and boots. She is a big fan of splashing in puddles!
We had another 2 beautiful days in San Diego with the Paul family. Our first stop on Thursday was the Scripps aquarium, where for some reason Evie loved posing inside this giant shark mouth. She and Andrew ran from one fish tank to the next, saying "Wow!" 
The kids also love playing in the aquarium's tidal pools, where they touched a starfish, a lobster, a sea anemone, and a sea urchin.
Mommy and Evie are captured by the shark - yikes! After the aquarium, we ate lunch in La Jolla and then went down to the beach to see the sea lions basking in the sun on the beach.
We finished the day with a trip to the playground after naptime and then a trip to an amazing toy store dedicated to Thomas the Train! Evie got to pick out one gift and she selected a Thomas dish set.
The next day it was off to the beach in Coronado. Evie couldn't have been happier than when she arrived. She ran straight into the cold ocean and then made some sandcastles with Daddy before it was time to leave.
our little beach bum...
Evie didn't want to leave...
Evie and Mommy enjoy the tram across the entire park. What a view!
After checking out the petting farm, where Evie wanted Mommy to pet all the sheep for her, the two posed as a spider and a fly. 
After a nap in the car, the family checked out the Model Railroad Train museum. Evie loved the exhibits of the Pacific area railroads.
Evie got to push a button that would make the trains go around the track.
At first she just enjoyed running around the edges of the fountain...
...and laughing in delight...
... but then she soon gathered up all her courage and ran straight through the spray.
... and as you can see it only took 5 minutes to be soaked. The people on a tour found her to be quite amusing. Thank goodness it was in the 70s!
After a costume change, we compared our handprints to famous stars including C3po and R2D2 (they were filming an Extra TV segment with Billy Bush too... eh, not too exciting).
And Mommy and Evie pose by Harrison Ford's block. Evie's sandals are still being dried in the sun...After that, we hit the road for San Diego. After a stop to settle in at Aunt Jen's and Uncle Tom's and a play session with Andrew at the playground, we had a lovely dinner in La Jolla with cousins Tanja, Jimmy, little Audrey and Aunty Karin. What a beautiful sunset by the beach!
The next step was to the Santa Monica pier, where Evie got to dance to the one-man band, eat Dippin Dots, and go high in the air in the giant ferris wheel.
Our final stop was at the carousel... but Evie didn't want to ride on the horsies! She went straight for a sleigh just like we sat in two summers ago when we rode in the oldest carousel at Martha's Vineyard.
Daddy, Evie and Uncle Patrick pose in front of the blue sky and city skyline.
The family portrait (mommy needs sunglasses!)
An artistic shot taken by Daddy. Evie loved playing by all the fountains and would share her water droplets with everyone.
Evie had some hands-on time with the art in the family section. In this room she got up and close with the mirrors while Daddy watches.
Evie also got to participate in her first installation art project by moving the tubes around to form a sculpture in the next room. She really had a blast playing with the black "noodles" to create her own masterpiece.
Speaking of masterpieces, Evie used nearly every crayon to create her own mask to take home. What a blast!
