following a 4 year old

today is 100% percent better than yesterday (as of half way through) so even if it stops being great now, that's still at least a 50% improvement on yesterday! it's a great day at the Rice Institute indeedy!!

first i took my cameras to be cleaned (thanks Karen!) - i have been going to Canon for 4 years and still can't find the way... but i took a wild guess at the address and my GPS guided me there effortlessly and we didn't even go 'off route - recalculating" once! how i love walking into Canon with a bag full of filthy cameras and picking them up at the end of the day spic and span and smelling of alcohol. that is one big pro in the California column.

then Danny said "let's go to the beach!" i have NEVER gone to the beach without weeks of planning and preparation, but we actually winged it and went and it was NOT a disaster! we had no clue which beach would have a low tide, no beach clothes or even a towel, no drinks and essential cooler of Yo-on-the-Go and PB&Js, no quarters for parking, no nothing! as if by magic, we found perfect wooden steps down to a perfect beach with free parking that was so deserted we felt like Robinson Crusoe and Friday! we stayed and played for one perfect hour and then Danny wanted to leave - no begging or negotiating required! we stopped to shop at Trader Joes and Williams Sonoma and still not a so much as a "but Mooooom..." and then to the Gap where we found the perfect CapeCod-going little plaid shoes shoes and a perfect sweater for Sam with the number 8 on it (i have a minor obsession with things bearing my childrens' ages :) and... do you know what today is?? uhuh!! it's the first tuesday of the month! so i even got a discount that practically paid for the essentials sitting in my Boden cart for Cape Cod... the best day e-v-e-r!!