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Journal Key:

Green = Steve | George = navy | Janet = Purple | Evelyn = Black

7/31/14 (Thursday)

Thursday was our last day, and many of us took a morning drive over to the lovely Morikami Gardens. It was a bit hot for my taste; the funny part was, it had been quite hot during the entire trip. But I distinctly remembered it being cool and a little rainy last year when I'd been to Morikami before, so I expected it to be that way again.

We still had a very nice time. The kids liked feeding the turtles and extremely huge fish by the Japanese museum, which is another fun attraction. This time the thing that I think we enjoyed most was the Japanese kitchen, with appliances and fake vegetables in the fridge, and a bunch of rubber bands in boxes on the table so you could practice your prowess with chopsticks.

On this trip we saw many examples of how little Owen likes to stop whatever it is he is doing. As the time to pack up and leave neared, Owen told us several times that he did not want to go back home. Sadly, we still had to. It was another trip to the airport. Grandmama and Cara had gotten a very cool doodle book at the book store and were going to work on it together on the plane ride home. Owen, however, elbowed his way into the book as well while we were waiting at the terminal for our plane to arrive, and we managed to share. Owen did some cool drawings on the page that provided eyeballs and asked you to fill in the rest.

I sat with Owen on the plane. We quickly and in succession went through every activity that was in the carry-on bag: sticker books, coloring books, snacks, etc. I had foolishly taken my own book and music player out, thinking I would be able to make use of them. Eventually I got out a pad of paper and, even more foolishly, began drawing on it. Very soon I had Owen making requests. As we approached Newark he demanded that I continue drawing Batmans/Batmen on a sheet of paper until it was choked with a good dozen, in all different sizes. Upon landing, we managed an emergency trip to the plane's bathroom and avoided an accident that no one would have enjoyed.

Back in Newark at the baggage claim, we joyfully met Aunt Claire, who ingratiated herself with the children no end by producing donuts for them. Then it was off to the monorail. Owen discovered quite by accident that if he was still standing when the monorail began moving, he would be thrown bodily into the seat. He reproduced this feat many a time as we traversed the route to our parking lot.

Because of the way meals had worked that day, we pondered a possible late-night dinner out; but as it happened, Owen finally conked out in the back of the car, having stayed fully awake all day up to that point. We put him to bed fully clothed.

8/1-8/6/14 (Friday-Wednesday)

Since the Florida trip there has been some other excitement. On the weekend we celebrated Aunt Casie's birthday at Aunt Claire's house. Owen encountered Moira's daughter Maya, a little toddler who is quite a bruiser and seems better at handling little bumps than Owen is (he likes to drama it up). From Claire's house, the kids were whisked away by their grandparents for a good old-fashioned sleepover. When they returned, I whisked them off once again to visit their other grandparents!

For the last three days it's been back to work for all of us. Cara is taking her last week of camp classes, and has been bringing home some rather curious-looking cupcakes. Owen is back at Yellow Brick Road at last. His friend Sophia has curly hair! It is pet week! According to him he saw a live puppy today. It went upstairs and was looking for real bones, but all they have there are toy bones.

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